Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A song for going up to the Temple.

Joseph Sets a Trap

44 Then Joseph gave a command to his servant. He said, “Fill the men’s sacks with as much grain as they can carry. Then put each man’s money into his sack with the grain. ² Put the youngest brother’s money in his sack too. But also put my special silver cup in his sack.” So the servant obeyed Joseph.

³ Early the next morning the brothers and their donkeys were sent back to their country. ⁴ After they had left the city, Joseph said to his servant, “Go and follow the men. Stop them and say to them, ‘We were good to you! So why have you been bad to us? Why did you steal my master’s silver cup?^{[a] 5} My master drinks from that cup, and he uses it to learn secret things. What you did was wrong!’”

⁶ So the servant obeyed. He rode out to the brothers and stopped them. The servant said to them what Joseph had told him to say.

⁷ But the brothers said to the servant, “Why does the governor say these things? We wouldn’t do anything like that! ⁸ We brought back the money that we found in our sacks before. So surely we wouldn’t steal silver or gold from your master’s house. ⁹ If you find the silver cup in any of our sacks, let that man die. You can kill him, and we will be your slaves.”

¹⁰ The servant said, “I agree, except that only the man who is found to have the cup will be my slave. The others will be free.”

The Trap Is Sprung; Benjamin Is Caught

¹¹ Then every brother quickly opened his sack on the ground. ¹² The servant started looking in the sacks. He started with the oldest brother and ended with the youngest. He found the cup in Benjamin’s sack. ¹³ The brothers were very sad. They tore their clothes to show their sadness. They put their sacks back on the donkeys and went back to the city.

¹⁴ When Judah and his brothers went back to Joseph’s house, Joseph was still there. The brothers fell to the ground and bowed down before him. ¹⁵ Joseph said to them, “Why have you done this? Didn’t you know that I have a special way of learning secrets? No one is better at this than I am!”

¹⁶ Judah said, “Sir, there is nothing we can say. There is no way to explain. There is no way to show that we are not guilty. God has judged us guilty for something else we have done. So all of us, even Benjamin, will be your slaves.”

¹⁷ But Joseph said, “I will not make you all slaves! Only the man who stole the cup will be my slave. You others can go in peace to your father.”

Judah Pleads for Benjamin

¹⁸ Then Judah went to Joseph and said, “Sir, please let me speak plainly with you. Please don’t be angry with me. I know that you are like Pharaoh himself. ¹⁹ When we were here before, you asked us, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’ ²⁰ And we answered you, ‘We have a father—he is an old man. And we have a younger brother. Our father loves him because he was born while our father was old. This youngest son’s brother is dead, so he is the only son who is left from that mother. Our father loves him very much.’ ²¹ Then you said to us, ‘Bring that brother to me. I want to see him.’ ²² And we said to you, ‘That young boy cannot come. He cannot leave his father. If his father loses him, his father will be so sad that he will die.’ ²³ But you said to us, ‘You must bring your youngest brother, or I will not sell you grain again.’ ²⁴ So we went back to our father and told him what you said.

²⁵ “Later, our father said, ‘Go back and buy us some more food.’ ²⁶ We said to our father, ‘We cannot go without our youngest brother. The governor said he will not sell us grain again until he sees our youngest brother.’ ²⁷ Then my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife Rachel gave me two sons. ²⁸ I let one son go away, and he was killed by a wild animal. And I haven’t seen him since. ²⁹ If you take my other son away from me, and something happens to him, I will be sad enough to die.’ ³⁰ Now, imagine what will happen when we go home without our youngest brother—he is the most important thing in our father’s life! ³¹ Our father will die if he sees that the boy isn’t with us—and it will be our fault. We will send our father to his grave a very sad man.

³² “I took responsibility for the young boy. I told my father, ‘If I don’t bring him back to you, you can blame me for the rest of my life.’ ³³ So now I beg you, please let the boy go back with his brothers, and I will stay and be your slave. ³⁴ I cannot go back to my father if the boy is not with me. I am very afraid of what would happen to my father.”

¹³ Now I am speaking to you people who are not Jews. I am an apostle to the non-Jewish people. So while I have that work, I will do the best I can. ¹⁴ I hope I can make my own people jealous. That way, maybe I can help some of them to be saved. ¹⁵ God turned away from the Jews. When that happened, he became friends with the other people in the world. So when he accepts the Jews, it will be like bringing people to life after death. ¹⁶ If the first piece of bread is offered to God, then the whole loaf is made holy. If the roots of a tree are holy, the tree’s branches are holy too.

¹⁷ It is as if some of the branches from an olive tree have been broken off, and the branch of a wild olive tree has been joined to that first tree. If you are not a Jew, you are the same as that wild branch, and you now share the strength and life of the first tree. ¹⁸ But don’t act as if you are better than those branches that were broken off. You have no reason to be proud of yourself, because you don’t give life to the root. The root gives life to you. ¹⁹ You might say, “Branches were broken off so that I could be joined to their tree.” ²⁰ That is true. But those branches were broken off because they did not believe. And you continue to be part of the tree only because you believe. Don’t be proud, but be afraid. ²¹ If God did not let the natural branches of that tree stay, he will not let you stay if you stop believing.

²² So you see that God is kind, but he can also be very strict. He punishes those who stop following him. But he is kind to you, if you continue trusting in his kindness. If you don’t continue depending on him, you will be cut off from the tree. ²³ And if the Jews will believe in God again, he will accept them back. He is able to put them back where they were. ²⁴ It is not natural for a wild branch to become part of a good tree. But you non-Jewish people are like a branch cut from a wild olive tree. And you were joined to a good olive tree. But those Jews are like a branch that grew from the good tree. So surely they can be joined to their own tree again.

²⁵ I want you to understand this secret truth, brothers and sisters. This truth will help you understand that you don’t know everything. The truth is this: Part of Israel has been made stubborn, but that will change when enough non-Jewish people have come to God. ²⁶ And that is how all Israel will be saved. The Scriptures say,

²⁸ The Jews refuse to accept the Good News, so they are God’s enemies. This has happened to help you who are not Jews. But they are still God’s chosen people, and he loves them because of the promises he made to their ancestors. ²⁹ God never changes his mind about the people he calls. He never decides to take back the blessings he has given them.