Today's Reading

¹Israel traveled with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father, Isaac.

²God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, "Jacob, Jacob!" He said, "Here I am."

³He said, "I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down into Egypt, for there I will make of you a great nation.

⁴I will go down with you into Egypt. I will also surely bring you up again. Joseph will close your eyes."

⁵Jacob rose up from Beersheba, and the sons of Israel carried Jacob, their father, their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him.

⁶They took their livestock, and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt-Jacob, and all his seed with him,

⁷his sons, and his sons' sons with him, his daughters, and his sons' daughters, and he brought all his seed with him into Egypt.

⁸These are the names of the children of Israel, who came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons: Reuben, Jacob's firstborn.

⁹The sons of Reuben: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.

¹⁰The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman.

¹¹The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

¹²The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah; but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.

¹³The sons of Issachar: Tola, Puvah, Iob, and Shimron.

¹⁴The sons of Zebulun: Sered, Elon, and Jahleel.

¹⁵These are the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan Aram, with his daughter Dinah. All the souls of his sons and his daughters were thirty-three.

¹⁶The sons of Gad: Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli.

¹⁷The sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and Serah their sister. The sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel.

¹⁸These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah, his daughter, and these she bore to Jacob, even sixteen souls.

¹⁹The sons of Rachel, Jacob's wife: Joseph and Benjamin.

²⁰To Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, bore to him. And there were sons born to Manasseh, which the Aramean concubine bore to him: Machir. And Machir begot Gilead. And the sons of Ephraim, the brother of Manasseh: Shuthelah and Tahan. And the sons of Shuthelah: Eran

²¹And the sons of Benjamin: Bela, and Becher, and Ashbel. And the sons of Bela were: Gera and Naaman, and Ehi, and Rosh, and Muppim, and Huppim. And Gera begot Ard.

²²These are the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob: all the souls were eighteen.

²³The son of Dan: Hushim.

²⁴The sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem.

²⁵These are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to Rachel, his daughter, and these she bore to Jacob: all the souls were seven.

²⁶All the souls who came with Jacob into Egypt, who were his direct descendants, besides Jacob's sons' wives, all the souls were sixty-six.

²⁷The sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt, were nine souls. All the souls of the house of Jacob, who came into Egypt, were seventy-five.

²⁸He sent Judah before him to Joseph, to show the way before him to Goshen, and they came into the land of Goshen.

²⁹Joseph made ready his chariot, and went up to meet Israel, his father, in Goshen. He presented himself to him, and fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while.

³⁰Israel said to Joseph, "Now let me die, since I have seen your face, that you are still alive."

³¹Joseph said to his brothers, and to his father's house, "I will go up, and speak with Pharaoh, and will tell him, 'My brothers, and my father's house, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me.

³²These men are shepherds, for they have been keepers of livestock, and they have brought their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have.'

³³It will happen, when Pharaoh summons you, and will say, 'What is your occupation?'

³⁴that you shall say, 'Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth even until now, both we, and our fathers:' that you may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians."

¹Then Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, and said, "My father and my brothers, with their flocks, their herds, and all that they own, have come out of the land of Canaan; and behold, they are in the land of Goshen."

²From among his brothers he took five men, and presented them to Pharaoh.

³Pharaoh said to his brothers, "What is your occupation?" They said to Pharaoh, "Your servants are shepherds, both we, and our fathers."

⁴They said to Pharaoh, "We have come to live as foreigners in the land, for there is no pasture for your servants' flocks. For the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now therefore, please let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen."

⁵Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, saying, "Your father and your brothers have come to you.

⁶The land of Egypt is before you. Make your father and your brothers dwell in the best of the land. Let them dwell in the land of Goshen. If you know any able men among them, then put them in charge of my livestock."

⁷Joseph brought in Jacob, his father, and set him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.

⁸Pharaoh said to Jacob, "How many are the days of the years of your life?"

⁹Jacob said to Pharaoh, "The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred thirty years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage."

¹⁰Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from the presence of Pharaoh.

¹¹Joseph placed his father and his brothers, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.

¹²Joseph nourished his father, his brothers, and all of his father's household, with bread, according to their families.

¹³There was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine.

¹⁴Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the grain which they bought: and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house.

¹⁵When the money was all spent in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph, and said, "Give us bread, for why should we die in your presence? For our money fails."

¹⁶Joseph said, "Give me your livestock; and I will give you food for your livestock, if your money is gone."

¹⁷They brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, and for the flocks, and for the herds, and for the donkeys: and he fed them with bread in exchange for all their livestock for that year.

¹⁸When that year was ended, they came to him the second year, and said to him, "We will not hide from my lord how our money is all spent, and the herds of livestock are my lord's. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands.

