Genesis 43; Genesis 44; Genesis 45; Matthew 12:24-50

Genesis 43

1 The famine in Canaan got worse,

2 and when the family of Jacob had eaten all the grain which had been brought from Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, "Go back and buy a little food for us."

3 Judah said to him, "The man sternly warned us that we would not be admitted to his presence unless we had our brother with us.

4 If you are willing to send our brother with us, we will go and buy food for you.

5 If you are not willing, we will not go, because the man told us we would not be admitted to his presence unless our brother was with us."

6 Jacob said, "Why did you cause me so much trouble by telling the man that you had another brother?"

7 They answered, "The man kept asking about us and our family, "Is your father still living? Do you have another brother?' We had to answer his questions. How could we know that he would tell us to bring our brother with us?"

8 Judah said to his father, "Send the boy with me, and we will leave at once. Then none of us will starve to death.

9 I will pledge my own life, and you can hold me responsible for him. If I do not bring him back to you safe and sound, I will always bear the blame.

10 If we had not waited so long, we could have been there and back twice by now."

11 Their father said to them, "If that is how it has to be, then take the best products of the land in your packs as a present for the governor: a little resin, a little honey, spices, pistachio nuts, and almonds.

12 Take with you also twice as much money, because you must take back the money that was returned in the top of your sacks. Maybe it was a mistake.

13 Take your brother and return at once.

14 May Almighty God cause the man to have pity on you, so that he will give Benjamin and your other brother back to you. As for me, if I must lose my children, I must lose them."

15 So the brothers took the gifts and twice as much money, and set out for Egypt with Benjamin. There they presented themselves to Joseph.

16 When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the servant in charge of his house, "Take these men to my house. They are going to eat with me at noon, so kill an animal and prepare it."

17 The servant did as he was commanded and took the brothers to Joseph's house.

18 As they were being brought to the house, they were afraid and thought, "We are being brought here because of the money that was returned in our sacks the first time. They will suddenly attack us, take our donkeys, and make us his slaves."

19 So at the door of the house, they said to the servant in charge,

20 "If you please, sir, we came here once before to buy food.

21 When we set up camp on the way home, we opened our sacks, and each man found his money in the top of his sack - every bit of it. We have brought it back to you.

22 We have also brought some more money with us to buy more food. We do not know who put our money back in our sacks."

23 The servant said, "Don't worry. Don't be afraid. Your God, the God of your father, must have put the money in your sacks for you. I received your payment." Then he brought Simeon to them.

24 The servant took the brothers into the house. He gave them water so that they could wash their feet, and he fed their donkeys.

25 They got their gifts ready to present to Joseph when he arrived at noon, because they had been told that they were to eat with him.

26 When Joseph got home, they took the gifts into the house to him and bowed down to the ground before him.

27 He asked about their health and then said, "You told me about your old father - how is he? Is he still alive and well?"

28 They answered, "Your humble servant, our father, is still alive and well." And they knelt and bowed down before him.

29 When Joseph saw his brother Benjamin, he said, "So this is your youngest brother, the one you told me about. God bless you, my son."

30 Then Joseph left suddenly, because his heart was full of tender feelings for his brother. He was about to break down, so he went to his room and cried.

31 After he had washed his face, he came out, and controlling himself, he ordered the meal to be served.

32 Joseph was served at one table and his brothers at another. The Egyptians who were eating there were served separately, because they considered it beneath their dignity to eat with Hebrews.

33 The brothers had been seated at the table, facing Joseph, in the order of their age from the oldest to the youngest. When they saw how they had been seated, they looked at one another in amazement.

34 Food was served to them from Joseph's table, and Benjamin was served five times as much as the rest of them. So they ate and drank with Joseph until they were drunk.

Genesis 44

1 Joseph commanded the servant in charge of his house, "Fill the men's sacks with as much food as they can carry, and put each man's money in the top of his sack.

2 Put my silver cup in the top of the youngest brother's sack, together with the money for his grain." He did as he was told.

3 Early in the morning the brothers were sent on their way with their donkeys.

4 When they had gone only a short distance from the city, Joseph said to the servant in charge of his house, "Hurry after those men. When you catch up with them, ask them, "Why have you paid back evil for good?

