Genesis 43 - 44, Mark 4-5:20, Psalm 23

The Brothers Return to Egypt

43^aNow the famine was heavy in the land. ²And 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.” ³Judah spoke to him, however, saying, “^aThe man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ ⁴“If you send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. ⁵“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.’” ⁶Then Israel said, “Why did you treat me so badly ¹by telling the man whether you still had another brother?” ⁷But they said, “The man questioned particularly about us and our kin, saying, ‘^aIs 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’?” ⁸Then Judah said to his father Israel, “Send the boy with me, and we will arise and go, ^athat we may live and not die, we as well as you and our little ones. ⁹“^aI 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 ¹I shall bear the sin before you all my days. ¹⁰“For if we had not delayed, surely by now we could have returned twice.”

¹¹Then 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 ¹bags, and bring them down to the man ^aas a present, a little ²^,^bbalm and a little honey, ³aromatic gum and ⁴myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds. ¹²“Now take double the money in your hand, and take back in your hand ^athe money that was put back in the mouth of your sacks; perhaps it was a mistake. ¹³“And take your brother also, and arise, return to the man; ¹⁴and may ¹^,^aGod Almighty ^bgrant you compassion before the man, so that he will release to you ^cyour other brother and Benjamin. And as for me, ^dif I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.” ¹⁵So the men took ^athis present, and they took double the money in their hand, and Benjamin; and they arose and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph.

Joseph Sees Benjamin

¹⁶Then Joseph saw Benjamin with them and said to his ^ahouse steward, “Bring the men into the house, and slay an animal and prepare it; for the men are to eat with me at noon.” ¹⁷So the man did as Joseph said and ¹brought the men to Joseph’s house. ¹⁸And 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 ¹seek occasion against us and fall upon us and take us for slaves with our donkeys.” ¹⁹So they came near to Joseph’s house steward and spoke to him at the entrance of the house, ²⁰and they said, “Oh, my lord, we indeed came down the first time to buy food, ²¹and it happened when we came to the lodging place, that we opened our sacks, and behold, ^aeach man’s money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in ¹full. So ^bwe have brought it back in our hand. ²²“We have also brought down other money in our hand to buy food; we do not know who put our money in our sacks.” ²³And he said, “¹Be well, do not be afraid. ^aYour God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks; your money has come to me.” Then ^bhe brought Simeon out to them. ²⁴Then the man brought the men into Joseph’s house and ^agave them water, and they ^bwashed their feet; and he gave their donkeys fodder. ²⁵So they prepared ^athe present ¹for Joseph’s coming at noon; for they had heard that they were to eat ²a meal there.

²⁶Then Joseph came home, and they brought into the house to him the present which was in their hand and ^abowed to the ground before him. ²⁷And he asked them about their ¹well-being and said, “^aIs your old father ²well, of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?” ²⁸And they said, “Your servant our father is well; he is still alive.” ^aThey bowed down and prostrated themselves. ²⁹Then he lifted his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son. And he said, “Is this ^ayour youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me?” And he said, “^bMay God be gracious to you, my son.” ³⁰And Joseph hurried out for ¹^,^ahe was deeply stirred with compassion over his brother, and he sought a place to weep; and he entered his chamber and ^bwept there. ³¹Then he washed his face and came out; and he ^arestrained himself and said, “Set the ¹meal.” ³²So they set the meal for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because the Egyptians could not eat bread with the Hebrews, for that is ^aan abomination to the Egyptians. ³³And they ¹were seated before him, ^athe firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth, and the men looked at one another in astonishment. ³⁴And he took portions to them from ¹his own table, ^abut Benjamin’s portion was five times greater than any of theirs. So they feasted and drank freely with him.

The Brothers Fall Before Joseph

44^aThen he commanded his house steward, saying, “Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man’s money in the mouth of his sack. ²“Now put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest, and his money for the grain.” And he did ¹as Joseph had told him. ³¹As the morning light broke, the men were sent away, they with their donkeys. ⁴Now they had just gone out of ^athe city and were not far off when Joseph said to his house steward, “Arise, pursue the men; you shall overtake them and say to them, ‘Why have you repaid evil for good? ⁵‘Is not this the one from which my lord drinks and which he indeed uses to interpret ^aomens? You have done evil in doing this.’”

⁶So he overtook them and spoke these words to them. ⁷And they said to him, “Why does my lord speak such words as these? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing. ⁸“Behold, ^athe money which we found in the mouth of our sacks we have brought back to you from the land of Canaan. How then could we steal silver or gold from your lord’s house? ⁹“^aWith whomever of your servants it is found, let him die, and we also will be my lord’s ^bslaves.” ¹⁰So he said, “Now let it also be according to your words; he with whom it is found shall be my slave, but the rest of you shall be innocent.” ¹¹Then they hurried, each man brought his sack down to the ground, and each man opened his sack. ¹²So he searched, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest, and ^athe cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. ¹³Then they ^atore their clothes, and each man loaded his donkey and returned to ^bthe city.

