Book of Common Prayer

Psalm 72

By Solomon.

¹⁸ On the third day Joseph said to them, “Do this, and you will live. I, too, fear Elohim. ¹⁹ If you are honest men, you will let one of your brothers stay here in prison. The rest of you will go and take grain back to your starving families. ²⁰ But you must bring me your youngest brother. This will show that you’ve been telling the truth. Then you won’t die.” So they agreed.

²¹ They said to each other, “We’re surely being punished for what we did to our brother. We saw how troubled he was when he pleaded with us for mercy, but we wouldn’t listen. That’s why we’re in trouble now.”

²² Reuben said to them, “Didn’t I tell you not to sin against the boy? But you wouldn’t listen. Now we must pay for this bloodshed.”

²³ They didn’t know that Joseph could understand them, because he was speaking through an interpreter. ²⁴ He stepped away from them to cry. When he could speak to them again, he came back. Then he picked Simeon and had him arrested right in front of their eyes.

²⁵ Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain. He put each man’s money back into his sack and gave them supplies for their trip. After their bags were filled, ²⁶ they loaded their grain on their donkeys and left.

²⁷ At the place where they stopped for the night, one of them opened his sack to feed his donkey. His money was right inside his sack. ²⁸ He said to his brothers, “My money has been put back! It’s right here in my sack!”

They wanted to die. They trembled and turned to each other and asked, “What has Elohim done to us?”

⁹ In my letter to you I told you not to associate with people who continue to commit sexual sins. ¹⁰ I didn’t tell you that you could not have any contact with unbelievers who commit sexual sins, are greedy, are dishonest, or worship false gods. If that were the case, you would have to leave this world. ¹¹ Now, what I meant was that you should not associate with people who call themselves brothers or sisters in the Christian faith but live in sexual sin, are greedy, worship false gods, use abusive language, get drunk, or are dishonest. Don’t eat with such people.

¹² After all, do I have any business judging those who are outside the Christian faith? Isn’t it your business to judge those who are inside? ¹³ God will judge those who are outside. Remove that wicked man from among you.

Settling Disagreements between Christians

6 When one of you has a complaint against another, how dare you go to court to settle the matter in front of wicked people. Why don’t you settle it in front of God’s holy people? ² Don’t you know that God’s people will judge the world? So if you’re going to judge the world, aren’t you capable of judging insignificant cases? ³ Don’t you know that we will judge angels, not to mention things in this life? ⁴ When you have cases dealing with this life, why do you allow people whom the church has a low opinion of to be your judges? ⁵ You should be ashamed of yourselves! Don’t you have at least one wise person who is able to settle disagreements between believers? ⁶ Instead, one believer goes to court against another believer, and this happens in front of unbelievers.

⁷ You are already totally defeated because you have lawsuits against each other. Why don’t you accept the fact that you have been wronged? Why don’t you accept that you have been cheated? ⁸ Instead, you do wrong and cheat, and you do this to other believers.

A Story about a Farmer^(A)

4 Yeshua began to teach again by the Sea of Galilee. A very large crowd gathered around him, so he got into a boat and sat in it. The boat was in the water while the entire crowd lined the shore. ² He used stories as illustrations to teach them many things.

While he was teaching them, he said, ³ “Listen! A farmer went to plant seed. ⁴ Some seeds were planted along the road, and birds came and devoured them. ⁵ Other seeds were planted on rocky ground, where there wasn’t much soil. The plants sprouted quickly because the soil wasn’t deep. ⁶ When the sun came up, they were scorched. They didn’t have any roots, so they withered. ⁷ Other seeds were planted among thornbushes. The thornbushes grew up and choked them, and they didn’t produce anything. ⁸ But other seeds were planted on good ground, sprouted, and produced thirty, sixty, or one hundred times as much as was planted.” ⁹ He added, “Let the person who has ears listen!”

¹⁰ When he was alone with his followers and the twelve apostles, they asked him about the stories.

¹¹ Yeshua replied to them, “The mystery about the kingdom of God has been given directly to you. To those on the outside, it is given in stories:

¹³ Yeshua asked them, “Don’t you understand this story? How, then, will you understand any of the stories I use as illustrations?

¹⁴ “The farmer plants the word. ¹⁵ Some people are like seeds that were planted along the road. Whenever they hear the word, Satan comes at once and takes away the word that was planted in them. ¹⁶ Other people are like seeds that were planted on rocky ground. Whenever they hear the word, they accept it at once with joy. ¹⁷ But they don’t develop any roots. They last for a short time. When suffering or persecution comes along because of the word, they immediately fall from faith. ¹⁸ Other people are like seeds planted among thornbushes. They hear the word, ¹⁹ but the worries of life, the deceitful pleasures of riches, and the desires for other things take over. They choke the word so that it can’t produce anything. ²⁰ Others are like seeds planted on good ground. They hear the word, accept it, and produce crops—thirty, sixty, or one hundred times as much as was planted.”