Genesis 46; Genesis 47; Genesis 48; Matthew 13:1-30

1 Israel moved with all he had. When he came to Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.

2 God spoke to Israel in a vision that night and said, "Jacob, Jacob!" "Here I am," he answered.

3 "I am God, the God of your father," he said. "Don't be afraid to go to Egypt, because I will make you a great nation there.

4 I will go with you to Egypt, and I will make sure you come back again. Joseph will close your eyes [when you die]."

5 So Jacob left Beersheba. Israel's sons put their father Jacob, their children, and their wives in the wagons Pharaoh had sent to bring him back.

6 They also took their livestock and the possessions they had accumulated in Canaan. Jacob and all his family arrived in Egypt.

7 He had brought his sons, his grandsons, his daughters, and his granddaughters--his entire family.

8 These are the names of Israel's descendants (Jacob and his descendants) who arrived in Egypt. Reuben was Jacob's firstborn.

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

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

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

12 The sons of Judah were Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah. (Er and Onan had died in Canaan.) The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.

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

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

15 These were the descendants of the sons Leah gave to Jacob in Paddan Aram, in addition to his daughter Dinah. The total number of these sons and daughters was 33.

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

17 The sons of Asher were Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, and Beriah. Their sister was Serah. The sons of Beriah were Heber and Malchiel.

18 These were the descendants of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah. She gave birth to these children for Jacob. The total was 16.

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

20 In Egypt, Manasseh and Ephraim were born to Joseph by Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, priest from the city of On.

21 The sons of Benjamin were Bela, Beker, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard.

22 These were the descendants of Rachel who were born to Jacob. The total was 14.

23 The son of Dan was Hushim.

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

25 These were the descendants of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel. She gave birth to these sons for Jacob. The total was 7.

26 The total number of Jacob's direct descendants who went with him to Egypt was 66. This didn't include the wives of Jacob's sons.

27 Joseph had two sons who were born in Egypt. The grand total of people in Jacob's household who went to Egypt was 70.

28 Israel sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to get directions to Goshen. When Israel's family arrived in the region of Goshen,

29 Joseph prepared his chariot and went to meet his father Israel. As soon as he saw his father, he threw his arms around him and cried on his shoulder a long time.

30 Israel said to Joseph, "Now that I've seen for myself that you're still alive, I'm ready to die."

31 Then Joseph said to his brothers and his father's family, "I'm going to Pharaoh to tell him, 'My brothers and my father's family, who were in Canaan, have come to me.

32 The men are shepherds. They take care of livestock. They've brought their flocks and herds and everything they own.'

33 Now, when Pharaoh calls for you and asks, 'What kind of work do you do?'

34 you must answer, 'We have taken care of herds all our lives, as our ancestors have done.' [You must say this] so that you may live in the region of Goshen, because all shepherds are disgusting to Egyptians."

1 Joseph went and told Pharaoh, "My father and my brothers have arrived from Canaan with their flocks, herds, and everything they have. Now they are in Goshen."

2 Since he had taken five of his brothers with him, he presented them to Pharaoh.

3 Pharaoh asked the brothers, "What kind of work do you do?" They answered Pharaoh, "We are shepherds, as were our ancestors.

4 We have come to live in this land for a while. The famine is so severe in Canaan that there's no pasture for our flocks. So please let us live in Goshen."

5 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Your father and your brothers have come to you.

6 All of Egypt is available to you. Have your father and your brothers live in the best part of the land. Let them live in Goshen. If they are qualified, put them in charge of my livestock."

7 Then Joseph brought his father Jacob and had him stand in front of Pharaoh. Jacob blessed Pharaoh.

8 Pharaoh asked him, "How old are you?"

9 Jacob answered Pharaoh, "The length of my stay on earth has been 130 years. The years of my life have been few and difficult, fewer than my ancestors' years."

10 Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh and left.

11 As Pharaoh had ordered, Joseph had his father and his brothers live in the best part of Egypt, the region of Rameses. He gave them property there.

12 Joseph also provided his father, his brothers, and all his father's family with food based on the number of children they had.

