One Year Pray for the Persecuted Bible - Flipbook - Page 92
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January 23
and goats, herds of cattle, and donkeys, Joseph
provided them with food for another year.
18 But that year ended, and the next year
they came again and said, “We cannot hide the
truth from you, my lord. Our money is gone,
and all our livestock and cattle are yours. We
have nothing left to give but our bodies and
our land. 19 Why should we die before your
very eyes? Buy us and our land in exchange for
food; we offer our land and ourselves as slaves
for Pharaoh. Just give us grain so we may live
and not die, and so the land does not become
empty and desolate.”
20 So Jo
seph bought all the land of Egypt
for Pharaoh. All the Egyptians sold him their
fields because the famine was so severe, and
soon all the land belonged to Pharaoh. 21 As
for the people, he made them all slaves,* from
one end of Egypt to the other. 22 The only land
he did not buy was the land belonging to the
priests. They received an allotment of food
directly from Pharaoh, so they d
idn’t need to
sell their land.
23 Then Jo
seph said to the people, “Look,
today I have bought you and your land for
Pharaoh. I will provide you with seed so you
can plant the fields. 24 Then when you harvest
it, o
ne-fifth of your crop will belong to Pha
raoh. You may keep the remaining four-fifths
as seed for your fields and as food for you,
your households, and your little ones.”
25 “You have saved our lives!” they exclaimed. “May it please you, my lord, to let us
be Pharaoh’s servants.” 26 Joseph then issued a
decree still in effect in the land of Egypt, that
Pharaoh should receive one-fifth of all the
crops grown on his land. Only the land belonging to the priests was not given to Pharaoh.
27 Meanwhile, the people of Is
rael settled
in the region of Goshen in Egypt. There they
acquired property, and they were fruitful, and
their population grew rapidly. 28 Jacob lived
for seventeen years after his arrival in Egypt,
so he lived 147 years in all.
29 As the time of his death drew near, Jacob*
called for his son Joseph and said to him,
“Please do me this favor. Put your hand under
my thigh and swear that you will treat me with
unfailing love by honoring this last request:
Do not bury me in Egypt. 30 When I die, please
take my body out of Egypt and bury me with
my ancestors.”
So Joseph promised, “I will do as you ask.”
31 “Swear that you will do it,” Jacob insisted.
So Joseph gave his oath, and Jacob bowed
humbly at the head of his bed.*
46:1 Hebrew Israel; also in 46:29, 30. See note on 35:21.
46:3 Hebrew I am El.
46:13a As in Syriac version and Samaritan
46:13b As
Pentateuch (see also 1 Chr 7:1); Hebrew reads Puvah.
in some Greek manuscripts and Samaritan Pentateuch (see
also Num 26:24; 1 Chr 7:1); Hebrew reads Iob.
46:16 As in
Greek version and Samaritan Pentateuch (see also Num 26:15);
Hebrew reads Ziphion.
46:20 Greek version reads of Heliopolis.
46:27a Greek version reads nine sons, probably including J oseph’s
grandsons through Ephraim and Manasseh (see 1 Chr 7:14‑20).
46:27b Greek version reads seventy-five; see note on Exod 1:5.
47:21 As in Greek version and Samaritan Pentateuch; Hebrew
reads he moved them all into the towns.
47:29 Hebrew Israel;
also in 47:31b. See note on 35:21. 47:31 Greek version reads
and Israel bowed in worship as he leaned on his staff. Compare
Heb 11:21.
MATTHEW 15:1‑28
Some Pharisees and teachers of religious law
now arrived from Jerusalem to see J esus. They
asked him, 2 “Why do your disciples disobey
our age-old tradition? For they ignore our
tradition of ceremonial hand washing before
they eat.”
3 Jesus replied, “And why do you, by your
traditions, violate the direct commandments
of God? 4 For instance, God says, ‘Honor your
father and mother,’* and ‘Anyone who speaks
disrespectfully of father or mother must be
put to death.’* 5 But you say it is all right for
people to say to their parents, ‘Sorry, I can’t
help you. For I have vowed to give to God what
I would have given to you.’ 6 In this way, you
say they don’t need to honor their parents.*
And so you cancel the word of God for the
sake of your own tradition. 7 You hypocrites!
Isaiah was right when he prophesied about
you, for he wrote,
8
9
‘These people honor me with their lips,
but their hearts are far from me.
Their worship is a farce,
for they teach man-made ideas as
commands from God.’*”
10 Then
J esus called to the crowd to come
and hear. “Listen,” he said, “and try to understand. 11 It’s not what goes into your mouth
that defiles you; you are defiled by the words
that come out of your mouth.”
12 Then the disciples came to him and asked,
“Do you realize you offended the Pharis ees by
what you just said?”
13 Jesus replied, “Every plant not planted by
my heavenly Father will be uprooted, 14 so ignore them. They are blind guides leading the
blind, and if one blind person guides another,
they will both fall into a ditch.”
15 Then Peter said to Jesus, “Explain to us the
parable that says people aren’t defiled by what
they eat.”
16 “Don’t you understand yet?” Jesus asked.
17 “Anything you eat passes through the stomach and then goes into the sewer. 18 But the
words you speak come from the heart—that’s
