Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Praise for Rescue from Enemies.

A Song of Ascents, of David.

²⁹ Then he charged them and said to them, “I am about to be ^(A)gathered to my people; ^(B)bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in ^(C)the field of Ephron the Hittite, ³⁰ in the ^(D)cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought along with the field from Ephron the Hittite for a ^[a]burial site. ³¹ There they buried ^(E)Abraham and his wife ^(F)Sarah, there they buried ^(G)Isaac and his wife Rebekah, and there I buried Leah— ³² the field and the cave that is in it, purchased from the sons of Heth.” ³³ When Jacob finished charging his sons, he drew his feet into the bed and ^(H)breathed his last, and was ^(I)gathered to his people.

The Death of Israel

50 Then Joseph fell on his father’s face, and wept over him and kissed him. ² Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians ^(J)embalmed Israel. ³ Now forty days were ^[b]required for ^[c]it, for ^[d]such is the period required for embalming. And the Egyptians ^(K)wept for him seventy days.

⁴ When the days of ^[e]mourning for him were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, “If now I have found favor in your sight, please speak ^[f]to Pharaoh, saying, ⁵ ‘^(L)My father made me swear, saying, “Behold, I am about to die; in my grave ^(M)which I dug for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me.” Now therefore, please let me go up and bury my father; then I will return.’” ⁶ Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear.”

⁷ So Joseph went up to bury his father, and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household and all the elders of the land of Egypt, ⁸ and all the household of Joseph and his brothers and his father’s household; they left only their little ones and their flocks and their herds in the land of Goshen. ⁹ There also went up with him both chariots and horsemen; and it was a very great company. ¹⁰ When they came to the ^[g]threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they ^(N)lamented there with a very great and ^[h]sorrowful lamentation; and he ^[i]observed seven days mourning for his father. ¹¹ Now when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at ^[j]the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a ^[k]grievous ^[l]mourning for the Egyptians.” Therefore it was named ^[m]Abel-mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan.

Burial at Machpelah

¹² Thus his sons did for him as he had charged them; ¹³ for his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in ^(O)the cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre, which Abraham had bought along with the field for a ^[n]burial site from Ephron the Hittite. ¹⁴ After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brothers, and all who had gone up with him to bury his father.

¹² For we are not bold to class or compare ourselves with ^[a]some of those who ^(A)commend themselves; but when they measure themselves by themselves and compare themselves with themselves, they are without understanding. ¹³ But we will not boast ^(B)beyond our measure, but ^[b](C)within the measure of the sphere which God apportioned to us as a measure, to reach even as far as you. ¹⁴ For we are not overextending ourselves, as if we did not reach to you, for ^(D)we were the first to come even as far as you in the ^(E)gospel of Christ; ¹⁵ not boasting ^(F)beyond our measure, that is, in ^(G)other men’s labors, but with the hope that as ^(H)your faith grows, we will be, ^[c]within our sphere, ^(I)enlarged even more by you, ¹⁶ so as to ^(J)preach the gospel even to ^(K)the regions beyond you, and not to boast ^[d](L)in what has been accomplished in the sphere of another. ¹⁷ But ^(M)he who boasts is to boast in the Lord. ¹⁸ For it is not he who ^(N)commends himself that is approved, but he ^(O)whom the Lord commends.