Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A song for going up to the Temple.

¹⁶ Pharaoh learned that Joseph’s brothers had come to him. This news spread throughout Pharaoh’s house. Pharaoh and his servants were very excited! ¹⁷ So Pharaoh told Joseph, “Tell your brothers to take all the food they need and go back to the land of Canaan. ¹⁸ Tell them to bring your father and their families back here to me. I will give you the best land in Egypt to live on. And your family can eat the best food we have here. ¹⁹ Also give your brothers some of our best wagons. Tell them to go to Canaan and bring your father and all the women and children back in the wagons. ²⁰ Don’t worry about bringing all of their belongings. We can give them the best of Egypt.”

²¹ So the sons of Israel did this. Joseph gave them good wagons just as Pharaoh had promised. And Joseph gave them enough food for their trip. ²² He gave each brother a suit of beautiful clothes. But to Benjamin he gave five suits of beautiful clothes and 300 pieces of silver. ²³ Joseph also sent gifts to his father. He sent ten donkeys with bags full of many good things from Egypt. And he sent ten female donkeys loaded with grain, bread, and other food for his father on his trip back. ²⁴ Then Joseph told his brothers to go. While they were leaving, he said to them, “Go straight home, and don’t fight on the way.”

²⁵ So the brothers left Egypt and went to their father in the land of Canaan. ²⁶ They told him, “Father, Joseph is still alive! And he is the governor over the whole country of Egypt.”

Their father did not know what to think. At first he didn’t believe them. ²⁷ But then they told him everything Joseph had said. Then their father saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to bring him back to Egypt, and he became excited and very happy. ²⁸ Israel said, “Now I believe you. My son Joseph is still alive! I am going to see him before I die!”

Jesus Heals a Sick Man^(A)

8 Jesus came down from the hill, and a large crowd followed him. ² Then a man sick with leprosy came to him. The man bowed down before Jesus and said, “Lord, you have the power to heal me if you want.”

³ Jesus touched the man. He said, “I want to heal you. Be healed!” Immediately the man was healed from his leprosy. ⁴ Then Jesus said to him, “Don’t tell anyone about what happened. But go and let the priest look at you.^[a] And offer the gift that Moses commanded for people who are made well. This will show everyone that you are healed.”

Jesus Heals an Officer’s Servant^(B)

⁵ Jesus went to the city of Capernaum. When he entered the city, an army officer came to him and begged for help. ⁶ The officer said, “Lord, my servant is very sick at home in bed. He can’t move his body and has much pain.”

⁷ Jesus said to the officer, “I will go and heal him.”

⁸ The officer answered, “Lord, I am not good enough for you to come into my house. You need only to give the order, and my servant will be healed. ⁹ I know this, because I understand authority. There are people who have authority over me, and I have soldiers under my authority. I tell one soldier, ‘Go,’ and he goes. I tell another soldier, ‘Come,’ and he comes. I say to my servant, ‘Do this,’ and my servant obeys me.”

¹⁰ When Jesus heard this, he was amazed. He said to those who were with him, “The truth is, this man has more faith than anyone I have found, even in Israel. ¹¹ Many people will come from the east and from the west. These people will sit and eat with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob in God’s kingdom. ¹² And those who should have the kingdom will be thrown out. They will be thrown outside into the darkness, where people will cry and grind their teeth with pain.”

¹³ Then Jesus said to the officer, “Go home. Your servant will be healed the way you believed he would.” Right then his servant was healed.