Joseph and Potiphar's Wife

¹Now Joseph had been brought down to Egypt, and lPotiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard, an Egyptian, mhad bought him from the nIshmaelites who had brought him down there. ²oThe Lord was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. ³His master saw that the Lord was with him and that the Lord pcaused all that he did to succeed in his hands. ⁴So Joseph qfound favor in his sight and attended him, and he made him overseer of his house rand put him in charge of all that he had. ⁵From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, the Lord blessed the Egyptian's house sfor Joseph's sake; the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had, in house and field. ⁶So he left all that he had in Joseph's charge, and because of him he had no concern about anything but the food he ate.

Now Joseph was thandsome in form and appearance. ⁷And after a time his master's wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, “Lie with me.” ⁸But he refused and said to his master's wife, “Behold, because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and uhe has put everything that he has in my charge. ⁹He is not greater in this house than I am, nor has he kept back anything from me except you, because you are his wife. How then can I do this great wickedness and vsin against God?” ¹⁰And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he wwould not listen to her, to lie beside her or to be with her.

¹¹But one day, when he went into the house to do his work and none of the men of the house was there in the house, ¹²xshe caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” But he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house. ¹³And as soon as she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled out of the house, ¹⁴she called to the men of her household and said to them, “See, he has brought among us a Hebrew to laugh at us. He came in to me to lie with me, and I cried out with a loud voice. ¹⁵And as soon as he heard that I lifted up my voice and cried out, he left his garment beside me and fled and got out of the house.” ¹⁶Then she laid up his garment by her until his master came home, ¹⁷and she told him the same story, saying, “The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought among us, came in to me to laugh at me. ¹⁸But as soon as I lifted up my voice and cried, he left his garment beside me and fled out of the house.”

¹⁹As soon as his master heard the words that his wife spoke to him, “This is the way your servant treated me,” his anger was kindled. ²⁰And Joseph's master took him and yput him into the zprison, the place where the king's prisoners were confined, and he was there in prison. ²¹But athe Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love band gave him favor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. ²²And the keeper of the prison cput Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison. Whatever was done there, he was the one who did it. ²³The keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph's charge, because dthe Lord was with him. And whatever he did, the Lord made it succeed.

¹And he said to them, “Truly, I say to you, there are some standing here who will not ltaste death muntil they see the kingdom of God after it has come nwith power.”

The Transfiguration

²oAnd after six days Jesus took with him pPeter and James and John, and led them up a high mountain by themselves. And he was qtransfigured before them, ³and rhis clothes became radiant, intensely white, as no one1 on earth could bleach them. ⁴And there appeared to them Elijah with Moses, and they were talking with Jesus. ⁵And Peter said to Jesus, s“Rabbi,2 it is good that we are here. Let us make three ttents, one for you and one for Moses and one for Elijah.” ⁶For uhe did not know what to say, for they were terrified. ⁷And va cloud overshadowed them, and va voice came out of the cloud, w“This is my beloved Son;3 xlisten to him.” ⁸And suddenly, looking around, they no longer saw anyone with them but Jesus only.

⁹yAnd as they were coming down the mountain, zhe charged them to tell no one what they had seen, auntil the Son of Man had risen from the dead. ¹⁰bSo they kept the matter to themselves, cquestioning what this rising from the dead might mean. ¹¹And they asked him, “Why do the scribes say dthat first Elijah must come?” ¹²And he said to them, “Elijah does come first eto restore all things. And fhow is it written of the Son of Man that he should gsuffer many things and hbe treated with contempt? ¹³But I tell you that Elijah has come, and ithey did to him whatever they pleased, as it is written of him.”

Jesus Heals a Boy with an Unclean Spirit

¹⁴jAnd when they came to the disciples, they saw a great crowd around them, and scribes arguing with them. ¹⁵And immediately all the crowd, when they saw him, kwere greatly amazed and ran up to him and greeted him. ¹⁶And he asked them, “What are you arguing about with them?” ¹⁷And someone from the crowd answered him, “Teacher, I brought my son to you, for he has la spirit that makes him mute. ¹⁸And whenever it seizes him, it throws him down, and he foams and grinds his teeth and becomes rigid. So I asked your disciples to cast it out, and mthey were not able.” ¹⁹And he answered them, “O nfaithless generation, nhow long am I to be with you? How long am I to bear with you? Bring him to me.” ²⁰And they brought the boy to him. And when the spirit saw him, immediately it oconvulsed the boy, and he fell on the ground and rolled about, foaming at the mouth. ²¹And Jesus asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. ²²And it has often cast him into fire and into water, to destroy him. But pif you can do anything, have compassion on us and help us.” ²³And Jesus said to him, p“‘If you can’! qAll things are possible for one who believes.” ²⁴Immediately the father of the child cried out4 and said, “I believe; rhelp my unbelief!” ²⁵And when Jesus saw that sa crowd came running together, he rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, t“You mute and deaf spirit, I command you, come out of him and never enter him again.” ²⁶And after crying out and oconvulsing him terribly, it came out, and the boy was like a corpse, so that most of them said, “He is dead.” ²⁷But Jesus utook him by the hand and lifted him up, and he arose. ²⁸And when he had ventered the house, his disciples asked him privately, “Why could we not cast it out?” ²⁹And he said to them, “This kind cannot be driven out by anything but prayer.”5

