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.”

A Plea for Deliverance and Forgiveness

A Psalm of David.

Healing on the Sabbath^(A)

3 And ^(B)He entered the synagogue again, and a man was there who had a withered hand. ² So they ^(C)watched Him closely, whether He would ^(D)heal him on the Sabbath, so that they might ^[a]accuse Him. ³ And He said to the man who had the withered hand, ^[b]“Step forward.” ⁴ Then He said to them, “Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do evil, to save life or to kill?” But they kept silent. ⁵ And when He had looked around at them with anger, being grieved by the ^(E)hardness of their hearts, He said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” And he stretched it out, and his hand was restored ^[c]as whole as the other. ^6 (F)Then the Pharisees went out and immediately plotted with ^(G)the Herodians against Him, how they might destroy Him.

A Great Multitude Follows Jesus^(H)

⁷ But Jesus withdrew with His disciples to the sea. And a great multitude from Galilee followed Him, ^(I)and from Judea ⁸ and Jerusalem and Idumea and beyond the Jordan; and those from Tyre and Sidon, a great multitude, when they heard how ^(J)many things He was doing, came to Him. ⁹ So He told His disciples that a small boat should be kept ready for Him because of the multitude, lest they should crush Him. ¹⁰ For He healed ^(K)many, so that as many as had afflictions pressed about Him to ^(L)touch Him. ^11 (M)And the unclean spirits, whenever they saw Him, fell down before Him and cried out, saying, ^(N)“You are the Son of God.” ¹² But ^(O)He sternly warned them that they should not make Him known.

The Twelve Apostles^(P)

^13 (Q)And He went up on the mountain and called to Him those He Himself wanted. And they came to Him. ¹⁴ Then He appointed twelve, ^[d]that they might be with Him and that He might send them out to preach, ¹⁵ and to have ^[e]power ^[f]to heal sicknesses and to cast out demons: ^16 [g]Simon, ^(R)to whom He gave the name Peter; ¹⁷ James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, to whom He gave the name Boanerges, that is, “Sons of Thunder”; ¹⁸ Andrew, Philip, Bartholomew, Matthew, Thomas, James the son of Alphaeus, Thaddaeus, Simon the Cananite; ¹⁹ and Judas Iscariot, who also betrayed Him. And they went into a house.

A House Divided Cannot Stand^(S)

²⁰ Then the multitude came together again, ^(T)so that they could not so much as eat bread. ²¹ But when His ^(U)own people heard about this, they went out to lay hold of Him, ^(V)for they said, “He is out of His mind.”

²² And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem said, ^(W)“He has Beelzebub,” and, “By the ^(X)ruler of the demons He casts out demons.”

^23 (Y)So He called them to Himself and said to them in parables: “How can Satan cast out Satan? ²⁴ If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. ²⁵ And if a house is divided against itself, that house cannot stand. ²⁶ And if Satan has risen up against himself, and is divided, he cannot stand, but has an end. ^27 (Z)No one can enter a strong man’s house and plunder his goods, unless he first binds the strong man. And then he will plunder his house.

The Unpardonable Sin^(AA)

^28 (AB)“Assuredly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the sons of men, and whatever blasphemies they may utter; ²⁹ but he who blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is subject to eternal condemnation”— ³⁰ because they ^(AC)said, “He has an unclean spirit.”

Jesus’ Mother and Brothers Send for Him^(AD)

^31 (AE)Then His brothers and His mother came, and standing outside they sent to Him, calling Him. ³² And a multitude was sitting around Him; and they said to Him, “Look, Your mother and Your brothers ^[h]are outside seeking You.”

³³ But He answered them, saying, “Who is My mother, or My brothers?” ³⁴ And He looked around in a circle at those who sat about Him, and said, “Here are My mother and My brothers! ³⁵ For whoever does the ^(AF)will of God is My brother and My sister and mother.”