Today's Reading

¹The famine was severe in the land.

²It happened, when they had eaten up the grain which they had brought out of Egypt, their father said to them, "Go again, buy us a little more food."

³Judah spoke to him, saying, "The man solemnly warned us, saying, 'You shall not see my face, unless your brother is with you.'

⁴If you'll send our brother with us, we'll go down and buy you food,

⁵but if you'll not send him, we'll not go down, for the man said to us, 'You shall not see my face, unless your brother is with you.'"

⁶Israel said, "Why did you treat me so badly, telling the man that you had another brother?"

⁷They said, "The man asked directly concerning ourselves, and concerning our relatives, saying, 'Is your father still alive? Have you another brother?' We just answered his questions. Is there any way we could know that he would say, 'Bring your brother down?'"

⁸Judah said to Israel, his father, "Send the boy with me, and we'll get up and go, so that we may live, and not die, both we, and you, and also our little ones.

⁹I'll be collateral for him. From my hand will you require him. If I do not bring him to you, and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever,

¹⁰for if we hadn't delayed, surely we would have returned a second time by now."

¹¹Their father, Israel, said to them, "If it must be so, then do this. Take from the choice fruits of the land in your bags, and carry down a present for the man, a little balm, a little honey, spices and myrrh, nuts, and almonds;

¹²and take double money in your hand, and take back the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks. Perhaps it was an oversight.

¹³Take your brother also, get up, and return to the man.

¹⁴May God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may release to you your other brother and Benjamin. If I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved."

¹⁵The men took that present, and they took double money in their hand, and Benjamin; and got up, went down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph.

¹⁶When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, "Bring the men into the house, and butcher an animal, and make ready; for the men will dine with me at noon."

¹⁷The man did as Joseph commanded, and the man brought the men to Joseph's house.

¹⁸The men were afraid, because they were brought to Joseph's house; and they said, "Because of the money that was returned in our sacks at the first time, we're brought in; that he may seek occasion against us, attack us, and seize us as slaves, along with our donkeys."

¹⁹They came near to the steward of Joseph's house, and they spoke to him at the door of the house,

²⁰and said, "Oh, my lord, we indeed came down the first time to buy food.

²¹When we came to the lodging place, we opened our sacks, and behold, every man's money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight. We have brought it back in our hand.

²²We have brought down other money in our hand to buy food. We do not know who put our money in our sacks."

²³He said, "Peace be to you. Do not be afraid. Your God, and the God of your father, has given you treasure in your sacks. I received your money." He brought Simeon out to them.

²⁴The man brought the men into Joseph's house, and gave them water, and they washed their feet. He gave their donkeys fodder.

²⁵They made ready the present for Joseph's coming at noon, for they heard that they should eat bread there.

²⁶When Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and bowed themselves down to him to the earth.

²⁷He asked them of their welfare, and said, "Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he yet alive?"

²⁸They said, "Your servant, our father, is well. He is still alive." They bowed the head, and did homage.

²⁹He lifted up his eyes, and saw Benjamin, his brother, his mother's son, and said, "Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me?" He said, "God be gracious to you, my son."

³⁰Joseph hurried, for his heart yearned over his brother; and he sought a place to weep. He entered into his room, and wept there.

³¹He washed his face, and came out. He controlled himself, and said, "Serve the meal."

³²They served him by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians, that ate with him, by themselves, because the Egyptians do not eat bread with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians.

³³They sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth, and the men marveled one with another.

³⁴He sent portions to them from before him, but Benjamin's portion was five times as much as any of theirs. They drank, and were merry with him.

¹He commanded the steward of his house, saying, "Fill the men's sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put every man's money in his sack's mouth.

²Put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack's mouth of the youngest, with his grain money." He did according to the word that Joseph had spoken.

³As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away, they and their donkeys.

⁴When they had gone out of the city, and were not yet far off, Joseph said to his steward, "Up, follow after the men. When you overtake them, ask them, 'Why have you rewarded evil for good?

