Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A song of David for going up to the Temple.
133 Oh, how wonderful, how pleasing it is
when God’s people all come together as one[a]!
2 It is like the sweet-smelling oil that is poured over the high priest’s[b] head,
that runs down his beard flowing over his robes.
3 It is like a gentle rain[c] from Mount Hermon falling on Mount Zion.
It is there that the Lord has promised his blessing of eternal life.
37 This seemed like a very good idea to Pharaoh, and all his officials agreed. 38 Then Pharaoh told them, “I don’t think we can find anyone better than Joseph to take this job! God’s Spirit is in him, making him very wise!”
39 So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “God showed these things to you, so you must be the wisest man. 40 I will put you in charge of my country, and the people will obey all your commands. I will be the only one more powerful than you.”
41 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I now make you governor over all of Egypt.” 42 Then Pharaoh gave his special ring to Joseph. The royal seal was on this ring. Pharaoh also gave Joseph a fine linen robe and put a gold chain around his neck. 43 Then he told Joseph to ride in his second chariot. Pharaoh’s officials said, “Let him be the governor over the whole land of Egypt!”[a]
44 Then Pharaoh said to him, “I am Pharaoh, the king over everyone in Egypt, but no one else in Egypt can lift a hand or move a foot unless you say he can.” 45 Then Pharaoh gave Joseph another name, Zaphenath Paneah.[b] He also gave Joseph a wife named Asenath. She was the daughter of Potiphera, a priest in the city of On. So Joseph became the governor over the whole country of Egypt.
46 Joseph was 30 years old when he began serving the king of Egypt. He traveled throughout the country of Egypt. 47 During the seven good years, the crops in Egypt grew very well. 48 Joseph saved the food in Egypt during those seven years and stored the food in the cities. In every city he stored grain that grew in the fields around the city. 49 Joseph stored so much grain that it was like the sands of the sea. He stored so much grain that it could not be measured.
50 Joseph’s wife, Asenath, was the daughter of Potiphera, the priest in the city of On. Before the first year of hunger came, Joseph and Asenath had two sons. 51 Joseph named the first son Manasseh.[c] He was given this name because Joseph said, “God made me forget all my hard work and everything back home in my father’s house.” 52 Joseph named the second son Ephraim.[d] Joseph gave him this name because he said, “I had great troubles, but God has made me successful in everything.”
The Famine Begins
53 For seven years people had all the food they needed, but those years ended. 54 Then the seven years of hunger began, just as Joseph had said. No food grew anywhere in any of the countries in that area. But in Egypt people had plenty to eat because Joseph had stored the grain. 55 The famine began, and the people cried to Pharaoh for food. Pharaoh said to the Egyptian people, “Go ask Joseph what to do.”
56 There was famine everywhere, so Joseph gave the people grain from the warehouses. He sold the stored grain to the people of Egypt. The famine was bad in Egypt, 57 but the famine was bad everywhere. So people from the countries around Egypt had to come to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain.
19 Then some Jews came from Antioch and Iconium and persuaded the people to turn against Paul. So they threw stones at him and dragged him out of the town. They thought they had killed him. 20 But when the followers of Jesus gathered around him, he got up and went back into the town. The next day he and Barnabas left and went to the city of Derbe.
The Return to Antioch in Syria
21 They also told the Good News in the city of Derbe, and many people became followers of Jesus. Then Paul and Barnabas returned to the cities of Lystra, Iconium, and Antioch. 22 In those cities they helped the followers grow stronger in their faith and encouraged them to continue trusting God. They told them, “We must suffer many things on our way into God’s kingdom.” 23 They also chose elders for each church and stopped eating for a period of time to pray for them. These elders were men who had put their trust in the Lord Jesus, so Paul and Barnabas put them in his care.
24 Paul and Barnabas went through the country of Pisidia. Then they came to the country of Pamphylia. 25 They told people the message of God in the city of Perga, and then they went down to the city of Attalia. 26 And from there they sailed away to Antioch in Syria. This is the city where the believers had put them into God’s care and sent them to do this work. Now they had finished it.
27 When Paul and Barnabas arrived, they gathered the church together. They told them everything God had used them to do. They said, “God opened a door for the non-Jewish people to believe!” 28 And they stayed there a long time with the Lord’s followers.
Copyright © 2006 by Bible League International