Genesis 43–45
1 Now the famine was severe in the land. 2 When they had eaten up the grain which they had brought out of Egypt, their father said to them, “Go back and buy us a little food.”
3 Judah spoke to him, saying, “The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ 4 If you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy food for you. 5 But if you will not send him, we will not go down. For the man said to us, ‘You will 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 And they said, “The man asked us directly about ourselves and our family, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ So we answered his questions. How could we even 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, so that we may live and not die, both we and you, and also our little ones. 9 I will be a surety for him. You may hold me personally responsible for him. If I fail to bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever. 10 For if we had not delayed, we could have returned twice.”
11 Their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, do this. Take some of the best fruits in the land in your bags, and carry down a present for the man: a little balm and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds. 12 Take double the money with you, along with the money that was brought back in the mouths of your sacks. Carry it with you again. Perhaps it was a mistake. 13 Also, take your brother and arise, return to the man. 14 And may God Almighty give you mercy before the man, so that he may send away your other brother, along with Benjamin. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.”
15 The men took the gift, and they took double the money with them, along with Benjamin. Then they went on their way down to Egypt and stood before Joseph. 16 When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the house steward, “Bring these men home, slaughter an animal and prepare it, for these men will dine with me at noon.”
17 The man did as Joseph ordered, so the man brought the men into Joseph’s house. 18 The men were afraid because they were brought into Joseph’s house. They said, “We have been brought in because of the money that was returned in our sacks the first time, so that he may seek occasion against us and fall upon us and take us for slaves with our donkeys.”
19 They approached the steward of Joseph’s house, and they spoke with him at the entrance of the house. 20 They said, “My lord, we indeed came down the first time to buy food. 21 When we came to the lodging place, we opened our sacks and realized every man’s money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight. So we have brought it again with us. 22 We have also brought additional money with us to buy food. We cannot tell who put our money in our sacks.”
23 He said, “Be at peace; do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks. I had your money.” Then he brought Simeon out to them.
24 The man brought the men into Joseph’s house and gave them water to wash their feet and gave feed to their donkeys. 25 Then they made ready the gift for Joseph’s coming at noon, for they heard that they would be eating a meal there.
26 When Joseph came home, they brought into the house to him the present that they had with them and bowed themselves to him to the ground. 27 He asked them about their well-being and said, “Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?”
28 And they answered, “Your servant our father is in good health. He is still alive.” And they bowed down their heads and prostrated themselves.
29 He lifted up his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, and said, “Is this your younger brother of whom you spoke to me?” And he said, “God be gracious to you, my son.” 30 Joseph hurried out, for he was deeply moved over his brother and sought a place to weep. So he entered into his chamber and wept there.
31 Then he washed his face and came out. Controlling 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 a meal with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians. 33 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 astonishment. 34 He gave them portions from his own table, but Benjamin’s serving was five times more than any of theirs. So they drank and feasted with him.
Chapter 44
1 Then he 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 the mouth of his sack. 2 Put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest, along with his grain money.” And he did according to what Joseph had spoken.
3 As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away, they and their donkeys. 4 When they were gone out of the city, but not yet far off, Joseph said to his steward, “Get up, follow after the men. When you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you rewarded evil for good? 5 Is this not the one from which my lord drinks and uses as he practices divination? You have done evil in doing this.’”
6 So he overtook them, and he spoke to them these same words. 7 They said to him, “Why does my lord say these words? Far be it from your servants that they should do such a thing. 8 Look, we brought back to you from the land of Canaan the money that we found in the top of our sacks. Why then would we steal silver or gold from your lord’s house? 9 Whichever of your servants is found with it shall die, and the rest of us will become my lord’s slaves.”
10 He said, “Now let it also be according to your words. He with whom it is found shall be my slave, and you will be blameless.”
11 Then every man hurriedly took down his sack to the ground, and every man opened his sack. 12 He searched, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest. The cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. 13 Then they tore their clothes, and every man loaded his donkey and returned to the city.
14 When Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, he was still there; and they fell to the ground before him. 15 Joseph said to them, “What deed is this that you have done? Did you not know that such a man as I can certainly practice divination?”
16 And Judah said, “What shall we say to my lord? What shall we speak? Or how shall we clear ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants. Here we are, my lord’s servants, both we and he also in whose possession the cup was found.”
17 But he said, “Far be it from me that I should do so. The man in whose possession the cup was found shall be my slave; but as for you, go up in peace to your father.”
18 Then Judah approached him and said, “O my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord’s ears, and do not be angry with your servant, for you are equal to Pharaoh. 19 My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father or a brother?’ 20 And we said to my lord, ‘We have a father, an old man, and a young brother, the child of his old age. His brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loves him.’
21 “You said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me, so that I may set my eyes on him.’ 22 We said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.’ 23 You said to your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.’ 24 When we went back to your servant, my father, we told him the words of my lord.
