Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
The Love of God’s People
A song for going up to worship. Of David.
133 It is good and pleasant
when God’s people live together in peace!
2 It is like perfumed oil poured on the priest’s head
and running down his beard.
It ran down Aaron’s beard
and on to the collar of his robes.
3 It is like the dew of Mount Hermon
falling on the hills of Jerusalem.
There the Lord gives his blessing
of life forever.
29 Then Israel gave them a command and said, “I am about to die. Bury me with my ancestors in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite. 30 That cave is in the field of Machpelah east of Mamre in the land of Canaan. Abraham bought the field and cave from Ephron the Hittite for a burying place. 31 Abraham and Sarah his wife are buried there. Isaac and Rebekah his wife are buried there, and I buried my wife Leah there. 32 The field and the cave in it were bought from the Hittite people.” 33 After Jacob finished talking to his sons, he lay down. He put his feet back on the bed, took his last breath, and died.
Jacob’s Burial
50 When Jacob died, Joseph hugged his father and cried over him and kissed him. 2 He commanded the doctors who served him to prepare his father’s body, so the doctors prepared Jacob’s body to be buried. 3 It took the doctors forty days to prepare his body (the usual time it took). And the Egyptians had a time of sorrow for Jacob that lasted seventy days.
4 When this time of sorrow had ended, Joseph spoke to the king’s officers and said, “If you think well of me, please tell this to the king: 5 ‘When my father was near death, I made a promise to him that I would bury him in a cave in the land of Canaan, in a burial place that he cut out for himself. So please let me go and bury my father, and then I will return.’”
6 The king answered, “Keep your promise. Go and bury your father.”
7 So Joseph went to bury his father. All the king’s officers, the elders of his court, and all the elders of Egypt went with Joseph. 8 Everyone who lived with Joseph and his brothers went with him, as well as everyone who lived with his father. They left only their children, their flocks, and their herds in the land of Goshen. 9 They went with Joseph in chariots and on horses. It was a very large group.
10 When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, near the Jordan River, they cried loudly and bitterly for his father. Joseph’s time of sorrow continued for seven days. 11 The people that lived in Canaan saw the sadness at the threshing floor of Atad and said, “Those Egyptians are showing great sorrow!” So now that place is named Sorrow of the Egyptians.
12 So Jacob’s sons did as their father commanded. 13 They carried his body to the land of Canaan and buried it in the cave in the field of Machpelah near Mamre. Abraham had bought this cave and field from Ephron the Hittite to use as a burial place. 14 After Joseph buried his father, he returned to Egypt, along with his brothers and everyone who had gone with him to bury his father.
Do Not Cause Others to Sin
13 For that reason we should stop judging each other. We must make up our minds not to do anything that will make another Christian sin. 14 I am in the Lord Jesus, and I know that there is no food that is wrong to eat. But if a person believes something is wrong, that thing is wrong for him. 15 If you hurt your brother’s or sister’s faith because of something you eat, you are not really following the way of love. Do not destroy someone’s faith by eating food he thinks is wrong, because Christ died for him. 16 Do not allow what you think is good to become what others say is evil. 17 In the kingdom of God, eating and drinking are not important. The important things are living right with God, peace, and joy in the Holy Spirit. 18 Anyone who serves Christ by living this way is pleasing God and will be accepted by other people.
19 So let us try to do what makes peace and helps one another. 20 Do not let the eating of food destroy the work of God. All foods are all right to eat, but it is wrong to eat food that causes someone else to sin. 21 It is better not to eat meat or drink wine or do anything that will cause your brother or sister to sin.
22 Your beliefs about these things should be kept secret between you and God. People are happy if they can do what they think is right without feeling guilty. 23 But those who eat something without being sure it is right are wrong because they did not believe it was right. Anything that is done without believing it is right is a sin.
15 We who are strong in faith should help the weak with their weaknesses, and not please only ourselves. 2 Let each of us please our neighbors for their good, to help them be stronger in faith.
The Holy Bible, New Century Version®. Copyright © 2005 by Thomas Nelson, Inc.