Book of Common Prayer

God Loves Jerusalem

A song. A psalm of the sons of Korah.

God Is Eternal, and We Are Not

A prayer of Moses, the man of God.

God’s Love Continues Forever

“Don’t Bury Me in Egypt”

²⁷ The Israelites continued to live in the land of Goshen in Egypt. There they got possessions and had many children and grew in number.

²⁸ Jacob^[a] lived in Egypt seventeen years, so he lived to be one hundred forty-seven years old. ²⁹ When Israel knew he soon would die, he called his son Joseph to him and said to him, “If you love me, put your hand under my leg.^[b] Promise me you will not bury me in Egypt. ³⁰ When I die, carry me out of Egypt, and bury me where my ancestors are buried.”

Joseph answered, “I will do as you say.”

³¹ Then Jacob said, “Promise me.” And Joseph promised him that he would do this. Then Israel worshiped as he leaned on the top of his walking stick.

Blessings for Manasseh and Ephraim

48 Some time later Joseph learned that his father was very sick, so he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim and went to his father. ² When Joseph arrived, someone told Jacob,^[c] “Your son Joseph has come to see you.” Jacob was weak, so he used all his strength and sat up on his bed.

³ Then Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me there. ⁴ He said to me, ‘I will give you many children. I will make you the father of many peoples, and I will give your descendants this land forever.’ ⁵ Your two sons, who were born here in Egypt before I came, will be counted as my own sons. Ephraim and Manasseh will be my sons just as Reuben and Simeon are my sons. ⁶ But if you have other children, they will be your own, and their land will be part of the land given to Ephraim and Manasseh. ⁷ When I came from Northwest Mesopotamia, Rachel died in the land of Canaan, as we were traveling toward Ephrath. This made me very sad, and I buried her there beside the road to Ephrath.” (Today Ephrath is Bethlehem.)

Warnings from Israel’s Past

10 Brothers and sisters, I want you to know what happened to our ancestors who followed Moses. They were all under the cloud and all went through the sea. ² They were all baptized as followers of Moses in the cloud and in the sea. ³ They all ate the same spiritual food, ⁴ and all drank the same spiritual drink. They drank from that spiritual rock that followed them, and that rock was Christ. ⁵ But God was not pleased with most of them, so they died in the desert.

⁶ And these things happened as examples for us, to stop us from wanting evil things as those people did. ⁷ Do not worship idols, as some of them did. Just as it is written in the Scriptures: “They sat down to eat and drink, and then they got up and sinned sexually.”^{[a] 8} We must not take part in sexual sins, as some of them did. In one day twenty-three thousand of them died because of their sins. ⁹ We must not test Christ as some of them did; they were killed by snakes. ¹⁰ Do not complain as some of them did; they were killed by the angel that destroys.

¹¹ The things that happened to those people are examples. They were written down to teach us, because we live in a time when all these things of the past have reached their goal. ¹² If you think you are strong, you should be careful not to fall. ¹³ The only temptation that has come to you is that which everyone has. But you can trust God, who will not permit you to be tempted more than you can stand. But when you are tempted, he will also give you a way to escape so that you will be able to stand it.

Obey God’s Law

7 When some Pharisees and some teachers of the law came from Jerusalem, they gathered around Jesus. ² They saw that some of Jesus’ followers ate food with hands that were not clean, that is, they hadn’t washed them. ³ (The Pharisees and all the Jews never eat before washing their hands in the way required by their unwritten laws. ⁴ And when they buy something in the market, they never eat it until they wash themselves in a special way. They also follow many other unwritten laws, such as the washing of cups, pitchers, and pots.^[a])

⁵ The Pharisees and the teachers of the law said to Jesus, “Why don’t your followers obey the unwritten laws which have been handed down to us? Why do your followers eat their food with hands that are not clean?”

⁶ Jesus answered, “Isaiah was right when he spoke about you hypocrites. He wrote,

⁸ You have stopped following the commands of God, and you follow only human teachings.”^[b]

⁹ Then Jesus said to them, “You cleverly ignore the commands of God so you can follow your own teachings. ¹⁰ Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’^[c] and ‘Anyone who says cruel things to his father or mother must be put to death.’^{[d] 11} But you say a person can tell his father or mother, ‘I have something I could use to help you, but it is Corban—a gift to God.’ ¹² You no longer let that person use that money for his father or his mother. ¹³ By your own rules, which you teach people, you are rejecting what God said. And you do many things like that.”

¹⁴ After Jesus called the crowd to him again, he said, “Every person should listen to me and understand what I am saying. ¹⁵ There is nothing people put into their bodies that makes them unclean. People are made unclean by the things that come out of them. [ ¹⁶ Let those with ears use them and listen.]”^[e]

¹⁷ When Jesus left the people and went into the house, his followers asked him about this story. ¹⁸ Jesus said, “Do you still not understand? Surely you know that nothing that enters someone from the outside can make that person unclean. ¹⁹ It does not go into the mind, but into the stomach. Then it goes out of the body.” (When Jesus said this, he meant that no longer was any food unclean for people to eat.)

²⁰ And Jesus said, “The things that come out of people are the things that make them unclean. ²¹ All these evil things begin inside people, in the mind: evil thoughts, sexual sins, stealing, murder, adultery, ²² greed, evil actions, lying, doing sinful things, jealousy, speaking evil of others, pride, and foolish living. ²³ All these evil things come from inside and make people unclean.”