Revised Common Lectionary (Semicontinuous)

³ “I am Joseph!” he said to his brothers. “Is my father still alive?” But his brothers couldn’t say a word, they were so stunned with surprise.

⁴ “Come over here,” he said. So they came closer. And he said again, “I am Joseph, your brother whom you sold into Egypt! ⁵ But don’t be angry with yourselves that you did this to me, for God did it! He sent me here ahead of you to preserve your lives. ⁶ These two years of famine will grow to seven, during which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. ⁷ God has sent me here to keep you and your families alive, so that you will become a great nation. ⁸ Yes, it was God who sent me here, not you! And he has made me a counselor to Pharaoh, and manager of this entire nation, ruler of all the land of Egypt.

⁹ “Hurry, return to my father and tell him, ‘Your son Joseph says, “God has made me chief of all the land of Egypt. Come down to me right away! ¹⁰ You shall live in the land of Goshen so that you can be near me with all your children, your grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and all that you have. ^11-12 I will take care of you there”’ (you men are witnesses of my promise, and my brother Benjamin has heard me say it) ‘“for there are still five years of famine ahead of us. Otherwise you will come to utter poverty along with all your household.”’

¹⁵ And he did the same with each of his brothers, who finally found their tongues!

37 Never envy the wicked! ² Soon they fade away like grass and disappear. ³ Trust in the Lord instead. Be kind and good to others; then you will live safely here in the land and prosper, feeding in safety.

⁴ Be delighted with the Lord. Then he will give you all your heart’s desires. ⁵ Commit everything you do to the Lord. Trust him to help you do it, and he will. ⁶ Your innocence will be clear to everyone. He will vindicate you with the blazing light of justice shining down as from the noonday sun.

⁷ Rest in the Lord; wait patiently for him to act. Don’t be envious of evil men who prosper.

⁸ Stop your anger! Turn off your wrath. Don’t fret and worry—it only leads to harm. ⁹ For the wicked shall be destroyed, but those who trust the Lord shall be given every blessing. ¹⁰ Only a little while and the wicked shall disappear. You will look for them in vain. ¹¹ But all who humble themselves before the Lord shall be given every blessing and shall have wonderful peace.

³⁹ The Lord saves the godly! He is their salvation and their refuge when trouble comes. ⁴⁰ Because they trust in him, he helps them and delivers them from the plots of evil men.

³⁵ But someone may ask, “How will the dead be brought back to life again? What kind of bodies will they have?” ³⁶ What a foolish question! You will find the answer in your own garden! When you put a seed into the ground it doesn’t grow into a plant unless it “dies” first. ³⁷ And when the green shoot comes up out of the seed, it is very different from the seed you first planted. For all you put into the ground is a dry little seed of wheat or whatever it is you are planting, ³⁸ then God gives it a beautiful new body—just the kind he wants it to have; a different kind of plant grows from each kind of seed.

⁴² In the same way, our earthly bodies which die and decay are different from the bodies we shall have when we come back to life again, for they will never die. ⁴³ The bodies we have now embarrass us, for they become sick and die; but they will be full of glory when we come back to life again. Yes, they are weak, dying bodies now, but when we live again they will be full of strength. ⁴⁴ They are just human bodies at death, but when they come back to life they will be superhuman bodies. For just as there are natural, human bodies, there are also supernatural, spiritual bodies.

⁴⁵ The Scriptures tell us that the first man, Adam, was given a natural, human body^[a] but Christ is more than that, for he was life-giving Spirit.

⁴⁶ First, then, we have these human bodies, and later on God gives us spiritual, heavenly bodies. ⁴⁷ Adam was made from the dust of the earth, but Christ came from heaven above. ⁴⁸ Every human being has a body just like Adam’s, made of dust, but all who become Christ’s will have the same kind of body as his—a body from heaven. ⁴⁹ Just as each of us now has a body like Adam’s, so we shall some day have a body like Christ’s.

⁵⁰ I tell you this, my brothers: an earthly body made of flesh and blood cannot get into God’s Kingdom. These perishable bodies of ours are not the right kind to live forever.

²⁷ “Listen, all of you. Love your enemies. Do good to those who hate you. ²⁸ Pray for the happiness of those who curse you; implore God’s blessing on those who hurt you.

²⁹ “If someone slaps you on one cheek, let him slap the other too! If someone demands your coat, give him your shirt besides. ³⁰ Give what you have to anyone who asks you for it; and when things are taken away from you, don’t worry about getting them back. ³¹ Treat others as you want them to treat you.

³² “Do you think you deserve credit for merely loving those who love you? Even the godless do that! ³³ And if you do good only to those who do you good—is that so wonderful? Even sinners do that much! ³⁴ And if you lend money only to those who can repay you, what good is that? Even the most wicked will lend to their own kind for full return!

³⁵ “Love your enemies! Do good to them! Lend to them! And don’t be concerned about the fact that they won’t repay. Then your reward from heaven will be very great, and you will truly be acting as sons of God: for he is kind to the unthankful and to those who are very wicked.

³⁶ “Try to show as much compassion as your Father does.

³⁷ “Never criticize or condemn—or it will all come back on you. Go easy on others; then they will do the same for you.^{[a] 38} For if you give, you will get! Your gift will return to you in full and overflowing measure, pressed down, shaken together to make room for more, and running over. Whatever measure you use to give—large or small—will be used to measure what is given back to you.”