Joseph Is Governor of Egypt

47 Then Joseph ^(A)went and told Pharaoh, and said, “My father and my brothers, their flocks and their herds and all that they possess, have come from the land of Canaan; and indeed they are in ^(B)the land of Goshen.” ² And he took five men from among his brothers and ^(C)presented them to Pharaoh. ³ Then Pharaoh said to his brothers, ^(D)“What is your occupation?”

And they said to Pharaoh, ^(E)“Your servants are shepherds, both we and also our fathers.” ⁴ And they said to Pharaoh, ^(F)“We have come to dwell in the land, because your servants have no pasture for their flocks, ^(G)for the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now therefore, please let your servants ^(H)dwell in the land of Goshen.”

⁵ Then Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, saying, “Your father and your brothers have come to you. ^6 (I)The land of Egypt is before you. Have your father and brothers dwell in the best of the land; let them dwell ^(J)in the land of Goshen. And if you know any competent men among them, then make them chief herdsmen over my livestock.”

⁷ Then Joseph brought in his father Jacob and set him before Pharaoh; and Jacob ^(K)blessed Pharaoh. ⁸ Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How old are you?”

⁹ And Jacob said to Pharaoh, ^(L)“The days of the years of my ^[a]pilgrimage are ^(M)one hundred and thirty years; ^(N)few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and ^(O)they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.” ¹⁰ So Jacob ^(P)blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh.

¹¹ And Joseph situated his father and his brothers, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of ^(Q)Rameses, ^(R)as Pharaoh had commanded. ¹² Then Joseph provided ^(S)his father, his brothers, and all his father’s household with bread, according to the number in their families.

Joseph Deals with the Famine

¹³ Now there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very severe, ^(T)so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine. ^14 (U)And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, for the grain which they bought; and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house.

¹⁵ So when the money failed in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us bread, for ^(V)why should we die in your presence? For the money has failed.”

¹⁶ Then Joseph said, “Give your livestock, and I will give you bread for your livestock, if the money is gone.” ¹⁷ So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the cattle of the herds, and for the donkeys. Thus he ^[b]fed them with bread in exchange for all their livestock that year.

¹⁸ When that year had ended, they came to him the next year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that our money is gone; my lord also has our herds of livestock. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our lands. ¹⁹ Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants of Pharaoh; give us seed, that we may ^(W)live and not die, that the land may not be desolate.”

²⁰ Then Joseph ^(X)bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for every man of the Egyptians sold his field, because the famine was severe upon them. So the land became Pharaoh’s. ²¹ And as for the people, he ^[c]moved them into the cities, from one end of the borders of Egypt to the other end. ^22 (Y)Only the land of the ^(Z)priests he did not buy; for the priests had rations allotted to them by Pharaoh, and they ate their rations which Pharaoh gave them; therefore they did not sell their lands.

²³ Then Joseph said to the people, “Indeed I have bought you and your land this day for Pharaoh. Look, here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land. ²⁴ And it shall come to pass in the harvest that you shall give one-fifth to Pharaoh. Four-fifths shall be your own, as seed for the field and for your food, for those of your households and as food for your little ones.”

²⁵ So they said, “You have saved ^(AA)our lives; let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.” ²⁶ And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt to this day, that Pharaoh should have one-fifth, ^(AB)except for the land of the priests only, which did not become Pharaoh’s.

Joseph’s Vow to Jacob

²⁷ So Israel ^(AC)dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions there and ^(AD)grew and multiplied exceedingly. ²⁸ And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the length of Jacob’s life was one hundred and forty-seven years. ²⁹ When the time ^(AE)drew near that Israel must die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “Now if I have found favor in your sight, please ^(AF)put your hand under my thigh, and ^(AG)deal kindly and truly with me. ^(AH)Please do not bury me in Egypt, ³⁰ but ^(AI)let me lie with my fathers; you shall carry me out of Egypt and ^(AJ)bury me in their burial place.”

And he said, “I will do as you have said.”

³¹ Then he said, “Swear to me.” And he swore to him. So ^(AK)Israel bowed himself on the head of the bed.

Jacob Blesses Joseph’s Sons^(AL)

48 Now it came to pass after these things that Joseph was told, “Indeed your father is sick”; and he took with him his two sons, ^(AM)Manasseh and Ephraim. ² And Jacob was told, “Look, your son Joseph is coming to you”; and Israel ^[d]strengthened himself and sat up on the bed. ³ Then Jacob said to Joseph: “God ^(AN)Almighty appeared to me at ^(AO)Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me, ⁴ and said to me, ‘Behold, I will ^(AP)make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make of you a multitude of people, and ^(AQ)give this land to your descendants after you ^(AR)as an everlasting possession.’ ⁵ And now your ^(AS)two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine. ⁶ Your ^[e]offspring ^[f]whom you beget after them shall be yours; they will be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance. ⁷ But as for me, when I came from Padan, ^(AT)Rachel died beside me in the land of Canaan on the way, when there was but a little distance to go to Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).”

⁸ Then Israel saw Joseph’s sons, and said, “Who are these?”

⁹ Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons, whom God has given me in this place.”

