One Year Pray for the Persecuted Bible - Flipbook - Page 79
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and staff. He summoned* his chief cup-bearer
and chief baker to join the other officials. 21 He
then restored the chief cup-bearer to his former position, so he could again hand Pha
raoh his cup. 22 But Pharaoh impaled the chief
baker, just as Joseph had predicted when he
interpreted his dream. 23 Pharaoh’s chief cup-
bearer, however, forgot all about Joseph, never
giving him another thought.
41:1 Two full years later, Pharaoh dreamed that
he was standing on the bank of the Nile River.
his dream he saw seven fat, healthy cows
come up out of the river and begin grazing in
the marsh grass. 3 Then he saw seven more
cows come up behind them from the Nile,
but these were scrawny and thin. These cows
stood beside the fat cows on the riverbank.
4 Then the scrawny, thin cows ate the seven
healthy, fat cows! At this point in the dream,
Pharaoh woke up.
5 But he fell asleep again and had a second
dream. This time he saw seven heads of grain,
plump and beautiful, growing on a single
stalk. 6 Then seven more heads of grain appeared, but these were shriveled and withered by the east wind. 7 And these thin heads
swallowed up the seven plump, w
ell-formed
heads! Then Pharaoh woke up again and realized it was a dream.
8 The next morning Pharaoh was very disturbed by the dreams. So he called for all the
magicians and wise men of Egypt. When Pha
raoh told them his dreams, not one of them
could tell him what they meant.
9 Finally, the king’s chief cup-bearer spoke
up. “Today I have been reminded of my failure,” he told Pharaoh. 10 “Some time ago, you
were angry with the chief baker and me, and
you imprisoned us in the palace of the captain of the guard. 11 One night the chief baker
and I each had a dream, and each dream had
its own meaning. 12 There was a young Hebrew man with us in the prison who was a
slave of the captain of the guard. We told him
our dreams, and he told us what each of our
dreams meant. 13 And everything happened
just as he had predicted. I was restored to my
position as c up-bearer, and the chief baker
was executed and impaled on a pole.”
14 Pharaoh sent for Joseph at once, and he
was quickly brought from the prison. After
he shaved and changed his clothes, he went
in and stood before Pharaoh. 15 Then Pharaoh
said to Joseph, “I had a dream last night, and
no one here can tell me what it means. But I
have heard that when you hear about a dream
you can interpret it.”
2 In
January 19
16 “It is beyond my power to do this,” Joseph
replied. “But God can tell you what it means
and set you at ease.”
40:20 Hebrew He lifted up the head of.
MATTHEW 12:46–13:23
As Jesus was speaking to the crowd, his
mother and brothers stood outside, asking
to speak to him. 47 Someone told J esus, “Your
mother and your brothers are standing outside, and they want to speak to you.”*
48 Jesus asked, “Who is my mother? Who are
my brothers?” 49 Then he pointed to his dis
ciples and said, “Look, these are my mother
and brothers. 50 Anyone who does the will of
my Father in heaven is my brother and sister
and mother!”
13:1 Later that same day Jesus left the house and
sat beside the lake. 2 A large crowd soon gathered around him, so he got into a boat. Then
he sat there and taught as the people stood on
the shore. 3 He told many stories in the form of
parables, such as this one:
“Listen! A farmer went out to plant some
seeds. 4 As he scattered them across his field,
some seeds fell on a footpath, and the birds
came and ate them. 5 Other seeds fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seeds
sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow.
6 But the plants soon wilted under the hot sun,
and since they didn’t have deep roots, they
died. 7 Other seeds fell among thorns that grew
up and choked out the tender plants. 8 Still
other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a
hundred times as much as had been planted!
9 Anyone with ears to hear should listen and
understand.”
10 His disciples came and asked him, “Why
do you use parables when you talk to the
people?”
11 He replied, “You are permitted to understand the secrets* of the Kingdom of Heaven,
but others are not. 12 To those who listen to my
teaching, more understanding will be given,
and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening,
even what little understanding they have will
be taken away from them. 13 That is why I use
these parables,
For they look, but they don’t really see.
They hear, but they don’t really listen or
understand.
14 This fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah that says,
‘When you hear what I say,
you will not understand.
