One Year Pray for the Persecuted Bible - Flipbook - Page 82
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January 20
Pharaoh’s presence, he inspected the entire
land of Egypt.
47 As predicted, for seven years the land produced bumper crops. 48 During those years,
Joseph gathered all the crops grown in Egypt
and stored the grain from the surrounding
fields in the cities. 49 He piled up huge amounts
of grain like sand on the seashore. Finally, he
stopped keeping records because there was
too much to measure.
50 During this time, before the first of the
famine years, two sons were born to Joseph
and his wife, Asenath, the daughter of Potiph
era, 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 Joseph 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 everywhere, Joseph
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 Joseph’s ten older brothers went down
ouldn’t let
to Egypt to buy grain. 4 But Jacob w
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 Ca
naan as well.
6 Since Joseph 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.
“From the land of Canaan,” they replied.
“We have come to buy food.”
8 Although Joseph 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!” Joseph 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 Pharaoh 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 13:24‑46
Here is another story J esus 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 and
said, ‘Sir, the field where you planted that
good seed is full of weeds! Where did they
come from?’
28 “‘An enemy has done this!’ the farmer
exclaimed.
“‘Should we pull out the weeds?’ they asked.
29 “‘No,’ he replied, ‘you’ll uproot the wheat
if you do. 30 Let both grow together until the
harvest. Then I will tell the harvesters to sort
out the weeds, tie them into bundles, and burn
them, and to put the wheat in the barn.’”
