Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Prayer for Help, and Joy in Its Answer
A psalm of David.[a]
28 To you, O Yahweh, I call.
O my rock, do not be deaf to me.
Or else, if you are silent to me,
then I will become like those descending to the pit.
2 Hear the voice of my supplications
when I cry to you for help,
when I lift up my hands
toward your holy inner sanctuary.
3 Do not drag me away with the wicked
or with the workers of evil,
who speak of peace with their neighbors,
while evil is in their heart.
4 Give to them according to their work,
even according to the evil of their deeds.
Give to them according to the work of their hands;
repay them their rightful due.
5 Because they do not regard the works of Yahweh,
nor the work of his hands,
he will destroy them
and not rebuild them.
6 Blessed is Yahweh,
because he has heard the voice of my supplications.
7 Yahweh is my strength and my shield.
My heart trusts him and I am helped.
So my heart rejoices,
and with my song I will give thanks to him.
8 Yahweh is their strength,
and he is the refuge for the salvation of his anointed one.
9 Save your people
and bless your heritage.
Shepherd them also and carry them always.
Joseph in Potiphar’s House
39 Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, a court official of Pharaoh, commander of the guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the hand of the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there. 2 And Yahweh was with Joseph, and he became a successful man. And he was in the house of his master, the Egyptian. 3 And his master observed that Yahweh was with him, and everything that was in his hand to do Yahweh made successful. 4 And Joseph found favor in his eyes and he served him. Then he appointed him[a] over his house and all that he owned he put into his hand. 5 And it happened that from the time he appointed him over his house and over all that he had, Yahweh blessed the house of the Egyptian on account of Joseph. And the blessing of Yahweh was upon all that he had in the house and in the field. 6 And he left all that he had in the hand of Joseph, and he did not worry about anything[b] except the food that he ate. Now Joseph was well built and handsome.[c] 7 And it happened that after these things his master’s wife cast her eyes on Joseph, and she said, “Lie with me.” 8 But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Look, my master does not worry about[d] what is in the house, and everything he owns he has put in my hand. 9 He has no greater authority in this house than me, and he has not withheld anything from me except you, since you are his wife. Now how could I do this great wickedness and sin against God?” 10 And it happened that as she spoke to Joseph day after day,[e] he did not heed her to lie beside her or to be with her. 11 But one particular day[f] he came into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house were there in the house, 12 she seized him by his garment and said, “Lie with me!” And he left his garment in her hand and fled, and he went outside. 13 And it happened that when she saw that he left his garment in her hand and fled outside, 14 she called to the men of her house and said to them, “Look! He[g] brought a Hebrew man to us to mock us! He came to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice. 15 And when he heard me, that I raised my voice and called out, he left his garment beside me and fled, and he went outside.” 16 Then she put his garment beside her until his master came to his house. 17 Then she spoke to him according to these words, saying, “The Hebrew slave that you brought to us came to me to make fun of me. 18 And it happened that as I raised my voice and called out, he left his garment beside me and fled outside.” 19 And when his master heard the words of his wife that she spoke to him, “This is what your servant did to me,”[h] he became very angry.[i] 20 And Joseph’s master took him and put him into prison, the place that the king’s prisoners were confined. And he was there in prison. 21 And Yahweh was with Joseph, and showed loyal love to him, and gave him favor in the eyes of the chief of the prison. 22 And the chief of the prison put all the prisoners that were in the prison into the hand of Joseph. And everything that was done there, he was the one who did it. 23 The chief of the prison did not worry about[j] anything in his[k] hand, since Yahweh was with him. And whatever he did Yahweh made it successful.
God’s Sovereign Choice to Show Mercy
14 What then shall we say? There is no injustice with God, is there?[a] May it never be! 15 For to Moses he says, “I will have mercy on whomever I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whomever I have compassion.”[b] 16 Consequently therefore, it does not depend on the[c] one who wills or on the one who runs, but on God who shows mercy. 17 For the scripture says to Pharaoh, “For this very reason I have raised you up, so that I may demonstrate my power in you, and so that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.”[d] 18 Consequently therefore, he has mercy on whomever he wishes, and he hardens whomever he wishes.
19 Therefore you will say to me, “Why then does he still find fault? For who has resisted[e] his will? 20 On the contrary, O man, who are you who answers back to God? Will what is molded say to the one who molded it, “Why did you make me like this”?[f] 21 Or does the potter not have authority over the clay, to make from the same lump a vessel that is for honorable use[g] and one that is for ordinary use[h]? 22 And what if God, wanting to demonstrate his wrath and to make known his power, endured with much patience vessels of wrath prepared for destruction? 23 And he did so[i] in order that he could make known the riches of his glory upon vessels of mercy that he prepared beforehand for glory, 24 us whom he also called, not only from the Jews but also from the Gentiles? 25 As he also says in Hosea,
“I will call those who were not my people, ‘My people,’
and those who were not loved, ‘Loved.’[j]
26 And it will be in the place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’
there they will be called ‘sons of the living God.’”[k]
27 And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel,
“Even if the number of the sons of Israel is like the sand of the sea,
the remnant will be saved,
28 for the Lord will execute his sentence thoroughly and decisively[l] upon the earth.”[m]
29 And just as Isaiah foretold,
“If the Lord of hosts had not left us descendants,
we would have become like Sodom
and would have resembled Gomorrah.”[n]
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