One Year Bible Expressions - Flipbook - Page 82
J A N U A R Y
2 2
say just one word to you. Please, do not
be angry with me, even though you are
as powerful as Pharaoh himself.
19“My lord, previously you asked us,
your servants, ‘Do you have a father or a
brother?’ 20And we responded, ‘Yes, my
lord, we have a father who is an old man,
and his youngest son is a child of his old
age. His full brother is dead, and he
alone is left of his mother’s children,
and his father loves him very much.’
21“And you said to us, ‘Bring him here
so I can see him with my own eyes.’
22But we said to you, ‘My lord, the boy
cannot leave his father, for his father
would die.’ 23But you told us, ‘Unless
your youngest brother comes with you,
you will never see my face again.’
24“So we returned to your servant, our
father, and told him what you had said.
25Later, when he said, ‘Go back again
and buy us more food,’ 26 we replied, ‘We
can’t go unless you let our youngest
brother go with us. We’ll never get to see
the man’s face unless our youngest
brother is with us.’
27“Then my father said to us, ‘As you
know, my wife had two sons, 28 and one
of them went away and never returned.
Doubtless he was torn to pieces by some
wild animal. I have never seen him
since. 29Now if you take his brother
away from me, and any harm comes to
him, you will send this grieving, whitehaired man to his grave.*’
30“And now, my lord, I cannot go back
to my father without the boy. Our father’s life is bound up in the boy’s life.
31If he sees that the boy is not with us,
our father will die. We, your servants,
will indeed be responsible for sending
that grieving, white-haired man to his
grave. 32My lord, I guaranteed to my father that I would take care of the boy. I
told him, ‘If I don’t bring him back to
you, I will bear the blame forever.’
33“So please, my lord, let me stay here
as a slave instead of the boy, and let the
boy return with his brothers. 34For how
can I return to my father if the boy is not
with me? I couldn’t bear to see the anguish this would cause my father!”
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45:1 Joseph
could stand it no longer.
There were many people in the room,
and he said to his attendants, “Out, all of
you!” So he was alone with his brothers
when he told them who he was. 2 Then
he broke down and wept. He wept so
loudly the Egyptians could hear him,
and word of it quickly carried to Pharaoh’s palace.
3“I am Joseph!” he said to his brothers.
“Is my father still alive?” But his brothers were speechless! They were stunned
to realize that Joseph was standing
there in front of them. 4“Please, come
closer,” he said to them. So they came
closer. And he said again, “I am Joseph,
your brother, whom you sold into slavery in Egypt. 5But don’t be upset, and
don’t be angry with yourselves for selling me to this place. It was God who sent
me here ahead of you to preserve your
lives. 6This famine that has ravaged the
land for two years will last five more
years, and there will be neither plowing
nor harvesting. 7 God has sent me ahead
of you to keep you and your families
alive and to preserve many survivors.*
8So it was God who sent me here, not
you! And he is the one who made me an
adviser* to Pharaoh—the manager of
his entire palace and the governor of all
Egypt.
9“Now hurry back to my father and
tell him, ‘This is what your son Joseph
says: God has made me master over all
the land of Egypt. So come down to me
immediately! 10You can live in the region of Goshen, where you can be near
me with all your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and
everything you own. 11I will take care of
you there, for there are still five years of
famine ahead of us. Otherwise you, your
household, and all your animals will
starve.’”
12 Then Joseph added, “Look! You can
see for yourselves, and so can my brother
Benjamin, that I really am Joseph! 13Go
tell my father of my honored position
here in Egypt. Describe for him everything you have seen, and then bring my
father here quickly.” 14Weeping with
