Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

Had He Not Been on Our Side

Psalm 124

Joseph Comforts His Brothers

¹⁵ When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father had died, they said, “Maybe Joseph will be hostile towards us and pay us back in full for all the evil we showed him. ¹⁶ So they charged Joseph saying, “Before his death, your father gave a command, saying, ¹⁷ “Thus you must say to Joseph: ‘Please forgive, I beg you, the transgression of your brothers and their sin because they treated you wrongly.’ Therefore, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.”

Then Joseph wept when they spoke to him, ¹⁸ and his brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your slaves!”

¹⁹ But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. For am I in the place of God? ²⁰ Yes, you yourselves planned evil against me. God planned it for good, in order to bring about what it is this day—to preserve the lives of many people. ²¹ So now, don’t be afraid. I myself will provide food for you and your little ones.” So he reassured them, speaking kindly to them.

²² Joseph remained in Egypt—he and his father’s household—and Joseph lived 110 years. ²³ Joseph saw the third generation of Ephraim’s sons. Also the sons of Machir, Manasseh’s son, were born upon Joseph’s knees.

²⁴ Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I’m about to die. But God will surely take notice of you and will bring you up from this land to the land that He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” ²⁵ Then Joseph made Israel’s sons swear an oath saying, “When God takes notice of you, you will bring my bones up from here.”

²⁶ So Joseph died at 110 years old, and they embalmed him and he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.

⁵ Now when the disciples came to the other side of the sea, they had forgotten to take bread. ⁶ “Watch out,” Yeshua said to them, “and beware of the hametz of the Pharisees and Sadducees.”

⁷ And they began to discuss among themselves, saying, “We didn’t bring any bread.”

⁸ But knowing this, Yeshua said, “O you of little faith, why do you discuss among yourselves that you have no bread? ⁹ You still don’t get it? Don’t you remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets of leftovers you gathered? ¹⁰ Or how about the seven loaves for the four thousand and all the baskets of leftovers you gathered? ¹¹ How is it that you don’t understand that I wasn’t talking to you about bread? Now beware of the hametz of the Pharisees and Sadducees!” ¹² Then they understood that He wasn’t talking about the hametz in the bread, but about the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.