5 Why did you steal my master's silver cup? It is the one he drinks from, the one he uses for divination. You have committed a serious crime!' "

6 When the servant caught up with them, he repeated these words.

7 They answered him, "What do you mean, sir, by talking like this? We swear that we have done no such thing.

8 You know that we brought back to you from the land of Canaan the money we found in the top of our sacks. Why then should we steal silver or gold from your master's house?

9 Sir, if any one of us is found to have it, he will be put to death, and the rest of us will become your slaves."

10 He said, "I agree; but only the one who has taken the cup will become my slave, and the rest of you can go free."

11 So they quickly lowered their sacks to the ground, and each man opened his sack.

12 Joseph's servant searched carefully, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest, and the cup was found in Benjamin's sack.

13 The brothers tore their clothes in sorrow, loaded their donkeys, and returned to the city.

14 When Judah and his brothers came to Joseph's house, he was still there. They bowed down before him,

15 and Joseph said, "What have you done? Didn't you know that a man in my position could find you out by practicing divination?"

16 "What can we say to you, sir?" Judah answered. "How can we argue? How can we clear ourselves? God has uncovered our guilt. All of us are now your slaves and not just the one with whom the cup was found."

17 Joseph said, "Oh, no! I would never do that! Only the one who had the cup will be my slave. The rest of you may go back safe and sound to your father."

18 Judah went up to Joseph and said, "Please, sir, allow me to speak with you freely. Don't be angry with me; you are like the king himself.

19 Sir, you asked us, "Do you have a father or another brother?'

20 We answered, "We have a father who is old and a younger brother, born to him in his old age. The boy's brother is dead, and he is the only one of his mother's children still alive; his father loves him very much.'

21 Sir, you told us to bring him here, so that you could see him,

22 and we answered that the boy could not leave his father; if he did, his father would die.

23 Then you said, "You will not be admitted to my presence again unless your youngest brother comes with you.'

24 "When we went back to our father, we told him what you had said.

25 Then he told us to return and buy a little food.

26 We answered, "We cannot go; we will not be admitted to the man's presence unless our youngest brother is with us. We can go only if our youngest brother goes also.'

27 Our father said to us, "You know that my wife Rachel bore me only two sons.

28 One of them has already left me. He must have been torn to pieces by wild animals, because I have not seen him since he left.

29 If you take this one from me now and something happens to him, the sorrow you would cause me would kill me, as old as I am.'

30 "And now, sir," Judah continued, "if I go back to my father without the boy, as soon as he sees that the boy is not with me, he will die. His life is wrapped up with the life of the boy, and he is so old that the sorrow we would cause him would kill him.

32 What is more, I pledged my life to my father for the boy. I told him that if I did not bring the boy back to him, I would bear the blame all my life.

33 And now, sir, I will stay here as your slave in place of the boy; let him go back with his brothers.

34 How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I cannot bear to see this disaster come upon my father."

Genesis 45

1 Joseph was no longer able to control his feelings in front of his servants, so he ordered them all to leave the room. No one else was with him when Joseph told his brothers who he was.

2 He cried with such loud sobs that the Egyptians heard it, and the news was taken to the king's palace.

3 Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?" But when his brothers heard this, they were so terrified that they could not answer.

4 Then Joseph said to them, "Please come closer." They did, and he said, "I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.

5 Now do not be upset or blame yourselves because you sold me here. It was really God who sent me ahead of you to save people's lives.

6 This is only the second year of famine in the land; there will be five more years in which there will be neither plowing nor reaping.

7 God sent me ahead of you to rescue you in this amazing way and to make sure that you and your descendants survive.

8 So it was not really you who sent me here, but God. He has made me the king's highest official. I am in charge of his whole country; I am the ruler of all Egypt.

9 "Now hurry back to my father and tell him that this is what his son Joseph says: "God has made me ruler of all Egypt; come to me without delay.

10 You can live in the region of Goshen, where you can be near me - you, your children, your grandchildren, your sheep, your goats, your cattle, and everything else that you have.

11 If you are in Goshen, I can take care of you. There will still be five years of famine; and I do not want you, your family, and your livestock to starve.' "

12 Joseph continued, "Now all of you, and you too, Benjamin, can see that I am really Joseph.

13 Tell my father how powerful I am here in Egypt and tell him about everything that you have seen. Then hurry and bring him here."

14 He threw his arms around his brother Benjamin and began to cry; Benjamin also cried as he hugged him.

15 Then, still weeping, he embraced each of his brothers and kissed them. After that, his brothers began to talk with him.