¹⁴Then Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, and he was still there. So ^athey fell to the ground before him. ¹⁵And Joseph said to them, “What is this deed that you have done? Do you not know that such a man as I can indeed interpret ^aomens?” ¹⁶So Judah said, “What can we say to my lord? What can we speak? And how can we justify ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants; behold, we are my lord’s ^aslaves, both we and the one in whose ¹possession the cup has been found.” ¹⁷But he said, “Far be it from me to do this. The man in whose ¹possession the cup has been found, he shall be my slave; but as for you, go up in peace to your father.”

Judah’s Plea for Benjamin

¹⁸Then Judah came near to him and said, “O my lord, may your servant please speak a word in my lord’s ears, and ¹^,^ado not be angry with your servant; for ^byou are equal to Pharaoh. ¹⁹“^aMy lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father or a brother?’ ²⁰“And we said to my lord, ‘We have an old father and ^aa little child of his old age. Now ^bhis brother is dead, so he alone is left of his mother, and his father loves him.’ ²¹“Then you said to your servants, ‘^aBring him down to me that I may set my eyes on him.’ ²²“And we said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father; if he should leave his father, ¹his father would die.’ ²³“You said to your servants, however, ‘^aIf your youngest brother does not come down with you, you will not see my face again.’ ²⁴“Thus it happened that when we went up to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord. ²⁵“^aAnd our father said, ‘Go back, buy us a little food.’ ²⁶“But we said, ‘We cannot go down. If our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down; for we cannot see the man’s face if our youngest brother is not with us.’ ²⁷“And your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that ^amy wife bore me two sons; ²⁸and the one went out from me, and ^aI said, “Surely he is torn to pieces,” and I have not seen him since. ²⁹‘If you take this one also from ¹me and harm befalls him, you will ^abring my gray hair down to Sheol in ²evil.’ ³⁰“So now, when I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us—¹^,^aand his life is bound up in the boy’s life— ³¹so it will be that when he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die. Thus your servants will ^abring the gray hair of your servant our father down to Sheol in sorrow. ³²“For your servant ^abecame a guarantee for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, ¹then I shall bear the sin before my father all my days.’ ³³“So now, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a slave to my lord, and let the boy go up with his brothers. ³⁴“For how shall I go up to my father if the boy is not with me, lest I see the evil that would ¹overtake my father?”

The Parable of the Sower

4^aAnd He began to teach again ^bby the sea. And such a very large crowd gathered to Him that ^cHe got into a boat in the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd was by the sea on the land. ²And He was teaching them many things in ^aparables, and was saying to them in His teaching, ³“Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow; ⁴and it happened that as he was sowing, some seed fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate it up. ⁵“And other seed fell on the rocky ground where it did not have much soil; and immediately it sprang up because it had no depth of soil. ⁶“And after the sun rose, it was scorched; and because it had no root, it withered away. ⁷“And other seed fell among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked it, and it yielded no ¹crop. ⁸“And other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they were yielding a ¹crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” ⁹And He was saying, “^aHe who has ears to hear, ¹let him hear.”

¹⁰And when He was alone, ¹His followers, along with the twelve, began asking Him about the parables. ¹¹And He was saying to them, “To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but to ^athose who are outside, everything comes ^bin parables, ¹²so that ^awhile seeing, they may see and not perceive, and while hearing, they may hear and not understand, lest they return and be forgiven.”

The Parable of the Sower Explained

¹³^aAnd He *said to them, “Do you not understand this parable? How will you understand all the parables? ¹⁴“The sower sows the word. ¹⁵“And these are the ones who are beside the road where the word is sown: when they hear, immediately ^aSatan comes and takes away the word which has been sown in them. ¹⁶“And in a similar way, these are the ones being sown on the rocky places: those who, when hearing the word, immediately receive it with joy; ¹⁷and they have no root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they ¹fall away. ¹⁸“And others are those being sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, ¹⁹but the worries of ^athe ¹world, and the ^bdeceitfulness of riches, and the desires for anything else enter in and choke the word, and it becomes unfruitful. ²⁰“And those are the ones which were sown on the good soil: they who hear the word and accept it and ^aare bearing fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.”

