Through the Bible – Day 17

₁When Jacob found out there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why are you just sitting here, staring at one another? ₂I have heard there is grain in Egypt. Now go down and buy some, so we won't starve to death.”

₃Ten of Joseph's brothers went to Egypt to buy grain. ₄But Jacob did not send Joseph's younger brother Benjamin with them; he was afraid that something might happen to him. ₅So Jacob's sons joined others from Canaan who were going to Egypt because of the terrible famine.

₆Since Joseph was governor of Egypt and in charge of selling grain, his brothers came to him and bowed with their faces to the ground. _7-8They did not recognize Joseph, but straight away he knew who they were, though he pretended not to know. Instead, he spoke harshly and asked, “Where do you come from?”

“From the land of Canaan,” they answered. “We've come here to buy grain.”

₉Joseph remembered what he had dreamed about them and said, “You're spies! You've come here to find out where our country is weak.”

₁₀“No sir,” they replied. “We're your servants, and we have only come to buy grain. ₁₁We're honest men, and we come from the same family—we're not spies.”

₁₂“That isn't so!” Joseph insisted. “You've come here to find out where our country is weak.”

₁₃But they explained, “Sir, we come from a family of twelve brothers. The youngest is still with our father in Canaan, and one of our brothers is dead.”

₁₄Joseph replied:

₁₇Joseph kept them all under guard for three days, ₁₈before saying to them:

Joseph's brothers agreed ₂₁and said to one another, “We're being punished because of Joseph. We saw the trouble he was in, but we refused to help him when he begged us. That's why these terrible things are happening.”

₂₂Reuben spoke up, “Didn't I tell you not to harm the boy? But you wouldn't listen, and now we have to pay the price for killing him.”

₂₃They did not know that Joseph could understand them, since he was speaking through an interpreter. ₂₄Joseph turned away from them and cried, but soon he turned back and spoke to them again. Then he had Simeon tied up and taken away while they watched.

₂₅Joseph gave orders for his brothers' grain sacks to be filled with grain and for their money to be put in their sacks. He also gave orders for them to be given food for their journey home. After this was done, ₂₆they each loaded the grain on their donkeys and left.

₂₇When they stopped for the night, one of them opened his sack to get some grain for his donkey, and straight away he saw his money bag. ₂₈“Here's my money!” he told his brothers. “Right here in my sack.”

They were trembling with fear as they stared at one another and asked themselves, “What has God done to us?”

₂₉When they returned to the land of Canaan, they told their father Jacob everything that had happened to them:

₃₅When the brothers started emptying their sacks of grain, they found their money bags in them. They were frightened, and so was their father Jacob, ₃₆who said, “You have already taken my sons Joseph and Simeon from me. And now you want to take away Benjamin! Everything is against me.”

₃₇Reuben spoke up, “Father, if I don't bring Benjamin back, you can kill both of my sons. Trust me with him, and I will bring him back.”

₃₈But Jacob said, “I won't let my son Benjamin go down to Egypt with the rest of you. His brother is already dead, and he is the only son I have left. I am an old man, and if anything happens to him on the way, I'll die from sorrow, and all of you will be to blame.”

₁The famine in Canaan got worse, ₂until finally, Jacob's family had eaten all the grain they had bought in Egypt. So Jacob said to his sons, “Go back and buy some more grain.”

_3-5Judah replied, “The governor strictly warned us that we would not be allowed to see him unless we brought our youngest brother with us. If you let us take Benjamin along, we will go and buy grain. But we won't go without him!”

₆Jacob asked, “Why did you cause me so much trouble by telling the governor you had another brother?”

₇They answered, “He asked a lot of questions about us and our family. He wanted to know if you were still alive and if we had any more brothers. All we could do was answer his questions. How could we know he would tell us to bring along our brother?”

₈Then Judah said to his father, “Let Benjamin go with me, and we will leave straight away, so that none of us will starve to death. ₉I promise to bring him back safely, and if I don't, you can blame me as long as I live. ₁₀If we had not wasted all this time, we could already have been there and back twice.”

₁₁Their father said:

₁₅The brothers took the gifts, twice the amount of money, and Benjamin. Then they hurried off to Egypt. When they stood in front of Joseph, ₁₆he saw Benjamin and told the servant in charge of his house, “Take these men to my house. Slaughter an animal and cook it, so they can eat with me at midday.”

₁₇The servant did as he was told and took the brothers to Joseph's house. ₁₈But on the way they got worried and started thinking, “We are being taken there because of the money that was put back in our sacks last time. He will arrest us, make us his slaves, and take our donkeys.”

