Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Prayer for Help, and Praise for Its Answer.

A Psalm of David.

Joseph’s Success in Egypt

39 Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an Egyptian officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the [royal] guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites, who had taken him down there. ² The Lord was with Joseph, and he [even though a slave] became a successful and prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. ³ Now his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord caused all that he did to prosper (succeed) in his hand.^{(A) 4} So Joseph pleased Potiphar and found favor in his sight and he served him as his personal servant. He made Joseph overseer over his house, and he put all that he owned in Joseph’s charge. ⁵ It happened that from the time that he made Joseph overseer in his house and [put him in charge] over all that he owned, that the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house because of Joseph; so the Lord’s blessing was on everything that Potiphar owned, in the house and in the field. ⁶ So Potiphar left all that he owned in Joseph’s charge; and with Joseph there he did not [need to] ^[a]pay attention to anything except the food he ate.

Now Joseph was handsome and attractive in form and appearance.^{(B) 7} Then after a time his master’s wife ^[b]looked at Joseph with desire, and she said, “Lie with me.” ⁸ But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Look, with me in the house, my master does not concern himself with anything; he has put everything that he owns in my charge. ⁹ He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this great evil and sin against God [and your husband]?” ¹⁰ And so it was that she spoke to Joseph [persistently] day after day, but he did not listen to her [plea] to lie beside her or be with her. ¹¹ Then it happened one day that Joseph went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the men of the household was there in the house. ¹² She caught Joseph by his [outer] robe, saying, “Lie with me!” But he left his robe in her hand and ran, and got outside [the house]. ¹³ When she saw that he had left his robe in her hand and had run outside, ¹⁴ she called to the men of her household and said to them, “Look at this, your master has brought a Hebrew [into the household] to mock and insult us; he came to me to lie with me, and I screamed. ¹⁵ When he heard me screaming, he left his robe with me and ran outside [the house].” ¹⁶ So she left Joseph’s [outer] robe beside her until his master came home. ¹⁷ Then she told her husband the same story, saying, “The Hebrew servant, whom you brought among us, came to me to mock and insult me; ¹⁸ then as soon as I raised my voice and screamed, he left his robe with me and ran outside [the house].”

Joseph Imprisoned

¹⁹ And when Joseph’s master heard the words of his wife, saying, “This is the way your servant treated me,” his anger burned. ²⁰ So Joseph’s master took him and put him in the prison, a place where the king’s prisoners were confined; so he was there in the prison. ²¹ But the Lord was with Joseph and extended lovingkindness to him, and gave him favor in the sight of the warden. ²² The warden committed to Joseph’s care (management) all the prisoners who were in the prison; so that whatever was done there, he was ^[c]in charge of it. ²³ The warden paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph’s care because the Lord was with him; whatever Joseph did, the Lord made to prosper.

¹⁴ What shall we say then? Is there injustice with God? Certainly not! ¹⁵ For He says to Moses, “I will have mercy on whomever I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I have compassion.”^{(A) 16} So then God’s choice is not dependent on human will, nor on human effort [the totality of human striving], but on God who shows mercy [to whomever He chooses—it is His sovereign gift]. ¹⁷ For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, “I raised you up for this very purpose, to display My power in [dealing with] you, and so that My name would be proclaimed in all the earth.”^{(B) 18} So then, He has mercy on whom He wills (chooses), and He hardens [the heart of] whom He wills.

¹⁹ You will say to me then, “Why does He still blame me [for sinning]? For who [including myself] has [ever] resisted His will and purpose?” ²⁰ On the contrary, who are you, O man, who answers [arrogantly] back to God and dares to defy Him? Will the thing which is formed say to him who formed it, “Why have you made me like this?”^{(C) 21} Does the potter not have the right over the clay, to make from the same lump [of clay] one object for honorable use [something beautiful or distinctive] and another for common use [something ordinary or menial]? ²² What if God, although willing to show His [terrible] wrath and to make His power known, has tolerated with great patience the objects of His wrath [which are] prepared for destruction?^{(D) 23} And what if He has done so to make known the riches of His glory to the objects of His mercy, which He has prepared beforehand for glory, ²⁴ including us, whom He also called, not only from among the Jews, but also from among the Gentiles? ²⁵ Just as He says in [the writings of the prophet] Hosea:

²⁷ And Isaiah calls out concerning Israel: “Though the number of the sons of Israel be like the sand of the sea, it is only the remnant [a small believing minority] that will be saved [from God’s judgment]; ²⁸ For the Lord will execute His word upon the earth [He will conclude His dealings with mankind] completely and without delay.”^{(G) 29} It is as Isaiah foretold,