²¹And He was saying to them, “^aIs a lamp brought to be put under a ¹basket or under a bed? Is it not to be put on the lampstand? ²²“^aFor nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light. ²³“^aIf anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” ²⁴And He was saying to them, “Beware what you listen to. ¹^,^aBy your standard of measure it will be measured to you, and more will be given to you. ²⁵“^aFor whoever has, to him more shall be given; and whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him.”

The Parable of the Seed

²⁶And He was saying, “The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; ²⁷and he sleeps and rises, night and day, and the seed sprouts and grows—how, he himself does not know. ²⁸“The soil produces crops by itself; first the blade, then the head, then the mature grain in the head. ²⁹“But when the grain ¹is ripe, he immediately ²^,^aputs in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

³⁰^aAnd He was saying, “How shall we ^bcompare the kingdom of God, or by what parable shall we present it? ³¹“It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the soil, though it is ¹smallest of all the seeds that are upon the soil, ³²yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes ¹largest of all the garden plants and forms large branches; so that ^athe birds of the ²air can nest under its shade.”

³³And with many such parables He was speaking the word to them, as they were able to hear it; ³⁴and He was not speaking to them ^awithout a parable; but He was ^bexplaining everything privately to His own disciples.

Jesus Calms a Storm

³⁵^aAnd on that day, when evening came, He *said to them, “Let us go over to the other side.” ³⁶¹And leaving the crowd, they *took Him along with them ^ain the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him. ³⁷And a great windstorm *arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat so that the boat was already filling up. ³⁸And Jesus Himself was in the stern, sleeping on the cushion; and they *got Him up and *said to Him, “Teacher, do You not care that we are perishing?” ³⁹And He woke up and ^arebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Silence! Be still.” And the wind died down and ¹it became ²perfectly calm. ⁴⁰And He said to them, “Why are you so cowardly? ^aDo you still have no faith?” ⁴¹And they became ¹very afraid and were saying to one another, “Who then is this, that even the wind and the sea obey Him?”

Jesus Saves a Man with Many Demons

5^aThen they came to the other side of the sea, into the region of the Gerasenes. ²And when He got out of ^athe boat, immediately a man from the tombs ^bwith an unclean spirit met Him, ³who had his dwelling among the tombs. And no one was able to bind him anymore, even with a chain; ⁴because he had often been bound with shackles and chains, and the chains had been torn apart by him and the shackles broken in pieces, and no one was strong enough to subdue him. ⁵And constantly, night and day, among the tombs and in the mountains, he was crying out and gashing himself with stones. ⁶And seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up and bowed down before Him; ⁷and crying out with a loud voice, he *said, “¹^,^aWhat do I have to do with You, Jesus, ^bSon of ^cthe Most High God? I implore You by God, do not torment me!” ⁸For He had been saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” ⁹And He was asking him, “What is your name?” And he *said to Him, “My name is ^aLegion; for we are many.” ¹⁰And he began pleading with Him earnestly not to send them out of the region. ¹¹Now there was a large herd of swine feeding ¹nearby on the mountain. ¹²And the demons pleaded with Him, saying, “Send us into the swine so that we may enter them.” ¹³And Jesus gave them permission. And coming out, the unclean spirits entered the swine; and the herd rushed down the steep bank into the sea, about two thousand of them; and they were drowned in the sea.

¹⁴And their herdsmen ran away and reported it in the city and in the countryside. And the people came to see what it was that had happened. ¹⁵And they *came to Jesus and *observed the ^ademon-possessed man sitting down, ^bclothed and ^cin his right mind, the very man who had the “^dlegion”; and they became frightened. ¹⁶And those who had seen it recounted to them how this had happened to the ^ademon-possessed man, and all about the swine. ¹⁷And they began to ^aplead with Him to leave their region. ¹⁸^aAnd as He was getting into the boat, the man who had been ^bdemon-possessed was pleading with Him that he might ¹accompany Him. ¹⁹And He did not let him, but He *said to him, “^aGo home to your people and report to them ¹what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you.” ²⁰And he went away and began to ^apreach in the ^bDecapolis ¹what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was marveling.

Yahweh Is My Shepherd

A Psalm of David.

Yahweh is my ^ashepherd,I ¹shall ^bnot want.²He makes me lie down in ^agreen pastures;He ^bleads me beside ¹^,^cquiet waters.³He ^arestores my soul;He ^bguides me in the ¹^,^cpaths of righteousnessFor His name’s sake.⁴Even though I ^awalk through the ¹valley of the shadow of death,I ^bfear no ²evil, for ^cYou are with me;Your ^drod and Your staff, they comfort me.⁵You ^aprepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;You ¹have ^banointed my head with oil;My ^ccup overflows.⁶¹Surely ^agoodness and lovingkindness will ²pursue me all the days of my life,And I will ³^,^bdwell in the house of Yahweh ⁴forever.