Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Psalm 105
1 Come, offer thanks to the Eternal; invoke His holy name.
Tell other people about the things He has done.
2 Sing songs of praise to Him;
tell stories of all His miracles.
3 Revel in His holy name.
May the hearts of the people who seek the Eternal celebrate and experience great joy.
4 Seek the Eternal and His power;
look to His face constantly.
5 Remember the wonderful things He has done,
His miracles and the wise decisions He has made,
6 O children of Abraham, His servant;
O children of Jacob, His chosen people!
16 He ordered famine to grip the land and
cut them off from their supply of bread.
17 But long before, He had sent a man ahead of them:
Joseph, who had been sold into slavery.[a]
18 At first, his masters shackled his feet with chains,
placed his neck into a collar of iron.
19 That was until the Eternal’s promises came to pass;
His word tested Joseph and proved him worthy.
20 The king sent out the order to release him from prison;
the ruler of Egypt liberated him from the chains.
21 Then he put Joseph in charge of the royal household,
made him ruler of all the royal possessions,
22 Allowed him to imprison the royal officials whenever he saw fit
and impart wisdom to the elders in the land.
45 So that they would be able to keep His commands
and obey His laws.
Praise the Eternal!
5 One day Joseph had a dream. When he told the dream to his brothers, they hated him even more.
Joseph: 6 Please listen to this dream I had! 7 There we were, binding sheaves in the field. Suddenly my sheaf rose and stood up, and then your sheaves all gathered around it and bowed down to my sheaf.
Joseph’s Brothers (annoyed): 8 Are you serious? You think you are somehow destined to reign over us? You think you are going to be our king?
This dream and what he told them about it made them hate him even more.
9 But Joseph had another dream, and he made the mistake of telling them about this dream too.
Joseph: Listen! I’ve had another dream: I saw the sun, the moon, and 11 stars bowing down to me.
10 When he told this dream to his father and brothers, even his father scolded him.
Israel: What kind of dream is this? Do you actually think your mother and I and your brothers are going to bow down before you?
11 Joseph’s brothers had become extremely jealous of him. But his father—though he scolded Joseph—kept this dream in the back of his mind.
16 They came to Him together, a band of Pharisees and a band of Sadducees, trying to trick and trap Him.
Now at this time in Judea, the Jews, the children of Israel, are a diverse bunch. One group of Jews, which Jesus has already encountered, is called the Pharisees. Another group of Jews is called the Sadducees. The two groups do not agree about how to read Scripture, they do not see eye-to-eye, and they do not get along. They rarely partner with each other, but here they are partnering—because they are so perplexed, befuddled, and panicked about this Jesus.
They asked Him for a sign from heaven.
Jesus: 2 At evening time, you read the sky as a sign—you say, “The weather will be fine because the sky is shading red,” 3 and in the morning, you read the sky as a sign, saying, “The red, stormy sky tells me that today we will have storms.” So you are skilled at interpreting the sky, but you cannot interpret the signs of the times? 4 Only a cheating and evil generation such as this would beg for a miraculous sign from heaven. The only sign you will get will be the sign of Jonah.
And then Jesus left them and went away.
The Voice Bible Copyright © 2012 Thomas Nelson, Inc. The Voice™ translation © 2012 Ecclesia Bible Society All rights reserved.