Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

In Praise of Living in Peace^[a]

Joseph Is Made Governor over Egypt

³⁷ The king and his officials approved this plan, ³⁸ and he said to them, “We will never find a better man than Joseph, a man who has God's spirit in him.” ³⁹ The king said to Joseph, “God has shown you all this, so it is obvious that you have greater wisdom and insight than anyone else. ^40 (A)I will put you in charge of my country, and all my people will obey your orders. Your authority will be second only to mine. ⁴¹ I now appoint you governor over all Egypt.” ^42 (B)The king removed from his finger the ring engraved with the royal seal and put it on Joseph's finger. He put a fine linen robe on him, and placed a gold chain around his neck. ⁴³ He gave him the second royal chariot to ride in, and his guard of honor went ahead of him and cried out, “Make way! Make way!” And so Joseph was appointed governor over all Egypt. ⁴⁴ The king said to him, “I am the king—and no one in all Egypt shall so much as lift a hand or a foot without your permission.” ^45-46 He gave Joseph the Egyptian name Zaphenath Paneah, and he gave him a wife, Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, a priest in the city of Heliopolis.

Joseph was thirty years old when he began to serve the king of Egypt. He left the king's court and traveled all over the land. ⁴⁷ During the seven years of plenty the land produced abundant crops, ⁴⁸ all of which Joseph collected and stored in the cities. In each city he stored the food from the fields around it. ⁴⁹ There was so much grain that Joseph stopped measuring it—it was like the sand of the sea.

⁵⁰ Before the years of famine came, Joseph had two sons by Asenath. ⁵¹ He said, “God has made me forget all my sufferings and all my father's family”; so he named his first son Manasseh.^{[a] 52} He also said, “God has given me children in the land of my trouble”; so he named his second son Ephraim.^[b]

⁵³ The seven years of plenty that the land of Egypt had enjoyed came to an end, ^54 (C)and the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in every other country, but there was food throughout Egypt. ^55 (D)When the Egyptians began to be hungry, they cried out to the king for food. So he ordered them to go to Joseph and do what he told them. ⁵⁶ The famine grew worse and spread over the whole country, so Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians. ⁵⁷ People came to Egypt from all over the world to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe everywhere.

¹⁹ Some Jews came from Antioch in Pisidia and from Iconium; they won the crowds over to their side, stoned Paul and dragged him out of the town, thinking that he was dead. ²⁰ But when the believers gathered around him, he got up and went back into the town. The next day he and Barnabas went to Derbe.

The Return to Antioch in Syria

²¹ Paul and Barnabas preached the Good News in Derbe and won many disciples. Then they went back to Lystra, to Iconium, and on to Antioch in Pisidia. ²² They strengthened the believers and encouraged them to remain true to the faith. “We must pass through many troubles to enter the Kingdom of God,” they taught. ²³ In each church they appointed elders, and with prayers and fasting they commended them to the Lord, in whom they had put their trust.

²⁴ After going through the territory of Pisidia, they came to Pamphylia. ²⁵ There they preached the message in Perga and then went to Attalia, ²⁶ and from there they sailed back to Antioch, the place where they had been commended to the care of God's grace for the work they had now completed.

²⁷ When they arrived in Antioch, they gathered the people of the church together and told them about all that God had done with them and how he had opened the way for the Gentiles to believe. ²⁸ And they stayed a long time there with the believers.