⁵Isn't this that from which my lord drinks, and by which he indeed divines? You have done evil in so doing.'"

⁶He overtook them, and he spoke these words to them.

⁷They said to him, "Why does my lord speak such words as these? Far be it from your servants that they should do such a thing!

⁸Behold, the money, which we found in our sacks' mouths, we brought again to you out of the land of Canaan. How then should we steal silver or gold out of your lord's house?

⁹With whoever of your servants it be found, let him die, and we also will be my lord's bondservants."

¹⁰He said, "Now also let it be according to your words: he with whom it is found will be my bondservant; and you will be blameless."

¹¹Then they hurried, and every man took his sack down to the ground, and every man opened his sack.

¹²He searched, beginning with the eldest, and ending at the youngest. The cup was found in Benjamin's sack.

¹³Then they tore their clothes, and every man loaded his donkey, and returned to the city.

¹⁴Judah and his brothers came to Joseph's house, and he was still there. They fell on the ground before him.

¹⁵Joseph said to them, "What deed is this that you have done? Do you not know that such a man as I can indeed divine?"

¹⁶Judah said, "What will we tell my lord? What will we speak? Or how will we clear ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants. Behold, we are my lord's bondservants, both we, and he also in whose hand the cup is found."

¹⁷He said, "Far be it from me that I should do so. The man in whose hand the cup is found, he will be my bondservant; but as for you, go up in peace to your father."

¹⁸Then Judah came near to him, and said, "Oh, my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord's ears, and do not let your anger burn against your servant; for you are even as Pharaoh.

¹⁹My lord asked his servants, saying, 'Have you a father, or a brother?'

²⁰We said to my lord, 'We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother; and his father loves him.'

²¹You said to your servants, 'Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him.'

²²We said to my lord, 'The boy can't leave his father: for if he should leave his father, his father would die.'

²³You said to your servants, 'Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will see my face no more.'

²⁴It happened when we came up to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord.

²⁵Our father said, 'Go again, buy us a little food.'

²⁶We said, 'We can't go down. If our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down: for we may not see the man's face, unless our youngest brother is with us.'

²⁷Your servant, my father, said to us, 'You know that my wife bore me two sons:

²⁸and the one went out from me, and I said, "Surely he is torn in pieces;" and I haven't seen him since.

²⁹If you take this one also from me, and harm happens to him, you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.'

³⁰Now therefore when I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us; seeing that his life is bound up in the boy's life;

³¹it will happen, when he sees that the boy is no more, that he will die. Your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant, our father, with sorrow to Sheol.

³²For your servant became collateral for the boy to my father, saying, 'If I do not bring him to you, then I will bear the blame to my father forever.'

³³Now therefore, please let your servant stay instead of the boy, a bondservant to my lord; and let the boy go up with his brothers.

³⁴For how will I go up to my father, if the boy isn't with me?-lest I see the evil that will come on my father."

¹Then Joseph couldn't control himself before all those who stood before him, and he cried, "Cause every man to go out from me!" No one else stood with him, while Joseph made himself known to his brothers.

²He wept aloud. The Egyptians heard, and the house of Pharaoh heard.

³Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph! Does my father still live?" His brothers couldn't answer him; for they were terrified at his presence.

⁴Joseph said to his brothers, "Come near to me, please." They came near. "He said, I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.

⁵Now do not be grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.

⁶For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are yet five years, in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest.

⁷God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to save you alive by a great deliverance.

⁸So now it wasn't you who sent me here, but God, and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of all his house, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

⁹Hurry, and go up to my father, and tell him, 'This is what your son Joseph says, "God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me. Do not wait.

¹⁰You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you will be near to me, you, your children, your children's children, your flocks, your herds, and all that you have.

¹¹There I will nourish you; for there are yet five years of famine; lest you come to poverty, you, and your household, and all that you have."'

¹²Behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaks to you.

¹³You shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that you have seen. You shall hurry and bring my father down here."

