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Genesis 43

The Second Journey to Egypt.^*

1Now the famine in the land grew severe.

2So when they had used up all the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go back and buy us a little more food.”

3But Judah replied: “The man strictly warned us, ‘You shall not see me unless your brother is with you.’^a

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

5But if you are not willing, we will not go down, because the man told us, ‘You shall not see me unless your brother is with you.’”^b

6Israel demanded, “Why did you bring this trouble on me by telling the man that you had another brother?”

7They answered: “The man kept asking about us and our family: ‘Is your father still living? Do you have another brother?’ We answered him accordingly. How could we know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down here’?”

8Then Judah urged his father Israel: “Let the boy go with me, that we may be off and on our way if you and we and our children are to keep from starving to death.^c

9I myself will serve as a guarantee for him. You can hold me responsible for him. If I fail to bring him back and set him before you, I will bear the blame before you forever.^d

10Had we not delayed, we could have been there and back twice by now!”

11Israel their father then told them: “If it must be so, then do this: Put some of the land’s best products in your baggage and take them down to the man as gifts: some balm and honey, gum and resin, and pistachios and almonds.^e

12Also take double the money along, for you must return the amount that was put back in the mouths of your bags; it may have been a mistake.

13Take your brother, too, and be off on your way back to the man.

14May God Almighty grant you mercy in the presence of the man, so that he may let your other brother go, as well as Benjamin. As for me, if I am to suffer bereavement, I shall suffer it.”

15So the men took those gifts and double the money and Benjamin. They made their way down to Egypt and presented themselves before Joseph.

16When Joseph saw them and Benjamin, he told his steward, “Take the men into the house, and have an animal slaughtered and prepared, for they are to dine with me at noon.”

17Doing as Joseph had ordered, the steward conducted the men to Joseph’s house.

18But they became apprehensive when they were led to his house. “It must be,” they thought, “on account of the money put back in our bags the first time, that we are taken inside—in order to attack us and take our donkeys and seize us as slaves.”

19So they went up to Joseph’s steward and talked to him at the entrance of the house.

20“If you please, sir,” they said, “we came down here once before to buy food.^f

21But when we arrived at a night’s encampment and opened our bags, there was each man’s money in the mouth of his bag—our money in the full amount! We have now brought it back.^g

22We have brought other money to buy food. We do not know who put our money in our bags.”

23He replied, “Calm down! Do not fear! Your God and the God of your father must have put treasure in your bags for you. As for your money, I received it.” With that, he led Simeon out to them.

24The steward then brought the men inside Joseph’s house. He gave them water to wash their feet, and gave fodder to their donkeys.

25Then they set out their gifts to await Joseph’s arrival at noon, for they had heard that they were to dine there.

26When Joseph came home, they presented him with the gifts they had brought inside, while they bowed down before him to the ground.

27After inquiring how they were, he asked them, “And how is your aged father, of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?”^h

28“Your servant our father is still alive and doing well,” they said, as they knelt and bowed down.

29Then Joseph looked up and saw Benjamin, his brother, the son of his mother. He asked, “Is this your youngest brother, of whom you told me?” Then he said to him, “May God be gracious to you, my son!”ⁱ

30With that, Joseph hurried out, for he was so overcome with affection for his brother that he was on the verge of tears. So he went into a private room and wept there.

31After washing his face, he reappeared and, now having collected himself, gave the order, “Serve the meal.”

32It was served separately to him,^* to the brothers, and to the Egyptians who partook of his board. Egyptians may not eat with Hebrews; that is abhorrent to them.

33When they were seated before him according to their age, from the oldest to the youngest, they looked at one another in amazement;

34and as portions were brought to them from Joseph’s table, Benjamin’s portion was five times as large as^* anyone else’s. So they drank freely and made merry with him.

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Genesis 44

Final Test.^*

1Then Joseph commanded his steward: “Fill the men’s bags with as much food as they can carry, and put each man’s money in the mouth of his bag.

