Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Prayer for Mercy

A song for going up to worship.

The Brothers Go Back to Egypt

43 Still no food grew in the land of Canaan. ² When Jacob’s family had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt, Jacob said to them, “Go to Egypt again and buy a little more grain for us to eat.”

³ But Judah said to Jacob, “The governor of that country strongly warned us, ‘If you don’t bring your brother back with you, you will not be allowed to see me.’ ⁴ If you will send Benjamin with us, we will go down and buy food for you. ⁵ But if you refuse to send Benjamin, we will not go. The governor of that country warned us that we would not see him if we didn’t bring Benjamin with us.”

⁶ Israel^[a] said, “Why did you tell the man you had another brother? You have caused me a lot of trouble.”

⁷ The brothers answered, “He questioned us carefully about ourselves and our family. He asked us, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ We just answered his questions. How could we know he would ask us to bring our other brother to him?”

⁸ Then Judah said to his father Jacob, “Send Benjamin with me, and we will go at once so that we, you, and our children may live and not die. ⁹ I will guarantee you that he will be safe, and I will be personally responsible for him. If I don’t bring him back to you, you can blame me all my life. ¹⁰ If we had not wasted all this time, we could have already made two trips.”

¹¹ Then their father Jacob said to them, “If it has to be that way, then do this: Take some of the best foods in our land in your packs. Give them to the man as a gift: some balm, some honey, spices, myrrh, pistachio nuts, and almonds. ¹² Take twice as much money with you this time, and take back the money that was returned to you in your sacks last time. Maybe it was a mistake. ¹³ And take Benjamin with you. Now leave and go to the man. ¹⁴ I pray that God Almighty will cause the governor to be merciful to you and that he will allow Simeon and Benjamin to come back with you. If I am robbed of my children, then I am robbed of them!”

¹⁵ So the brothers took the gifts. They also took twice as much money as they had taken the first time, and they took Benjamin. They hurried down to Egypt and stood before Joseph.

¹⁶ When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the servant in charge of his house, “Bring those men into my house. Kill an animal and prepare a meal. Those men will eat with me today at noon.” ¹⁷ The servant did as Joseph told him and brought the men to Joseph’s house.

¹⁸ The brothers were afraid when they were brought to Joseph’s house and thought, “We were brought here because of the money that was put in our sacks on the first trip. He wants to attack us, make us slaves, and take our donkeys.” ¹⁹ So the brothers went to the servant in charge of Joseph’s house and spoke to him at the door of the house. ²⁰ They said, “Master, we came here once before to buy food. ²¹ While we were going home, we stopped for the night and when we opened our sacks each of us found all his money in his sack. We brought that money with us to give it back to you. ²² And we have brought more money to pay for the food we want to buy this time. We don’t know who put that money in our sacks.”

²³ But the servant answered, “It’s all right. Don’t be afraid. Your God, the God of your father, must have put the money in your sacks. I got the money you paid me for the grain last time.” Then the servant brought Simeon out to them.

²⁴ The servant led the men into Joseph’s house and gave them water, and they washed their feet. Then he gave their donkeys food to eat. ²⁵ The men prepared their gift to give to Joseph when he arrived at noon, because they had heard they were going to eat with him there.

²⁶ When Joseph came home, the brothers gave him the gift they had brought into the house and bowed down to the ground in front of him. ²⁷ Joseph asked them how they were doing. He said, “How is your aged father you told me about? Is he still alive?”

²⁸ The brothers answered, “Your servant, our father, is well. He is still alive.” And they bowed low before Joseph to show him respect.

²⁹ When Joseph saw his brother Benjamin, who had the same mother as he, Joseph asked, “Is this your youngest brother you told me about?” Then he said to Benjamin, “God be good to you, my son!” ³⁰ Then Joseph hurried off because he had to hold back the tears when he saw his brother Benjamin. So Joseph went into his room and cried there. ³¹ Then he washed his face and came out. He controlled himself and said, “Serve the meal.”

³² So they served Joseph at one table, his brothers at another table, and the Egyptians who ate with him at another table. This was because Egyptians did not like Hebrews and never ate with them. ³³ Joseph’s brothers were seated in front of him in order of their ages, from oldest to youngest. They looked at each other because they were so amazed. ³⁴ Food from Joseph’s table was taken to them, but Benjamin was given five times more food than the others. Joseph’s brothers ate and drank freely with him.

The Meeting at Jerusalem

15 Then some people came to Antioch from Judea and began teaching the non-Jewish believers: “You cannot be saved if you are not circumcised as Moses taught us.” ² Paul and Barnabas were against this teaching and argued with them about it. So the church decided to send Paul, Barnabas, and some others to Jerusalem where they could talk more about this with the apostles and elders.

³ The church helped them leave on the trip, and they went through the countries of Phoenicia and Samaria, telling all about how the other nations had turned to God. This made all the believers very happy. ⁴ When they arrived in Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the apostles, the elders, and the church. Paul, Barnabas, and the others told about everything God had done with them. ⁵ But some of the believers who belonged to the Pharisee group came forward and said, “The non-Jewish believers must be circumcised. They must be told to obey the law of Moses.”

⁶ The apostles and the elders gathered to consider this problem. ⁷ After a long debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God chose me from among you to preach the Good News to the nations. They heard the Good News from me, and they believed. ⁸ God, who knows the thoughts of everyone, accepted them. He showed this to us by giving them the Holy Spirit, just as he did to us. ⁹ To God, those people are not different from us. When they believed, he made their hearts pure. ¹⁰ So now why are you testing God by putting a heavy load around the necks of the non-Jewish believers? It is a load that neither we nor our ancestors were able to carry. ¹¹ But we believe that we and they too will be saved by the grace of the Lord Jesus.”

¹² Then the whole group became quiet. They listened to Paul and Barnabas tell about all the miracles and signs that God did through them among the people. ¹³ After they finished speaking, James said, “Brothers, listen to me. ¹⁴ Simon has told us how God showed his love for those people. For the first time he is accepting from among them a people to be his own. ¹⁵ The words of the prophets agree with this too:

¹⁹ “So I think we should not bother the other people who are turning to God. ²⁰ Instead, we should write a letter to them telling them these things: Stay away from food that has been offered to idols (which makes it unclean), any kind of sexual sin, eating animals that have been strangled, and blood. ²¹ They should do these things, because for a long time in every city the law of Moses has been taught. And it is still read in the synagogue every Sabbath day.”