Genesis 41:46-57
Joseph was thirty years old when he entered the service of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went through all the land of Egypt. During the seven plenteous years the earth produced abundantly. He gathered up all the food of the seven years when there was plenty in the land of Egypt, and stored up food in the cities; he stored up in every city the food from the fields around it. So Joseph stored up grain in such abundance-- like the sand of the sea-- that he stopped measuring it; it was beyond measure. Before the years of famine came, Joseph had two sons, whom Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, bore to him. Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, "For," he said, "God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father's house." The second he named Ephraim, "For God has made me fruitful in the land of my misfortunes." The seven years of plenty that prevailed in the land of Egypt came to an end; and the seven years of famine began to come, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in every country, but throughout the land of Egypt there was bread. When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread. Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, "Go to Joseph; what he says to you, do." And since the famine had spread over all the land, Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold to the Egyptians, for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. Moreover, all the world came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain, because the famine became severe throughout the world.
1 Corinthians 4:8-21
Already you have all you want! Already you have become rich! Quite apart from us you have become kings! Indeed, I wish that you had become kings, so that we might be kings with you! For I think that God has exhibited us apostles as last of all, as though sentenced to death, because we have become a spectacle to the world, to angels and to mortals. We are fools for the sake of Christ, but you are wise in Christ. We are weak, but you are strong. You are held in honor, but we in disrepute. To the present hour we are hungry and thirsty, we are poorly clothed and beaten and homeless, and we grow weary from the work of our own hands. When reviled, we bless; when persecuted, we endure; when slandered, we speak kindly. We have become like the rubbish of the world, the dregs of all things, to this very day. I am not writing this to make you ashamed, but to admonish you as my beloved children. For though you might have ten thousand guardians in Christ, you do not have many fathers. Indeed, in Christ Jesus I became your father through the gospel. I appeal to you, then, be imitators of me. For this reason I sent you Timothy, who is my beloved and faithful child in the Lord, to remind you of my ways in Christ Jesus, as I teach them everywhere in every church. But some of you, thinking that I am not coming to you, have become arrogant. But I will come to you soon, if the Lord wills, and I will find out not the talk of these arrogant people but their power. For the kingdom of God depends not on talk but on power. What would you prefer? Am I to come to you with a stick, or with love in a spirit of gentleness?
Mark 3:7-19
Jesus departed with his disciples to the sea, and a great multitude from Galilee followed him; hearing all that he was doing, they came to him in great numbers from Judea, Jerusalem, Idumea, beyond the Jordan, and the region around Tyre and Sidon. He told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, so that they would not crush him; for he had cured many, so that all who had diseases pressed upon him to touch him. Whenever the unclean spirits saw him, they fell down before him and shouted, "You are the Son of God!" But he sternly ordered them not to make him known. He went up the mountain and called to him those whom he wanted, and they came to him. And he appointed twelve, whom he also named apostles, to be with him, and to be sent out to proclaim the message, and to have authority to cast out demons. So he appointed the twelve: Simon (to whom he gave the name Peter); James son of Zebedee and John the brother of James (to whom he gave the name Boanerges, that is, Sons of Thunder); and Andrew, and Philip, and Bartholomew, and Matthew, and Thomas, and James son of Alphaeus, and Thaddaeus, and Simon the Cananaean, and Judas Iscariot, who betrayed him. Then he went home;
Psalm 56 Miserere mei, Deus (Have mercy upon me, O God)
1 Have mercy on me, O God, for my enemies are hounding me; all day long they assault and oppress me.
2 They hound me all the day long; truly there are many who fight against me, O Most High.
3 Whenever I am afraid, I will put my trust in you.
4 In God, whose word I praise, in God I trust and will not be afraid, for what can flesh do to me?
5 All day long they damage my cause; their only thought is to do me evil.
6 They band together; they lie in wait; they spy upon my footsteps; because they seek my life.
7 Shall they escape despite their wickedness? O God, in your anger, cast down the peoples.
8 You have noted my lamentation; put my tears into your bottle; are they not recorded in your book?
9 Whenever I call upon you, my enemies will be put to flight; this I know, for God is on my side.
10 In God the LORD, whose word I praise, in God I trust and will not be afraid, for what can mortals do to me?
11 I am bound by the vow I made to you, O God; I will present to you thank-offerings;
12 For you have rescued my soul from death and my feet from stumbling, that I may walk before God in the light of the living.
