Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

God Watches Over His People

124 “If the Lord had not been on our side,” let Israel say, ² “If the Lord had not been on our side when men came against us, ³ they would have eaten us up alive. Because their anger burned against us. ⁴ The waters would have covered us. The river would have passed over our soul. ⁵ The angry waters would have passed over our soul.”

⁶ Honor and thanks be to the Lord! He has not let us be torn by their teeth. ⁷ We have become free like a bird out of a trap. The net is broken and now we are free. ⁸ Our help is in the name of the Lord, Who made heaven and earth.

The Death of Jacob

²⁹ Then he told them, “I will soon be with my people who have died before me. Bury me with my fathers in the grave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, ³⁰ in the grave that is in the field of Machpelah, east of Mamre, in the land of Canaan. Abraham bought this grave and the field from Ephron the Hittite for a burying place. ³¹ There they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah. There they buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah. And there I buried Leah. ³² The field and the grave that is in it were bought from the sons of Heth.”

³³ When Jacob finished telling his sons what to do, he lay back down on his bed and died.

50 Then Joseph threw himself upon his father, and cried over him and kissed him. ² Joseph told his servants the doctors to make his father ready to be buried. So the doctors made Israel ready. ³ Forty days were needed for this. For this is how much time it took for making the body ready to be buried. And the Egyptians cried for him seventy days.

⁴ When the days of sorrow for him were past, Joseph said to those of Pharaoh’s house, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, speak to Pharaoh, saying, ⁵ ‘My father had me make a promise to him. He said, “See, I am about to die. Bury me in my grave which I dug for myself in the land of Canaan.” So let me go and bury my father. Then I will return.’” ⁶ Pharaoh answered, “Go and bury your father as he made you promise.”

⁷ So Joseph went to bury his father. With him went all the servants of Pharaoh, the leaders of his house and all the important men of the land of Egypt, ⁸ and all those of the house of Joseph, and his brothers, and those of his father’s house. They left only their little ones and their flocks and cattle in the land of Goshen. ⁹ Wagons and men on horses went with him also. It was a very large group of people.

¹⁰ They came to the grain-floor of Atad on the other side of the Jordan. There they cried with much sorrow. Joseph cried in sorrow for his father for seven days. ¹¹ When those who lived in the land, the Canaanites, saw the people crying in sorrow at the grain-floor of Atad, they said, “This is a great sorrow for the Egyptians.” So the place was given the name Abel-mizraim. It is on the other side of the Jordan.

¹² Jacob’s sons did as he had told them. ¹³ They carried him to the land of Canaan. They buried him in the grave of the field of Machpelah, east of Mamre, which Abraham had bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite for a burying place. ¹⁴ After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone with him to bury his father.

¹² We do not compare ourselves with those who think they are good. They compare themselves with themselves. They decide what they think is good or bad and compare themselves with those ideas. They are foolish. ¹³ But we will not talk with pride more than God allows us to. We will follow the plan of the work He has given us to do and you are a part of that work. ¹⁴ We did not go farther than we were supposed to go when we came to you. But we did come to you with the Good News of Christ. ¹⁵ We take no pride in the work others have done there. But we hope your faith will keep growing because of help from others. Then we will grow because of you. ¹⁶ We hope to preach the Good News in the countries on the other side of you. Then we would take no pride in work done by another person in another country. ¹⁷ If anyone wants to be proud, he should be proud of what the Lord has done. ¹⁸ It is not what a man thinks and says of himself that is important. It is what God thinks of him.