Tuesday in Season after Pentecost

1Verse 1. Meanwhile, Joseph had been taken down to Egypt, where an Egyptian named Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh and captain of the guard, bought him from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there. 2Verse 2. And the LORD was with Joseph, and he became a successful man, serving in the household of his Egyptian master. 3Verse 3. When his master saw that the LORD was with him and made him prosper in all he did, 4Verse 4. Joseph found favor in his sight and became his personal attendant. Potiphar put him in charge of his household and entrusted him with everything he owned. 5Verse 5. From the time that he put Joseph in charge of his household and all he owned, the LORD blessed the Egyptian’s household on account of him. The LORD’s blessing was on everything he owned, both in his house and in his field. 6Verse 6. So Potiphar left all that he owned in Joseph’s care; he did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate. Now Joseph was well-built and handsome, 7Verse 7. and after some time his master’s wife cast her eyes upon Joseph and said, “Sleep with me.” 8Verse 8. But he refused. “Look,” he said to his master’s wife, “with me here, my master does not concern himself with anything in his house, and he has entrusted everything he owns to my care. 9Verse 9. No one in this house is greater than I am. He has withheld nothing from me except you, because you are his wife. So how could I do such a great evil and sin against God?” 10Verse 10. Although Potiphar’s wife spoke to Joseph day after day, he refused to go to bed with her or even be near her. 11Verse 11. One day, however, Joseph went into the house to attend to his work, and not a single household servant was inside. 12Verse 12. She grabbed Joseph by his cloak and said, “Sleep with me!” But leaving his cloak in her hand, he escaped and ran outside. 13Verse 13. When she saw that he had left his cloak in her hand and had run out of the house, 14Verse 14. she called her household servants. “Look,” she said, “this Hebrew has been brought to us to make sport of us. He came to me so he could sleep with me, but I screamed as loud as I could. 15Verse 15. When he heard me scream for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.” 16Verse 16. So Potiphar’s wife kept Joseph’s cloak beside her until his master came home. 17Verse 17. Then she told him the same story: “The Hebrew slave you brought us came to me to make sport of me, 18Verse 18. but when I screamed for help, he left his cloak beside me and ran out of the house.” 19Verse 19. When his master heard the story his wife told him, saying, “This is what your slave did to me,” he burned with anger. 20Verse 20. So Joseph’s master took him and had him thrown into the prison where the king’s prisoners were confined. While Joseph was there in the prison, 21Verse 21. the LORD was with him and extended kindness to him, granting him favor in the eyes of the prison warden. 22Verse 22. And the warden put all the prisoners under Joseph’s care, so that he was responsible for all that was done in the prison. 23Verse 23. The warden did not concern himself with anything under Joseph’s care, because the LORD was with Joseph and gave him success in whatever he did.

1Verse 1. Now the two angels arrived at Sodom in the evening, and Lot was sitting in the gateway of the city. When Lot saw them, he got up to meet them, bowed facedown, 2Verse 2. and said, “My lords, please turn aside into the house of your servant; wash your feet and spend the night. Then you can rise early and go on your way.” “No,” they answered, “we will spend the night in the square.” 3Verse 3. But Lot insisted so strongly that they followed him into his house. He prepared a feast for them and baked unleavened bread, and they ate. 4Verse 4. Before they had gone to bed, all the men of the city of Sodom, both young and old, surrounded the house. 5Verse 5. They called out to Lot, saying, “Where are the men who came to you tonight? Send them out to us so we can have relations with them!” 6Verse 6. Lot went outside to meet them, shutting the door behind him. 7Verse 7. “Please, my brothers,” he pleaded, “don’t do such a wicked thing! 8Verse 8. Look, I have two daughters who have never slept with a man. Let me bring them to you, and you can do to them as you please. But do not do anything to these men, for they have come under the protection of my roof.” 9Verse 9. “Get out of the way!” they replied. And they declared, “This one came here as a foreigner, and he is already acting like a judge! Now we will treat you worse than them.” And they pressed in on Lot and moved in to break down the door. 10Verse 10. But the men inside reached out, pulled Lot into the house with them, and shut the door. 11Verse 11. And they struck the men at the entrance, young and old, with blindness, so that they wearied themselves trying to find the door. 12Verse 12. Then the two men said to Lot, “Do you have anyone else here — a son-in-law, your sons or daughters, or anyone else in the city who belongs to you? Get them out of here, 13Verse 13. because we are about to destroy this place. For the outcry to the LORD against its people is so great that He has sent us to destroy it.” 14Verse 14. So Lot went out and spoke to the sons-in-law who were pledged in marriage to his daughters. “Get up,” he said. “Get out of this place, for the LORD is about to destroy the city!” But his sons-in-law thought he was joking. 15Verse 15. At daybreak the angels hurried Lot along, saying, “Get up! Take your wife and your two daughters who are here, or you will be swept away in the punishment of the city.” 16Verse 16. But when Lot hesitated, the men grabbed his hand and the hands of his wife and his two daughters. And they led them safely out of the city, because of the LORD’s compassion for them. 17Verse 17. As soon as the men had brought them out, one of them said, “Run for your lives! Do not look back, and do not stop anywhere on the plain! Flee to the mountains, or you will be swept away!” 18Verse 18. But Lot replied, “No, my lords, please! 19Verse 19. Your servant has indeed found favor in your sight, and you have shown me great kindness by sparing my life. But I cannot run to the mountains; the disaster will overtake me, and I will die. 20Verse 20. Look, there is a town nearby where I can flee, and it is a small place. Please let me flee there — is it not a small place? Then my life will be saved.” 21Verse 21. “Very well,” he answered, “I will grant this request as well, and will not demolish the town you indicate. 22Verse 22. Hurry! Run there quickly, for I cannot do anything until you reach it.” That is why the town was called Zoar. 23Verse 23. And by the time the sun had risen over the land, Lot had reached Zoar. 24Verse 24. Then the LORD rained down sulfur and fire on Sodom and Gomorrah — from the LORD out of the heavens. 25Verse 25. Thus He destroyed these cities and the entire plain, including all the inhabitants of the cities and everything that grew on the ground. 26Verse 26. But Lot’s wife looked back, and she became a pillar of salt. 27Verse 27. Early the next morning, Abraham got up and returned to the place where he had stood before the LORD. 28Verse 28. He looked down toward Sodom and Gomorrah and all the land of the plain, and he saw the smoke rising from the land like smoke from a furnace. 29Verse 29. So when God destroyed the cities of the plain, He remembered Abraham, and He brought Lot out of the catastrophe that destroyed the cities where he had lived.