Psalm 57 Miserere mei, Deus (Have mercy upon me, O God)
1 Be merciful to me, O God, be merciful, for I have taken refuge in you; in the shadow of your wings will I take refuge until this time of trouble has gone by.
2 I will call upon the Most High God, the God who maintains my cause.
3 He will send from heaven and save me; he will confound those who trample upon me; God will send forth his love and his faithfulness.
4 I lie in the midst of lions that devour the people; their teeth are spears and arrows, their tongue a sharp sword.
5 They have laid a net for my feet, and I am bowed low; they have dug a pit before me, but have fallen into it themselves.
6 Exalt yourself above the heavens, O God, and your glory over all the earth.
7 My heart is firmly fixed, O God, my heart is fixed; I will sing and make melody.
8 Wake up, my spirit; awake, lute and harp; I myself will waken the dawn.
9 I will confess you among the peoples, O LORD; I will sing praise to you among the nations.
10 For your loving-kindness is greater than the heavens, and your faithfulness reaches to the clouds.
11 Exalt yourself above the heavens, O God, and your glory over all the earth.
Psalm 58 Si vere utique (If indeed)
1 Do you indeed decree righteousness, you rulers? do you judge the peoples with equity?
2 No; you devise evil in your hearts, and your hands deal out violence in the land.
3 The wicked are perverse from the womb; liars go astray from their birth.
4 They are as venomous as a serpent, they are like the deaf adder which stops its ears,
5 Which does not heed the voice of the charmer, no matter how skillful his charming.
6 O God, break their teeth in their mouths; pull the fangs of the young lions, O LORD.
7 Let them vanish like water that runs off; let them wither like trodden grass.
8 Let them be like the snail that melts away, like a stillborn child that never sees the sun.
9 Before they bear fruit, let them be cut down like a brier; like thorns and thistles let them be swept away.
10 The righteous will be glad when they see the vengeance; they will bathe their feet in the blood of the wicked.
11 And they will say, "Surely, there is a reward for the righteous; surely, there is a God who rules in the earth."
Psalm 64 Exaudi, Deus (Hear, O)
1 Hear my voice, O God, when I complain; protect my life from fear of the enemy.
2 Hide me from the conspiracy of the wicked, from the mob of evildoers.
3 They sharpen their tongue like a sword, and aim their bitter words like arrows,
4 That they may shoot down the blameless from ambush; they shoot without warning and are not afraid.
5 They hold fast to their evil course; they plan how they may hide their snares.
6 They say, "Who will see us? who will find out our crimes? we have thought out a perfect plot."
7 The human mind and heart are a mystery; but God will loose an arrow at them, and suddenly they will be wounded.
8 He will make them trip over their tongues, and all who see them will shake their heads.
9 Everyone will stand in awe and declare God's deeds; they will recognize his works.
10 The righteous will rejoice in the LORD and put their trust in him, and all who are true of heart will glory.
Psalm 65 Te decet hymnus (You are praised)
1 You are to be praised, O God, in Zion; to you shall vows be performed in Jerusalem.
2 To you that hear prayer shall all flesh come, because of their transgressions.
3 Our sins are stronger than we are, but you will blot them out.
4 Happy are they whom you choose and draw to your courts to dwell there! they will be satisfied by the beauty of your house, by the holiness of your temple.
5 Awesome things will you show us in your righteousness, O God of our salvation, O Hope of all the ends of the earth and of the seas that are far away.
6 You make fast the mountains by your power; they are girded about with might.
7 You still the roaring of the seas, the roaring of their waves, and the clamor of the peoples.
8 Those who dwell at the ends of the earth will tremble at your marvelous signs; you make the dawn and the dusk to sing for joy.
9 You visit the earth and water it abundantly; you make it very plenteous; the river of God is full of water.
10 You prepare the grain, for so you provide for the earth.
11 You drench the furrows and smooth out the ridges; with heavy rain you soften the ground and bless its increase.
12 You crown the year with your goodness, and your paths overflow with plenty.
13 May the fields of the wilderness be rich for grazing, and the hills be clothed with joy.
14 May the meadows cover themselves with flocks, and the valleys cloak themselves with grain; let them shout for joy and sing.