25 “Our father said, ‘Go again and buy us a little food.’ 26 We said, ‘We cannot 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.’
27 “Your servant, my father, said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons. 28 And the one went out from me, and I said, “Surely he was torn in pieces,” and I have not seen him since. 29 And if you take this one also from me and he is harmed, you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.’
30 “Now therefore when I come to your servant, my father, and the boy is not with us, as his life is bound up in the boy’s life, 31 when he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die, and your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant, our father, with sorrow to the grave. 32 For your servant became surety for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I fail to bring him to you, then I shall bear the blame to my father forever.’
33 “Now therefore, please let your servant stay as a slave to my lord instead of the boy, and let the boy go up with his brothers. 34 For how can I go up to my father if the boy is not with me, lest perhaps I see the evil that would find my father?”
Chapter 45
1 Then Joseph could not restrain himself before all who stood by him, and he cried out, “Make every man go out from me.” So no man stood with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. 2 He wept so loudly that the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard about it.
3 Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed in his presence.
4 Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come near to me,” and they came near. Then he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. 5 Now do not be upset or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6 For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. 7 God sent me ahead of you to preserve you as a remnant on the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
8 “So now it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of his entire household and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. 9 Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says, “God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not delay. 10 And you will dwell in the land of Goshen, and you will be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, along with your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. 11 I will provide for you there, for there are still five years of famine to come, lest you and your household, and all that you have, come to poverty.”’
12 “Your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is my mouth that is speaking to you. 13 You must tell my father of all my glory in Egypt and of all that you have seen, and you must hurry and bring my father down here.”
14 Then he fell on his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. 15 Moreover he kissed all his brothers and wept on them. After that his brothers talked with him.
16 When the news reached Pharaoh’s palace that Joseph’s brothers had come, it pleased Pharaoh and his servants. 17 Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this. Load your animals and go to the land of Canaan. 18 Get your father and your households and come to me, and I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you shall eat the fat of the land.’
19 “You are also commanded to say, ‘Do this: Take your wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and get your father and come. 20 Also do not concern yourself with your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’”
21 So the sons of Israel did so, and Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provisions for the journey. 22 To each of them he gave a change of clothes, but he gave to Benjamin three hundred shekels of silver and five changes of clothes. 23 To his father he sent the following: ten donkeys loaded with the best things of Egypt and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and provisions for his father on the journey. 24 So he sent his brothers away, and they departed. He said to them, “Do not quarrel on the way.”
25 They went up out of Egypt and came to the land of Canaan to Jacob their father. 26 They told him, “Joseph is still alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt.” And Jacob’s heart stood still because he could not believe them. 27 They told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. 28 Then Israel said, “Enough! Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”
Matthew 12:24–50
24 But when the Pharisees heard it, they said, “This Man does not cast out demons, except by Beelzebub the ruler of the demons.”
25 Jesus knew their thoughts and said to them, “Every kingdom divided against itself is brought to desolation. And every city or house divided against itself will not stand. 26 If Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. Then how will his kingdom stand? 27 And if I cast out demons by Beelzebub, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore, they shall be your judges. 28 But if I cast out demons by the Spirit of God, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.
29 “Or else how can one enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will plunder his house.
30 “He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters abroad. 31 Therefore I say to you, all kinds of sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but the blasphemy against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven men. 32 Whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man will be forgiven. But whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven, neither in this world, nor in the world to come.
33 “Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or else make the tree corrupt and its fruit corrupt. For the tree is known by its fruit. 34 O generation of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks. 35 A good man out of the good treasure of his heart brings forth good things. And an evil man out of the evil treasure brings forth evil things. 36 But I say to you that for every idle word that men speak, they will give an account on the Day of Judgment. 37 For by your words you will be justified, and by your words you will be condemned.”
38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees said to Him, “Teacher, we wish to see a sign from You.”
39 But He answered them, “An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and no sign will be given to it except the sign of the prophet Jonah. 40 For as Jonah was three days and three nights in the belly of the great fish, so will the Son of Man be three days and three nights in the heart of the earth. 41 The men of Nineveh will stand up at the judgment with this generation and will condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah. And now One greater than Jonah is here. 42 The Queen of the South will rise up at the judgment with this generation and will condemn it, for she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon. And now One greater than Solomon is here.
43 “When an unclean spirit goes out of a man, it passes through dry places seeking rest, but finds none. 44 Then it says, ‘I will return to my house from which I came.’ And when it comes, it finds it empty, swept, and put in order. 45 Then it goes and brings with itself seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter and dwell there. And the last state of that man is worse than the first. So shall it be also with this evil generation.”
46 While He was still speaking to the people, right then His mother and His brothers stood outside asking to speak with Him. 47 Then one said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside asking to speak with You.”
48 But He answered the man who told him, “Who is My mother, and who are My brothers?” 49 He stretched out His hand toward His disciples and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! 50 For whoever does the will of My Father who is in heaven is My brother, and sister, and mother.”