¹⁹Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants to Pharaoh. Give us seed, that we may live, and not die, and that the land won't be desolate."

²⁰So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine was severe on them, and the land became Pharaoh's.

²¹As for the people, he moved them to the cities from one end of the border of Egypt even to the other end of it.

²²Only he did not buy the land of the priests, for the priests had a portion from Pharaoh, and ate their portion which Pharaoh gave them. That is why they did not sell their land.

²³Then Joseph said to the people, "Behold, I have bought you and your land today for Pharaoh. Behold, here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land.

²⁴It will happen at the harvests, that you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four parts will be your own, for seed of the field, for your food, for them of your households, and for food for your little ones."

²⁵They said, "You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants."

²⁶Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth. Only the land of the priests alone did not become Pharaoh's.

²⁷Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen; and they got themselves possessions therein, and were fruitful, and multiplied exceedingly.

²⁸Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were one hundred forty-seven years.

²⁹The time drew near that Israel must die, and he called his son Joseph, and said to him, "If now I have found favor in your sight, please put your hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me. Please do not bury me in Egypt,

³⁰but when I sleep with my fathers, you shall carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying place." He said, "I will do as you have said."

³¹He said, "Swear to me," and he swore to him. Israel bowed himself on the bed's head.

¹It happened after these things, that someone said to Joseph, "Behold, your father is sick." He took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.

²Someone told Jacob, and said, "Behold, your son Joseph comes to you," and Israel strengthened himself, and sat on the bed.

³Jacob said to Joseph, "God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me,

⁴and said to me, 'Behold, I will make you fruitful, and multiply you, and I will make of you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your seed after you for an everlasting possession.'

⁵Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you into Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh, even as Reuben and Simeon, will be mine.

⁶Your issue, whom you become the father of after them, will be yours. They will be called after the name of their brothers in their inheritance.

⁷As for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way, when there was still some distance to come to Ephrath, and I buried her there in the way to Ephrath (the same is Bethlehem)."

⁸Israel saw Joseph's sons, and said, "Who are these?"

⁹Joseph said to his father, "They are my sons, whom God has given me here." He said, "Please bring them to me, and I will bless them."

¹⁰Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he couldn't see. He brought them near to him; and he kissed them, and embraced them.

¹¹Israel said to Joseph, "I did not think I would see your face, and behold, God has let me see your seed also."

¹²Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth.

¹³Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them near to him.

¹⁴Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it on Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh's head, guiding his hands knowingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn.

¹⁵He blessed Joseph, and said, "The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God who has fed me all my life long to this day,

¹⁶the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads, and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac. Let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth."

¹⁷When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him. He held up his father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head.

¹⁸Joseph said to his father, "Not so, my father; for this is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head."

¹⁹His father refused, and said, "I know, my son, I know. He also will become a people, and he also will be great. However, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his seed will become a multitude of nations."

²⁰He blessed them that day, saying, "In you will Israel bless, saying, 'God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh'" He set Ephraim before Manasseh.

²¹Israel said to Joseph, "Behold, I am dying, but God will be with you, and bring you again to the land of your fathers.

²²Moreover I have given to you one portion above your brothers, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow."

¹The Pharisees and Sadducees came, and testing him, asked him to show them a sign from heaven.

²But he answered them, "When it is evening, you say, 'It will be fair weather, for the sky is red.'

³In the morning, 'It will be foul weather today, for the sky is red and threatening.' Hypocrites! You know how to discern the appearance of the sky, but you cannot discern the signs of the times!

⁴An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and there will be no sign given to it, except the sign of Jonah." He left them, and departed.

⁵The disciples came to the other side and had forgotten to take bread.

⁶Jesus said to them, "Take heed and beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."

⁷They reasoned among themselves, saying, "We brought no bread."

⁸Jesus, perceiving it, said, "Why do you reason among yourselves, you of little faith, because you have no bread?

⁹Do you not yet perceive, neither remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many baskets you took up?

¹⁰Nor the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many baskets you took up?

¹¹How is it that you do not perceive that I did not speak to you concerning bread? But beware of the yeast of the Pharisees and Sadducees."

¹²Then they understood that he did not tell them to beware of the yeast of bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees.

¹³Now when Jesus came into the parts of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, saying, "Who do men say that the Son of Man is?"

¹⁴They said, "Some say John the Baptist, some, Elijah, and others, Jeremiah, or one of the prophets."

¹⁵He said to them, "But who do you say that I am?"

¹⁶Simon Peter answered, "You are the Messiah, the Son of the living God."

¹⁷Jesus answered him, "Blessed are you, Simon Bar Jonah, for flesh and blood has not revealed this to you, but my Father who is in heaven.

