Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

In Praise of Living in Peace^[a]

¹⁴ The king sent for Joseph, and he was immediately brought from the prison. After he had shaved and changed his clothes, he came into the king's presence. ¹⁵ The king said to him, “I have had a dream, and no one can explain it. I have been told that you can interpret dreams.”

¹⁶ Joseph answered, “I cannot, Your Majesty, but God will give a favorable interpretation.”

¹⁷ The king said, “I dreamed that I was standing on the bank of the Nile, ¹⁸ when seven cows, fat and sleek, came up out of the river and began feeding on the grass. ¹⁹ Then seven other cows came up which were thin and bony. They were the poorest cows I have ever seen anywhere in Egypt. ²⁰ The thin cows ate up the fat ones, ²¹ but no one would have known it, because they looked just as bad as before. Then I woke up. ²² I also dreamed that I saw seven heads of grain which were full and ripe, growing on one stalk. ²³ Then seven heads of grain sprouted, thin and scorched by the desert wind, ²⁴ and the thin heads of grain swallowed the full ones. I told the dreams to the magicians, but none of them could explain them to me.”

²⁵ Joseph said to the king, “The two dreams mean the same thing; God has told you what he is going to do. ²⁶ The seven fat cows are seven years, and the seven full heads of grain are also seven years; they have the same meaning. ²⁷ The seven thin cows which came up later and the seven thin heads of grain scorched by the desert wind are seven years of famine. ²⁸ It is just as I told you—God has shown you what he is going to do. ²⁹ There will be seven years of great plenty in all the land of Egypt. ³⁰ After that, there will be seven years of famine, and all the good years will be forgotten, because the famine will ruin the country. ³¹ The time of plenty will be entirely forgotten, because the famine which follows will be so terrible. ³² The repetition of your dream means that the matter is fixed by God and that he will make it happen in the near future.

³³ “Now you should choose some man with wisdom and insight and put him in charge of the country. ³⁴ You must also appoint other officials and take a fifth of the crops during the seven years of plenty. ³⁵ Order them to collect all the food during the good years that are coming, and give them authority to store up grain in the cities and guard it. ³⁶ The food will be a reserve supply for the country during the seven years of famine which are going to come on Egypt. In this way the people will not starve.”

The Angels with the Last Plagues

15 Then I saw in the sky another mysterious sight, great and amazing. There were seven angels with seven plagues, which are the last ones, because they are the final expression of God's anger.

² Then I saw what looked like a sea of glass mixed with fire. I also saw those who had won the victory over the beast and its image and over the one whose name is represented by a number. They were standing by the sea of glass, holding harps that God had given them ^3 (A)and singing the song of Moses, the servant of God, and the song of the Lamb: