A Tree and Its Fruit

15 ^v“Beware of false prophets, who come to you in sheep’s clothing but inwardly are ravenous ^wwolves. 16 You will recognize them by their fruits. ^xAre grapes gathered from thornbushes, or figs from thistles? 17 So, every healthy tree bears good fruit, but the diseased tree bears bad fruit. 18 A healthy tree cannot bear bad fruit, nor can a diseased tree bear good fruit. 19 ^yEvery tree that does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire. 20 Thus you will recognize them by their fruits.

I Never Knew You

21 ^z“Not everyone who says to me, ‘Lord, Lord,’ will ^aenter the kingdom of heaven, but the one who ^bdoes the will of my Father who is in heaven. 22 On that day many will say to me, ‘Lord, Lord, did we not prophesy in your name, and cast out demons in your name, and do many mighty works in your name?’ 23 And then will I declare to them, ^c‘I never knew you; ^ddepart from me, you workers of lawlessness.’

Build Your House on the Rock

24 ^e“Everyone then who ^fhears these words of mine and does them will be like a wise man who built his house on the rock. 25 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat on that house, but it did not fall, because it had been founded on the rock. 26 And everyone who ^ghears these words of mine and does not do them will be like a foolish man who built his house on the sand. 27 And the rain fell, and the floods came, and the winds blew and beat against that house, and it fell, and great was the fall of it.”

The Authority of Jesus

28 And when Jesus finished these sayings, the crowds were ^hastonished at his teaching, 29 for he was teaching them as one who had ⁱauthority, and not as their scribes.

24 And on the following day they entered Caesarea. Cornelius was expecting them and had called together his relatives and close friends. 25 When Peter entered, Cornelius met him and fell down at his feet and ^pworshiped him. 26 But Peter lifted him up, saying, “Stand up; I too am a man.” 27 And as he talked with him, he went in and found many persons gathered. 28 And he said to them, “You yourselves know how ^qunlawful it is for a Jew to associate with or to visit anyone of another nation, but God has shown me that I should not call any person common or unclean. 29 So when I was sent for, I came without objection. I ask then why you sent for me.”

30 And Cornelius said, “Four days ago, about this hour, I was praying in my house at the ninth hour,¹ and behold, a man stood before me in bright clothing 31 and said, ‘Cornelius, your prayer has been heard and your alms have been remembered before God. 32 Send therefore to Joppa and ask for Simon who is called Peter. He is lodging in the house of Simon, a tanner, by the sea.’ 33 So I sent for you at once, and you have been kind enough to come. Now therefore we are all here in the presence of God to hear all that you have been commanded by the Lord.”

Gentiles Hear the Good News

34 So Peter opened his mouth and said: “Truly I understand that God ^rshows no partiality, 35 but in every nation anyone who ^sfears him and does what is right is acceptable to him. 36 As for the word that he sent to Israel, preaching good news of peace through Jesus Christ (he is ^tLord of all), 37 you yourselves know what happened throughout all Judea, ^ubeginning from Galilee after ^vthe baptism that John proclaimed: 38 how God ^wanointed Jesus of Nazareth with the Holy Spirit and with power. He went about doing good and healing all who were oppressed by the devil, for God was ^xwith him. 39 And we are witnesses of all that he did both in the country of the Jews and in Jerusalem. They put him to death by hanging him on a ^ytree, 40 but God raised him on the third day and made him to appear, 41 not to all the people but to us who had been chosen by God as ^zwitnesses, who ^aate and drank with him after he rose from the dead. 42 And he ^bcommanded us to preach to the people and to testify that he is the one appointed by God to be ^cjudge of the living and the dead. 43 To him all the prophets ^dbear witness that ^eeveryone who ^fbelieves ^gin him ^hreceives forgiveness of sins ⁱthrough his ^jname.”

The Holy Spirit Falls on the Gentiles

44 While Peter was still saying these things, the Holy Spirit ^kfell on all who heard the word. 45 And the believers from among the ^lcircumcised who had come with Peter were amazed, because the gift of the Holy Spirit was poured out ^meven on the Gentiles. 46 For they were hearing them ⁿspeaking in tongues and extolling God. Then Peter declared, 47 ^o“Can anyone withhold water for baptizing these people, who have received the Holy Spirit ^pjust as we have?” 48 And he commanded them to be baptized in the ^qname of Jesus Christ. Then they asked him to remain for some days.

The Lord Is My Rock and My Fortress

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David, the servant of the Lord, ^hwho addressed the words of this song to the Lord on the day when the Lord delivered him from the hand of all his enemies, and from the hand of Saul. He said:

Joseph and Potiphar’s Wife

1 ^hNow Joseph had been brought down to Egypt, and Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, ⁱthe captain of the guard, an Egyptian, had bought him from the ^jIshmaelites who had brought him down there. 2 The Lord was ^kwith Joseph, and he became a successful man, and he was in the house of his Egyptian master. 3 ^lHis master saw that the Lord was with him ^mand that the Lord caused all that he did to succeed in his hands. 4 So Joseph found favor in his sight and attended him, and ⁿhe made him overseer of his house and put him in charge of all that he had. 5 From the time that he made him overseer in his house and over all that he had, ^othe Lord blessed the Egyptian’s house for Joseph’s sake; the blessing of the Lord was on all that he had, in house and field. 6 So 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 ^phandsome in form and appearance. 7 And after a time his master’s wife cast her eyes on Joseph and said, ^q“Lie with me.” 8 But he refused and said to his master’s wife, “Behold, because of me my master has no concern about anything in the house, and he has put everything that he has in my charge. 9 He 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 ^rsin against God?” 10 And as she spoke to Joseph day after day, he would not listen to her, to lie beside her or to be with her.

11 But one day, when he went into the house to do his work and ^snone of the men of the house was there in the house, 12 ^tshe caught him by his garment, saying, “Lie with me.” ^uBut he left his garment in her hand and fled and got out of the house. 13 And as soon as she saw that he had left his garment in her hand and had fled out of the house, 14 she 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. 15 And 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.” 16 Then she laid up his garment by her until his master came home, 17 and she told him the same story, saying, “The Hebrew servant, whom you have brought among us, came in to me to laugh ^vat me. 18 But as soon as I lifted up my voice and cried, he left his garment beside me and fled out of the house.”

19 As 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. 20 And Joseph’s master took him and ^wput him into ^xthe prison, the place where the king’s prisoners were confined, and he was there in prison. 21 But the Lord was with Joseph and showed him steadfast love and gave him ^yfavor in the sight of the keeper of the prison. 22 And the keeper of the prison ^zput Joseph in charge of all the prisoners who were in the prison. Whatever was done there, he was the one who did it. 23 The keeper of the prison paid no attention to anything that was in Joseph’s charge, ^abecause the Lord was with him. And whatever he did, the Lord made it succeed.

Joseph Interprets Two Prisoners’ Dreams

1 Some time after this, the cupbearer of the king of Egypt and his baker committed an offense against their lord the king of Egypt. 2 And Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, the chief cupbearer and the chief baker, 3 and he put them in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, ^bin the prison where Joseph was confined. 4 The captain of the guard appointed Joseph to be with them, and he attended them. They continued for some time in custody.

5 And one night they both ^cdreamed—the cupbearer and the baker of the king of Egypt, who were confined in the prison—each his own dream, and each dream with its own interpretation. 6 When Joseph came to them in the morning, he saw that they were ^dtroubled. 7 So he asked Pharaoh’s officers who were with him in custody in his master’s house, “Why are your faces downcast today?” 8 They said to him, “We have had dreams, and ^ethere is no one to interpret them.” And Joseph said to them, ^f“Do not interpretations belong to God? Please tell them to me.”

9 So the chief cupbearer told his dream to Joseph and said to him, “In my dream there was a vine before me, 10 and on the vine there were three branches. As soon as it budded, its blossoms shot forth, and the clusters ripened into grapes. 11 Pharaoh’s cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes and pressed them into Pharaoh’s cup and placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand.” 12 Then Joseph said to him, “This is its interpretation: the ^gthree branches are three days. 13 ^hIn three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office, and you shall place Pharaoh’s cup in his hand as formerly, when you were his cupbearer. 14 Only ⁱremember me, when it is well with you, and please do me the kindness to mention me to Pharaoh, and so get me out of this house. 15 For ^jI was indeed stolen out of the land of the Hebrews, and ^khere also I have done nothing that they should ^lput me into the pit.”

16 When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was favorable, he said to Joseph, “I also had a dream: there were three cake baskets on my head, 17 and in the uppermost basket there were all sorts of baked food for Pharaoh, but the birds were eating it out of the basket on my head.” 18 And Joseph answered and said, “This is its interpretation: the three baskets are three days. 19 In three days Pharaoh will lift up your head—from you!—and hang you on a tree. ^mAnd the birds will eat the flesh from you.”

20 On the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, he made a feast for all his servants and lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his servants. 21 He restored the chief cupbearer to his position, and he placed the cup in Pharaoh’s hand. 22 But he hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them. 23 Yet the chief cupbearer did not ⁿremember Joseph, but forgot him.