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.

No Food Anywhere but in Egypt

¹³ Now there was no food in the land for the time without food was very hard. So the people in the land of both Egypt and Canaan became weak because of hunger. ¹⁴ So Joseph gathered all the money that was found in Egypt and Canaan for the grain they bought. And Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house. ¹⁵ When the money was gone from the lands of Egypt and Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us food! Why should we die in front of you? For we have no more money.”

¹⁶ Then Joseph said, “Give your cattle. I will give you food in trade for your cattle, because your money is gone.” ¹⁷ So they brought their animals to Joseph. And Joseph gave them food in trade for the horses and flocks and cattle and donkeys. He fed them that year in trade for their animals.

¹⁸ When that year ended, they came to him the next year. They said, “We will not hide from my lord that our money is all gone. And the cattle belong to my lord. There is nothing left for our lord except our bodies and our lands. ¹⁹ Why should we die in front of you and our lands be wasted? Buy us and our land in trade for food. We and our land will work for Pharaoh. Give us seed, so that we may live and not die, and so the land will not be wasted.”

²⁰ So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh. For every Egyptian sold his field, because the time without food was hard for them. So the land became Pharaoh’s. ²¹ He had the people move to the cities from one end of Egypt to the other, to work for Pharaoh. ²² Only the land of the religious leaders he did not buy. For the religious leaders received money from Pharaoh. They lived on the money Pharaoh gave them. So they did not sell their land.

²³ Then Joseph said to the people, “See, today I have bought you and your land for Pharaoh. Now here is seed for you to plant in the fields. ²⁴ At gathering time, you must give a fifth part to Pharaoh. Keep the rest to have seeds for the field, and to feed yourselves and your children and those of your houses.”

²⁵ So they said, “You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the eyes of my lord. We will be Pharaoh’s servants.” ²⁶ Joseph made it a law in the land of Egypt that Pharaoh should have the fifth part. It is a law to this day. Only the land of the religious leaders did not become Pharaoh’s.

Jesus Shows That the Teaching of the Proud Religious Law-Keepers Is Wrong ^(A)

¹⁴ The followers had forgotten to take bread, only one loaf was in the boat. ¹⁵ He said to them, “Look out! Have nothing to do with the yeast of the proud religious law-keepers and of Herod.” ¹⁶ They talked about it among themselves. They said, “He said this because we forgot to bring bread.” ¹⁷ Jesus knew what they were thinking. He said to them, “Why are you talking among yourselves about forgetting to bring bread? Do you not understand? Is it not plain to you? Are your hearts still hard? ¹⁸ You have eyes, do you not see? You have ears, do you not hear? Do you not remember? ¹⁹ When I divided the five loaves of bread among the five thousand, how many baskets full of pieces did you pick up?” They said, “Twelve.” ²⁰ “When I divided the seven loaves of bread among the four thousand, how many baskets full of pieces did you pick up?” They said, “Seven.” ²¹ Then He asked, “Why do you not understand yet?”