Genesis 42Genesis 43Matthew 13.1-23Genesis 42
1
Now Jacob, hearing that there was grain in Egypt, said to his sons, Why are you looking at one another?
2
And he said, I have had news that there is grain in Egypt: go down there and get grain for us, so that life and not death may be ours.
3
So Joseph's ten brothers went down to get grain from Egypt.
4
But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with them, for fear, as he said, that some evil might come to him.
5
And the sons of Israel came with all the others to get grain: for they were very short of food in the land of Canaan.
6
Now Joseph was ruler over all the land, and it was he who gave out the grain to all the people of the land and Joseph's brothers came before him and went down on their faces to the earth.
7
And when Joseph saw his brothers, it was clear to him who they were, but he made himself strange to them, and talking roughly to them, said, Where do you come from? And they said, From the land of Canaan, to get food.
8
Now though Joseph saw that these were his brothers, they had no idea who he was.
9
Then the memory of his dreams about them came back to Joseph, and he said to them, You have come secretly to see how poor the land is.
10
And they said to him, Not so, my lord: your servants have come with money to get food.
11
We are all one man's sons, we are true men we have not come with any secret purpose.
12
And he said to them, No, but you have come to see how poor the land is.
13
Then they said, We your servants are twelve brothers, sons of one man in the land of Canaan the youngest of us is now with our father, and one is dead.
14
And Joseph said, It is as I said you have come with some secret purpose
15
But in this way will you be put to the test: by the life of Pharaoh, you will not go away from this place till your youngest brother comes here.
16
Send one of your number to get your brother, and the rest of you will be kept in prison, so that your words may be tested to see if you are true if not, by the life of Pharaoh, your purpose is certainly secret.
17
So he put them in prison for three days.
18
And on the third day Joseph said to them, Do this, if you would keep your lives: for I am a god-fearing man:
19
If you are true men, let one of you be kept in prison, while you go and take grain for the needs of your families
20
And come back to me with your youngest brother, so that your words may be seen to be true, and you will not be put to death. This is what you are to do.
21
And they said to one another, Truly, we did wrong to our brother, for we saw his grief of mind, and we did not give ear to his prayers that is why this trouble has come on us.
22
And Reuben said to them, Did I not say to you, Do the child no wrong? but you gave no attention so now, punishment has come on us for his blood.
23
They were not conscious that the sense of their words was clear to Joseph, for he had been talking to them through one who had knowledge of their language.
24
And turning away from them, he was overcome with weeping then he went on talking to them again and took Simeon and put chains on him before their eyes.
25
Then Joseph gave orders for their bags to be made full of grain, and for every man's money to be put back into his bag, and for food to be given them for the journey: which was done.
26
Then they put the bags of grain on their asses and went away.
27
Now at their night's resting-place one of them, opening his bag to give his ass some food, saw his money in the mouth of the bag.
28
And he said to his brothers, My money has been given back: it is in my bag then their hearts became full of fear, and turning to one another they said, What is this which God has done to us?
29
So when they came to Jacob their father, in the land of Canaan, they gave him an account of all their experiences, saying,
30
The man who is the ruler of the country was rough with us and put us in prison, saying that we had come with a secret evil purpose.
31
And we said to him, We are true men, we have no evil designs
32
We are twelve brothers, sons of our father one is dead, and the youngest is now with our father in the land of Canaan.
33
And the ruler of the land said, In this way I may be certain that you are true men let one of you be kept here with me, while you go and take grain for the needs of your families
34
And come back to me with your youngest brother: then I will be certain that you are true men, and I will give your brother back to you and let you do trade in the land.
35
And when they took the grain out of their bags, it was seen that every man's parcel of money was in his bag and when they and their father saw the money, they were full of fear.
36
And Jacob their father said to them, You have taken my children from me: Joseph is gone and Simeon is gone, and now you would take Benjamin away all these things have come on me.
37
And Reuben said, Put my two sons to death if I do not come back to you with him let him be in my care and I will give him safely back to you.
38
And he said, I will not let my son go down with you for his brother is dead and he is all I have: if evil overtakes him on the journey, then through you will my grey head go down to the underworld in sorrow.
Genesis 43
1
Now the land was in bitter need of food.
2
And when the grain which they had got in Egypt was all used up, their father said to them, Go again and get us a little food.
3
And Judah said to him, The man said to us with an oath, You are not to come before me again without your brother.
4
If you will let our brother go with us, we will go down and get food:
5
But if you will not send him, we will not go down: for the man said to us, You are not to come before me if your brother is not with you.
6
And Israel said, Why were you so cruel to me as to say to him that you had a brother?
7
And they said, The man put a number of questions to us about ourselves and our family, saying, Is your father still living? have you another brother? And we had to give him answers how were we to have any idea that he would say, Come back with your brother?
8
Then Judah said to Israel, his father, Send the boy with me, and let us be up and going, so that we and you and our little ones may not come to destruction.
9
Put him into my care and make me responsible for him: if I do not give him safely back to you, let mine be the sin for ever.