¹⁸I also tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell will not prevail against it.

¹⁹I will give to you the keys of the Kingdom of Heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will have been bound in heaven; and whatever you release on earth will have been released in heaven."

²⁰Then he commanded the disciples that they should tell no one that he is the Messiah.

²¹From that time, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things from the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and be killed, and the third day be raised up.

²²Peter took him aside, and began to rebuke him, saying, "Far be it from you, Lord! This will never be done to you."

²³But he turned, and said to Peter, "Get behind me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to me, for you are not setting your mind on the things of God, but on the things of men."

²⁴Then Jesus said to his disciples, "If anyone desires to come after me, let him deny himself, and take up his cross, and follow me.

²⁵For whoever desires to save his life will lose it, and whoever will lose his life for my sake will find it.

²⁶For what will it profit a man, if he gains the whole world, and forfeits his life? Or what will a man give in exchange for his life?

²⁷For the Son of Man will come in the glory of his Father with his angels, and then he will render to everyone according to his deeds.

²⁸Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will in no way taste of death, until they see the Son of Man coming in his Kingdom."

¹ Preserve me, God, for in you do I take refuge.

²My soul, you have said to the Lord, "You are my Lord. Apart from you I have no good thing."

³As for the holy ones who are in the land, they are the excellent ones in whom is all my delight.

⁴Their sorrows shall be multiplied who give gifts to another god. Their drink offerings of blood I will not offer, nor take their names on my lips.

⁵The Lord assigned my portion and my cup. You made my lot secure.

⁶The lines have fallen to me in pleasant places. Yes, I have a good inheritance.

⁷I will bless the Lord, who has given me counsel. Yes, my heart instructs me in the night seasons.

⁸I have set the Lord always before me. Because he is at my right hand, I shall not be moved.

⁹Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoices. My body shall also dwell in safety.

¹⁰For you will not leave my soul in Sheol, neither will you allow your holy one to see corruption.

¹¹You will show me the path of life. In your presence is fullness of joy. In your right hand there are pleasures forevermore.

¹The plans of the heart belong to man, but the answer of the tongue is from the Lord.

²All the ways of a man are clean in his own eyes; but the Lord weighs the motives.

³Commit your deeds to the Lord, and your plans shall succeed.

⁴The Lord has made everything for its own end- yes, even the wicked for the day of evil.

⁵Everyone who is proud in heart is an abomination to the Lord: they shall certainly not be unpunished.

⁶By mercy and truth iniquity is atoned for. By the fear of the Lord men depart from evil.

⁷When a man's ways please the Lord, he makes even his enemies to be at peace with him.

⁸Better is a little with righteousness, than great revenues with injustice.

⁹A man's heart plans his course, but the Lord directs his steps.

¹⁰Inspired judgments are on the lips of the king. He shall not betray his mouth.

¹¹Honest balances and scales are the Lord's; all the weights in the bag are his work.

¹²It is an abomination for kings to do wrong, for the throne is established by righteousness.

¹³Righteous lips are the delight of kings. They value one who speaks the truth.

¹⁴The king's wrath is a messenger of death, but a wise man will pacify it.

¹⁵In the light of the king's face is life. His favor is like a cloud of the spring rain.

¹⁶How much better it is to get wisdom than gold! Yes, to get understanding is to be chosen rather than silver.

¹⁷The highway of the upright is to depart from evil. He who keeps his way preserves his soul.

¹⁸Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.

¹⁹It is better to be of a lowly spirit with the poor, than to divide the plunder with the proud.

²⁰He who heeds the Word finds prosperity. Whoever trusts in the Lord is blessed.

²¹The wise in heart shall be called prudent. Pleasantness of the lips promotes instruction.

²²Understanding is a fountain of life to one who has it, but the punishment of fools is their folly.

²³The heart of the wise instructs his mouth, and adds learning to his lips.

²⁴Pleasant words are a honeycomb, sweet to the soul, and health to the bones.

²⁵There is a way which seems right to a man, but in the end it leads to death.

²⁶The appetite of the laboring man labors for him; for his mouth urges him on.

²⁷A worthless man devises mischief. His speech is like a scorching fire.

²⁸A perverse man stirs up strife. A whisperer separates close friends.

²⁹A man of violence entices his neighbor, and leads him in a way that is not good.

³⁰One who winks his eyes to plot perversities, one who compresses his lips, is bent on evil.

³¹Gray hair is a crown of glory. It is attained by a life of righteousness.

³²One who is slow to anger is better than the mighty; one who rules his spirit, than he who takes a city.

³³The lot is cast into the lap, but its every decision is from the Lord.