Jesus Again Foretells Death, Resurrection

³⁰wThey went on from there and passed through Galilee. And he did not want anyone to know, ³¹for he was teaching his disciples, saying to them, “The Son of Man is going to be delivered into the hands of men, and they will kill him. And when he is killed, xafter three days he will rise.” ³²yBut they did not understand the saying, and were afraid to ask him.

Who Is the Greatest?

³³And zthey came to Capernaum. And when he was in the house ahe asked them, “What were you discussing on the way?” ³⁴But they kept silent, for on the way bthey had argued with one another about who was the greatest. ³⁵And he sat down and called the twelve. And he said to them, c“If anyone would be first, he must be last of all and servant of all.” ³⁶And he took a child and put him in the midst of them, and dtaking him in his arms, he said to them, ³⁷e“Whoever receives one such child in my name receives me, and ewhoever receives me, receives not me but him who sent me.”

Anyone Not Against Us Is for Us

³⁸fJohn said to him, “Teacher, we saw someone gcasting out demons in your name,6 and hwe tried to stop him, because he was not following us.” ³⁹But Jesus said, “Do not stop him, for no one who does a mighty work in my name will be able soon afterward to speak evil of me. ⁴⁰iFor the one who is not against us is for us. ⁴¹For truly, I say to you, jwhoever gives you a cup of water to drink because7 you belong to Christ will by no means lose his reward.

Temptations to Sin

⁴²k“Whoever causes one of lthese little ones who believe in me to sin,8 mit would be better for him if a great millstone were hung around his neck and he were thrown into the sea. ⁴³nAnd if your hand causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life crippled than with two hands to go to ohell,9 to pthe unquenchable fire.10 ⁴⁵qAnd if your foot causes you to sin, cut it off. It is better for you to enter life lame than with two feet to be thrown into ohell. ⁴⁷rAnd if your eye causes you to sin, tear it out. It is better for you to enter the kingdom of God with one eye than with two eyes to be thrown into shell, ⁴⁸‘where ttheir worm does not die and the fire is not quenched.’ ⁴⁹For everyone will be salted with fire.11 ⁵⁰vSalt is good, wbut if the salt has lost its saltiness, how will you make it salty again? xHave salt in yourselves, and ybe at peace with one another.”

¹“Call now; is there anyone who will answer you?

To which of vthe holy ones will you turn?

²Surely vexation kills the fool,

and jealousy slays the simple.

³wI have seen the fool taking root,

but suddenly I cursed his dwelling.

⁴His children are xfar from safety;

they are crushed in ythe gate,

and there is no one to deliver them.

⁵The hungry eat his harvest,

and he takes it even out of thorns,1

and the thirsty pant2 after his3 wealth.

⁶For affliction does not come from the dust,

nor does trouble sprout from the ground,

⁷but man is zborn to trouble

as the sparks fly upward.

⁸“As for me, I would seek God,

and to God would I commit my cause,

⁹who adoes great things and bunsearchable,

cmarvelous things without number:

¹⁰he gives drain on the earth

and sends waters on the fields;

¹¹he esets on high those who are lowly,

and those who mourn are lifted to safety.

¹²He ffrustrates the devices of the crafty,

so that their hands achieve no success.

¹³He gcatches the wise in their own craftiness,

and the schemes of the wily are brought to a quick end.

¹⁴They meet with darkness in the daytime

and hgrope at noonday as in the night.

¹⁵But he isaves the needy from the sword of their mouth

and from the hand of the mighty.

¹⁶So the poor have hope,

and jinjustice shuts her mouth.

¹⁷“Behold, kblessed is the one whom God reproves;

therefore ldespise not the discipline of the mAlmighty.