2In the mouth of the youngest one’s bag put also my silver goblet, together with the money for his grain.” The steward did as Joseph said.

3At daybreak the men and their donkeys were sent off.

4They had not gone far out of the city when Joseph said to his steward: “Go at once after the men! When you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why did you repay good with evil? Why did you steal my silver goblet?

5Is it not the very one from which my master drinks and which he uses for divination?^* What you have done is wrong.’”

6When the steward overtook them and repeated these words to them,

7they said to him: “Why does my lord say such things? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing!

8We even brought back to you from the land of Canaan the money that we found in the mouths of our bags. How could we steal silver or gold from your master’s house?

9If any of your servants is found to have the goblet, he shall die, and as for the rest of us, we shall become my lord’s slaves.”

10But he replied, “Now what you propose is fair enough, but only the one who is found to have it shall become my slave, and the rest of you can go free.”

11Then each of them quickly lowered his bag to the ground and opened it;

12and when a search was made, starting with the oldest and ending with the youngest, the goblet turned up in Benjamin’s bag.

13At this, they tore their garments. Then, when each man had loaded his donkey again, they returned to the city.

14When Judah and his brothers entered Joseph’s house, he was still there; so they flung themselves on the ground before him.

15“How could you do such a thing?” Joseph asked them. “Did you not know that such a man as I could discern by divination what happened?”

16Judah replied: “What can we say to my lord? How can we plead or how try to prove our innocence? God has uncovered your servants’ guilt.^* Here we are, then, the slaves of my lord—the rest of us no less than the one in whose possession the goblet was found.”

17Joseph said, “Far be it from me to act thus! Only the one in whose possession the goblet was found shall become my slave; the rest of you may go back unharmed to your father.”

18Judah then stepped up to him and said: “I beg you, my lord, let your servant appeal to my lord, and do not become angry with your servant, for you are the equal of Pharaoh.

19My lord asked his servants,^* ‘Have you a father, or another brother?’

20So we said to my lord, ‘We have an aged father, and a younger brother, the child of his old age. This one’s full brother is dead, and since he is the only one by his mother who is left, his father is devoted to him.’^a

21Then you told your servants, ‘Bring him down to me that I might see him.’

22We replied to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father; his father would die if he left him.’

23But you told your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall not see me again.’^b

24When we returned to your servant my father, we reported to him the words of my lord.

25“Later, our father said, ‘Go back and buy some food for us.’

26So we reminded him, ‘We cannot go down there; only if our youngest brother is with us can we go, for we may not see the man if our youngest brother is not with us.’

27Then your servant my father said to us, ‘As you know, my wife bore me two sons.

28One of them, however, has gone away from me, and I said, “He must have been torn to pieces by wild beasts!” I have not seen him since.^c

29If you take this one away from me too, and a disaster befalls him, you will send my white head down to Sheol in grief.’

30“So now, if the boy is not with us when I go back to your servant my father, whose very life is bound up with his, he will die as soon as he sees that the boy is missing;

31and your servants will thus send the white head of your servant our father down to Sheol in grief.

32Besides, I, your servant, have guaranteed the boy’s safety for my father by saying, ‘If I fail to bring him back to you, father, I will bear the blame before you forever.’^d

33So now let me, your servant, remain in place of the boy as the slave of my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers.

34How could I go back to my father if the boy were not with me? I could not bear to see the anguish that would overcome my father.”

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Genesis 45

The Truth Revealed.^*

1Joseph could no longer restrain himself in the presence of all his attendants, so he cried out, “Have everyone withdraw from me!” So no one attended him when he made himself known to his brothers.

2But his sobs were so loud that the Egyptians heard him, and so the news reached Pharaoh’s house.

3^a “I am Joseph,” he said to his brothers. “Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could give him no answer, so dumbfounded were they at him.

4“Come closer to me,” Joseph told his brothers. When they had done so, he said: “I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.

