Jan 24th

Then he said, “Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt; go down there and buy some for us from there, so that we may live and not die.”

So ten brothers of Joseph went down to buy grain from Egypt.

But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he said, “Lest any harm befall him.”

So the sons of Israel came to buy grain among those who were coming, for the famine was in the land of Canaan also.

Now Joseph was the one in power over the land; he was the one who sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down to him with their faces to the ground.

And Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he disguised himself to them and spoke to them harshly. And he said to them, “Where have you come from?” And they said, “From the land of Canaan, to buy food.”

But Joseph recognized his brothers, although they did not recognize him.

And Joseph remembered the dreams which he had about them and said to them, “You are spies; you have come to look at the nakedness of the land.”

Then they said to him, “No, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food.

We are all sons of one man; we are honest men; your servants are not spies.”

And he said to them, “No, but you have come to look at the nakedness of our land!”

So they said, “Your servants are twelve brothers in all, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and behold, the youngest is with our father today, and one is no more.”

And Joseph said to them, “It is as I said to you, you are spies;

by this you will be tested: by the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go from this place unless your youngest brother comes here!

Send one of you that he may get your brother, while you remain confined, that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you. But if not, by the life of Pharaoh, surely you are spies.”

Then he put them all together in prison for three days.

And Joseph said to them on the third day, “Do this and live, for I fear God:

if you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined in your prison; but as for the rest of you, go, bring grain for the famine of your households,

and bring your youngest brother to me, so your words may be proven true, and you will not die.” And they did so.

Then they said to one another, “Surely we are guilty concerning our brother because we saw the distress of his soul when he begged us, yet we would not listen; therefore this distress has come upon us.”

And Reuben answered them, saying, “Did I not tell you, saying, ‘Do not sin against the boy’; yet you would not listen? So also his blood, behold, it is required of us.”

Now they did not know that Joseph was listening, for there was an interpreter between them.

And he turned away from them and wept. Then he returned to them and spoke to them. And he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes.

Then Joseph gave a command to fill their bags with grain and to restore every man’s money in his sack and to give them provisions for the journey. And thus it was done for them.

So they loaded their donkeys with their grain and went from there.

Then one of them opened his sack to give his donkey fodder at the lodging place. And he saw his money; and behold, it was in the mouth of his sack.

So he said to his brothers, “My money has been returned, and behold, it is even in my sack.” And their hearts sank, and they turned trembling to one another, saying, “What is this that God has done to us?”

Then they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan and told him all that had happened to them, saying,

“The man, the lord of the land, spoke harshly with us and took us for spies of the country.

So we said to him, ‘We are honest men; we are not spies.

We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no more, and the youngest is with our father today in the land of Canaan.’

Then the man, the lord of the land, said to us, ‘By this I will know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me and take grain for the famine of your households, and go.

But bring your youngest brother to me that I may know that you are not spies, but honest men. I will give your brother to you, and you may trade in the land.’ ”

Now it happened that they were emptying their sacks, and behold, every man’s bundle of money was in his sack; and they and their father saw their bundles of money, and they feared.

And their father Jacob said to them, “You have bereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and you would take Benjamin; all these things are against me.”

Then Reuben spoke to his father, saying, “You may put my two sons to death if I do not bring him back to you; put him in my hand, and I will return him to you.”

But Jacob said, “My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he alone remains. If harm should befall him on the journey on which you are going, then you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.”

Now the famine was heavy in the land.

And it happened when they had finished eating the grain which they had brought from Egypt, that their father said to them, “Go back, buy us a little food.”

Judah spoke to him, however, saying, “The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’

If you send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food.

But if you do 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.’ ”

Then Israel said, “Why did you treat me so badly by telling the man whether you still had another brother?”

But they said, “The man questioned particularly about us and our kin, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Have you another brother?’ So we told him concerning these things. Could we possibly have known that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?”

Then Judah said to his father Israel, “Send the boy with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, we as well as you and our little ones.

I myself will be the guarantee for him; from my hand you may require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then I shall bear the sin before you all my days.

For if we had not delayed, surely by now we could have returned twice.”

Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: take some of the best products of the land in your bags, and bring them down to the man as a present, a little balm and a little honey, aromatic gum and myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds.

Now take double the money in your hand, and take back in your hand the money that was put back in the mouth of your sacks; perhaps it was a mistake.

And take your brother also, and arise, return to the man;

and may God Almighty grant you compassion before the man, so that he will release to you your other brother and Benjamin. And as for me, if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.”

So the men took this present, and they took double the money in their hand, and Benjamin; and they arose and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph.

Then Joseph saw Benjamin with them and said to his house steward, “Bring the men into the house, and slay an animal and prepare it; for the men are to eat with me at noon.”

So the man did as Joseph said and brought the men to Joseph’s house.

And the men were afraid because they were brought to Joseph’s house; and they said, “It is because of the money that was returned in our sacks the first time that we are being brought in, that he may seek occasion against us and fall upon us and take us for slaves with our donkeys.”

So they came near to Joseph’s house steward and spoke to him at the entrance of the house,

and they said, “Oh, my lord, we indeed came down the first time to buy food,

and it happened when we came to the lodging place, that we opened our sacks, and behold, each man’s money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full. So we have brought it back in our hand.

We have also brought down other money in our hand to buy food; we do not know who put our money in our sacks.”

And he said, “Be well, do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks; your money has come to me.” Then he brought Simeon out to them.

Then the man brought the men into Joseph’s house and gave them water, and they washed their feet; and he gave their donkeys fodder.

So they prepared the present for Joseph’s coming at noon; for they had heard that they were to eat a meal there.

“And if your hand or your foot causes you to stumble, cut it off and throw it from you; it is better for you to enter life crippled or lame, than, having two hands or two feet, to be cast into the eternal fire.

“See that you do not despise one of these little ones, for I say to you that their angels in heaven continually see the face of My Father who is in heaven.

[For the Son of Man has come to save that which was lost.]

“What do you think? If any man has one hundred sheep, and one of them has gone astray, does he not leave the ninety-nine on the mountains and go and search for the one that is straying?

And if it turns out that he finds it, truly I say to you, he rejoices over it more than over the ninety-nine which have not gone astray.

“Now if your brother sins, go and show him his fault, between you and him alone; if he listens to you, you have won your brother.

But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that by the mouth of two or three witnesses every fact may be confirmed.

And if he refuses to listen to them, tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, let him be to you as the Gentile and the tax collector.

“Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, it shall be done for them by My Father who is in heaven.

Then Peter came and said to Him, “Lord, how often shall my brother sin against me and I forgive him? Up to seven times?”

Jesus *said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to seventy times seven.

“For this reason the kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who wished to settle accounts with his slaves.

When he had begun to settle them, one who owed him ten thousand talents was brought to him.

But since he did not have the means to repay, his lord commanded him to be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment to be made.

Therefore, the slave fell to the ground and was prostrating himself before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you everything.’

And feeling compassion, the lord of that slave released him and forgave him the debt.

But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him one hundred denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe.’

So, his fellow slave fell to the ground and was pleading with him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you.’

But he was unwilling and went and threw him in prison until he should pay back what was owed.

So, when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their lord all that had happened.

Then summoning him, his lord *said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me.

Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’

And his lord, moved with anger, handed him over to the torturers until he should repay all that was owed him.