Joseph's Brothers Return to Egypt

43 Now the famine was ^(A)severe in the land. ² And when they had eaten the grain that they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go again, buy us a little food.” ³ But Judah said to him, “The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face unless your ^(B)brother is with you.’ ⁴ If you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. ⁵ But if you will not send him, we will not go down, for the man said to us, ‘You shall not see my face, unless your brother is with you.’” ⁶ Israel said, “Why did you treat me so badly as to tell the man that you had another brother?” ⁷ They replied, “The man questioned us carefully about ourselves and our kindred, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ What we told him was in answer to these questions. Could we in any way know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?” ⁸ And Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the boy with me, and we will arise and go, that we may ^(C)live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones. ⁹ I will be a pledge of his safety. From my hand you shall require him. ^(D)If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever. ¹⁰ If we had not delayed, we would now have returned twice.”

¹¹ Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: take some of the choice fruits of the land in your bags, and carry a present down to the man, a little ^(E)balm and a little honey, gum, myrrh, pistachio nuts, and almonds. ¹² Take double the money with you. Carry back with you the money ^(F)that was returned in the mouth of your sacks. Perhaps it was an oversight. ¹³ Take also your brother, and arise, go again to the man.

²⁷ As they were going down to the outskirts of the city, Samuel said to Saul, “Tell the servant to pass on before us, and when he has passed on, stop here yourself for a while, that I may make known to you the word of God.”

Saul Anointed King

10 ^(A)Then Samuel took a flask of oil and poured it on his head ^(B)and kissed him and said, “Has not the Lord anointed you to be prince^[a] over ^(C)his people Israel? And you shall reign over the people of the Lord and you will save them from the hand of their surrounding enemies. And this shall be the sign to you that the Lord has anointed you to be prince^[b] over his heritage. ² When you depart from me today, you will meet two men by ^(D)Rachel's tomb in the territory of Benjamin at Zelzah, and they will say to you, ^(E)‘The donkeys that you went to seek are found, and now ^(F)your father has ceased to care about the donkeys and is anxious about you, saying, “What shall I do about my son?”’ ³ Then you shall go on from there farther and come to the ^(G)oak of Tabor. Three men ^(H)going up ^(I)to God at Bethel will meet you there, one carrying three young goats, another carrying three loaves of bread, and another carrying a skin of wine. ⁴ And they will greet you and give you two loaves of bread, which you shall accept from their hand. ⁵ After that you shall come to ^(J)Gibeath-elohim,^{[c] (K)}where there is a garrison of the Philistines. And there, as soon as you come to the city, you will meet a group of prophets coming down ^(L)from the high place with harp, tambourine, flute, and lyre before them, prophesying. ^6 (M)Then the Spirit of the Lord will rush upon you, ^(N)and you will prophesy with them and be turned into another man. ⁷ Now when ^(O)these signs meet you, do what your hand finds to do, ^(P)for God is with you. ⁸ Then go down before me ^(Q)to Gilgal. And behold, I am coming down to you to offer burnt offerings and ^(R)to sacrifice peace offerings. ^(S)Seven days you shall wait, until I come to you and show you what you shall do.”

Prayer for Mercy

Save Me, O My God

A Psalm of David, ^(A)when he fled from Absalom his son.

Answer Me When I Call

To the ^(R)choirmaster: with ^(S)stringed instruments. A Psalm of David.

The Abomination of Desolation

¹⁵ “So when you see the abomination of desolation ^(A)spoken of by the prophet Daniel, standing in ^(B)the holy place (^(C)let the reader understand), ¹⁶ then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. ^17 (D)Let the one who is on ^(E)the housetop not go down to take what is in his house, ¹⁸ and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. ¹⁹ And ^(F)alas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! ²⁰ Pray that your flight may not be in winter or on a Sabbath. ²¹ For then there will be ^(G)great tribulation, ^(H)such as has not been from the beginning of the world until now, no, and never will be. ²² And if those days had not been cut short, no human being would be saved. But for ^(I)the sake of the elect those days will be cut short. ^23 (J)Then if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘There he is!’ do not believe it. ²⁴ For ^(K)false christs and ^(L)false prophets will arise and ^(M)perform great signs and wonders, ^(N)so as to lead astray, if possible, even the elect. ²⁵ See, ^(O)I have told you beforehand. ²⁶ So, if they say to you, ‘Look, ^(P)he is in the wilderness,’ do not go out. If they say, ‘Look, he is in the inner rooms,’ do not believe it. ^27 (Q)For as the lightning comes from the east and shines as far as the west, so will be ^(R)the coming of the Son of Man. ^28 (S)Wherever the corpse is, there the vultures will gather.

The Coming of the Son of Man

²⁹ “Immediately after ^(T)the tribulation of those days ^(U)the sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, and ^(V)the stars will fall from heaven, and the powers of the heavens will be shaken. ³⁰ Then ^(W)will appear in heaven ^(X)the sign of the Son of Man, and then ^(Y)all the tribes of the earth will mourn, and ^(Z)they will see the Son of Man coming on the clouds of heaven ^(AA)with power and great glory. ³¹ And ^(AB)he will send out his angels with a loud ^(AC)trumpet call, and they will ^(AD)gather ^(AE)his elect from ^(AF)the four winds, ^(AG)from one end of heaven to the other.

²⁴ And as he was saying these things in his defense, Festus said with a loud voice, “Paul, ^(A)you are out of your mind; your great learning is driving you out of your mind.” ²⁵ But Paul said, “I am not out of my mind, ^(B)most excellent Festus, but I am speaking ^(C)true and ^(D)rational words. ²⁶ For ^(E)the king knows about these things, and to him I speak boldly. For I am persuaded that none of these things has escaped his notice, for this has not been done in a corner. ²⁷ King Agrippa, do you believe the prophets? I know that you believe.” ²⁸ And Agrippa said to Paul, “In a short time would you persuade me to be ^(F)a Christian?”^{[a] 29} And Paul said, “Whether short or long, I would to God that not only you but also all who hear me this day ^(G)might become such as I am—except for ^(H)these chains.”

³⁰ Then the king rose, and ^(I)the governor and Bernice and those who were sitting with them. ³¹ And when they had withdrawn, they said to one another, ^(J)“This man is doing nothing to deserve death or imprisonment.” ³² And Agrippa said to Festus, ^(K)“This man could have been set ^(L)free if he had not appealed ^(M)to Caesar.”