5But now do not be distressed, and do not be angry with yourselves for having sold me here. It was really for the sake of saving lives that God sent me here ahead of you.^b

6The famine has been in the land for two years now, and for five more years cultivation will yield no harvest.

7God, therefore, sent me on ahead of you to ensure for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives in an extraordinary deliverance.

8So it was not really you but God who had me come here; and he has made me a father to Pharaoh,^* lord of all his household, and ruler over the whole land of Egypt.

9^* “Hurry back, then, to my father and tell him: ‘Thus says your son Joseph: God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me without delay.^c

10You can settle in the region of Goshen,^* where you will be near me—you and your children and children’s children, your flocks and herds, and everything that you own.

11I will provide for you there in the five years of famine that lie ahead, so that you and your household and all that are yours will not suffer want.’

12Surely, you can see for yourselves, and Benjamin can see for himself, that it is I who am speaking to you.

13Tell my father all about my high position in Egypt and all that you have seen. But hurry and bring my father down here.”

14Then he threw his arms around his brother Benjamin and wept on his shoulder.

15Joseph then kissed all his brothers and wept over them; and only then were his brothers able to talk with him.

16The news reached Pharaoh’s house: “Joseph’s brothers have come.” Pharaoh and his officials were pleased.

17So Pharaoh told Joseph: “Say to your brothers: ‘This is what you shall do: Load up your animals and go without delay to the land of Canaan.

18There get your father and your households, and then come to me; I will assign you the best land in Egypt, where you will live off the fat of the land.’^d

19Instruct them further: ‘Do this. Take wagons from the land of Egypt for your children and your wives and bring your father back here.

20Do not be concerned about your belongings, for the best in the whole land of Egypt shall be yours.’”

21The sons of Israel acted accordingly. Joseph gave them the wagons, as Pharaoh had ordered, and he supplied them with provisions for the journey.

22He also gave to each of them a set of clothes, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels of silver and five sets of clothes.

23Moreover, what he sent to his father was ten donkeys loaded with the finest products of Egypt and another ten loaded with grain and bread and provisions for his father’s journey.

24As he sent his brothers on their way, he told them, “Do not quarrel on the way.”

25So they went up from Egypt and came to the land of Canaan, to their father Jacob.

26When they told him, “Joseph is still alive—in fact, it is he who is governing all the land of Egypt,” he was unmoved, for he did not believe them.

27But when they recounted to him all that Joseph had told them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to transport him, the spirit of their father Jacob came to life.

28“Enough,” said Israel. “My son Joseph is still alive! I must go and see him before I die.”

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Genesis 46

Migration to Egypt.

1^* Israel set out with all that was his. When he arrived at Beer-sheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.

2There God, speaking to Israel in a vision by night, called: Jacob! Jacob! He answered, “Here I am.”

3Then he said: I am God,^* the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you a great nation.

4I will go down to Egypt with you and I will also bring you back here, after Joseph has closed your eyes.

5So Jacob departed from Beer-sheba, and the sons of Israel put their father and their wives and children on the wagons that Pharaoh had sent to transport him.

6They took with them their livestock and the possessions they had acquired in the land of Canaan. So Jacob and all his descendants came to Egypt.^a

7His sons and his grandsons, his daughters and his granddaughters—all his descendants—he took with him to Egypt.

8These are the names of the Israelites, Jacob and his children, who came to Egypt.

Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn,^b

9^* and the sons of Reuben: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.^c

10The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, son of a Canaanite woman.^d

11The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.^e

12The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah—but Er and Onan had died in the land of Canaan; and the sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.^f

13The sons of Issachar: Tola, Puah, Jashub, and Shimron.^g

14The sons of Zebulun: Sered, Elon, and Jahleel.^h

15These were the sons whom Leah bore to Jacob in Paddan-aram, along with his daughter Dinah—thirty-three persons in all, sons and daughters.