¹⁴He fell on his brother Benjamin's neck, and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck.

¹⁵He kissed all his brothers, and wept on them. After that his brothers talked with him.

¹⁶The report of it was heard in Pharaoh's house, saying, "Joseph's brothers have come." It pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants.

¹⁷Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Tell your brothers, 'Do this. Load your animals, and go, travel to the land of Canaan.

¹⁸Take your father and your households, and come to me, and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and you will eat the fat of the land.'

¹⁹Now you are commanded: do this. Take wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come.

²⁰Also, do not concern yourselves about your belongings, for the good of all of the land of Egypt is yours."

²¹The sons of Israel did so. Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way.

²²He gave each one of them changes of clothing, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of clothing.

²³To his father, he sent after this manner: ten donkeys loaded with the good things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and provision for his father by the way.

²⁴So he sent his brothers away, and they departed. He said to them, "See that you do not quarrel on the way."

²⁵They went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan, to Jacob their father.

²⁶They told him, saying, "Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt." His heart fainted, for he did not believe them.

²⁷They told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them. When he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob, their father, revived.

²⁸Israel said, "It is enough. Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die."

¹Then the Pharisees and scribes came to Jesus from Jerusalem, saying,

²"Why do your disciples disobey the tradition of the elders? For they do not wash their hands when they eat bread."

³And he answered them, "Why do you also disobey the commandment of God because of your tradition?

⁴For God said, 'Honor your father and your mother,' and, 'He who speaks evil of father or mother, let him be put to death.'

⁵But you say, 'Whoever may tell his father or his mother, "Whatever help you might otherwise have gotten from me is a gift devoted to God,"

⁶he shall not honor his father or mother.' You have made the word of God void because of your tradition.

⁷You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, saying,

⁸'These people honor me with their lips; but their heart is far from me.

⁹And in vain do they worship me, teaching as doctrine rules made by men.'"

¹⁰He summoned the multitude, and said to them, "Hear, and understand.

¹¹That which enters into the mouth does not defile the man; but that which proceeds out of the mouth, this defiles the man."

¹²Then the disciples came, and said to him, "Do you know that the Pharisees were offended, when they heard this saying?"

¹³But he answered, "Every plant which my heavenly Father did not plant will be uprooted.

¹⁴Leave them alone. They are blind guides of the blind. If the blind guide the blind, both will fall into a pit."

¹⁵Peter answered him, "Explain the parable to us."

¹⁶So he said, "Do you also still not understand?

¹⁷Do you not understand that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the belly, and then out of the body?

¹⁸But the things which proceed out of the mouth come out of the heart, and they defile the man.

¹⁹For out of the heart come forth evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual sins, thefts, false testimony, and blasphemies.

²⁰These are the things which defile the man; but to eat with unwashed hands does not defile the man."

²¹Jesus went out from there, and withdrew into the region of Tyre and Sidon.

²²Behold, a Canaanite woman came out from those borders, and started shouting, saying, "Have mercy on me, Lord, you son of David! My daughter is severely demonized!"

²³But he answered her not a word. His disciples came and begged him, saying, "Send her away; for she cries after us."

²⁴But he answered, "I was not sent to anyone but the lost sheep of the house of Israel."

²⁵But she came and worshiped him, saying, "Lord, help me."

²⁶But he answered, "It is not appropriate to take the children's bread and throw it to the dogs."

²⁷But she said, "Yes, Lord, but even the dogs eat the crumbs which fall from their masters' table."

²⁸Then Jesus answered her, "Woman, great is your faith! Be it done to you even as you desire." And her daughter was healed from that hour.

²⁹Jesus departed there, and came near to the sea of Galilee; and he went up into the mountain, and sat there.

³⁰Great multitudes came to him, having with them the lame, blind, mute, crippled, and many others, and they put them down at his feet. He healed them,

³¹so that the crowd wondered when they saw the mute speaking, injured whole, lame walking, and blind seeing-and they glorified the God of Israel.