¹⁸For he wounds, but he nbinds up;

he oshatters, but his hands heal.

¹⁹He will pdeliver you from six troubles;

in seven no qevil4 shall touch you.

²⁰rIn famine he will redeem you from death,

and in war from the power of the sword.

²¹You shall be shidden from the lash of the tongue,

and shall not fear destruction when it comes.

²²At destruction and famine you shall laugh,

and shall not fear tthe beasts of the earth.

²³For you shall be in league with the stones of the field,

and the beasts of the field shall be at peace with you.

²⁴You shall know that your utent is at peace,

and you shall inspect your fold and miss nothing.

²⁵You shall know also that your voffspring shall be many,

and your descendants as wthe grass of the earth.

²⁶You shall come to your grave in xripe old age,

like a sheaf gathered up in its season.

²⁷Behold, this we have ysearched out; it is true.

Hear, and know it for your good.”5

God's Sovereign Choice

¹aI am speaking the truth in Christ—I am not lying; my conscience bears me witness in the Holy Spirit— ²that I have great sorrow and unceasing anguish in my heart. ³For bI could wish that I myself were caccursed and cut off from Christ for the sake of my brothers,1 my kinsmen daccording to the flesh. ⁴They are eIsraelites, and to them belong fthe adoption, gthe glory, hthe covenants, ithe giving of the law, jthe worship, and kthe promises. ⁵To them belong lthe patriarchs, and from their race, according to the flesh, is the Christ, mwho is God over all, nblessed forever. Amen.

⁶But it is not as though the word of God has failed. For not all who are descended from Israel belong to Israel, ⁷and not all are children of Abraham obecause they are his offspring, but p“Through Isaac shall your offspring be named.” ⁸This means that it is not the children of the flesh who are the children of God, but qthe children of the promise are counted as offspring. ⁹For this is what the promise said: r“About this time next year I will return, and Sarah shall have a son.” ¹⁰And not only so, but salso when Rebekah had conceived children by one man, our forefather Isaac, ¹¹though they were not yet born and had done nothing either good or bad—in order that God's purpose of election might continue, not because of works but because of thim who calls— ¹²she was told, u“The older will serve the younger.” ¹³As it is written, v“Jacob I loved, but Esau I hated.”

¹⁴What shall we say then? wIs there injustice on God's part? By no means! ¹⁵For he says to Moses, x“I will have mercy on whom I have mercy, and I will have compassion on whom I have compassion.” ¹⁶So then it depends not on human will or exertion,2 but on God, who has mercy. ¹⁷For the Scripture says to Pharaoh, y“For this very purpose I have raised you up, that I might show my power in you, and that my name might be proclaimed in all the earth.” ¹⁸So then he has mercy on whomever he wills, and he hardens whomever he wills.

¹⁹You will say to me then, “Why does he still find fault? For zwho can resist his will?” ²⁰But who are you, O man, ato answer back to God? bWill what is molded say to its molder, “Why have you made me like this?” ²¹cHas the potter no right over the clay, to make out of the same lump done vessel for honorable use and another for dishonorable use? ²²What if God, desiring to show his wrath and to make known his power, has endured with much patience evessels of wrath fprepared for destruction, ²³in order to make known gthe riches of his glory for vessels of mercy, which he hhas prepared beforehand for glory— ²⁴even us whom he ihas called, jnot from the Jews only but also from the Gentiles? ²⁵As indeed he says in Hosea,

k“Those who were not my people I will call ‘my people,’

and her who was not beloved I will call ‘beloved.’”

²⁶l“And in the very place where it was said to them, ‘You are not my people,’

there they will be called m‘sons of the living God.’”

²⁷And Isaiah cries out concerning Israel: n“Though the number of the sons of Israel3 be as the sand of the sea, oonly a remnant of them will be saved, ²⁸for the Lord will carry out his sentence upon the earth fully and without delay.” ²⁹And as Isaiah predicted,

pq“If the Lord of hosts had not left us offspring,

rwe would have been like Sodom

and become like Gomorrah.”

Israel's Unbelief

³⁰What shall we say, then? sThat Gentiles who did not pursue righteousness have attained it, that is, ta righteousness that is by faith; ³¹but that Israel uwho pursued a law that would lead to righteousness4 vdid not succeed in reaching that law. ³²Why? Because they did not pursue it by faith, but as if it were based on works. They have stumbled over the wstumbling stone, ³³as it is written,

x“Behold, I am laying in Zion ya stone of stumbling, and a rock of offense;

zand whoever believes in him will not be aput to shame.”