²⁹ When they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them, saying, ³⁰ “The man, the lord of the land, spoke harshly to us and charged us with spying on the land.^{(A) 31} But we said to him, ‘We are honest men; we are not spies.^{(B) 32} We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no more, and the youngest is now with our father in the land of Canaan.’ ³³ Then the man, the lord of the land, said to us, ‘By this I shall know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me, take grain for the famine of your households, and go your way.^{(C) 34} Bring your youngest brother to me, and I shall know that you are not spies but honest men. Then I will release your brother to you, and you may trade in the land.’ ”

³⁵ As they were emptying their sacks, there in each one’s sack was his bag of money. When they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were dismayed.^{(D) 36} And their father Jacob said to them, “I am the one you have bereaved of children: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and now you would take Benjamin. All this has happened to me!”^{(E) 37} Then Reuben said to his father, “You may kill my two sons if I do not bring him back to you. Put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you.” ³⁸ But he said, “My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he alone is left. If harm should come to him on the journey that you are to make, you would bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.”^(F)

Glorify God in Body and Spirit

¹² “All things are permitted for me,” but not all things are beneficial. “All things are permitted for me,” but I will not be dominated by anything. ¹³ “Food is meant for the stomach and the stomach for food,”^[a] and God will destroy both one and the other. The body is meant not for sexual immorality but for the Lord and the Lord for the body.^{(A) 14} And God raised the Lord and will also raise us by his power.^{(B) 15} Do you not know that your bodies are members of Christ? Should I therefore take the members of Christ and make them members of a prostitute? Never!^{(C) 16} Do you not know that whoever is united to a prostitute becomes one body with her? For it is said, “The two shall be one flesh.”^{(D) 17} But anyone united to the Lord becomes one spirit with him.^{(E) 18} Shun sexual immorality!^[b] Every sin that a person commits is outside the body, but the sexually immoral person^[c] sins against the body itself.^{(F) 19} Or do you not know that your body is a temple^[d] of the Holy Spirit within you, which you have from God, and that you are not your own?^{(G) 20} For you were bought with a price; therefore glorify God in your body.^(H)

A Lamp under a Bushel Basket

²¹ He said to them, “Is a lamp brought in to be put under the bushel basket or under the bed and not on the lampstand? ²² For there is nothing hidden, except to be disclosed; nor is anything secret, except to come to light.^{(A) 23} If you have ears to hear, then hear!”^{(B) 24} And he said to them, “Pay attention to what you hear; the measure you give will be the measure you get, and it will be added to you.^{(C) 25} For to those who have, more will be given, and from those who have nothing, even what they have will be taken away.”^(D)

The Parable of the Growing Seed

²⁶ He also said, “The kingdom of God is as if someone would scatter seed on the ground^{(E) 27} and would sleep and rise night and day, and the seed would sprout and grow, he does not know how. ²⁸ The earth produces of itself first the stalk, then the head, then the full grain in the head. ²⁹ But when the grain is ripe, at once he goes in with his sickle because the harvest has come.”^(F)

The Parable of the Mustard Seed

³⁰ He also said, “With what can we compare the kingdom of God, or what parable will we use for it?^{(G) 31} It is like a mustard seed, which, when sown upon the ground, is the smallest of all the seeds on earth, ³² yet when it is sown it grows up and becomes the greatest of all shrubs and puts forth large branches, so that the birds of the air can make nests in its shade.”

The Use of Parables

³³ With many such parables he spoke the word to them as they were able to hear it;^{(H) 34} he did not speak to them except in parables, but he explained everything in private to his disciples.^(I)