13 The famine was so severe that there was no food anywhere. Neither Egypt nor Canaan were producing crops because of the famine.

14 Joseph collected all the money that could be found in Egypt and in Canaan as payment for the grain people bought. Then he took it to Pharaoh's palace.

15 When the money in Egypt and Canaan was gone, all the Egyptians came to Joseph. "Give us food," they said. "Do you want us to die right in front of you? We don't have any more money!"

16 Joseph replied, "If you don't have any more money, give me your livestock, and I'll give you food in exchange."

17 So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and he gave them food in exchange for their horses, sheep, goats, cattle, and donkeys. During that year he supplied them with food in exchange for all their livestock.

18 When that year was over, they came to him the next year. "Sir," they said to him, "you know that our money is gone, and you have all our livestock. There's nothing left to bring you except our bodies and our land.

19 Do you want us to die right in front of you? Do you want the land to be ruined? Take us and our land in exchange for food. Then we will be Pharaoh's slaves and our land will be his property. But give us seed so that we won't starve to death and the ground won't become a desert."

20 Joseph bought all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh. Every Egyptian sold his fields because the famine was so severe. The land became Pharaoh's.

21 All over Egypt Joseph moved the people to the cities.

22 But he didn't buy the priests' land because the priests received an income from Pharaoh, and they lived on that income. That's why they didn't sell their land.

23 Joseph said to the people, "Now that I have bought you and your land for Pharaoh, here is seed for you. Plant crops in the land.

24 Every time you harvest, give one-fifth of the produce to Pharaoh. Four-fifths will be yours to use as seed for your fields and as food for your households."

25 "You have saved our lives," they said. "Please, sir, we are willing to be Pharaoh's slaves."

26 Joseph made a law concerning the land in Egypt which is still in force today: One-fifth [of the produce] belongs to Pharaoh. Only the land of the priests didn't belong to Pharaoh.

27 So the Israelites settled in Egypt in the region of Goshen. They acquired property there and had many children.

28 Jacob lived in Egypt 17 years, so he lived a total of 147 years.

29 Israel was about to die. He called for his son Joseph and said to him, "I want you to swear that you love me and are faithful to me. Please don't bury me here.

30 I want to rest with my ancestors. Take me out of Egypt, and bury me in their tomb." "I will do as you say," Joseph answered.

31 "Swear to me," he said. So Joseph swore to him. Then Israel bowed down in prayer with his face at the head of his bed.

1 Later Joseph was told, "Your father is ill." So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim [to see Jacob].

2 When Jacob was told, "Your son Joseph is here to see you," Israel gathered his strength and sat up in bed.

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

4 He said to me, 'I will make you fertile and increase the number of your descendants so that you will become a community of people. I will give this land to your descendants as a permanent possession.'

5 "So your two sons, who were born in Egypt before I came here, are my sons. Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine just as Reuben and Simeon are.

6 Any other children you have after them will be yours. They will inherit the land listed under their brothers' names.

7 As I was coming back from Paddan, Rachel died in Canaan when we were still some distance from Ephrath. So I buried her there on the way to Ephrath" (that is, Bethlehem).

8 When Israel saw Joseph's sons, he asked, "Who are they?"

9 "They are my sons, whom God has given me here in Egypt," Joseph answered his father. Then Israel said, "Please bring them to me so that I may bless them."

10 Israel's eyesight was failing because of old age, and he could hardly see. So Joseph brought his sons close to his father, and Israel hugged them and kissed them.

11 Israel said to Joseph, "I never expected to see you again, and now God has even let me see your sons."

12 Joseph took them off his father's lap and bowed with his face touching the ground.

13 Then Joseph took both of them, Ephraim on his right, facing Israel's left, and Manasseh on his left, facing Israel's right, and brought them close to him.

14 But Israel crossed his hands and reached out. He put his right hand on Ephraim's head, although Ephraim was the younger son. He put his left hand on Manasseh's head, although Manasseh was older.

