Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

¹⁴ Then Pharaoh summoned Yosef, and they brought him quickly out of the dungeon. He shaved himself, changed his clothes, and came in to Pharaoh.

(A: ii) ¹⁵ Pharaoh said to Yosef, “I had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it; but I’ve heard it said about you that when you hear a dream, you can interpret it.” ¹⁶ Yosef answered Pharaoh, “It isn’t in me. God will give Pharaoh an answer that will set his mind at peace.” (S: ii) ¹⁷ Pharaoh said to Yosef, “In my dream, I stood at the edge of the river; ¹⁸ and there came up out of the river seven cows, fat and sleek; and they began feeding in the swamp grass. ¹⁹ After them, there came up out of the river seven more cows, poor, miserable-looking and lean — I’ve never seen such bad-looking cows in all the land of Egypt! ²⁰ Then the lean and miserable-looking cows ate up the first seven fat cows. ²¹ But after they had eaten them up, one couldn’t tell that they had eaten them; because they were as miserable-looking as before. At this point I woke up. ²² But I dreamed again and saw seven full, ripe ears of grain growing out of a single stalk. ²³ After them, seven ears, thin and blasted by the east wind, sprang up. ²⁴ And the thin ears swallowed up the seven ripe ears. I told this to the magicians, but none of them could explain it to me.”

²⁵ Yosef said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are the same: God has told Pharaoh what he is about to do. ²⁶ The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears of grain are seven years — the dreams are the same. ²⁷ Likewise the seven lean and miserable-looking cows that came up after them are seven years, and also the seven empty ears blasted by the east wind — there will be seven years of famine. ²⁸ This is what I told Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do. ²⁹ Here it is: there will be seven years of abundance throughout the whole land of Egypt; ³⁰ but afterwards, there will come seven years of famine; and Egypt will forget all the abundance. The famine will consume the land, ³¹ and the abundance will not be known in the land because of the famine that will follow, because it will be truly terrible. ³² Why was the dream doubled for Pharaoh? Because the matter has been fixed by God, and God will shortly cause it to happen.

³³ “Therefore, Pharaoh should look for a man both discreet and wise to put in charge of the land of Egypt. ³⁴ Pharaoh should do this, and he should appoint supervisors over the land to receive a twenty percent tax on the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven years of abundance. ³⁵ They should gather all the food produced during these good years coming up and set aside grain under the supervision of Pharaoh to be used for food in the cities, and they should store it. ³⁶ This will be the land’s food supply for the seven years of famine that will come over the land of Egypt, so that the land will not perish as a result of the famine.”

¹⁴ What good is it, my brothers, if someone claims to have faith but has no actions to prove it? Is such “faith” able to save him? ¹⁵ Suppose a brother or sister is without clothes and daily food, ¹⁶ and someone says to him, “Shalom! Keep warm and eat hearty!” without giving him what he needs, what good does it do? ¹⁷ Thus, faith by itself, unaccompanied by actions, is dead.

¹⁸ But someone will say that you have faith and I have actions. Show me this faith of yours without the actions, and I will show you my faith by my actions! ¹⁹ You believe that “God is one”?^[a] Good for you! The demons believe it too — the thought makes them shudder with fear!

²⁰ But, foolish fellow, do you want to be shown that such “faith” apart from actions is barren? ²¹ Wasn’t Avraham avinu declared righteous because of actions when he offered up his son Yitz’chak on the altar? ²² You see that his faith worked with his actions; by the actions the faith was made complete; ²³ and the passage of the Tanakh was fulfilled which says, “Avraham had faith in God, and it was credited to his account as righteousness.”^[b] He was even called God’s friend.^{[c] 24} You see that a person is declared righteous because of actions and not because of faith alone.

²⁵ Likewise, wasn’t Rachav the prostitute also declared righteous because of actions when she welcomed the messengers and sent them out by another route? ²⁶ Indeed, just as the body without a spirit is dead, so too faith without actions is dead.