16 When the news reached the palace that Joseph's brothers had come, the king and his officials were pleased.

17 He said to Joseph, "Tell your brothers to load their animals and to return to the land of Canaan.

18 Let them get their father and their families and come back here. I will give them the best land in Egypt, and they will have more than enough to live on.

19 Tell them also to take wagons with them from Egypt for their wives and small children and to bring their father with them.

20 They are not to worry about leaving their possessions behind; the best in the whole land of Egypt will be theirs."

21 Jacob's sons did as they were told. Joseph gave them wagons, as the king had ordered, and food for the trip.

22 He also gave each of them a change of clothes, but he gave Benjamin three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of clothes.

23 He sent his father ten donkeys loaded with the best Egyptian goods and ten donkeys loaded with grain, bread, and other food for the trip.

24 He sent his brothers off and as they left, he said to them, "Don't quarrel on the way."

25 They left Egypt and went back home to their father Jacob in Canaan.

26 "Joseph is still alive!" they told him. "He is the ruler of all Egypt!" Jacob was stunned and could not believe them.

27 But when they told him all that Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to take him to Egypt, he recovered from the shock.

28 "My son Joseph is still alive!" he said. "This is all I could ask for! I must go and see him before I die."

Matthew 12:24-50

24 When the Pharisees heard this, they replied, "He drives out demons only because their ruler Beelzebul gives him power to do so."

25 Jesus knew what they were thinking, and so he said to them, "Any country that divides itself into groups which fight each other will not last very long. And any town or family that divides itself into groups which fight each other will fall apart.

26 So if one group is fighting another in Satan's kingdom, this means that it is already divided into groups and will soon fall apart!

27 You say that I drive out demons because Beelzebul gives me the power to do so. Well, then, who gives your followers the power to drive them out? What your own followers do proves that you are wrong!

28 No, it is not Beelzebul, but God's Spirit, who gives me the power to drive out demons, which proves that the Kingdom of God has already come upon you.

29 "No one can break into a strong man's house and take away his belongings unless he first ties up the strong man; then he can plunder his house.

30 "Anyone who is not for me is really against me; anyone who does not help me gather is really scattering.

31 For this reason I tell you: people can be forgiven any sin and any evil thing they say; but whoever says evil things against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven.

32 Anyone who says something against the Son of Man can be forgiven; but whoever says something against the Holy Spirit will not be forgiven - now or ever.

33 "To have good fruit you must have a healthy tree; if you have a poor tree, you will have bad fruit. A tree is known by the kind of fruit it bears.

34 You snakes - how can you say good things when you are evil? For the mouth speaks what the heart is full of.

35 A good person brings good things out of a treasure of good things; a bad person brings bad things out of a treasure of bad things.

36 "You can be sure that on the Judgment Day you will have to give account of every useless word you have ever spoken.

37 Your words will be used to judge you - to declare you either innocent or guilty."

38 Then some teachers of the Law and some Pharisees spoke up. "Teacher," they said, "we want to see you perform a miracle."

39 "How evil and godless are the people of this day!" Jesus exclaimed. "You ask me for a miracle? No! The only miracle you will be given is the miracle of the prophet Jonah.

40 In the same way that Jonah spent three days and nights in the big fish, so will the Son of Man spend three days and nights in the depths of the earth.

41 On the Judgment Day the people of Nineveh will stand up and accuse you, because they turned from their sins when they heard Jonah preach; and I tell you that there is something here greater than Jonah!

42 On the Judgment Day the Queen of Sheba will stand up and accuse you, because she traveled all the way from her country to listen to King Solomon's wise teaching; and I assure you that there is something here greater than Solomon!

43 "When an evil spirit goes out of a person, it travels over dry country looking for a place to rest. If it can't find one,

44 it says to itself, "I will go back to my house.' So it goes back and finds the house empty, clean, and all fixed up.

45 Then it goes out and brings along seven other spirits even worse than itself, and they come and live there. So when it is all over, that person is in worse shape than at the beginning. This is what will happen to the evil people of this day."

46 Jesus was still talking to the people when his mother and brothers arrived. They stood outside, asking to speak with him.

47 So one of the people there said to him, "Look, your mother and brothers are standing outside, and they want to speak with you."

48 Jesus answered, "Who is my mother? Who are my brothers?"

49 Then he pointed to his disciples and said, "Look! Here are my mother and my brothers!

50 Whoever does what my Father in heaven wants is my brother, my sister, and my mother."