Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Sinful Men—Loving God

36 Sin speaks to the sinful man within his heart. There is no fear of God in his eyes. ² For he makes much of himself in his own eyes. So his sin is not known and hated. ³ The words of his mouth are sinful and false. He has stopped being wise and doing good. ⁴ He plans wrong-doing upon his bed. He sets himself on a path that is not good. He does not hate what is bad.

⁵ O Lord, Your loving-kindness goes to the heavens. You are as faithful as the sky is high. ⁶ You are as right and good as mountains are big. You are as fair when You judge as a sea is deep. O Lord, You keep safe both man and animal. ⁷ Of what great worth is Your loving-kindness, O God! The children of men come and are safe in the shadow of Your wings. ⁸ They are filled with the riches of Your house. And You give them a drink from Your river of joy. ⁹ All life came from You. In Your light we see light.

¹⁰ Keep on giving Your loving-kindness to those who know You. Keep on being right and good to the pure in heart. ¹¹ Do not let the foot of pride come near me. Do not let the hand of the sinful push me away. ¹² There have the wrong-doers fallen. They have been thrown down, and cannot rise.

Jacob’s Brothers Go to Egypt the Second Time

43 The time of no food was hard in the land. ² When they had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go again and buy us a little food.” ³ But Judah told him, “The man said to us with sharp words, ‘You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ ⁴ If you send our brother with us, we will go to Egypt and buy you food. ⁵ But if you do not send him, we will not go. For the man said, ‘You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.’”

⁶ Israel said, “Why did you do me such a wrong by telling the man that you had another brother?” ⁷ And they said, “The man asked questions about us and our family. He said, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ So we answered his questions. How could we know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother here’?”

⁸ Judah said to his father Israel, “Send the boy with me. And we will get up and go, so we and you and our children may live and not die. ⁹ I will put myself as trust for him. You may put him in my care. If I do not return him to you and set him in front of you, then let the blame be on me forever. ¹⁰ For if we had not waited, we would have returned twice by now.”

¹¹ Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: take some of the best things of the land in your bags. Carry them to the man as a gift. Give him perfume and honey and spices and special things to eat. ¹² Take twice as much money with you to take the place of the money that was returned in your bags. It may be that it was a mistake. ¹³ Take your brother also. Get up, and return to the man. ¹⁴ May the All-powerful God give you such favor with the man that he may let your other brother and Benjamin return. If my children are taken from me, I am filled with sorrow.”

¹⁵ So the men took the gift, and twice as much money, and Benjamin. They got up and went to Egypt, and stood in front of Joseph.

Church Leaders Are Chosen

6 In those days the group of followers was getting larger. Greek-speaking Jews in the group complained against the Jews living in the country around Jerusalem. The Greek-speaking Jews said that their women whose husbands had died were not taken care of when the food was given out each day. ² So the twelve missionaries called a meeting of the many followers and said, “It is not right that we should give up preaching the Word of God to hand out food. ³ Brothers, choose from among you seven men who are respected and who are full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom. We will have them take care of this work. ⁴ Then we will use all of our time to pray and to teach the Word of God.”

⁵ These words pleased all of them. They chose Stephen who was a man full of faith and full of the Holy Spirit. They also chose Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas and Nicholas of Antioch who had become a Jew. ⁶ These men were taken to the missionaries. After praying, the missionaries laid their hands on them.

⁷ The Word of God spread further. The group of followers became much larger in Jerusalem. Many of the religious leaders believed in the faith of the Christians.