Genesis 43 - 44 - Legacy Standard Bible

Genesis 43 - 44

The Brothers Return to Egypt

Now the famine was heavy in the land. 2 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.” 3 Judah spoke to him, however, saying, “The 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.’” 6 Then Israel said, “Why did you treat me so badly by telling the man whether you still had another brother?” 7 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’?” 8 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. 9 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. 10 For if we had not delayed, surely by now we could have returned twice.” 11 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. 12 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. 13 And take your brother also, and arise, return to the man; 14 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.” 15 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.

Joseph Sees Benjamin

16 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.” 17 So the man did as Joseph said and brought the men to Joseph’s house. 18 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.” 19 So they came near to Joseph’s house steward and spoke to him at the entrance of the house, 20 and they said, “Oh, my lord, we indeed came down the first time to buy food, 21 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. 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.” 23 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. 24 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. 25 So they prepared the present for Joseph’s coming at noon; for they had heard that they were to eat a meal there. 26 Then Joseph came home, and they brought into the house to him the present which was in their hand and bowed to the ground before him. 27 And he asked them about their well-being and said, “Is your old father well, of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?” 28 And they said, “Your servant our father is well; he is still alive.” They bowed down and prostrated themselves. 29 Then he lifted his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son. And he said, “Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me?” And he said, “May God be gracious to you, my son.” 30 And Joseph hurried out for he was deeply stirred with compassion over his brother, and he sought a place to weep; and he entered his chamber and wept there. 31 Then he washed his face and came out; and he restrained himself and said, “Set the meal.” 32 So 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 an abomination to the Egyptians. 33 And they were seated before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth, and the men looked at one another in astonishment. 34 And he took portions to them from his own table, but Benjamin’s portion was five times greater than any of theirs. So they feasted and drank freely with him.

The Brothers Fall Before Joseph

Then 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 as Joseph had told him. 3 As the morning light broke, the men were sent away, they with their donkeys. 4 Now they had just gone out of the 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 omens? You have done evil in doing this.’” 6 So he overtook them and spoke these words to them. 7 And 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, the 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 With whomever of your servants it is found, let him die, and we also will be my lord’s slaves.” 10 So 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.” 11 Then they hurried, each man brought his sack down to the ground, and each man opened his sack. 12 So he searched, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest, and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. 13 Then they tore their clothes, and each man loaded his donkey and returned to the city. 14 Then Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, and he was still there. So they fell to the ground before him. 15 And 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 omens?” 16 So 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 slaves, both we and the one in whose possession the cup has been found.” 17 But he said, “Far be it from me to do this. The man in whose possession the cup has been found, he shall be my slave; but as for you, go up in peace to your father.”

Judah Remains Instead of Benjamin

18 Then Judah came near to him and said, “O my lord, may your servant please speak a word in my lord’s ears, and do not be angry with your servant; for you are equal to Pharaoh. 19 My 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 a little child of his old age. Now his brother is dead, so he alone is left of his mother, and his father loves him.’ 21 Then you said to your servants, ‘Bring 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, his father would die.’ 23 You said to your servants, however, ‘If 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 And 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 my wife bore me two sons; 28 and the one went out from me, and I said, “Surely he is torn to pieces,” and I have not seen him since. 29 If you take this one also from me and harm befalls him, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in evil.’ 30 So now, when I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us—and his life is bound up in the boy’s life— 31 so it will be that when he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die. Thus your servants will bring the gray hair of your servant our father down to Sheol in sorrow. 32 For your servant became a guarantee for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then 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 overtake my father?”