₁₉So when they arrived at Joseph's house, they said to the servant in charge, ₂₀“Sir, we came to Egypt once before to buy grain. ₂₁But when we stopped for the night, we each found in our grain sacks the exact amount we had paid. We have brought that money back, ₂₂together with enough money to buy more grain. We don't know who put the money in our sacks.”

₂₃“It's all right,” the servant replied. “Don't worry. The God you and your father worship must have put the money there, because I received your payment in full.” Then he brought Simeon out to them.

₂₄The servant took them into Joseph's house and gave them water to wash their feet. He also tended their donkeys. ₂₅The brothers got their gifts ready to give to Joseph at midday, since they had heard they were going to eat there.

₂₆When Joseph came home, they gave him the gifts they had brought, and they bowed down to him. ₂₇After Joseph had asked how they were, he said, “What about your elderly father? Is he still alive?”

₂₈They answered, “Your servant our father is still alive and well.” And again they bowed down to Joseph.

₂₉When Joseph looked around and saw his brother Benjamin, he said, “This must be your youngest brother, the one you told me about. God bless you, my son.”

₃₀Straight away he rushed off to his room and cried because of his love for Benjamin. ₃₁After washing his face and returning, he was able to control himself and said, “Serve the meal!”

₃₂Joseph was served at a table by himself, and his brothers were served at another. The Egyptians sat at yet another table, because Egyptians felt it was disgusting to eat with Hebrews. ₃₃To the surprise of Joseph's brothers, they were seated in front of him according to their ages, from the eldest to the youngest. ₃₄They were served food from Joseph's table, and Benjamin was given five times as much as each of the others. So Joseph's brothers drank with him and had a good time.

_1-2Later, Joseph told the servant in charge of his house, “Fill the men's grain sacks with as much as they can hold and put their money in the sacks. Also put my silver cup in the sack of the youngest brother.” The servant did as he was told.

₃Early the next morning, the men were sent on their way with their donkeys. ₄But they had not gone far from the city when Joseph told the servant, “Go after those men! When you catch them, say, ‘My master has been good to you. So why have you stolen his silver cup? ₅Not only does he drink from his cup, but he also uses it to learn about the future. You have done a terrible thing.’ ”

₆When the servant caught up with them, he said exactly what Joseph had told him to say. ₇But they replied, “Sir, why do you say such things? We would never do anything like that! ₈We even returned the money we found in our grain sacks when we got back to Canaan. So why would we want to steal any silver or gold from your master's house? ₉If you find that one of us has the cup, then kill him, and the rest of us will become your slaves.”

₁₀“Good!” the man replied, “I'll do what you have said. But only the one who has the cup will become my slave. The rest of you can go free.”

₁₁Each of the brothers quickly put his sack on the ground and opened it. ₁₂Joseph's servant started searching the sacks, beginning with the one that belonged to the eldest brother. When he came to Benjamin's sack, he found the cup. ₁₃This upset the brothers so much that they began tearing their clothes in sorrow. Then they loaded their donkeys and returned to the city.

₁₄When Judah and his brothers got there, Joseph was still at home. So they bowed down to Joseph, ₁₅who asked them, “What have you done? Didn't you know I could find out?”

₁₆“Sir, what can we say?” Judah replied. “How can we prove we are innocent? God has shown that we are guilty. And now all of us are your slaves, especially the one who had the cup.”

₁₇Joseph told them, “I would never punish all of you. Only the one who was caught with the cup will become my slave. The rest of you are free to go home to your father.”

₁₈Judah went over to Joseph and said:

₂₅At that moment Jesus said:

₁One Sabbath, Jesus and his disciples were walking through some wheat fields. His disciples were hungry and began picking and eating grains of wheat. ₂Some Pharisees noticed this and said to Jesus, “Why are your disciples picking grain on the Sabbath? They are not supposed to do that!”

₃Jesus answered:

₉Jesus left and went into one of the Jewish meeting places, ₁₀where there was a man whose hand was crippled. Some Pharisees wanted to accuse Jesus of doing something wrong, and they asked him, “Is it right to heal someone on the Sabbath?”

₁₁Jesus answered, “If you had a sheep that fell into a ditch on the Sabbath, wouldn't you lift it out? ₁₂People are worth much more than sheep, and so it is right to do good on the Sabbath.” ₁₃Then Jesus told the man, “Hold out your hand.” The man did, and it became as healthy as the other one.

₁₄The Pharisees left and started making plans to kill Jesus.