Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)
The Lord's servant, David, wrote this song for the music leader.
A message from God
36 A wicked person turns against God completely.
He does not respect God.
2 He is too proud to think about his sin,
so he does not hate it.
3 He speaks wicked things to deceive people.
He does nothing that is wise or good.
4 While he lies on his bed at night,
he thinks about bad things that he can do.
He lives only to do things that are not good.
He does not turn away from evil things.
5 Lord your faithful love reaches as high as the sky.
People can trust you beyond the clouds.
6 Your justice is like the strongest mountains.
You always do what is right,
more than the seas are deep.[a]
You take care of people and animals
and you keep them safe.
7 God, your faithful love has great value!
You keep all humans safe,
like birds protect their babies under their wings.
8 You have plenty of food in your house,
to give them all that they need.
You give them water from your river,
that makes them happy when they drink it.
9 Yes, you are the one who gives us light and life.
10 Continue to love those who serve you as your people.
Let good, honest people receive your justice.
11 Do not let proud people hurt me.
Do not let evil people chase me away from home.
12 Now I see that those wicked people have fallen down!
They are lying there on the ground,
and they cannot get up again!
Joseph's brothers return to Egypt
43 The famine was still bad in Canaan. 2 Jacob's family ate all the food that they had brought from Egypt. So Jacob said to his sons, ‘Go back to Egypt, and buy some more food for us.’[a] 3 But Judah said, ‘The man told us many times, “Unless your brother is with you, I will not let you see me again.” 4 So you must send Benjamin with us. Then we will go and buy food for you. 5 But if you do not send Benjamin, we will not go. The man clearly said to us, “Unless your brother is with you, you will not see me again.” ’
6 Jacob said to them, ‘You have brought great trouble to me! You should not have told the man that you had another brother.’ 7 The brothers replied, ‘The man asked us many questions about our family. He asked us, “Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?” We only answered his questions. We did not know that he would say, “Bring your brother here.” ’
8 Then Judah said to his father Jacob, ‘Agree to send the boy with me. We will go to Egypt immediately. Then all our family can continue to live. We will not die.[b] 9 I promise you to keep Benjamin safe. I myself will take care of him and I will bring him back to you. If I do not bring him back home, then you should say that I am guilty. I will be guilty for all of my life. 10 We must go now! We have already talked for too long. By now, we could have gone to Egypt and returned twice!’
11 Then their father Jacob said to them, ‘If you must take Benjamin, do what I tell you. Put some of the best things from our land in your bags. Take them to the man as a gift. Take some oil, some honey and some spices. Also take some myrrh, and some nuts.[c] 12 Also take twice the amount of money with you. You must give back the money that they put back into your bags last time. It may have been a mistake. 13 Take your brother Benjamin too. Go back to the man now. 14 I pray that God Almighty will help you. I pray that God will cause the man to be kind to you. Then he will let your older brother go free. He and Benjamin will return here with you. As for me, if I must lose my sons, then I will lose them. There is nothing that I can do to stop it.’
15 So the brothers took the gifts, and they took twice as much money with them. They took Benjamin and they hurried to Egypt. When they arrived there, they went to meet Joseph.
The believers choose seven men
6 At that time, more and more people became disciples of Jesus. Among the believers, some were Jews who spoke the Greek language. Others were Jews who spoke the Aramaic language. The Jews who spoke Greek had a problem with the other Jews. They said, ‘The widows in our group do not receive the right help. Each day, when you give out the food and money, our widows receive less than they should get.’[a]
2 The 12 apostles heard about the problem. They told all the believers to meet together with them. The apostles said, ‘Our work is to teach people God's message about Jesus. We do not have time to give out the food and money to people as well. 3 So, friends, please choose seven men from among you. You must know that each of them is full of the Holy Spirit. They must also be very wise. We will ask these seven men to do this work for us. 4 Then we will have more time to pray. We will also have more time to teach people God's message.’
5 The whole group of believers was happy with the apostles' words. So first they chose a man called Stephen. Stephen believed strongly in God and he was full of the Holy Spirit. The believers also chose six other men: Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicolas. Nicolas was from Antioch. He was not born as a Jew, but he had joined the Jews later. 6 The group of believers put these seven men in front of the apostles. The apostles prayed for each man and they put their hands on them. They gave them authority to do this special work.
7 So more and more people heard the message from God. The number of people in Jerusalem who believed in Jesus grew more and more. Many of the Jewish priests also believed the message about Jesus.[b]
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