Mark 4:1 - 5:20

The Parable of the Sower

And He began to teach again by the sea. And such a very large crowd gathered to Him that He got into a boat in the sea and sat down; and the whole crowd was by the sea on the land. 2 And He was teaching them many things in parables, and was saying to them in His teaching, 3 “Listen to this! Behold, the sower went out to sow; 4 and 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 crop. 8 And other seeds fell into the good soil, and as they grew up and increased, they were yielding a crop and produced thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” 9 And He was saying, “He who has ears to hear, let him hear.” 10 And when He was alone, His followers, along with the twelve, began asking Him about the parables. 11 And He was saying to them, “To you has been given the mystery of the kingdom of God, but to those who are outside, everything comes in parables, 12 so that while 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 And 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 Satan 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; 17 and they have no root in themselves, but are only temporary; then, when affliction or persecution arises because of the word, immediately they fall away. 18 And others are those being sown among the thorns; these are the ones who have heard the word, 19 but the worries of the world, and the deceitfulness 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 are bearing fruit, thirty, sixty, and a hundredfold.” 21 And He was saying to them, “Is a lamp brought to be put under a basket or under a bed? Is it not to be put on the lampstand? 22 For nothing is hidden, except to be revealed; nor has anything been secret, but that it would come to light. 23 If anyone has ears to hear, let him hear.” 24 And He was saying to them, “Beware what you listen to. By your standard of measure it will be measured to you, and more will be given to you. 25 For 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

26 And He was saying, “The kingdom of God is like a man who casts seed upon the soil; 27 and 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 is ripe, he immediately puts in the sickle, because the harvest has come.”

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

30 And He was saying, “How shall we compare 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 smallest of all the seeds that are upon the soil, 32 yet when it is sown, it grows up and becomes largest of all the garden plants and forms large branches; so that the birds of the air can nest under its shade.” 33 And with many such parables He was speaking the word to them, as they were able to hear it; 34 and He was not speaking to them without a parable; but He was explaining everything privately to His own disciples.

Jesus Calms a Storm

35 And on that day, when evening came, He *said to them, “Let us go over to the other side.” 36 And leaving the crowd, they *took Him along with them in the boat, just as He was; and other boats were with Him. 37 And a great windstorm *arose, and the waves were breaking into the boat so that the boat was already filling up. 38 And 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?” 39 And He woke up and rebuked the wind and said to the sea, “Silence! Be still.” And the wind died down and it became perfectly calm. 40 And He said to them, “Why are you so cowardly? Do you still have no faith?” 41 And they became very 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

Then they came to the other side of the sea, into the region of the Gerasenes. 2 And when He got out of the boat, immediately a man from the tombs with an unclean spirit met Him, 3 who had his dwelling among the tombs. And no one was able to bind him anymore, even with a chain; 4 because 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. 5 And constantly, night and day, among the tombs and in the mountains, he was crying out and gashing himself with stones. 6 And seeing Jesus from a distance, he ran up and bowed down before Him; 7 and crying out with a loud voice, he *said, “What do I have to do with You, Jesus, Son of the Most High God? I implore You by God, do not torment me!” 8 For He had been saying to him, “Come out of the man, you unclean spirit!” 9 And He was asking him, “What is your name?” And he *said to Him, “My name is Legion; for we are many.” 10 And he began pleading with Him earnestly not to send them out of the region. 11 Now there was a large herd of swine feeding nearby on the mountain. 12 And the demons pleaded with Him, saying, “Send us into the swine so that we may enter them.” 13 And 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. 14 And 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. 15 And they *came to Jesus and *observed the demon-possessed man sitting down, clothed and in his right mind, the very man who had the “legion”; and they became frightened. 16 And those who had seen it recounted to them how this had happened to the demon-possessed man, and all about the swine. 17 And they began to plead with Him to leave their region. 18 And as He was getting into the boat, the man who had been demon-possessed was pleading with Him that he might accompany Him. 19 And He did not let him, but He *said to him, “Go home to your people and report to them what great things the Lord has done for you, and how He had mercy on you.” 20 And he went away and began to preach in the Decapolis what great things Jesus had done for him; and everyone was marveling.

Psalm 23

Yahweh Is My Shepherd

A Psalm of David.

Yahweh is my shepherd,

I shall not want.

He makes me lie down in green pastures;

He leads me beside quiet waters.

He restores my soul;

He guides me in the paths of righteousness

For His name’s sake.

Even though I walk through the valley of the shadow of death,

I fear no evil, for You are with me;

Your rod and Your staff, they comfort me.

You prepare a table before me in the presence of my enemies;

You have anointed my head with oil;

My cup overflows.

Surely goodness and lovingkindness will pursue me all the days of my life,

And I will dwell in the house of Yahweh forever.