Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

In Your Light We See Light

For the choir director. Of the servant of Yahweh, of David.

The Brothers Return to Egypt

43 ^(A)Now the famine was heavy in the land. ² And it happened when they had finished eating the grain which they had brought from Egypt, that their father said to them, “Go back, buy us a little food.” ³ Judah spoke to him, however, saying, “^(B)The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ ⁴ If you send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. ⁵ But if you do not send him, we will not go down; for the man said to us, ‘You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.’” ⁶ Then Israel said, “Why did you treat me so badly ^[a]by telling the man whether you still had another brother?” ⁷ But they said, “The man questioned particularly about us and our kin, saying, ‘^(C)Is your father still alive? Have you another brother?’ So we told him concerning these things. Could we possibly have known that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?” ⁸ Then Judah said to his father Israel, “Send the boy with me, and we will arise and go, ^(D)that we may live and not die, we as well as you and our little ones. ^9 (E)I myself will be the guarantee for him; from my hand you may require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then ^[b]I shall bear the sin before you all my days. ¹⁰ For if we had not delayed, surely by now we could have returned twice.”

¹¹ Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: take some of the best products of the land in your ^[c]bags, and bring them down to the man ^(F)as a present, a little ^[d](G)balm and a little honey, ^[e]aromatic gum and ^[f]myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds. ¹² Now take double the money in your hand, and take back in your hand ^(H)the money that was put back in the mouth of your sacks; perhaps it was a mistake. ¹³ And take your brother also, and arise, return to the man; ¹⁴ and may ^[g](I)God Almighty ^(J)grant you compassion before the man, so that he will release to you ^(K)your other brother and Benjamin. And as for me, ^(L)if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.” ¹⁵ So the men took ^(M)this present, and they took double the money in their hand, and Benjamin; and they arose and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph.

Selection of the Seven

6 Now in those days, while the ^(A)disciples were ^(B)multiplying in number, there was grumbling from the ^[a](C)Hellenists against the ^(D)Hebrews, because their ^(E)widows were being overlooked in ^(F)the daily serving of food. ² So the twelve summoned the ^[b]congregation of the disciples and said, “It is not pleasing to God for us to neglect the word of God in order to serve tables. ³ Therefore, ^(G)brothers, select from among you seven men of good reputation, ^(H)full of the Spirit and of wisdom, whom we may put in charge of this need. ⁴ But we will ^(I)devote ourselves to prayer and to the service of the word.” ⁵ And this word pleased the whole ^[c]congregation, and they chose ^(J)Stephen, a man ^(K)full of faith and of the Holy Spirit, and ^(L)Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolas, a ^[d](M)proselyte from ^(N)Antioch. ⁶ And these they stood before the apostles, and after ^(O)praying, they ^(P)laid their hands on them.

^7 (Q)And the word of God kept on spreading, and ^(R)the number of the disciples continued to multiply greatly in Jerusalem, and a great ^[e]many of the priests were becoming obedient to ^(S)the faith.