Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)
A Song of degrees.
1 ¶ Out of the depths I cry unto thee, O LORD.
2 Lord, hear my voice; let thine ears be attentive to the voice of my supplications.
3 If thou, O LORD, should mark iniquities, O Lord, who shall endure?
4 Therefore there is forgiveness close to thee, that thou may be feared.
5 ¶ I have waited for the LORD, my soul has waited, and for his word I have waited.
6 My soul has waited for the Lord more than those that watch for the morning: I say, more than those that watch for the morning.
7 Let Israel wait for the LORD; for with the LORD there is mercy and plenteous redemption close to him.
8 And he shall ransom Israel from all his sins.
43 ¶ And the famine was sore in the land.
2 And it came to pass when they had eaten up the wheat which they had brought out of Egypt, their father said unto them, Go again, buy us a little food.
3 And Judah spoke unto him, saying, The man did solemnly protest unto us, saying, Ye shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.
4 If thou wilt send our brother with us, we will go down and buy thee food:
5 But if thou wilt not send him, we will not go down; for the man said unto us, Ye shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.
6 And Israel said, Why did ye such evil unto me as to tell the man that ye had another brother?
7 And they said, The man asked us expressly of our state and of our kindred, saying, Is your father yet alive? Have ye another brother? And we told him according to the tenor of these words. Could we certainly know that he would say, Bring your brother down?
8 Then Judah said unto Israel, his father, Send the lad with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live, and not die, both we and thou and also our little ones.
9 I will be surety for him; of my hand shalt thou require him; if I do not bring him unto thee and set him before thee, then let me bear the sin for ever;
10 for if we had not lingered, surely by now we would have returned this second time.
11 ¶ Then their father Israel answered them, If it must be so now, do this: take of the best fruits of the land in your vessels and take the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, aromas, and myrrh, nuts, and almonds.
12 And take double money in your hands and the money that was brought again in the mouth of your sacks; carry it again in your hand; peradventure it was an oversight.
13 Take also your brother, and arise, go again unto the man.
14 And God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may let your other brother go, and Benjamin. If I be bereaved of my sons, I am bereaved.
15 ¶ Then the men took the present, and they took double money in their hand, and Benjamin, and rose up and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph.
16 And when Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the ruler of his house, Bring these men home and slay an animal and make ready; for these men shall dine with me at noon.
17 And the man did as Joseph bade, and the man brought the men into Joseph’s house.
18 And the men were afraid because they were brought into Joseph’s house, and they said, Because of the money that was returned in our sacks the first time we are brought in here that he may seek occasion against us and fall upon us and take us for slaves and our asses.
19 And they came near to the steward of Joseph’s house, and they spoke with him at the door of the house
20 and said, my lord, we came indeed down the first time to buy food;
21 and it came to pass when we came to the inn, that we opened our sacks, and, behold, each man’s money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight; and we have brought it again in our hand.
22 And we brought down other money in our hands to buy food; we cannot tell who put our money in our sacks.
23 And he said, Peace be to you, fear not; your God, and the God of your father, has given you treasure in your sacks; I had your money. And he brought Simeon out unto them.
24 And the man brought the men into Joseph’s house and gave them water, and they washed their feet, and he gave their asses fodder.
25 And they made ready the present waiting until Joseph came at noon, for they heard that they should eat bread there.
26 ¶ And when Joseph came home, they brought him the present which they had in their hand in the house and bowed themselves to him to the earth.
27 And he asked them of their welfare and said, Is your father well, the old man of whom ye spoke? Is he yet alive?
28 And they answered, Thy slave our father is in good health, he is yet alive. And they bowed down their heads and made obeisance.
29 And he lifted up his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, and said, Is this your younger brother, of whom ye spoke unto me? And he said, God be merciful unto thee, my son.
30 Then Joseph made haste; for his bowels did yearn upon his brother; and he sought where to weep, and he entered into his chamber and wept there.
31 And he washed his face and went out and refrained himself and said, Serve bread.
32 And they served for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians, who ate with him, by themselves; because the Egyptians may not eat bread with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination unto the Egyptians.
33 And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth; and the men marvelled one at another.
34 And he took and sent portions unto them from before him; but Benjamin’s portion was five times as much as any of theirs. And they drank, and were drunk with him.
15 ¶ Then certain men who came down from Judaea taught the brethren and said, Except ye be circumcised after the manner of Moses, ye cannot be saved.
2 When therefore Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and disputation with them, they determined that Paul and Barnabas and certain other of them should go up to Jerusalem unto the apostles and elders about this question.
3 And they, being accompanied by some from the congregation, {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} passed through Phenice and Samaria, declaring the conversion of the Gentiles, and they caused great joy unto all the brethren.
4 And when they were come to Jerusalem, they were received by the congregation {Gr. ekklesia – called out ones} and by the apostles and elders, and they declared all the things that God had done with them.
5 But there rose up certain of the sect of the Pharisees who had believed, saying, That it was needful to circumcise them and to command them to keep the law of Moses.
6 ¶ And the apostles and elders came together to consider of this matter.
7 And when there had been much disputing, Peter rose up and said unto them, Men and brethren, ye know how that a good while ago God chose that the Gentiles by my mouth should hear the word of the gospel and believe.
8 And God, who knows the hearts, bore them witness, giving them the Holy Spirit, even as he did unto us,
9 and put no difference between us and them, purifying their hearts by faith.
10 Now therefore why tempt ye God, putting a yoke upon the neck of the disciples, which neither our fathers nor we were able to bear?
11 For we believe that through the grace of the Lord Jesus Christ we shall be saved, even as they.
12 Then all the multitude kept silence and gave audience to Barnabas and Paul, declaring what great miracles and wonders God had wrought among the Gentiles by them.
13 And after they had become silent, James answered, saying, Men and brethren, hearken unto me:
14 Simeon has declared how God first visited the Gentiles, to take out of them a people for his name.
15 And to this agree the words of the prophets; as it is written,
16 After this I will return and will restore the tabernacle of David, which is fallen down; and I will repair its ruins, and I will set it up again,
17 that the men that are left might seek after the Lord, and all the Gentiles, upon whom my name is called, saith the Lord, who does all these things.
18 Known unto God are all his works from the beginning of the world.
19 Therefore my sentence is that those from among the Gentiles who are converted to God not be troubled,
20 but that we write unto them that they abstain from pollutions of idols and from fornication and from things strangled and from blood.
21 For Moses of old time has in every city those that preach him, being read in the synagogues every sabbath day.
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