I am he – Day 5

₈Then the LORD God planted a garden in Eden, in the East, and there he put the man he had formed. ₉He made all kinds of beautiful trees grow there and produce good fruit. In the middle of the garden stood the tree that gives life and the tree that gives knowledge of what is good and what is bad.

₁₅Then the LORD God placed the man in the Garden of Eden to cultivate it and guard it.

₂₈blessed them, and said, “Have many children, so that your descendants will live all over the earth and bring it under their control. I am putting you in charge of the fish, the birds, and all the wild animals.

₂₄The best thing anyone can do is to eat and drink and enjoy what he has earned. And yet, I realized that even this comes from God. ₂₅How else could you have anything to eat or enjoy yourself at all?

₆Our brothers and sisters, we command you in the name of our Lord Jesus Christ to keep away from all believers who are living a lazy life and who do not follow the instructions that we gave them. ₇You yourselves know very well that you should do just what we did. We were not lazy when we were with you. ₈We did not accept anyone's support without paying for it. Instead, we worked and toiled; we kept working day and night so as not to be an expense to any of you. ₉We did this, not because we have no right to demand our support; we did it to be an example for you to follow. ₁₀While we were with you, we used to say to you, “Whoever refuses to work is not allowed to eat.”

₁₁We say this because we hear that there are some people among you who live lazy lives and who do nothing except meddle in other people's business. ₁₂In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ we command these people and warn them to lead orderly lives and work to earn their own living.

₁₃The next day Moses was settling disputes among the people, and he was kept busy from morning till night. ₁₄When Jethro saw everything that Moses had to do, he asked, “What is all this that you are doing for the people? Why are you doing this all alone, with people standing here from morning till night to consult you?”

₁₅Moses answered, “I must do this because the people come to me to learn God's will. ₁₆When two people have a dispute, they come to me, and I decide which one of them is right, and I tell them God's commands and laws.”

₁₇Then Jethro said, “You are not doing it the right way. ₁₈You will wear yourself out and these people as well. This is too much for you to do alone. ₁₉Now let me give you some good advice, and God will be with you. It is right for you to represent the people before God and bring their disputes to him. ₂₀You should teach them God's commands and explain to them how they should live and what they should do. ₂₁But in addition, you should choose some capable men and appoint them as leaders of the people: leaders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. They must be God-fearing men who can be trusted and who cannot be bribed. ₂₂Let them serve as judges for the people on a permanent basis. They can bring all the difficult cases to you, but they themselves can decide all the smaller disputes. That will make it easier for you, as they share your burden. ₂₃If you do this, as God commands, you will not wear yourself out, and all these people can go home with their disputes settled.”

₂₄Moses took Jethro's advice ₂₅and chose capable men from among all the Israelites. He appointed them as leaders of thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens. ₂₆They served as judges for the people on a permanent basis, bringing the difficult cases to Moses but deciding the smaller disputes themselves.

₃₆Some time later Paul said to Barnabas, “Let us go back and visit our brothers and sisters in every town where we preached the word of the Lord, and let us find out how they are getting on.” ₃₇Barnabas wanted to take John Mark with them, ₃₈but Paul did not think it was right to take him, because he had not stayed with them to the end of their mission, but had turned back and left them in Pamphylia. ₃₉There was a sharp argument, and they separated: Barnabas took Mark and sailed off for Cyprus, ₄₀while Paul chose Silas and left, commended by the believers to the care of the Lord's grace.

₁Then Moses and the Israelites sang this song to the LORD:

₃who saw that the LORD was with Joseph and had made him successful in everything he did. ₄Potiphar was pleased with him and made him his personal servant; so he put him in charge of his house and everything he owned. ₅From then on, because of Joseph the LORD blessed the household of the Egyptian and everything that he had in his house and in his fields. ₆Potiphar handed over everything he had to the care of Joseph and did not concern himself with anything except the food he ate.

Joseph was well-built and good-looking, ₇and after a while his master's wife began to desire Joseph and asked him to go to bed with her. ₈He refused and said to her, “Look, my master does not have to concern himself with anything in the house, because I am here. He has put me in charge of everything he has. ₉I have as much authority in this house as he has, and he has not kept back anything from me except you. How then could I do such an immoral thing and sin against God?” ₁₀Although she asked Joseph day after day, he would not go to bed with her.