Joseph’s Brothers Go to Egypt

1 When ^lJacob learned that there was grain for sale in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why do you look at one another?” 2 And he said, “Behold, I have heard that there is grain for sale in Egypt. Go down and buy grain for us there, that we may ^mlive and not die.” 3 So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt. 4 But Jacob did not send Benjamin, ⁿJoseph’s brother, with his brothers, for ^ohe feared that harm might happen to him. 5 Thus the sons of Israel came to buy among the others who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan.

6 Now Joseph was governor ^pover the land. He was the one who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and ^qbowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground. 7 Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he treated them like strangers and ^rspoke roughly to them. “Where do you come from?” he said. They said, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.” 8 And Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. 9 And Joseph ^sremembered the dreams that he had dreamed of them. ^tAnd he said to them, “You are spies; you have come to see the nakedness of the land.” 10 They said to him, “No, my lord, your servants have come to buy food. 11 We are all sons of one man. We are honest men. Your servants have never been spies.”

12 He said to them, “No, it is the nakedness of the land that you have come to see.” 13 And they said, “We, your servants, are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan, and behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one ^uis no more.” 14 But Joseph said to them, “It is as I said to you. You are spies. 15 By this you shall be tested: by the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here. 16 Send one of you, and let him bring your brother, while you remain confined, that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you. Or else, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies.” 17 And he put them all together in custody for three days.

18 On the third day Joseph said to them, “Do this and you will live, ^vfor I fear God: 19 if you are honest men, let one of your brothers remain confined where you are in custody, and let the rest go and carry ^wgrain for the famine of your households, 20 and ^xbring your youngest brother to me. So your words will be verified, and you shall not die.” And they did so. 21 Then they said to one another, ^y“In truth we are guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us and we did not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.” 22 And Reuben answered them, ^z“Did I not tell you not to sin against the boy? But you did not listen. So now ^athere comes a reckoning for his blood.” 23 They did not know that Joseph understood them, for there was an interpreter between them. 24 Then he turned away from them and ^bwept. And he returned to them and spoke to them. And he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes. 25 ^cAnd Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, and to replace every man’s money in his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. This was done for them.

26 Then they loaded their donkeys with their grain and departed. 27 And as ^done of them opened his sack to give his donkey fodder at ^ethe lodging place, he saw his money in the mouth of his sack. 28 He said to his brothers, “My money has been put back; here it is in the mouth of my sack!” At this their hearts failed them, and they turned trembling to one another, saying, “What is this that God has done to us?”

29 When they came to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them, saying, 30 “The man, the lord of the land, ^fspoke roughly to us and took us to be spies of the land. 31 But we said to him, ‘We are honest men; we have never been spies. 32 We are twelve brothers, sons of our father. One ^gis no more, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.’ 33 Then the man, the lord of the land, said to us, ^h‘By this I shall know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, and take ⁱgrain for the famine of your households, and go your way. 34 Bring your youngest brother to me. Then I shall know that you are not spies but honest men, and I will deliver your brother to you, and you shall ^jtrade in the land.’”

35 ^kAs they emptied their sacks, behold, every man’s bundle of money was in his sack. And when they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were afraid. 36 And Jacob their father said to them, “You have ^lbereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and now you would take Benjamin. All this has come against me.” 37 Then Reuben said to his father, “Kill ^mmy two sons if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you.” 38 But he said, “My son shall not go down with you, for ⁿhis brother is dead, and he is the only one left. ^oIf harm should happen to him on the journey that you are to make, ^pyou would bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.”

Joseph’s Brothers Return to Egypt

1 Now the famine was ^qsevere in the land. 2 And when they had eaten the grain that they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go again, buy us a little food.” 3 But Judah said to him, “The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face unless your ^rbrother is with you.’ 4 If you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. 5 But if you will not send him, we will not go down, for the man said to us, ‘You shall not see my face, unless your brother is with you.’” 6 Israel said, “Why did you treat me so badly as to tell the man that you had another brother?” 7 They replied, “The man questioned us carefully about ourselves and our kindred, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ What we told him was in answer to these questions. Could we in any way know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?” 8 And Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the boy with me, and we will arise and go, that we may ^slive and not die, both we and you and also our little ones. 9 I will be a pledge of his safety. From my hand you shall require him. ^tIf I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever. 10 If we had not delayed, we would now have returned twice.”

11 Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: take some of the choice fruits of the land in your bags, and carry a present down to the man, a little ^ubalm and a little honey, gum, myrrh, pistachio nuts, and almonds. 12 Take double the money with you. Carry back with you the money ^vthat was returned in the mouth of your sacks. Perhaps it was an oversight. 13 Take also your brother, and arise, go again to the man. 14 May ^wGod Almighty^{1 x}grant you mercy before the man, and may he send back your other brother and Benjamin. And as for me, ^yif I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.”

15 So the men took this present, and they took double the money with them, and Benjamin. They arose and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph.

