The Twelve Apostles

1 ^uAnd he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them authority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction. 2 ^vThe names of the twelve apostles are these: first, Simon, ^wwho is called Peter, and ^xAndrew his brother; ^xJames the son of Zebedee, and John his brother; 3 Philip and Bartholomew; Thomas and ^yMatthew the tax collector; James the son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus;¹ 4 Simon the Zealot,² and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

Jesus Sends Out the Twelve Apostles

5 ^uThese twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere among the Gentiles and enter no town of ^zthe Samaritans, 6 ^abut go rather to ^bthe lost sheep of ^cthe house of Israel. 7 And proclaim as you go, saying, ^d‘The kingdom of heaven is at hand.’³ 8 ^eHeal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers,⁴ cast out demons. ^fYou received without paying; give without pay. 9 ^gAcquire no gold or silver or copper for your belts, 10 no bag for your journey, or two tunics⁵ or sandals or a staff, for ^hthe laborer deserves his food. 11 And whatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart. 12 As you enter the house, ⁱgreet it. 13 And if the house is ^jworthy, let ⁱyour peace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let ⁱyour peace return to you. 14 And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, ^lshake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. 15 Truly, I say to you, ^mit will be more bearable on the day of judgment for ⁿthe land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.

Persecution Will Come

16 ^o“Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of wolves, so be ^pwise as serpents and ^qinnocent as doves. 17 Beware of men, for ^rthey will deliver you over to courts and flog you ^sin their synagogues, 18 ^rand you will be dragged before governors and kings for my sake, ^tto bear witness before them and the Gentiles. 19 ^rWhen ^uthey deliver you over, ^vdo not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for ^wwhat you are to say will be given to you in that hour. 20 ^xFor it is not you who speak, but ^ythe Spirit of your Father speaking through you.

The Jerusalem Council

1 ^yBut some men came down from Judea and were teaching ^zthe brothers, “Unless you are ^acircumcised ^baccording to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2 And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and ^cdebate with them, Paul and Barnabas and ^dsome of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to ^ethe apostles and the elders about this question. 3 So, ^fbeing sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, ^gdescribing in detail the conversion of the Gentiles, and ^hbrought great joy to all ⁱthe brothers.¹ 4 ^jWhen they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and ^kthe apostles and the elders, and ^gthey declared all that God had done with them. 5 But some believers who belonged to ^lthe party of the Pharisees rose up and said, ^m“It is necessary ⁿto circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.”

6 ^oThe ^kapostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter. 7 And after there had been much ^pdebate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that in the early days God made a choice among you, ^qthat by my mouth the Gentiles should hear ^rthe word of ^sthe gospel and believe. 8 And God, ^twho knows the heart, ^ubore witness to them, ^vby giving them the Holy Spirit just as he did to us, 9 and ^whe made no distinction between us and them, ^xhaving cleansed their hearts ^yby faith. 10 Now, therefore, why ^zare you putting God to the test ^aby placing a yoke on the neck of the disciples ^bthat neither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? 11 But we ^cbelieve that we will be ^dsaved through ^ethe grace of the Lord Jesus, ^wjust as they will.”

12 And all the assembly fell silent, and they listened to Barnabas and Paul ^fas they related what signs and wonders God had done through them among the Gentiles. 13 After they finished speaking, ^gJames replied, “Brothers, listen to me. 14 ^hSimeon has related how God first visited the Gentiles, to take from them ⁱa people for his name. 15 And with this the words of the prophets agree, just as it is written,

19 Therefore ⁿmy judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who ^oturn to God, 20 but should write to them ^pto abstain from ^qthe things polluted by idols, and from ^rsexual immorality, and from ^swhat has been strangled, and from ^sblood. 21 For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, ^tfor he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues.”

The Lord Is My Shepherd

A Psalm of David.

1 Then Joseph ^vfell on his father’s face and wept over him and kissed him. 2 And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to ^wembalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel. 3 Forty days were required for it, for that is how many are required for embalming. And the Egyptians ^xwept for him seventy days.

4 And when the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, ^y“If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, 5 ‘My father made me swear, saying, “I am about to die: in my tomb ^zthat I hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan, there shall you bury me.” Now therefore, let me please go up and bury my father. Then I will return.’” 6 And Pharaoh answered, “Go up, and bury your father, as he made you swear.” 7 So Joseph went up to bury his father. With him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, 8 as well as all the household of Joseph, his brothers, and his father’s household. Only their children, their flocks, and their herds were left ^ain the land of Goshen. 9 And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen. It was a very great company. 10 When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, ^bthey lamented there with a very great and grievous lamentation, and he ^cmade a mourning for his father seven days. 11 When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning on the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous mourning by the Egyptians.” Therefore the place was named Abel-mizraim;¹ it is beyond the Jordan. 12 Thus his sons did for him as he had commanded them, 13 for ^dhis sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field at Machpelah, to the east of Mamre, which Abraham ^ebought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place. 14 After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone up with him to bury his father.

God’s Good Purposes

15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him.” 16 So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this command before he died: 17 ‘Say to Joseph, “Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.”’ And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of ^fthe God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him. 18 His brothers also came and ^gfell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.” 19 But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for ^ham I in the place of God? 20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but ⁱGod meant it for good, to bring it about that many people² should be kept alive, as they are today. 21 So do not fear; ^jI will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

The Death of Joseph

22 So Joseph remained in Egypt, he and his father’s house. Joseph lived 110 years. 23 And Joseph saw Ephraim’s children ^kof the third generation. The ^lchildren also of Machir the son of Manasseh were ^mcounted as Joseph’s own.³ 24 And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but ⁿGod will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land ^othat he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” 25 Then ^pJoseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.” 26 So Joseph died, being 110 years old. They ^qembalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.