And he said, “Please bring them to me, and ^(AU)I will bless them.” ¹⁰ Now ^(AV)the eyes of Israel were dim with age, so that he could not see. Then Joseph brought them near him, and he ^(AW)kissed them and embraced them. ¹¹ And Israel said to Joseph, ^(AX)“I had not thought to see your face; but in fact, God has also shown me your offspring!”

¹² So Joseph brought them from beside his knees, and he bowed down with his face to the earth. ¹³ And Joseph took them both, Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them near him. ¹⁴ Then Israel stretched out his right hand and ^(AY)laid it on Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, ^(AZ)guiding his hands knowingly, for Manasseh was the ^(BA)firstborn. ¹⁵ And ^(BB)he blessed Joseph, and said:

¹⁷ Now when Joseph saw that his father ^(BG)laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him; so he took hold of his father’s hand to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. ¹⁸ And Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.”

¹⁹ But his father refused and said, ^(BH)“I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly ^(BI)his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.”

²⁰ So he blessed them that day, saying, ^(BJ)“By you Israel will bless, saying, ‘May God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh!’ ” And thus he set Ephraim before Manasseh.

²¹ Then Israel said to Joseph, “Behold, I am dying, but ^(BK)God will be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers. ²² Moreover ^(BL)I have given to you one ^[g]portion above your brothers, which I took from the hand ^(BM)of the Amorite with my sword and my bow.”

Justification by Faith^(A)

3 O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you ^[a]that you should not obey the truth, before whose eyes Jesus Christ was clearly portrayed ^[b]among you as crucified? ² This only I want to learn from you: Did you receive the Spirit by the works of the law, ^(B)or by the hearing of faith? ³ Are you so foolish? ^(C)Having begun in the Spirit, are you now being made perfect by ^(D)the flesh? ^4 (E)Have you suffered so ^[c]many things in vain—if indeed it was in vain?

⁵ Therefore He who supplies the Spirit to you and works miracles among you, does He do it by the works of the law, or by the hearing of faith?— ⁶ just as Abraham ^(F)“believed God, and it was accounted to him for righteousness.” ⁷ Therefore know that only ^(G)those who are of faith are sons of Abraham. ⁸ And ^(H)the Scripture, foreseeing that God would justify the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel to Abraham beforehand, saying, ^(I)“In you all the nations shall be blessed.” ⁹ So then those who are of faith are blessed with believing Abraham.

The Law Brings a Curse

¹⁰ For as many as are of the works of the law are under the curse; for it is written, ^(J)“Cursed is everyone who does not continue in all things which are written in the book of the law, to do them.” ¹¹ But that no one is ^[d]justified by the law in the sight of God is evident, for ^(K)“the just shall live by faith.” ¹² Yet ^(L)the law is not of faith, but ^(M)“the man who does them shall live by them.”

^13 (N)Christ has redeemed us from the curse of the law, having become a curse for us (for it is written, ^(O)“Cursed is everyone who hangs on a tree”), ^14 (P)that the blessing of Abraham might come upon the ^(Q)Gentiles in Christ Jesus, that we might receive ^(R)the promise of the Spirit through faith.

The Changeless Promise^(S)

¹⁵ Brethren, I speak in the manner of men: ^(T)Though it is only a man’s covenant, yet if it is confirmed, no one annuls or adds to it. ¹⁶ Now to Abraham and his Seed were the promises made. He does not say, “And to seeds,” as of many, but as of ^(U)one, ^(V)“And to your Seed,” who is ^(W)Christ. ¹⁷ And this I say, that the law, ^(X)which was four hundred and thirty years later, cannot annul the covenant that was confirmed before by God ^[e]in Christ, ^(Y)that it should make the promise of no effect. ¹⁸ For if ^(Z)the inheritance is of the law, ^(AA)it is no longer of promise; but God gave it to Abraham by promise.

Purpose of the Law

¹⁹ What purpose then does the law serve? ^(AB)It was added because of transgressions, till the ^(AC)Seed should come to whom the promise was made; and it was ^(AD)appointed through angels by the hand ^(AE)of a mediator. ²⁰ Now a mediator does not mediate for one only, ^(AF)but God is one.

²¹ Is the law then against the promises of God? Certainly not! For if there had been a law given which could have given life, truly righteousness would have been by the law. ²² But the Scripture has confined ^(AG)all under sin, ^(AH)that the promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given to those who believe. ²³ But before faith came, we were kept under guard by the law, ^[f]kept for the faith which would afterward be revealed. ²⁴ Therefore ^(AI)the law was our ^[g]tutor to bring us to Christ, ^(AJ)that we might be justified by faith. ²⁵ But after faith has come, we are no longer under a tutor.

Sons and Heirs

²⁶ For you ^(AK)are all sons of God through faith in Christ Jesus. ²⁷ For ^(AL)as many of you as were baptized into Christ ^(AM)have put on Christ. ^28 (AN)There is neither Jew nor Greek, ^(AO)there is neither slave nor free, there is neither male nor female; for you are all ^(AP)one in Christ Jesus. ²⁹ And ^(AQ)if you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s ^(AR)seed, and ^(AS)heirs according to the promise.

A Plea for Deliverance and Forgiveness

A Psalm of David.