Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

(A song for worship.)

Living Together in Peace

Joseph Is Made Governor over Egypt

³⁷ The king^[a] and his officials liked this plan. ³⁸ So the king said to them, “Who could possibly handle this better than Joseph? After all, the Spirit of God is with him.”

³⁹ The king told Joseph, “God is the one who has shown you these things. No one else is as wise as you are or knows as much as you do. ^40 (A) I'm putting you in charge of my palace, and everybody will have to obey you. No one will be over you except me. ⁴¹ You are now governor of all Egypt!”

^42 (B) Then the king took off his royal ring and put it on Joseph's finger. He gave him fine clothes to wear and placed a gold chain around his neck. ⁴³ He also let him ride in the chariot next to his own, and people shouted, “Make way for Joseph!” So Joseph was governor of Egypt.

⁴⁴ The king told Joseph, “Although I'm king, no one in Egypt is to do anything without your permission.” ⁴⁵ He gave Joseph the Egyptian name Zaphenath Paneah. And he let him marry Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, a priest in the city of Heliopolis.^[b] Joseph traveled all over^[c] Egypt.

⁴⁶ Joseph was 30 when the king made him governor, and he went everywhere for the king. ⁴⁷ For seven years there were big harvests of grain. ⁴⁸ Joseph collected and stored up the extra grain in the cities of Egypt near the fields where it was harvested. ⁴⁹ In fact, there was so much grain that they stopped keeping record, because it was like counting the grains of sand along the beach.

⁵⁰ Joseph and his wife had two sons before the famine began. ⁵¹ Their first son was named Manasseh, which means, “God has let me forget all my troubles and my family back home.” ⁵² His second son was named Ephraim, which means “God has made me a success^[d] in the land where I suffered.”^[e]

⁵³ Egypt's seven years of plenty came to an end, ^54 (C) and the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. There was not enough food in other countries, but all over Egypt there was plenty. ^55 (D) When the famine finally struck Egypt, the people asked the king for food, but he said, “Go to Joseph and do what he tells you to do.”

⁵⁶ The famine became bad everywhere in Egypt, so Joseph opened the storehouses and sold the grain to the Egyptians. ⁵⁷ People from all over the world came to Egypt to buy grain, because the famine was so severe in their countries.

¹⁹ Some Jewish leaders from Antioch and Iconium came and turned the crowds against Paul. They hit him with stones and dragged him out of the city, thinking he was dead. ²⁰ But when the Lord's followers gathered around Paul, he stood up and went back into the city. The next day he and Barnabas went to Derbe.

Paul and Barnabas Return to Antioch in Syria

²¹ Paul and Barnabas preached the good news in Derbe and won some people to the Lord. Then they went back to Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch in Pisidia. ²² They encouraged the followers and begged them to remain faithful. They told them, “We have to suffer a lot before we can get into God's kingdom.” ²³ Paul and Barnabas chose some leaders for each of the churches. Then they went without eating^[a] and prayed that the Lord would take good care of these leaders who had trusted in the Lord.

²⁴ Paul and Barnabas went on through Pisidia to Pamphylia, ²⁵ where they preached in the town of Perga. Then they went down to Attalia ²⁶ and sailed to Antioch in Syria. It was there that they had been placed in God's care for the work they had now completed.^[b]

²⁷ After arriving in Antioch, they called the church together. They told the people what God had helped them do and how he had made it possible for the Gentiles to believe. ²⁸ Then they stayed there with the followers for a long time.