Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Psalm 28

[A Psalm] of David.

¹ Unto You do I cry, O Lord my Rock, be not deaf and silent to me, lest, if You be silent to me, I become like those going down to the pit [the grave].

² Hear the voice of my supplication as I cry to You for help, as I lift up my hands toward Your innermost sanctuary (the Holy of Holies).

³ Drag me not away with the wicked, with the workers of iniquity, who speak peace with their neighbors, but malice and mischief are in their hearts.

⁴ Repay them according to their work and according to the wickedness of their doings; repay them according to the work of their hands; render to them what they deserve.^(A)

⁵ Because they regard not the works of the Lord nor the operations of His hands, He will break them down and not rebuild them.

⁶ Blessed be the Lord, because He has heard the voice of my supplications.

⁷ The Lord is my Strength and my [impenetrable] Shield; my heart trusts in, relies on, and confidently leans on Him, and I am helped; therefore my heart greatly rejoices, and with my song will I praise Him.

⁸ The Lord is their [unyielding] Strength, and He is the Stronghold of salvation to [me] His anointed.

⁹ Save Your people and bless Your heritage; nourish and shepherd them and carry them forever.

39 And Joseph was brought down to Egypt; and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain and chief executioner of the [royal] guard, an Egyptian, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had brought him down there.

² But the Lord was with Joseph, and he [though a slave] was a successful and prosperous man; and he was in the house of his master the Egyptian.

³ And his master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord made all that he did to flourish and succeed in his hand.^(A)

⁴ So Joseph pleased [Potiphar] and found favor in his sight, and he served him. And [his master] made him supervisor over his house and he put all that he had in his charge.

⁵ From the time that he made him supervisor in his house and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; and the Lord’s blessing was on all that he had in the house and in the field.

⁶ And [Potiphar] left all that he had in Joseph’s charge and paid no attention to anything he had except the food he ate. Now Joseph was an attractive person and fine-looking.

⁷ Then after a time his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph, and she said, Lie with me.

⁸ But he refused and said to his master’s wife, See here, with me in the house my master has concern about nothing; he has put all that he has in my care.

⁹ He is not greater in this house than I am; nor has he kept anything from me except you, for you are his wife. How then can I do this great evil and sin against God?

¹⁰ She spoke to Joseph day after day, but he did not listen to her, to lie with her or to be with her.

¹¹ Then it happened about this time that Joseph went into the house to attend to his duties, and none of the men of the house were indoors.

¹² And she caught him by his garment, saying, Lie with me! But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out [of the house].

¹³ And when she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled away,

¹⁴ She called to the men of her household and said to them, Behold, he [your master] has brought in a Hebrew to us to mock and insult us; he came in where I was to lie with me, and I screamed at the top of my voice.

¹⁵ And when he heard me screaming and crying, he left his garment with me and fled and got out of the house.

¹⁶ And she laid up his garment by her until his master came home.

¹⁷ Then she told him the same story, saying, The Hebrew servant whom you brought among us came to me to mock and insult me.

¹⁸ And when I screamed and cried, he left his garment with me and fled out [of the house].

¹⁹ And when [Joseph’s] master heard the words of his wife, saying to him, This is the way your servant treated me, his wrath was kindled.

²⁰ And Joseph’s master took him and put him in the prison, a place where the state prisoners were confined; so he was there in the prison.

²¹ But the Lord was with Joseph, and showed him mercy and loving-kindness and gave him favor in the sight of the warden of the prison.

²² And the warden of the prison committed to Joseph’s care all the prisoners who were in the prison; and whatsoever was done there, he was in charge of it.

²³ The prison warden paid no attention to anything that was in [Joseph’s] charge, for the Lord was with him and made whatever he did to prosper.

¹⁴ What shall we conclude then? Is there injustice upon God’s part? Certainly not!

¹⁵ For He says to Moses, I will have mercy on whom I will have mercy and I will have compassion (pity) on whom I will have compassion.^(A)

¹⁶ So then [God’s gift] is not a question of human will and human effort, but of God’s mercy. [It depends not on one’s own willingness nor on his strenuous exertion as in running a race, but on God’s having mercy on him.]

¹⁷ For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, I have raised you up for this very purpose of displaying My power in [dealing with] you, so that My name may be proclaimed the whole world over.

¹⁸ So then He has mercy on whomever He wills (chooses) and He hardens (makes stubborn and unyielding the heart of) whomever He wills.

¹⁹ You will say to me, Why then does He still find fault and blame us [for sinning]? For who can resist and withstand His will?

²⁰ But who are you, a mere man, to criticize and contradict and answer back to God? Will what is formed say to him that formed it, Why have you made me thus?^(B)

²¹ Has the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same mass (lump) one vessel for beauty and distinction and honorable use, and another for menial or ignoble and dishonorable use?

²² What if God, although fully intending to show [the awfulness of] His wrath and to make known His power and authority, has tolerated with much patience the vessels (objects) of [His] anger which are ripe for destruction?^(C)

²³ And [what if] He thus purposes to make known and show the wealth of His glory in [dealing with] the vessels (objects) of His mercy which He has prepared beforehand for glory,

²⁴ Even including ourselves whom He has called, not only from among the Jews but also from among the Gentiles (heathen)?

²⁵ Just as He says in Hosea, Those who were not My people I will call My people, and her who was not beloved [I will call] My beloved.^(D)

²⁶ And it shall be that in the very place where it was said to them, You are not My people, they shall be called sons of the living God.^(E)

²⁷ And Isaiah calls out (solemnly cries aloud) over Israel: Though the number of the sons of Israel be like the sand of the sea, only the remnant (a small part of them) will be saved [^[a]from perdition, condemnation, judgment]!

²⁸ For the Lord will execute His sentence upon the earth [He will conclude and close His account with men completely and without delay], rigorously cutting it short in His justice.^(F)

²⁹ It is as Isaiah predicted, If the Lord of hosts had not left us a seed [from which to propagate descendants], we [Israel] would have fared like Sodom and have been made like Gomorrah.^(G)