One Year Bible Expressions - Flipbook - Page 66
J A N U A R Y
14“Go
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and see how your brothers and
the flocks are getting along,” Jacob said.
“Then come back and bring me a report.” So Jacob sent him on his way, and
Joseph traveled to Shechem from their
home in the valley of Hebron.
15 When he arrived there, a man from
the area noticed him wandering around
the countryside. “What are you looking
for?” he asked.
16“I’m looking for my brothers,” Joseph replied. “Do you know where they
are pasturing their sheep?”
17“Yes,” the man told him. “They have
moved on from here, but I heard them
say, ‘Let’s go on to Dothan.’ ” So Joseph
followed his brothers to Dothan and
found them there.
18When Joseph’s brothers saw him
coming, they recognized him in the distance. As he approached, they made
plans to kill him. 19“Here comes the
dreamer!” they said. 20“Come on, let’s
kill him and throw him into one of these
cisterns. We can tell our father, ‘A wild
animal has eaten him.’ Then we’ll see
what becomes of his dreams!”
21But when Reuben heard of their
scheme, he came to Joseph’s rescue.
“Let’s not kill him,” he said. 22“Why
should we shed any blood? Let’s just
throw him into this empty cistern here
in the wilderness. Then he’ll die without
our laying a hand on him.” Reuben was
secretly planning to rescue Joseph and
return him to his father.
23 So when Joseph arrived, his brothers ripped off the beautiful robe he was
wearing. 24Then they grabbed him and
threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it.
25 Then, just as they were sitting down
to eat, they looked up and saw a caravan
of camels in the distance coming toward them. It was a group of Ishmaelite
traders taking a load of gum, balm, and
aromatic resin from Gilead down to
Egypt.
26 Judah said to his brothers, “What
will we gain by killing our brother? We’d
have to cover up the crime.* 27 Instead
of hurting him, let’s sell him to those
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Ishmaelite traders. After all, he is our
brother—our own flesh and blood!”
And his brothers agreed. 28So when the
Ishmaelites, who were Midianite traders, came by, Joseph’s brothers pulled
him out of the cistern and sold him to
them for twenty pieces* of silver. And
the traders took him to Egypt.
29 Some time later, Reuben returned
to get Joseph out of the cistern. When
he discovered that Joseph was missing,
he tore his clothes in grief. 30Then he
went back to his brothers and lamented, “The boy is gone! What will I
do now?”
31Then the brothers killed a young
goat and dipped Joseph’s robe in its
blood. 32 They sent the beautiful robe to
their father with this message: “Look at
what we found. Doesn’t this robe belong
to your son?”
33 Their father recognized it immediately. “Yes,” he said, “it is my son’s robe.
A wild animal must have eaten him. Joseph has clearly been torn to pieces!”
34Then Jacob tore his clothes and dressed
himself in burlap. He mourned deeply
for his son for a long time. 35His family
all tried to comfort him, but he refused
to be comforted. “I will go to my grave*
mourning for my son,” he would say, and
then he would weep.
36Meanwhile, the Midianite traders*
arrived in Egypt, where they sold Joseph
to Potiphar, an officer of Pharaoh, the
king of Egypt. Potiphar was captain of
the palace guard.
38:1About this time, Judah left home and
moved to Adullam, where he stayed
with a man named Hirah. 2 There he saw
a Canaanite woman, the daughter of
Shua, and he married her. When he
slept with her, 3 she became pregnant
and gave birth to a son, and he named
the boy Er. 4Then she became pregnant
again and gave birth to another son, and
she named him Onan. 5And when she
gave birth to a third son, she named him
Shelah. At the time of Shelah’s birth,
they were living at Kezib.
6 In the course of time, Judah ar-
