Jesus Heals Many

14 ^uAnd when Jesus entered Peter’s house, he saw ^vhis mother-in-law lying sick with a fever. 15 He ^wtouched her hand, and the fever left her, and she rose and began to serve him. 16 That evening they brought to him many who were ^xoppressed by demons, and he cast out the spirits ^ywith a word and healed all who were sick. 17 ^zThis was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet Isaiah: ^a“He took our illnesses and bore our diseases.”

The Cost of Following Jesus

18 Now ^bwhen Jesus saw a crowd around him, ^che gave orders to go over to the other side. 19 ^dAnd a scribe came up and said to him, “Teacher, I will follow you wherever you go.” 20 And Jesus said to him, “Foxes have holes, and birds of the air have nests, but the Son of Man has nowhere to lay his head.” 21 Another of the disciples said to him, “Lord, let me first go and bury my father.” 22 And Jesus said to him, “Follow me, and leave ^ethe dead to bury their own dead.”

The Church in Antioch

19 ^mNow those who were scattered because of the persecution that arose over Stephen traveled as far as Phoenicia and Cyprus and Antioch, speaking the word to no one except Jews. 20 But there were some of them, men of Cyprus and Cyrene, who on coming to Antioch spoke to the Hellenists¹ also, ⁿpreaching the Lord Jesus. 21 And ^othe hand of the Lord was with them, and a great number who believed ^pturned to the Lord. 22 The report of this came to the ears of the church in Jerusalem, and they sent Barnabas to Antioch. 23 When he came and saw ^qthe grace of God, he was glad, and he exhorted them all to remain faithful to the Lord ^rwith steadfast purpose, 24 for he was a good man, ^sfull of the Holy Spirit and of faith. And a great many people ^twere added to the Lord. 25 So Barnabas went to ^uTarsus to look for Saul, 26 and when he had found him, he brought him to Antioch. For a whole year they met with the church and taught a great many people. And in Antioch the disciples were first called ^vChristians.

27 Now in these days ^wprophets came down from Jerusalem to Antioch. 28 And one of them named ^xAgabus stood up and foretold ^yby the Spirit that there would be a great ^zfamine over all the world (this took place in the days of ^aClaudius). 29 So the disciples determined, every one according to his ability, ^bto send relief to ^cthe brothers² living in Judea. 30 ^dAnd they did so, sending it to ^ethe elders by the hand of Barnabas and Saul.

The Law of the Lord Is Perfect

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.

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.