Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

A Safe Place for Those Who Trust in the Lord

37 Do not trouble yourself because of sinful men. Do not want to be like those who do wrong. ² For they will soon dry up like the grass. Like the green plant they will soon die. ³ Trust in the Lord, and do good. So you will live in the land and will be fed. ⁴ Be happy in the Lord. And He will give you the desires of your heart. ⁵ Give your way over to the Lord. Trust in Him also. And He will do it. ⁶ He will make your being right and good show as the light, and your wise actions as the noon day.

⁷ Rest in the Lord and be willing to wait for Him. Do not trouble yourself when all goes well with the one who carries out his sinful plans. ⁸ Stop being angry. Turn away from fighting. Do not trouble yourself. It leads only to wrong-doing. ⁹ For those who do wrong will be cut off. But those who wait for the Lord will be given the earth. ¹⁰ A little while, and the sinful man will be no more. You will look for his place, and he will not be there. ¹¹ But those who have no pride will be given the earth. And they will be happy and have much more than they need.

³⁹ But the saving of those who are right with God is from the Lord. He is their strength in time of trouble. ⁴⁰ The Lord helps them and takes them out of trouble. He takes them away from the sinful, and saves them, because they go to Him for a safe place.

¹⁶ When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the man who took care of his house, “Bring the men into the house. And kill an animal and make it ready. For the men will eat with me at noon.” ¹⁷ So the man did what Joseph said, and brought the men to Joseph’s house. ¹⁸ The men were afraid because they were brought to Joseph’s house. They said, “We are being brought in because of the money that was returned in our bags the first time we came. He is looking for something against us. He will come down on us and take us for servants with our donkeys.” ¹⁹ So they came near the man who took care of Joseph’s house, and spoke to him at the door of the house. ²⁰ They said, “O, my lord, we came here the first time to buy food. ²¹ When we came to the place where we stayed the night, we opened our bags. And we found that the full weight of each man’s money was at the top of the bag. So we have brought it again with us. ²² We have brought other money with us also to buy food. We do not know who put our money in our bags.”

²³ But he answered, “Peace be with you. Do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has given you riches in your bags. I received your money.” Then he brought Simeon out to them. ²⁴ The man brought the men into Joseph’s house and gave them water to wash their feet. And he fed their donkeys. ²⁵ So they made the gift ready to give to Joseph when he came at noon. For they had heard that they were to eat there.

²⁶ When Joseph came home, they gave him the gift they had brought with them. They bowed to the ground in front of him. ²⁷ Then Joseph asked them about their well-being. He said, “Is your father well, the old man you spoke about? Is he still alive?” ²⁸ And they said, “Your servant, our father is well. He is still alive.” Then they bowed their heads low in honor to Joseph.

²⁹ As he looked up, he saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son. He said, “Is this your youngest brother whom you told me about? May God show you loving-favor, my son.” ³⁰ Then Joseph went out in a hurry. For he had much feeling for his brother. He went in his room and cried. ³¹ Then he washed his face and came out. Hiding his feelings, he said, “Bring the food.”

³² So they brought food to Joseph by himself, and to them by themselves, and to the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves. The Egyptians could not eat bread with the Hebrews because they thought it would be sinful. ³³ Joseph’s brothers were seated in front of him by the way they were born, from the oldest to the youngest. And the men looked at each other in wonder. ³⁴ Joseph took food to them from his own table. But Benjamin’s food was five times as much as any of theirs. And they were free in eating and drinking with him.

8 Now, because of this, those who belong to Christ will not suffer the punishment of sin. ² The power of the Holy Spirit has made me free from the power of sin and death. This power is mine because I belong to Christ Jesus. ³ The Law could not make me free from the power of sin and death. It was weak because it had to work with weak human beings. But God sent His own Son. He came to earth in a body of flesh which could be tempted to sin as we in our bodies can be. He gave Himself to take away sin. By doing that, He took away the power sin had over us. ⁴ In that way, Jesus did for us what the Law said had to be done. We do not do what our sinful old selves tell us to do anymore. Now we do what the Holy Spirit wants us to do. ⁵ Those who let their sinful old selves tell them what to do live under that power of their sinful old selves. But those who let the Holy Spirit tell them what to do are under His power. ⁶ If your sinful old self is the boss over your mind, it leads to death. But if the Holy Spirit is the boss over your mind, it leads to life and peace. ⁷ The mind that thinks only of ways to please the sinful old self is fighting against God. It is not able to obey God’s Laws. It never can. ⁸ Those who do what their sinful old selves want to do cannot please God.

⁹ But you are not doing what your sinful old selves want you to do. You are doing what the Holy Spirit tells you to do, if you have God’s Spirit living in you. No one belongs to Christ if he does not have Christ’s Spirit in him. ¹⁰ If Christ is in you, your spirit lives because you are right with God, and yet your body is dead because of sin. ¹¹ The Holy Spirit raised Jesus from the dead. If the same Holy Spirit lives in you, He will give life to your bodies in the same way.