One Year Pray for America Bible - Flipbook - Page 86
January 20
born to Joseph and his wife, Asenath,
the daughter of Potiphera, the priest
of On. 51 Joseph named his older son
Manasseh,* for he said, “God has
made me forget all my troubles and
everyone in my father’s family.” 52 Jo
seph named his second son Ephraim,*
for he said, “God has made me fruitful
in this land of my grief.”
53 At last the seven years of bumper
crops throughout the land of Egypt
came to an end. 54 Then the seven
years of famine began, just as Joseph
had predicted. The famine also struck
all the surrounding countries, but
throughout Egypt there was plenty of
food. 55 Eventually, however, the famine
spread throughout the land of Egypt as
well. And when the people cried out to
Pharaoh for food, he told them, “Go to
Joseph, and do whatever he tells you.”
56 So with severe famine every
where,
Jo
seph opened up the storehouses
and distributed grain to the Egyptians,
for the famine was severe throughout
the land of Egypt. 57 And people from
all around came to Egypt to buy grain
from Joseph because the famine was
severe throughout the world.
42:1 When Jacob heard that grain was
available in Egypt, he said to his sons,
“Why are you standing around looking at one another? 2 I have heard
there is grain in Egypt. Go down there,
and buy enough grain to keep us alive.
Otherwise we’ll die.”
3 So Jo
seph’s ten older brothers
went down to Egypt to buy grain. 4 But
Jacob wouldn’t let Joseph’s younger
brother, Benjamin, go with them, for
fear some harm might come to him.
5 So Jacob’s* sons arrived in Egypt
along with others to buy food, for the
famine was in Canaan as well.
6 Since Jo
seph was governor of all
Egypt and in charge of selling grain
to all the people, it was to him that his
brothers came. When they arrived, they
bowed before him with their faces to the
ground. 7 Joseph recognized his brothers instantly, but he pretended to be a
stranger and spoke harshly to them.
“Where are you from?” he demanded.
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“From the land of Canaan,” they
replied. “We have come to buy food.”
8 Although Jo
seph recognized his
brothers, they d
idn’t recognize him.
9 And he remembered the dreams he’d
had about them many years before. He
said to them, “You are spies! You have
come to see how vulnerable our land
has become.”
10 “No, my lord!” they exclaimed.
“Your servants have simply come
to buy food. 11 We are all brothers—
members of the same family. We are
honest men, sir! We are not spies!”
12 “Yes, you are!” Jo
seph insisted.
“You have come to see how vulnerable
our land has become.”
13 “Sir,” they said, “there are actually twelve of us. We, your servants,
are all brothers, sons of a man living
in the land of Canaan. Our youngest
brother is back there with our father
right now, and one of our brothers is
no longer with us.”
14 But Jo
seph insisted, “As I said,
you are spies! 15 This is how I will test
your story. I swear by the life of Pha
raoh that you will never leave Egypt
unless your youngest brother c omes
here! 16 One of you must go and get
your brother. I’ll keep the rest of you
here in prison. Then we’ll find out
whether or not your story is true. By
the life of Pharaoh, if it turns out that
you d
on’t have a younger brother, then
I’ll know you are spies.”
17 So Joseph put them all in prison
for three days.
41:45a Zaphenath-paneah probably means “God
speaks and lives.” 41:45b Greek version reads of
Heliopolis; also in 41:50. 41:51 Manasseh sounds
like a Hebrew term that means “causing to forget.”
41:52 Ephraim sounds like a Hebrew term that means
“fruitful.”
42:5 Hebrew Israel’s. See note on 35:21.
MATTHEW 13:2446
Here is another story Jesus told: “The
Kingdom of Heaven is like a farmer
who planted good seed in his field.
25 But that night as the workers slept,
his enemy came and planted weeds
among the wheat, then slipped away.
26 When the crop began to grow and
produce grain, the weeds also grew.
27 “The farmer’s workers went to him