16 When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the ^zsteward of his house, “Bring the men into the house, and slaughter an animal and make ready, for the men are to dine with me at noon.” 17 The man did as Joseph told him and brought the men to Joseph’s house. 18 And the men were afraid because they were brought to Joseph’s house, and they said, “It is because of the money, which was replaced in our sacks the first time, that we are brought in, so that he may assault us and fall upon us to make us servants and seize our donkeys.” 19 So they went up to the steward of Joseph’s house and spoke with him at the door of the house, 20 and said, ^a“Oh, my lord, ^bwe came down the first time to buy food. 21 And ^cwhen we came to the lodging place we opened our sacks, and there was each man’s money in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight. So we have brought it again with us, 22 and we have brought other money down with us to buy food. We do not know who put our money in our sacks.” 23 He replied, “Peace to you, do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has put treasure in your sacks for you. I received your money.” Then he brought Simeon out to them. 24 And when the man had brought the men into Joseph’s house and ^dgiven them water, and they had washed their feet, and when he had given their donkeys fodder, 25 they prepared ^ethe present for Joseph’s coming at noon, for they heard that they should eat bread there.

26 When Joseph came home, they brought into the house to him the present that they had with them and ^fbowed down to him to the ground. 27 And he inquired about their welfare and said, “Is your father well, the old man ^gof whom you spoke? Is he still alive?” 28 They said, “Your servant our father is well; he is still alive.” And they ^hbowed their heads and prostrated themselves. 29 And he lifted up his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, ⁱhis mother’s son, and said, “Is this your youngest brother, ^gof whom you spoke to me? God be gracious to you, my son!” 30 Then Joseph hurried out, for ^jhis compassion grew warm for his brother, and he sought a place to weep. And he entered his chamber and ^kwept there. 31 Then he washed his face and came out. And ^lcontrolling himself he said, “Serve the food.” 32 They served him by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because the Egyptians could not eat with the Hebrews, for that is ^man abomination to the Egyptians. 33 And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth. And the men looked at one another in amazement. 34 ⁿPortions were taken to them from Joseph’s table, but Benjamin’s portion was ^ofive times as much as any of theirs. And they drank and were merry² with him.

Messengers from John the Baptist

1 When Jesus had finished instructing his twelve disciples, he went on from there to teach and preach in their cities.

2 ^eNow when John heard ^fin prison about the deeds of ^gthe Christ, he sent word by ^hhis disciples 3 and said to him, “Are you ⁱthe one who is to come, or shall we ^jlook for another?” 4 And Jesus answered them, “Go and tell John what you hear and see: 5 ^kthe blind receive their sight and the lame walk, lepers¹ are cleansed and the deaf hear, and the dead are raised up, and ^lthe poor have good news preached to them. 6 And blessed is the one who ^mis not offended by me.”

7 As they went away, Jesus began to speak to the crowds concerning John: “What did you go out ⁿinto the wilderness to see? ^oA reed shaken by the wind? 8 What then did you go out to see? A man² dressed in soft clothing? Behold, those who wear soft clothing are in kings’ houses. 9 What then did you go out to see? ^pA prophet?³ Yes, I tell you, and more than a prophet. 10 This is he of whom it is written,

11 Truly, I say to you, among those born of women there has arisen no one greater than John the Baptist. Yet the one who is least in the kingdom of heaven is greater than he. 12 ^rFrom the days of John the Baptist until now the kingdom of heaven has suffered violence,⁴ and the violent take it by force. 13 ^rFor all the Prophets and the Law prophesied until John, 14 and if you are willing to accept it, he is ^sElijah who is to come. 15 ^tHe who has ears to hear,⁵ let him hear.

16 “But to what shall I compare this generation? It is like children sitting in the marketplaces and calling to their playmates,

18 For John came ^uneither eating ^vnor drinking, and they say, ‘He has a demon.’ 19 The Son of Man came ^weating and drinking, and they say, ‘Look at him! A glutton and a drunkard, ^xa friend of ^ytax collectors and sinners!’ Yet wisdom is justified by her deeds.”⁶

Woe to Unrepentant Cities

20 ^zThen he began to denounce the cities where most of his mighty works had been done, because they did not repent. 21 ^a“Woe to you, Chorazin! Woe to you, Bethsaida! For if the mighty works done in you had been done in ^bTyre and Sidon, they would have repented long ago in sackcloth and ashes. 22 ^cBut I tell you, it will be more bearable on ^dthe day of judgment for ^bTyre and Sidon than for you. 23 And you, ^eCapernaum, will you be exalted to heaven? You will be brought down to ^fHades. For if the mighty works done in you had been done in Sodom, it would have remained until this day. 24 ^cBut I tell you that ^git will be more tolerable on ^dthe day of judgment for the land of Sodom than for you.”

Come to Me, and I Will Give You Rest

25 ^hAt that time Jesus declared, “I thank you, Father, ⁱLord of heaven and earth, that ^jyou have hidden these things from the wise and understanding and ^krevealed them to little children; 26 yes, Father, for such was your ^lgracious will.⁷ 27 ^mAll things have been handed over to me by my Father, and no one knows the Son ⁿexcept the Father, and no one knows the Father except the Son and anyone ^oto whom the Son chooses to reveal him. 28 ^pCome to ^qme, all who labor and are ^rheavy laden, and I will give you rest. 29 Take my yoke upon you, and ^slearn from me, for I am ^tgentle and lowly in heart, and ^uyou will find rest for your souls. 30 For ^vmy yoke is easy, and my burden is light.”