The One Year Chronological Study Bible - Flipbook - Page 61
page 57
END & NEW
BEGINNING
MISSIONS
42:5 Hebrew Israel’s. See note on 35:21.
CHURCH
SILENT
RETURN
CAPTIVITY
JANUARY 16
when he pleaded for his life, but we wouldn’t
listen. That’s why we’re in this trouble.”
22 “Didn’t I tell you not to sin against the boy?”
Reuben asked. “But you wouldn’t listen. And
now we have to answer for his blood!”
23 Of course, they didn’t know that Jo seph
understood them, for he had been speaking to
them through an interpreter. 24 Now he turned
away from them and began to weep. When
he regained his composure, he spoke to them
again. Then he chose Simeon from among
them and had him tied up right before their
eyes.
25 Joseph then ordered his servants to fill the
men’s sacks with grain, but he also gave secret
instructions to return each brother’s payment
at the top of his sack. He also gave them supplies for their journey home. 26 So the brothers
loaded their donkeys with the grain and headed
for home.
27 But when they stopped for the night and
one of them opened his sack to get grain for
his donkey, he found his money in the top of his
sack. 28 “Look!” he exclaimed to his brothers. “My
money has been returned; it’s here in my sack!”
Then their hearts sank. Trembling, they said to
each other, “What has God done to us?”
29 When the brothers came to their father,
Jacob, in the land of Canaan, they told him
everything that had happened to them. 30 “The
man who is governor of the land spoke very
harshly to us,” they told him. “He accused us
of being spies scouting the land. 31 But we said,
‘We are honest men, not spies. 32 We are twelve
brothers, sons of one father. One brother is no
longer with us, and the youngest is at home with
our father in the land of Canaan.’
33 “Then the man who is governor of the land
told us, ‘This is how I will find out if you are honest men. Leave one of your brothers here with
me, and take grain for your starving families
and go on home. 34 But you must bring your
youngest brother back to me. Then I will know
you are honest men and not spies. Then I will
give you back your brother, and you may trade
freely in the land.’”
35 As they emptied out their sacks, there in
each man’s sack was the bag of money he had
paid for the grain! The brothers and their father were terrified when they saw the bags of
money. 36 Jacob exclaimed, “You are robbing me
of my children! Joseph is gone! Simeon is gone!
GOSPEL
So Jacob’s* sons arrived in Egypt along with
others to buy food, for the famine was in Canaan 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 didn’t recognize him. 9And 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 Joseph 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 comes 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 don’t have a
younger brother, then I’ll know you are spies.”
17 So Joseph put them all in prison for three
days. 18 On the third day Joseph said to them,
“I am a God-fearing man. If you do as I say, you
will live. 19 If you really are honest men, choose
one of your brothers to remain in prison. The
rest of you may go home with grain for your
starving families. 20 But you must bring your
youngest brother back to me. This will prove
that you are telling the truth, and you will not
die.” To this they agreed.
21 Speaking among themselves, they said,
“Clearly we are being punished because of what
we did to Joseph long ago. We saw his anguish
5
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