10
Truly, if we had not let the time go by, we might have come back again by now.
11
Then their father Israel said to them, If it has to be so, then do this: take of the best fruits of the land in your vessels to give the man, perfumes and honey and spices and nuts:
12
And take twice as much money with you that is to say, take back the money which was put in your bags, for it may have been an error
13
And take your brother and go back to the man:
14
And may God, the Ruler of all, give you mercy before the man, so that he may give you back your other brother and Benjamin. If my children are to be taken from me there is no help for it.
15
So they took what their father said for the man, and twice as much money in their hands, and Benjamin, and went on their journey to Egypt, and came before Joseph.
16
And when Joseph saw Benjamin, he said to his chief servant, Take these men into my house, and make ready a meal, for they will take food with me in the middle of the day.
17
And the servant did as Joseph said, and took the men into Joseph's house.
18
Now the men were full of fear because they had been taken into Joseph's house and they said, It is because of the money which was put back in our bags the first time he is looking for something against us, so that he may come down on us and take us and our asses for his use.
19
So they went up to Joseph's chief servant at the door of the house,
20
And said, O my lord, we only came down the first time to get food
21
And when we came to our night's resting-place, on opening our bags we saw that every man's money was in the mouth of his bag, all our money in full weight: and we have it with us to give it back
22
As well as more money, with which to get food: we have no idea who put our money in our bags.
23
Then the servant said, Peace be with you: have no fear: your God, even the God of your father, has put wealth in your bags for you: I had your money. Then he let Simeon come out to them.
24
And the servant took them into Joseph's house, and gave them water for washing their feet and he gave their asses food.
25
And they got ready the things for Joseph before he came in the middle of the day: for word was given to them that they were to have a meal there.
26
And when Joseph came in, they gave him the things which they had for him, and went down to the earth before him.
27
And he said, How are you? is your father well, the old man of whom you were talking to me? is he still living?
28
And they said, Your servant, our father, is well, he is still living. And they went down on their faces before him.
29
Then, lifting up his eyes, he saw Benjamin, his brother, his mother's son, and he said, Is this your youngest brother of whom you gave me word? And he said, God be good to you, my son.
30
Then Joseph's heart went out to his brother, and he went quickly into his room, for he was overcome with weeping.
31
Then, after washing his face, he came out, and controlling his feelings said, Put food before us.
32
And they put a meal ready for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians who were with him by themselves because the Egyptians may not take food with the Hebrews, for that would make them unclean.
33
And they were all given their seats before him in order of birth, from the oldest to the youngest: so that they were looking at one another in wonder.
34
And Joseph sent food to them from his table, but he sent five times as much to Benjamin as to any of the others. And they took wine freely with him.
Matthew 13
1-23
1
On that day Jesus went out of the house and was seated by the seaside.
2
And great numbers of people came together to him, so that he got into a boat and the people took up their position by the sea.
3
And he gave them teaching in the form of a story, saying, A man went out to put seed in the earth
4
And while he did so, some seeds were dropped by the wayside, and the birds came and took them for food:
5
And some of the seed went among the stones, where it had not much earth, and straight away it came up because the earth was not deep:
6
And when the sun was high, it was burned and because it had no root it became dry and dead.
7
And some seeds went among thorns, and the thorns came up and they had no room for growth:
8
And some, falling on good earth, gave fruit, some a hundred, some sixty, some thirty times as much.
9
He who has ears, let him give ear.
10
And the disciples came and said to him, Why do you say things to them in the form of stories?
11
And he said to them in answer, To you is given the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given.
12
Because whoever has, to him will be given, and he will have more but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away.
13
For this reason I put things into the form of stories because they see without seeing, and give ear without hearing, and the sense is not clear to them.
14
And for them the words of Isaiah have come true, Though you give ear, you will not get knowledge and seeing, you will see, but the sense will not be clear to you:
15
For the heart of this people has become fat and their ears are slow in hearing and their eyes are shut for fear that they might see with their eyes and give hearing with their ears and become wise in their hearts and be turned again to me, so that I might make them well.
16
But a blessing be on your eyes, because they see and on your ears, because they are open.
17
For truly, I say to you that prophets and upright men had a desire to see the things which you see, and saw them not and to have knowledge of the words which have come to your ears, and they had it not.
18
Give ear, then, to the story of the man who put the seed in the earth.
19
When the word of the kingdom comes to anyone, and the sense of it is not clear to him, then the Evil One comes, and quickly takes away that which was put in his heart. He is the seed dropped by the wayside.
20
And that which went on the stones, this is he who, hearing the word, straight away takes it with joy
21
But having no root in himself, he goes on for a time and when trouble comes or pain, because of the word, he quickly becomes full of doubts.
22
And that which was dropped among the thorns, this is he who has the word and the cares of this life, and the deceits of wealth, put a stop to the growth of the word and it gives no fruit.
23
And the seed which was put in good earth, this is he who gives ear to the word, and gets the sense of it who gives fruit, some a hundred, some sixty, some thirty times as much.
