Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
Prayer for Help—Praise for the Answer
28 O Lord, to You I call. O my Rock, listen to me. If You will not hear me, I will be like those who have gone down to the grave. 2 Hear my cry for loving-kindness as I call to You for help, and when I lift up my hands to Your holy place. 3 Do not drag me away with the sinful and with those who do bad things. They speak peace with their neighbors, while sin is in their hearts. 4 Pay them for their work and for the sins they do. Pay them for the works of their hands. Give them what they have earned. 5 They do not think about the works of the Lord and what His hands have done. So He will pull them down and not build them up again.
6 May honor and thanks be given to the Lord, because He has heard my prayer. 7 The Lord is my strength and my safe cover. My heart trusts in Him, and I am helped. So my heart is full of joy. I will thank Him with my song. 8 The Lord is the strength of His people. He is a safe place for His chosen one. 9 Save Your people and bring good to what is Yours. Be their shepherd and carry them forever.
Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife
39 Now Joseph had been taken down to Egypt by the Ishmaelites. And Potiphar, an Egyptian leader, the head of the soldiers of Pharaoh’s house, bought him from the Ishmaelites. 2 The Lord was with Joseph, and all went well with him. He was in the house of his boss the Egyptian. 3 Now his boss saw that the Lord was with him. He saw how the Lord made all that Joseph did go well. 4 So Joseph found favor in his eyes, and worked only for him. Potiphar made him the one to watch over his house and take care of all that he owned. 5 And from the time that he watched over his house and all he owned, the Lord brought good to the Egyptian’s house because of Joseph. The Lord brought good upon all that he owned in the house and in the field. 6 So he put all he owned in Joseph’s care. Having Joseph near, he did not need to think about anything but the food he ate. Now Joseph was strong and good-looking. 7 The time came when his boss’s wife saw him, and she said, “Lie with me.” 8 But he would not do it. He said to his boss’s wife, “See, with me near, my boss does not worry about anything in the house. He has put all he owns in my care. 9 There is no one more important in this house than I. And he has held nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. How then could I do this sinful thing, and sin against God?”
10 She spoke to Joseph day after day. But he did not listen to her. He would not lie with her or be with her. 11 Then one day Joseph went into the house to do his work. None of the men of the house were inside. 12 She caught him by his coat, saying, “Lie with me!” But he ran out of the house leaving the coat in her hand. 13 When she saw that he had left his coat in her hand and had run out of the house, 14 she called the men of her house. And she said to them, “See, this Hebrew has been brought to us to make fun of us. He came in to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice. 15 When he heard my loud cry, he left his coat with me and ran outside.”
16 She kept his coat with her until his boss came home. 17 Then she told him the same story, saying, “The Hebrew servant whom you brought to us came to me to lie with me. 18 But when I called out in a loud voice, he left his coat with me and ran outside.” 19 When his boss heard his wife’s story and her words, “This is what your servant did to me,” he became very angry. 20 So Joseph’s boss took him and put him in prison, the place where the men who did wrong against the king were put in chains. So there he was in prison.
21 But the Lord was with Joseph, and showed him kindness. He gave him favor in the eyes of the man who watched over the prison. 22 The head of the prison put all the men who were in prison into Joseph’s care. So whatever was done there was because of Joseph. 23 The head of the prison did not worry about anything under Joseph’s care, because the Lord was with him. The Lord made all go well with whatever Joseph did.
14 What about it then? Can we say that God is not fair? No, not at all! 15 God said to Moses, “I will have loving-kindness and loving-pity for anyone I want to.” (A) 16 These good things from God are not given to someone because he wants them or works to get them. They are given because of His loving-kindness. 17 The Holy Writings say to Pharaoh, “I made you leader for this reason: I used you to show My power. I used you to make My name known over all the world.” (B) 18 So God has loving-kindness for those He wants to. He makes some have hard hearts if He wants to.
19 But you will ask me, “Why does God blame men for what they do? Who can go against what God wants?” 20 Who are you to talk back to God? A pot being made from clay does not talk to the man making it and say, “Why did you make me like this?” 21 The man making the pots has the right to use the clay as he wants to. He can make two pots from the same piece of clay. One can have an important use. The other one can be of little use. 22 It may be that God wants to show His power and His anger against sin. He waits a long time on some men who are ready to be destroyed. 23 God also wanted to show His shining-greatness to those He has given His loving-kindness. He made them ready for His shining-greatness from the beginning. 24 We are the ones He chose. He did not only choose Jews. He also chose some from among the people who are not Jews. 25 In the Book of Hosea He says, “Those who are not My people, I will call, ‘My people.’ Those who are not loved, I will call, ‘My loved ones.’” (C) 26 “And where it said, ‘You are not my people,’ they will be called sons of the living God.” (D) 27 Isaiah says this about the Jews, “Even if there are as many Jews as the sand by the sea, only a few of them will be saved from the punishment of sin. 28 For the Lord will do on earth what He says in His Word. He will work fast when He says what will happen here.” (E) 29 Isaiah said also, “If God had not left some of the Jews, we would have all been destroyed like the people who lived in the cities of Sodom and Gomorrah.” (F)
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