Joseph and the Famine

¹³ Now there was no food in all the land, for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished by reason of the famine. ^14 (A)And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, in exchange for the grain that they bought. And Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house. ¹⁵ And when the money was all spent in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us food. ^(B)Why should we die before your eyes? For our money is gone.” ¹⁶ And Joseph answered, “Give your livestock, and I will give you food in exchange for your livestock, if your money is gone.” ¹⁷ So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them food in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the herds, and the donkeys. He supplied them with food in exchange for all their livestock that year. ¹⁸ And when that year was ended, they came to him the following year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that our money is all spent. The herds of livestock are my lord's. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our land. ¹⁹ Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? ^(C)Buy us and our land for food, and we with our land will be servants to Pharaoh. And give us seed that we may live and not die, and that the land may not be desolate.”

²⁰ So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for all the Egyptians sold their fields, because the famine was severe on them. The land became Pharaoh's. ²¹ As for the people, he made servants of them^[a] from one end of Egypt to the other. ^22 (D)Only the land of the priests he did not buy, for the priests had a fixed allowance from Pharaoh and lived on the allowance that Pharaoh gave them; therefore they did not sell their land.

²³ Then Joseph said to the people, “Behold, I have this day bought you and your land for Pharaoh. Now here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land. ²⁴ And at the harvests you shall give a ^(E)fifth to Pharaoh, and four fifths shall be your own, as seed for the field and as food for yourselves and your households, and as food for your little ones.” ²⁵ And they said, “You have saved our lives; ^(F)may it please my lord, we will be servants to Pharaoh.” ²⁶ So Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt, and it stands to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth; ^(G)the land of the priests alone did not become Pharaoh's.

The Lord Rejects Saul

15 And Samuel said to Saul, ^(A)“The Lord sent me to anoint you king over his people Israel; now therefore listen to the words of the Lord. ² Thus says the Lord of hosts, ‘I have noted what Amalek did to Israel ^(B)in opposing them on the way when they came up out of Egypt. ³ Now go and strike Amalek and ^(C)devote to destruction^[a] all that they have. Do not spare them, ^(D)but kill both man and woman, child and infant, ox and sheep, camel and donkey.’”

⁴ So Saul summoned the people and numbered them in Telaim, two hundred thousand men on foot, and ten thousand men of Judah. ⁵ And Saul came to the city of Amalek and lay in wait in the valley. ⁶ Then Saul said to ^(E)the Kenites, “Go, depart; go down from among the Amalekites, lest I destroy you with them. ^(F)For you showed kindness to all the people of Israel when they came up out of Egypt.” So the Kenites departed from among the Amalekites. ^7 (G)And Saul defeated the Amalekites from ^(H)Havilah as far as ^(I)Shur, which is east of Egypt. ⁸ And he took Agag the king of the Amalekites alive ^(J)and devoted to destruction all the people with the edge of the sword. ^9 (K)But Saul and the people spared Agag and the best of the sheep and of the oxen and of the fattened calves^[b] and the lambs, and all that was good, and would not utterly destroy them. All that was despised and worthless they devoted to destruction.

The Lord Is in His Holy Temple

To the choirmaster. Of David.

Judas to Betray Jesus

^14 (A)Then one of the twelve, whose name was ^(B)Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests ¹⁵ and said, “What will you give me if I deliver him over to you?” And they ^(C)paid him ^(D)thirty pieces of silver. ¹⁶ And from that moment he sought an opportunity ^(E)to betray him.

The Passover with the Disciples

^17 (F)Now on ^(G)the first day of Unleavened Bread the disciples came to Jesus, saying, “Where will you have us prepare for you to eat the Passover?” ¹⁸ He said, “Go into the city to a certain man and say to him, ^(H)‘The Teacher says, ^(I)My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples.’” ¹⁹ And the disciples did as Jesus had directed them, and they prepared the Passover.

^20 (J)When it was evening, he reclined at table with the twelve.^{[a] 21} And as they were eating, ^(K)he said, “Truly, I say to you, one of you will betray me.” ²² And they were very sorrowful and began to say to him one after another, “Is it I, Lord?” ²³ He answered, ^(L)“He who has dipped his hand in the dish with me will betray me. ²⁴ The Son of Man goes ^(M)as it is written of him, but ^(N)woe to that man by whom the Son of Man is betrayed! ^(O)It would have been better for that man if he had not been born.” ²⁵ Judas, who would betray him, answered, “Is it I, ^(P)Rabbi?” He said to him, ^(Q)“You have said so.”

Hearing and Doing the Word

^19 (A)Know this, my beloved brothers: let every person ^(B)be quick to hear, ^(C)slow to speak, ^(D)slow to anger; ²⁰ for the anger of man does not produce the righteousness of God. ²¹ Therefore ^(E)put away all filthiness and rampant wickedness and receive with ^(F)meekness the implanted word, ^(G)which is able to save your souls.

²² But be ^(H)doers of the word, and not hearers only, deceiving yourselves. ²³ For if anyone is a hearer of the word and not a doer, he is like a man who looks intently at his natural face in a mirror. ²⁴ For he looks at himself and goes away and at once forgets what he was like. ²⁵ But the one who looks into the perfect law, ^(I)the law of liberty, and perseveres, being no hearer who forgets but a doer who acts, ^(J)he will be blessed in his doing.

²⁶ If anyone thinks he is religious ^(K)and does not bridle his tongue but deceives his heart, this person's ^(L)religion is worthless. ²⁷ Religion that is pure and undefiled before God the Father is this: ^(M)to visit ^(N)orphans and widows in their affliction, and ^(O)to keep oneself ^(P)unstained from the world.