³²Jesus summoned his disciples and said, "I have compassion on the multitude, because they continue with me now three days and have nothing to eat. I do not want to send them away fasting, or they might faint on the way."

³³Then the disciples said to him, "Where should we get so many loaves in a deserted place as to satisfy so great a multitude?"

³⁴Jesus said to them, "How many loaves do you have?" They said, "Seven, and a few small fish."

³⁵He commanded the multitude to sit down on the ground;

³⁶and he took the seven loaves and the fish. He gave thanks and broke them, and gave to the disciples, and the disciples to the multitudes.

³⁷They all ate, and were filled. They took up seven baskets full of the broken pieces that were left over.

³⁸Those who ate were four thousand men, besides women and children.

³⁹Then he sent away the multitudes, got into the boat, and came into the borders of Magadan.

¹ Lord, who shall dwell in your sanctuary? Who shall live on your holy hill?

²He who walks blamelessly does what is right, and speaks truth in his heart;

³He who doesn't slander with his tongue, nor does evil to his friend, nor casts slurs against his fellow man;

⁴In whose eyes a vile man is despised, but who honors those who fear the Lord; he who keeps an oath even when it hurts, and doesn't change;

⁵he who doesn't lend out his money for usury, nor take a bribe against the innocent. He who does these things shall never be shaken.

¹A gentle answer turns away wrath, but a harsh word stirs up anger.

²The tongue of the wise commends knowledge, but the mouth of fools gush out folly.

³The Lord's eyes are everywhere, keeping watch on the evil and the good.

⁴A gentle tongue is a tree of life, but deceit in it crushes the spirit.

⁵A fool despises his father's correction, but he who heeds reproof shows prudence.

⁶In the house of the righteous is much treasure, but the income of the wicked brings trouble.

⁷The lips of the wise spread knowledge; not so with the heart of fools.

⁸The sacrifice made by the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but the prayer of the upright is his delight.

⁹The way of the wicked is an abomination to the Lord, but he loves him who follows after righteousness.

¹⁰There is stern discipline for one who forsakes the way: whoever hates reproof shall die.

¹¹Sheol and Abaddon are before the Lord- how much more then the hearts of the children of men!

¹²A scoffer doesn't love to be reproved; he will not go to the wise.

¹³A glad heart makes a cheerful face; but an aching heart breaks the spirit.

¹⁴The heart of one who has understanding seeks knowledge, but the mouths of fools feed on folly.

¹⁵All the days of the afflicted are wretched, but one who has a cheerful heart enjoys a continual feast.

¹⁶Better is little, with the fear of the Lord, than great treasure with trouble.

¹⁷Better is a dinner of herbs, where love is, than a fattened calf with hatred.

¹⁸A wrathful man stirs up contention, but one who is slow to anger appeases strife.

¹⁹The way of the sluggard is like a thorn patch, but the path of the upright is a highway.

²⁰A wise son makes a father glad, but a foolish man despises his mother.

²¹Folly is joy to one who is void of wisdom, but a man of understanding keeps his way straight.

²²Where there is no counsel, plans fail; but in a multitude of counselors they are established.

²³Joy comes to a man with the reply of his mouth. How good is a word at the right time!

²⁴The path of life leads upward for the wise, to keep him from going downward to Sheol.

²⁵The Lord will uproot the house of the proud, but he will keep the widow's borders intact.

²⁶The Lord detests the thoughts of the wicked, but the thoughts of the pure are pleasing.

²⁷He who is greedy for gain troubles his own house, but he who hates bribes will live.

²⁸The heart of the righteous weighs answers, but the mouth of the wicked gushes out evil.

²⁹The Lord is far from the wicked, but he hears the prayer of the righteous.

³⁰The light of the eyes rejoices the heart. Good news gives health to the bones.

³¹The ear that listens to reproof lives, and will be at home among the wise.

³²He who refuses correction despises his own soul, but he who listens to reproof gets understanding.

³³The fear of the Lord teaches wisdom. Before honor is humility.