Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
Prayer to Be Kept Safe from Enemies
25 I lift up my soul to You, O Lord. 2 O my God, I trust in You. Do not let me be ashamed. Do not let those who fight against me win. 3 Yes, let no one who hopes in You be put to shame. But put to shame those who hurt others without a reason.
4 Show me Your ways, O Lord. Teach me Your paths. 5 Lead me in Your truth and teach me. For You are the God Who saves me. I wait for You all day long. 6 Remember Your loving-pity and Your loving-kindness, O Lord. For they have been from old. 7 Do not remember my sins from when I was young, or my sinful ways. By Your loving-kindness remember me for You are good, O Lord.
8 Good and right is the Lord. So He teaches sinners in His ways. 9 He leads those without pride into what is right, and teaches them His way. 10 All the paths of the Lord are loving and true for those who keep His agreement and keep His Laws.
14 Pharaoh then called for Joseph. And they brought him out of the prison in a hurry. He cut off the hair on his face and put on clean clothes. Then he came to Pharaoh. 15 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I have had a dream. But no one can tell me what it means. I have heard it said that you are able to hear a dream and tell what it means.” 16 Joseph answered Pharaoh, “Not by myself. God will give Pharaoh a good answer.” 17 So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “In my dream, I was standing beside the Nile. 18 I saw seven cows coming out of the Nile. They were fat and good-looking, and they ate the grass beside the river. 19 Then I saw seven other cows coming after them. They looked bad and were thin. I had never seen worse cows in all the land of Egypt. 20 Then the bad looking cows that were thin ate the first seven fat cows. 21 But after they had eaten them, it could not be seen that they had eaten them. For they were just as bad looking as before. Then I awoke. 22 I saw also in my dream seven heads of grain growing on one stick of grain. They were large and full. 23 Then I saw seven heads of grain come after them. They were small and were dry because of the east wind. 24 The small heads of grain ate the seven good heads of grain. Then I told it to the wise men. But there was no one who could tell me what it means.”
25 Joseph said to Pharaoh, “Pharaoh’s dreams are one and the same. God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do. 26 The seven good cows are seven years. And the seven good heads of grain are seven years. The dreams are one and the same. 27 The seven bad looking cows that are thin that came up after them are seven years. And the seven small heads of grain made dry by the east wind mean seven years without food. 28 It is as I have said to Pharaoh. God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do. 29 Seven years are coming when there will be much food in all the land of Egypt. 30 But after them will come seven years when there will be no food. The time of much food will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. The time of no food will destroy the land. 31 The time without food will be so hard that no one in the land will remember when they had much. 32 That the dream was sent twice to Pharaoh shows that what will happen is planned by God. And God will make it happen soon.
33 “So now let Pharaoh look for a man who is understanding and wise. Let the land of Egypt be put into his care. 34 Let Pharaoh take action to choose men to watch over the land. And let him take a fifth part of the food of the land of Egypt during the seven years of much food. 35 Let them gather all the food of these good years that are coming. Have them store the grain under the power of Pharaoh, to be used as food in the cities. And let them keep it safe. 36 This food will be kept for the people to eat during the seven years of no food that will come upon the land of Egypt. This way the land will not be destroyed during the time without food.”
Faith Without Works Is Dead
14 My Christian brothers, what good does it do if you say you have faith but do not do things that prove you have faith? Can that kind of faith save you from the punishment of sin? 15 What if a Christian does not have clothes or food? 16 And one of you says to him, “Goodbye, keep yourself warm and eat well.” But if you do not give him what he needs, how does that help him? 17 A faith that does not do things is a dead faith.
18 Someone may say, “You have faith, and I do things. Prove to me you have faith when you are doing nothing. I will prove to you I have faith by doing things.” 19 You believe there is one God. That is good! But even the demons believe that, and because they do, they shake.
20 You foolish man! Do I have to prove to you that faith without doing things is of no use? 21 Was not our early father Abraham right with God by what he did? He obeyed God and put his son Isaac on the altar to die. 22 You see his faith working by what he did and his faith was made perfect by what he did. 23 It happened as the Holy Writings said it would happen. They say, “Abraham put his trust in God and he became right with God.” (A) He was called the friend of God. 24 A man becomes right with God by what he does and not by faith only. 25 The same was true with Rahab, the woman who sold the use of her body. She became right with God by what she did in helping the men who had been sent to look through the country and sent them away by another road. 26 The body is dead when there is no spirit in it. It is the same with faith. Faith is dead when nothing is done.
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