15 Then Jacob blessed Joseph, "May God, in whose presence my grandfather Abraham and my father Isaac walked, may God, who has been my shepherd all my life to this very day,

16 may the Messenger, who has rescued me from all evil, bless these boys. May they be called by my name and by the names of my grandfather Abraham and my father Isaac. May they have many children on the earth."

17 When Joseph saw that his father had put his right hand on Ephraim's head, he didn't like it. So he took his father's hand in order to move it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's.

18 Then he said to his father, "That's not right, Father! This is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head."

19 His father refused and said, "I know, Son, I know! Manasseh, too, will become a nation, and he, too, will be important. Nevertheless, his younger brother will be more important than he, and his descendants will become many nations."

20 That day he blessed them. He said, "Because of you, Israel will speak this blessing, 'May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh!'" In this way Israel put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh.

21 Then Israel said to Joseph, "Now I'm about to die, but God will be with you. He will bring you back to the land of your fathers.

22 I'm giving you one more mountain ridge than your brothers. I took it from the Amorites with my own sword and bow."

1 That same day Jesus left the house and sat down by the Sea of Galilee.

2 The crowd that gathered around him was so large that he got into a boat. He sat in the boat while the entire crowd stood on the shore.

3 Then he used stories as illustrations to tell them many things. He said, "Listen! A farmer went to plant seed.

4 Some seeds were planted along the road, and birds came and devoured them.

5 Other seeds were planted on rocky ground, where there was little soil. The plants sprouted quickly because the soil wasn't deep.

6 But when the sun came up, they were scorched. They withered because their roots weren't deep enough.

7 Other seeds were planted among thornbushes, and the thornbushes grew up and choked them.

8 But other seeds were planted on good ground and produced grain. They produced one hundred, sixty, or thirty times as much as was planted.

9 Let the person who has ears listen!"

10 The disciples asked him, "Why do you use stories as illustrations when you speak to people?"

11 Jesus answered, "Knowledge about the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven has been given to you. But it has not been given to the crowd.

12 Those who understand [these mysteries] will be given [more knowledge], and they will excel [in understanding them]. However, some people don't understand [these mysteries]. Even what they understand will be taken away from them.

13 This is why I speak to them this way. They see, but they're blind. They hear, but they don't listen. They don't even try to understand.

14 So they make Isaiah's prophecy come true: 'You will hear clearly but never understand. You will see clearly but never comprehend.

15 These people have become close-minded and hard of hearing. They have shut their eyes so that their eyes never see. Their ears never hear. Their minds never understand. And they never return to me for healing!'

16 "Blessed are your eyes because they see and your ears because they hear.

17 I can guarantee this truth: Many prophets and many of God's people longed to see what you see but didn't see it, to hear what you hear but didn't hear it.

18 "Listen to what the story about the farmer means.

19 Someone hears the word about the kingdom but doesn't understand it. The evil one comes at once and snatches away what was planted in him. This is what the seed planted along the road illustrates.

20 The seed planted on rocky ground [is the person who] hears the word and accepts it at once with joy.

21 Since he doesn't have any root, he lasts only a little while. When suffering or persecution comes along because of the word, he immediately falls [from faith].

22 The seed planted among thornbushes [is another person who] hears the word. But the worries of life and the deceitful pleasures of riches choke the word so that it can't produce anything.

23 But the seed planted on good ground [is the person who] hears and understands the word. This type produces crops. They produce one hundred, sixty, or thirty times as much as was planted."

24 Jesus used another illustration. He said, "The kingdom of heaven is like a man who planted good seed in his field.

25 But while people were asleep, his enemy planted weeds in the wheat field and went away.

26 When the wheat came up and formed kernels, weeds appeared.

27 "The owner's workers came to him and asked, 'Sir, didn't you plant good seed in your field? Where did the weeds come from?'

28 "He told them, 'An enemy did this.' "His workers asked him, 'Do you want us to pull out the weeds?'

29 "He replied, 'No. If you pull out the weeds, you may pull out the wheat with them.

30 Let both grow together until the harvest. When the grain is cut, I will tell the workers to gather the weeds first and tie them in bundles to be burned. But I'll have them bring the wheat into my barn.'"