Book of Common Prayer

This is a song that David wrote.

The great King^[a]

This is a song that David wrote.

The storm^[a]

The music leader must use special music.

This is a song that David wrote.

The sky at night^[a]

Korah's sons wrote this song for the music leader. Use special music.

The journey to Zion

¹⁴ So Pharaoh called Joseph to come to him. They quickly brought Joseph from the prison. Joseph washed himself and he cut his beard from his face. He put on clean clothes. Then he went and he stood in front of Pharaoh. ¹⁵ Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘I had a dream, and no one can tell me what it means. But people have told me about you. They say that you can tell the meaning of dreams.’ ¹⁶ Joseph replied to Pharaoh, ‘I cannot do this. But God will give you an answer that will make you happy.’

¹⁷ Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘In my dream, I stood at the side of the River Nile. ¹⁸ I saw seven cows that came up out of the river. They were fat, and good to look at. They were eating the grass at the side of the river. ¹⁹ After them, seven more cows came up out of the river. They were thin and they were not good to look at. I have never seen cows as bad as these in Egypt before. ²⁰ The thin cows ate the seven fat cows that came out of the river first. ²¹ When they had eaten them, you would not have known it! They still seemed to be as thin as they were before they ate the fat cows. Then I woke up. ²² In another dream, I also saw seven groups of grain that grew on one branch. The grains were fat and good. ²³ After those, seven other groups of grain grew. Those grains were thin because the hot east wind had burned them. ²⁴ The thin grains ate the seven groups of fat grains. I told those dreams to my wise men and magicians. But none of them could tell me the meaning of my dreams.’

²⁵ Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, ‘Your dreams both have the same meaning. God has shown you what he will soon do. ²⁶ The seven fat cows tell us about seven years. And the seven groups of fat grains also mean seven years. Both dreams have the same meaning. ²⁷ The seven thin cows that came out of the river mean seven years. And the seven groups of thin grains mean seven years. Both of these tell us about seven years of famine.

²⁸ This is what your dreams mean. As I said, God has shown Pharaoh what he will do. ²⁹ There will be plenty of food for seven years all over the land of Egypt. ³⁰ But then seven years of famine will follow. People will forget about the seven years when they had plenty of food. The famine will destroy the land of Egypt. ³¹ No one will remember the seven good years, because the famine will be so bad. ³² God gave you two dreams with the same meaning because these things will certainly happen. God will cause them to happen very soon. ³³ Now Pharaoh should look for a clever man. He should look for a man who knows what is right and wrong. Tell him to rule over the land of Egypt.

^34-35 This is what you should do: Choose some officers. Give them authority to store food during the good years when there is plenty. They must take a fifth part of all the food that grows everywhere in Egypt. They must store the extra food during the good years that will come soon. Give these officers authority to store and to take care of the food in the cities. ³⁶ Then you will be ready for the seven years of famine that will happen everywhere in Egypt. The people in Egypt will have enough food, and the famine will not destroy the land.’

³⁷ Pharaoh and his officers thought that Joseph's idea was good. ³⁸ Pharaoh said to his officers, ‘This man has the Spirit of God in him. We will never find anyone else like him.’ ³⁹ So Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘God himself has helped you to know all these things. So there is no one who is as wise and clever as you are. ⁴⁰ I will give you authority in my palace. All my people will do whatever you tell them to do. Only I will be greater than you, because I am the king.’

⁴¹ Pharaoh also said to Joseph, ‘I give you authority in the whole land of Egypt.’ ⁴² Then Pharaoh took his king's ring from his finger and he put it on Joseph's finger. He dressed Joseph in beautiful clothes made of linen. He put a gold chain round Joseph's neck. ⁴³ Pharaoh gave Joseph a chariot to ride in. It showed that Joseph was Pharaoh's most important officer. Only Pharaoh had more authority. As Joseph travelled, his servants shouted to the people, ‘Bend your knees to respect Joseph!’

In this way Pharaoh gave Joseph authority over everything in the land of Egypt. ⁴⁴ Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘I rule Egypt as Pharaoh. But nobody who lives anywhere in Egypt will do anything, unless you tell them to.’ ⁴⁵ Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-Paneah. He also gave Asenath to Joseph to be his wife. She was the daughter of Potiphera, who was a priest in Heliopolis.^[a] Everyone knew that Joseph had authority in all the land of Egypt.

³ Remember what your baptism shows: When they baptized you, it shows that you are united with Christ Jesus. It also shows that, because Christ died, your old life also died.^{[a] 4} Your baptism shows that they buried you, just like they buried Christ after his death. It is like you died with him and they buried you with him. Because of that, God will also raise us, just as he raised Christ from death. God, the Father, is so great and powerful that he raised Christ to a new life. That means that we also can live our lives in a new way.

⁵ We have become united with Christ, and we have died like he died. Because of that, we will also be united with him in his new life. Just like Christ rose, we also will rise to a new life. ⁶ We know that God has caused our old nature to die with Christ on the cross. This happened so that God could make us free from the power of sin in our lives. We are no longer like slaves who have sin as their master. ⁷ Sin no longer has any authority over someone who has died.

⁸ So, if we have died with Christ, we believe that we will also live with him. ⁹ God raised Christ, so that he became alive again after his death. Because of that, we know that he will never die again. Death has no authority over him any more. ¹⁰ When Christ died, he died once to destroy the power of sin for ever. Now that he is alive again, he lives to serve God. ¹¹ So you also should think about yourselves in the same way. Sin has no power over you, as if you were dead. In your new life, you live to serve God, because you belong to Christ Jesus.

¹² So do not let sin rule your life in this world. Do not do the wrong things that your body wants to do. ¹³ Sin can use your body to do things that are wrong. So do not let any parts of your body serve sin as their master. Instead, be ready to serve God as your Master. You can do that because you now have a new life. Your old life is dead. So give every part of your body to God. Then he will use you to do right things. ¹⁴ Sin will no longer have authority over you. You do not have a new life because you obey the Law which God gave to Moses. You have a new life because God is very kind to you.

¹⁹ Jesus answered them, ‘I tell you this: The Son can do nothing by himself. He sees what the Father does, and he can do only those same things. What the Father does, the Son also does. ²⁰ The Father loves the Son. He shows the Son all the things that he himself does. And the Father will show the Son even greater things to do than these. Those greater things will surprise you even more than what you have already seen. ²¹ The Father raises dead people to make them alive again. In the same way, the Son gives life to whoever he chooses. ²² More than that, the Father does not judge anyone. He has given authority to the Son, so that the Son will judge all people. ²³ Then all people will respect the Son as a great person. They will respect him in the way that they respect the Father. The Father sent the Son. So if people refuse to respect the Son, it shows that they do not respect the Father either.

²⁴ I tell you this: Everyone who hears my message should believe in the Father who sent me. If they believe in me, they will have life for ever with God. God will not say that they are guilty. They are no longer under the power of death. Instead, they have life with God.