Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Human Wickedness^[a]

The Goodness of God

Joseph's Brothers Return to Egypt with Benjamin

43 The famine in Canaan got worse, ² and when the family of Jacob had eaten all the grain which had been brought from Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, “Go back and buy a little food for us.”

³ Judah said to him, “The man sternly warned us that we would not be admitted to his presence unless we had our brother with us. ⁴ If you are willing to send our brother with us, we will go and buy food for you. ⁵ If you are not willing, we will not go, because the man told us we would not be admitted to his presence unless our brother was with us.”

⁶ Jacob said, “Why did you cause me so much trouble by telling the man that you had another brother?”

⁷ They answered, “The man kept asking about us and our family, ‘Is your father still living? Do you have another brother?’ We had to answer his questions. How could we know that he would tell us to bring our brother with us?”

⁸ Judah said to his father, “Send the boy with me, and we will leave at once. Then none of us will starve to death. ⁹ I will pledge my own life, and you can hold me responsible for him. If I do not bring him back to you safe and sound, I will always bear the blame. ¹⁰ If we had not waited so long, we could have been there and back twice by now.”

¹¹ Their father said to them, “If that is how it has to be, then take the best products of the land in your packs as a present for the governor: a little resin, a little honey, spices, pistachio nuts, and almonds. ¹² Take with you also twice as much money, because you must take back the money that was returned in the top of your sacks. Maybe it was a mistake. ¹³ Take your brother and return at once. ¹⁴ May Almighty God cause the man to have pity on you, so that he will give Benjamin and your other brother back to you. As for me, if I must lose my children, I must lose them.”

¹⁵ So the brothers took the gifts and twice as much money, and set out for Egypt with Benjamin. There they presented themselves to Joseph.

The Seven Helpers

6 Some time later, as the number of disciples kept growing, there was a quarrel between the Greek-speaking Jews and the native Jews. The Greek-speaking Jews claimed that their widows were being neglected in the daily distribution of funds. ² So the twelve apostles called the whole group of believers together and said, “It is not right for us to neglect the preaching of God's word in order to handle finances. ³ So then, friends, choose seven men among you who are known to be full of the Holy Spirit and wisdom, and we will put them in charge of this matter. ⁴ We ourselves, then, will give our full time to prayer and the work of preaching.”

⁵ The whole group was pleased with the apostles' proposal, so they chose Stephen, a man full of faith and the Holy Spirit, and Philip, Prochorus, Nicanor, Timon, Parmenas, and Nicolaus, a Gentile from Antioch who had earlier been converted to Judaism. ⁶ The group presented them to the apostles, who prayed and placed their hands on them.

⁷ And so the word of God continued to spread. The number of disciples in Jerusalem grew larger and larger, and a great number of priests accepted the faith.