16The sons of Gad: Zephon, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arod, and Areli.ⁱ

17The sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, and Beriah, with their sister Serah; and the sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel.^j

18These are the children of Zilpah, whom Laban had given to his daughter Leah; these she bore to Jacob—sixteen persons in all.

19The sons of Jacob’s wife Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.

20In the land of Egypt Joseph became the father of Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, priest of Heliopolis, bore to him.^k

21The sons of Benjamin: Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ahiram, Shupham, Hupham, and Ard.^l

22These are the sons whom Rachel bore to Jacob—fourteen persons in all.

23The sons of Dan: Hushim.^m

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

25These are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban had given to his daughter Rachel; these she bore to Jacob—seven persons in all.

26Jacob’s people who came to Egypt—his direct descendants, not counting the wives of Jacob’s sons—numbered sixty-six persons in all.^o

27Together with Joseph’s sons who were born to him in Egypt—two persons—all the people comprising the household of Jacob who had come to Egypt amounted to seventy persons^* in all.^p

28Israel had sent Judah ahead to Joseph, so that he might meet him in Goshen. On his arrival in the region of Goshen,

29Joseph prepared his chariot and went up to meet his father Israel in Goshen. As soon as Israel made his appearance, Joseph threw his arms around him and wept a long time on his shoulder.

30And Israel said to Joseph, “At last I can die, now that I have seen for myself that you are still alive.”

31Joseph then said to his brothers and his father’s household: “I will go up and inform Pharaoh, telling him: ‘My brothers and my father’s household, whose home is in the land of Canaan, have come to me.

32The men are shepherds, having been owners of livestock;^* and they have brought with them their flocks and herds, as well as everything else they own.’

33So when Pharaoh summons you and asks what your occupation is,

34you must answer, ‘We your servants, like our ancestors, have been owners of livestock from our youth until now,’ in order that you may stay in the region of Goshen, since all shepherds are abhorrent to the Egyptians.”

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Mark 7 :1-23

The Tradition of the Elders.^*

1Now when the Pharisees with some scribes who had come from Jerusalem gathered around him,^a

2they observed that some of his disciples ate their meals with unclean, that is, unwashed, hands.

3(For the Pharisees and, in fact, all Jews, do not eat without carefully washing their hands,^* keeping the tradition of the elders.

4And on coming from the marketplace they do not eat without purifying themselves. And there are many other things that they have traditionally observed, the purification of cups and jugs and kettles [and beds].)

5So the Pharisees and scribes questioned him, “Why do your disciples not follow the tradition of the elders^* but instead eat a meal with unclean hands?”

6He responded, “Well did Isaiah prophesy about you hypocrites, as it is written:^b

‘This people honors me with their lips,

but their hearts are far from me;

7In vain do they worship me,

teaching as doctrines human precepts.’

8You disregard God’s commandment but cling to human tradition.”

9He went on to say, “How well you have set aside the commandment of God in order to uphold your tradition!

10For Moses said, ‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and ‘Whoever curses father or mother shall die.’^c

11Yet you say, ‘If a person says to father or mother, “Any support you might have had from me is qorban”’^* (meaning, dedicated to God),

12you allow him to do nothing more for his father or mother.

13You nullify the word of God in favor of your tradition that you have handed on. And you do many such things.”

14^d He summoned the crowd again and said to them, “Hear me, all of you, and understand.

15Nothing that enters one from outside can defile that person; but the things that come out from within are what defile.”

[16]^*

17^{* e} When he got home away from the crowd his disciples questioned him about the parable.

18He said to them, “Are even you likewise without understanding? Do you not realize that everything that goes into a person from outside cannot defile,

19^{* f} since it enters not the heart but the stomach and passes out into the latrine?” (Thus he declared all foods clean.)

20“But what comes out of a person, that is what defiles.

21^g From within people, from their hearts, come evil thoughts, unchastity, theft, murder,

22adultery, greed, malice, deceit, licentiousness, envy, blasphemy, arrogance, folly.

23All these evils come from within and they defile.”

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