Lord, I am in great trouble. So I call out to you for help. Lord, hear my voice. Listen to my prayer for help.

Lord, if you punished people for all their sins, no one would be left.

But you forgive us. So you are respected.

I wait for the Lord to help me. I trust his word.

I wait for the Lord to help me more than night watchmen wait for the dawn, more than night watchmen wait for the dawn.

People of Israel, put your hope in the Lord because he is loving and able to save.

If anyone belongs to Christ, then he is made new. The old things have gone; everything is made new! All this is from God. Through Christ, God made peace between us and himself. And God gave us the work of bringing everyone into peace with him. I mean that God was in Christ, making peace between the world and himself. In Christ, God did not hold the world guilty of its sins. And he gave us this message of peace. So we have been sent to speak for Christ. It is as if God is calling to you through us. We speak for Christ when we beg you to be at peace with God. Christ had no sin. But God made him become sin. God did this for us so that in Christ we could become right with God.

When Jacob died, Joseph hugged his father and cried over him and kissed him. He commanded the doctors who served him to prepare his father’s body. So the doctors prepared Jacob’s body to be buried. It took the doctors 40 days to prepare his body. This was the usual time it took. And the Egyptians had a time of sorrow for Jacob. It lasted 70 days. When this time of sorrow had ended, Joseph spoke to the king’s officers. He said, “If you think well of me, please tell this to the king: ‘When my father was near death, I made a promise to him. I promised I would bury him in a cave in the land of Canaan. This is a burial place that he cut out for himself. So please let me go and bury my father. Then I will return.’” The king answered, “Keep your promise. Go and bury your father.” So Joseph went to bury his father. All the king’s officers, the elders of his court and all the elders of Egypt went with Joseph. Everyone who lived with Joseph and his brothers went with him. And everyone who lived with his father also went. They left only their children, their flocks and their herds in the land of Goshen. Men in chariots and on horses also went with Joseph. It was a very large group.

God can see what is in people’s hearts. And he knows what is in the mind of the Spirit, because the Spirit speaks to God for his people in the way that God wants. We know that in everything God works for the good of those who love him. They are the people God called, because that was his plan.

After Jacob died, Joseph’s brothers said, “What if Joseph is still angry with us? We did many wrong things to him. What if he plans to pay us back?” So they sent a message to Joseph. It said, “Your father gave this command before he died. He said to us, ‘You have done wrong. You have sinned and done evil to Joseph. Tell Joseph to forgive you, his brothers.’ So now, Joseph, we beg you to forgive our wrong. We are the servants of the God of your father.” When Joseph received the message, he cried.

And his brothers went to him and bowed low before him. They said, “We are your slaves.” Then Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Can I do what only God can do? You meant to hurt me. But God turned your evil into good. It was to save the lives of many people. And it is being done. So don’t be afraid. I will take care of you and your children.” So Joseph comforted his brothers and spoke kind words to them. Joseph continued to live in Egypt with all his father’s family. He died when he was 110 years old.