The Twelve Apostles

1 ^uAnd he called to him his twelve disciples and gave them ^vauthority over unclean spirits, to cast them out, and to heal every disease and every affliction. 2 The names of the ^wtwelve apostles are these: first, ^xSimon, who is called Peter, and ^yAndrew his brother; ^zJames the son of Zebedee, and ^aJohn his brother; 3 ^bPhilip and ^cBartholomew; ^dThomas and ^eMatthew the tax collector; ^fJames the son of Alphaeus, and ^gThaddaeus;¹ 4 ^hSimon the Zealot,² and ⁱJudas Iscariot, who betrayed him.

Jesus Sends Out the Twelve Apostles

5 ^jThese twelve Jesus sent out, instructing them, “Go nowhere ^kamong the Gentiles and enter no town of the Samaritans, 6 but go rather to the ^llost sheep of the house of Israel. 7 And ^mproclaim as you go, saying, ‘The kingdom of heaven is ⁿat hand.’³ 8 Heal the sick, raise the dead, cleanse lepers,⁴ cast out demons. You received ^owithout paying; give ^pwithout pay. 9 Acquire ^qno gold or silver or copper for your belts, 10 no bag for your journey, or two tunics⁵ or sandals or a staff, for ^rthe laborer deserves his food. 11 And ^swhatever town or village you enter, find out who is worthy in it and stay there until you depart. 12 As you enter the house, greet it. 13 And if the house is worthy, let your ^tpeace come upon it, but if it is not worthy, let your peace return to you. 14 And if anyone will not receive you or listen to your words, ^ushake off the dust from your feet when you leave that house or town. 15 Truly, I say to you, it will be ^vmore bearable on the day of judgment for ^wthe land of Sodom and Gomorrah than for that town.

Persecution Will Come

16 “Behold, I am sending you out as sheep in the midst of ^xwolves, so be ^ywise as serpents and ^zinnocent as doves. 17 Beware of men, for they will deliver you over to courts and flog you in their ^asynagogues, 18 and you will be dragged before ^bgovernors and kings for my sake, to bear witness before them and the Gentiles. 19 When they deliver you over, do not be anxious how you are to speak or what you are to say, for what you are to say will be given to you in that hour. 20 For it is not you who speak, but the ^cSpirit of your Father speaking through you.

The Jerusalem Council

1 ^kBut some ^lmen came down from Judea and were teaching the brothers, “Unless you are ^mcircumcised ⁿaccording to the custom of Moses, you cannot be saved.” 2 And after Paul and Barnabas had no small dissension and debate with them, ^oPaul and Barnabas and some of the others were appointed to go up to Jerusalem to the apostles and the elders about this question. 3 So, being sent on their way by the church, they passed through both Phoenicia and Samaria, describing in detail ^pthe conversion of the Gentiles, and brought great joy to all the brothers.¹ 4 When they came to Jerusalem, they were welcomed by the church and the apostles and the elders, and they declared all that God had done with them. 5 But some believers who belonged to the party of the Pharisees rose up and said, “It is necessary to circumcise them and to order them to keep the law of Moses.”

6 The apostles and the elders were gathered together to consider this matter. 7 And after there had been much debate, Peter stood up and said to them, “Brothers, you know that ^qin the early days God made a choice among you, that by my mouth the Gentiles should hear the word of the gospel and believe. 8 And God, who knows the heart, ^rbore witness ^sto them, by giving them the Holy Spirit ^tjust as he did to us, 9 and he ^umade no distinction between us and them, having cleansed their hearts by faith. 10 Now, therefore, why are you ^vputting God to the test by placing a ^wyoke on the neck of the disciples that ^xneither our fathers nor we have been able to bear? 11 But we believe that we will be ^ysaved through the grace of the Lord Jesus, just as they will.”

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

19 Therefore my judgment is that we should not trouble those of the Gentiles who turn to God, 20 but should write to them to abstain from the things ^dpolluted by ^eidols, and from ^fsexual immorality, and from what has been strangled, and from ^gblood. 21 For from ancient generations Moses has had in every city those who proclaim him, for he is read every Sabbath in the synagogues.”

The Lord Is My Shepherd

A Psalm of David.

1 Then Joseph fell on his father’s face and ^zwept over him and kissed him. 2 And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm 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 wept for him ^aseventy days.

4 And when the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, 5 ^b‘My father made me swear, saying, “I am about to die: in my tomb that 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 in 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, they lamented there with a very great and grievous lamentation, and he made a mourning for his father ^cseven 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 ^dThus his sons did for him as he had commanded them, 13 for ^ehis sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field at Machpelah, to the east of Mamre, ^fwhich Abraham bought 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 ^gpay 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 the God of your father.” Joseph ^hwept when they spoke to him. 18 His brothers also came and ⁱfell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.” 19 But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for ^jam I in the place of God? 20 As for you, you meant evil against me, but ^kGod meant it ^lfor good, to bring it about that many people² should be kept alive, as they are today. 21 So do not fear; ^mI 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 ⁿsaw Ephraim’s children of the third generation. The children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were counted as Joseph’s own.³ 24 And Joseph said to his brothers, ^o“I am about to die, but ^pGod will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he ^qswore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” 25 Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “God will surely visit you, and ^ryou shall carry up my bones from here.” 26 So Joseph died, being 110 years old. They embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.