Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Joseph and his brothers

37 Jacob lived in Canaan, the land where his father had lived.^[a]

² This is the report about Jacob and his family.

Joseph was Jacob's son. When he was 17 years old, he took care of his father's sheep and goats. He did this together with his brothers. These were the sons of his father's wives, Bilhah and Zilpah. Sometimes Joseph told his father bad things about his brothers.

³ Jacob loved Joseph more than he loved any of his other sons. This was because Joseph was born when Jacob was old. So Jacob made a special coat for Joseph. ⁴ Joseph's brothers knew that Jacob loved him more than he loved them. So they hated Joseph. They could not say anything nice to him.

¹² One day, Joseph's brothers had taken their father's sheep to eat grass in the fields. This was near Shechem city. ¹³ Jacob said to Joseph, ‘You know that your brothers have taken my sheep to eat grass near Shechem. I want you to go to them.’ Joseph replied, ‘I am ready to go.’ ¹⁴ So Jacob said to Joseph, ‘Go and see if your brothers are well. See if the sheep have enough grass to eat. Then come back and tell me news about them.’ Then Jacob sent Joseph from the Valley of Hebron to go to them. ¹⁵ When Joseph arrived near Shechem and he was walking in the fields there, a man met him. He asked Joseph, ‘What are you looking for?’ ¹⁶ Joseph replied, ‘I am looking for my brothers. They have taken the sheep to eat grass. Please tell me where they are.’ ¹⁷ The man said, ‘They have moved away from here. I heard them say, “Let us go to Dothan.” ’

So Joseph went to look for his brothers. He found them at Dothan. ¹⁸ But his brothers recognized Joseph, while he was still far away. Before he had arrived where they were, they decided on a way to kill him. ¹⁹ They said to each other, ‘Here comes the man who likes to dream! ²⁰ We will kill him. We can throw him into one of the dry wells. We can tell people that a wild animal ate him. Then his dreams will never become true!’

²¹ When Reuben heard this, he tried to save Joseph from the other brothers. He said, ‘We should not kill him. ²² Do not even get his blood on your hands. Just throw him into this dry well here in the wilderness. But do not attack him.’ Reuben said this to save Joseph, so that his brothers would not kill him. Then later, Reuben could take Joseph back to his father.

²³ So Joseph arrived at where his brothers were. He was wearing his special coat, but they took it off him. ²⁴ Then they took hold of Joseph and they threw him into the empty well. It had no water in it.

²⁵ Then the brothers sat down to eat their meal. They looked up and they saw a group of Ishmaelites coming towards them. They were coming from Gilead region. They were riding on camels that carried spices, and different kinds of oils for medicine. They were taking them to sell in Egypt.

²⁶ Judah said to his brothers, ‘We could kill our brother and then hide his body. But then we will not get anything for ourselves. ²⁷ So let us sell him to these Ishmaelites. We do not need to hurt him. Then we will not have to kill him. We should remember that he is our brother. He is our own relative.’ Judah's brothers agreed with what he said. ²⁸ When the Midianite traders came near to Joseph's brothers, they pulled him out of the dry well. They sold him to the Ishmaelites for 20 silver coins. The Ishmaelites took Joseph with them to Egypt.

God takes care of his people^[a]

God wants to save everyone

⁵ Moses wrote about how God's Law could help people to be right with God. He said, ‘If a person obeys the rules in God's Law, then he will live by them.’^{[a] 6} But the Bible speaks also about another way. It shows how to become right with God because you trust him. It says: ‘Do not say to yourself, “Someone will have to go up into heaven.” ’ (That means: ‘Someone will have to bring Christ down from up there.’) ⁷ ‘Do not say to yourself either, “Someone will have to go down into the world below.” ’ (That means: ‘Someone will have to bring Christ up from the place where dead people are.’) ⁸ But the Bible says: ‘God's message is near you. You can talk about it, and you can think about it.’^[b] That is the same message that we are teaching to people. We tell people to believe in Jesus Christ.

⁹ The message is this: You must say clearly that Jesus is the Lord. Also, you must believe deep inside yourself that God raised him to life again after his death. Then God will save you. ¹⁰ God accepts people as right with him when they believe like that, deep inside themselves. And when people say clearly that Jesus is Lord, God saves them. ¹¹ It says in the Bible:

¹² It says ‘everyone’. There is no difference between Jews and Gentiles. There is the same Lord for all of them. He helps everyone who asks him with many good things. ¹³ As it says in the Bible: ‘The Lord God will save everyone who asks him for help.’^[d]

¹⁴ But people will never ask Christ to help them if they have not believed in him. And they will never believe in him if they have not heard about him. And they will not hear about him unless somebody tells God's message to them. ¹⁵ And nobody can go to tell God's message to people unless God sends them. This is written in the Bible: ‘When people arrive to tell us good news, we say “welcome!” ’^[e]

Jesus walks on the water

²² Immediately after this, Jesus said to his disciples, ‘Get in the boat and sail across to the other side of the lake.’ Jesus said that he would first send the crowd away. Then he would also leave. ²³ So Jesus sent the crowd away. After they had gone, he went up on a mountain alone to pray. When it became dark, he was still there alone. ²⁴ At this time the boat with the disciples in it was in the middle of the lake. It was a long way from the land. The wind was blowing against the boat and the water was hitting it.

²⁵ Then, when it was nearly dawn, Jesus walked on the water towards his disciples. ²⁶ The disciples saw him walking on the water. They were very frightened. ‘It is a spirit,’ they said. They screamed loudly because they were afraid.

²⁷ But immediately Jesus said to them. ‘Be brave! It is I. Do not be afraid.’

²⁸ Peter replied, ‘Lord, is it really you? If it is you, say to me, “Come here! Walk to me on the water.” ’

²⁹ Jesus said to him, ‘Come to me.’

So Peter got down out of the boat. He walked on the water and he came towards Jesus. ³⁰ But then Peter saw that the wind was still blowing strongly. He became afraid and he began to go down into the water. He shouted to Jesus, ‘Lord, save me!’

³¹ Immediately, Jesus put out his hand and he took hold of Peter. He said to Peter, ‘You should trust me more than you do. Why did you not believe that I could help you?’

³² Jesus and Peter climbed up into the boat. Then the strong wind stopped. ³³ The disciples who were in the boat went down on their knees. They praised Jesus and they said to him, ‘It is true. You are really the Son of God.’