Bless the Lord, O My Soul
Of David.
1 yBless the Lord, O my soul,
and all that is within me,
bless his holy name!
2 yBless the Lord, O my soul,
and zforget not all his benefits,
3 who aforgives all your iniquity,
who bheals all your diseases,
4 who credeems your life from the pit,
who dcrowns you with steadfast love and mercy,
5 who esatisfies you with good
so that your youth is renewed like fthe eagle’s.
6 The Lord works grighteousness
and justice for all who are oppressed.
7 He made known his hways to Moses,
his iacts to the people of Israel.
8 The Lord is jmerciful and gracious,
slow to anger and abounding in steadfast love.
9 kHe will not always chide,
nor will he lkeep his anger forever.
10 He does not deal with us maccording to our sins,
nor repay us according to our iniquities.
11 For nas high as the heavens are above the earth,
so great is his osteadfast love toward pthose who fear him;
12 as far as the east is from the west,
so far does he qremove our transgressions from us.
13 As ra father shows compassion to his children,
so the Lord shows compassion pto those who fear him.
14 For he knows our frame;1
he sremembers that we are dust.
15 As for man, his days are like tgrass;
he flourishes like ua flower of the field;
16 for vthe wind passes over it, and wit is gone,
and xits place knows it no more.
17 But ythe steadfast love of the Lord is from everlasting to everlasting on pthose who fear him,
and his righteousness to zchildren’s children,
18 to those who akeep his covenant
and bremember to do his commandments.
19 The Lord has cestablished his throne in the heavens,
and his dkingdom rules over all.
20 Bless the Lord, O you ehis angels,
you fmighty ones who gdo his word,
obeying the voice of his word!
21 Bless the Lord, all his hhosts,
his iministers, who do his will!
22 jBless the Lord, all his works,
in all places of his dominion.
kBless the Lord, O my soul!
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 Almighty1 xgrant 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.
