Decision to Return to Egypt

43 Now the famine in the land was severe.^{(A) 2} When they had used up the grain they had brought back from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go back and buy us a little food.”

³ But Judah said to him, “The man specifically warned us, ‘You will not see me again unless your brother is with you.’ ⁴ If you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy food for you. ⁵ But if you will not send him, we will not go, for the man said to us, ‘You will not see me again unless your brother is with you.’”^(B)

⁶ “Why have you caused me so much trouble?” Israel asked. “Why did you tell the man that you had another brother?”

⁷ They answered, “The man kept asking about us and our family: ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ And we answered him accordingly. How could we know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother here’?”

⁸ Then Judah said to his father Israel, “Send the boy with me. We will be on our way so that we may live and not die—neither we, nor you, nor our dependents. ⁹ I will be responsible for him. You can hold me personally accountable!^[a] If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, I will be guilty before you forever.^{(C) 10} If we had not delayed, we could have come back twice by now.”

¹¹ Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Put some of the best products of the land in your packs and take them down to the man as a gift—a little balsam and a little honey, aromatic gum and resin, pistachios and almonds.^{(D) 12} Take twice as much silver with you. Return the silver that was returned to you in the top of your bags. Perhaps it was a mistake. ¹³ Take your brother also, and go back at once to the man. ¹⁴ May God Almighty cause the man to be merciful to you so that he will release your other brother and Benjamin to you. As for me, if I am deprived of my sons, then I am deprived.”^(E)

The Return to Egypt

¹⁵ The men took this gift, double the amount of silver, and Benjamin. They immediately went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph.

¹⁶ When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to his steward, “Take the men to my house. Slaughter an animal and prepare it, for they will eat with me at noon.” ¹⁷ The man did as Joseph had said and brought them to Joseph’s house.

¹⁸ But the men were afraid because they were taken to Joseph’s house. They said, “We have been brought here because of the silver that was returned in our bags the first time. They intend to overpower us, seize us, make us slaves, and take our donkeys.” ¹⁹ So they approached Joseph’s steward^[b] and spoke to him at the doorway of the house.

²⁰ They said, “My lord, we really did come down here the first time only to buy food. ²¹ When we came to the place where we lodged for the night and opened our bags of grain, each one’s silver was at the top of his bag!^(F) It was the full amount of our silver, and we have brought it back with us. ²² We have brought additional silver with us to buy food. We don’t know who put our silver in the bags.”

²³ Then the steward said, “May you be well. Don’t be afraid. Your God and the God of your father must have put treasure in your bags. I received your silver.” Then he brought Simeon out to them. ²⁴ The steward brought the men into Joseph’s house, gave them water to wash their feet,^(G) and got feed for their donkeys. ²⁵ Since the men had heard that they were going to eat a meal there, they prepared their gift for Joseph’s arrival at noon. ²⁶ When Joseph came home, they brought him the gift they had carried into the house, and they bowed to the ground before him.

²⁷ He asked if they were well, and he said, “How is your elderly father that you told me about? Is he still alive?”

²⁸ They answered, “Your servant our father is well. He is still alive.” And they knelt low and paid homage to him.

²⁹ When he looked up and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, he asked, “Is this your youngest brother that you told me about?” Then he said, “May God be gracious to you, my son.” ³⁰ Joseph hurried out because he was overcome with emotion for his brother, and he was about to weep. He went into an inner room and wept there. ³¹ Then he washed his face and came out. Regaining his composure,^(H) he said, “Serve the meal.”

³² They served him by himself, his brothers by themselves, and the Egyptians who were eating with him by themselves, because Egyptians could not eat with Hebrews, since that is detestable to them.^{(I) 33} They were seated before him in order by age, from the firstborn to the youngest. The men looked at each other in astonishment. ³⁴ Portions were served to them from Joseph’s table, and Benjamin’s portion was five times larger than any of theirs.^(J) They drank and became drunk with Joseph.

Joseph’s Final Test

44 Joseph commanded his steward, “Fill the men’s bags with as much food as they can carry, and put each one’s silver at the top of his bag.^{(K) 2} Put my cup, the silver one, at the top of the youngest one’s bag, along with the silver for his grain.” So he did as Joseph told him.

³ At morning light, the men were sent off with their donkeys. ⁴ They had not gone very far from the city when Joseph said to his steward, “Get up. Pursue the men, and when you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid evil for good? ⁵ Isn’t this the cup that my master drinks from and uses for divination?^(L) What you have done is wrong!’”

⁶ When he overtook them, he said these words to them. ⁷ They said to him, “Why does my lord say these things? Your servants could not possibly do such a thing. ⁸ We even brought back to you from the land of Canaan the silver we found at the top of our bags. How could we steal silver or gold from your master’s house? ⁹ If it is found with one of us, your servants, he must die, and the rest of us will become my lord’s slaves.”^(M)

¹⁰ The steward replied, “What you have said is right, but only the one who is found to have it will be my slave, and the rest of you will be blameless.”

¹¹ So each one quickly lowered his sack to the ground and opened it. ¹² The steward searched, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest, and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. ¹³ Then they tore their clothes,^(N) and each one loaded his donkey and returned to the city.

¹⁴ When Judah and his brothers reached Joseph’s house, he was still there. They fell to the ground before him.^{(O) 15} “What have you done?” Joseph said to them. “Didn’t you know that a man like me could uncover the truth by divination?”

¹⁶ “What can we say to my lord?” Judah replied. “How can we plead? How can we justify ourselves? God has exposed your servants’ iniquity. We are now my lord’s slaves—both we and the one in whose possession the cup was found.”

¹⁷ Then Joseph said, “I swear that I will not do this. The man in whose possession the cup was found will be my slave. The rest of you can go in peace to your father.”

Judah’s Plea for Benjamin

¹⁸ But Judah approached him and said, “My lord, please let your servant speak personally to my lord. Do not be angry with your servant, for you are like Pharaoh.^{(P) 19} My lord asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’ ²⁰ and we answered my lord, ‘We have an elderly father and a younger brother, the child of his old age.^(Q) The boy’s brother is dead. He is the only one of his mother’s sons left, and his father loves him.’ ²¹ Then you said to your servants, ‘Bring him to me so that I can see him.’^{(R) 22} But we said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father. If he were to leave, his father would die.’ ²³ Then you said to your servants, ‘If your younger brother does not come down with you, you will not see me again.’^(S)

²⁴ “This is what happened when we went back to your servant my father: We reported to him the words of my lord. ²⁵ But our father said, ‘Go again, and buy us a little food.’^{(T) 26} We told him, ‘We cannot go down unless our younger brother goes with us. If our younger brother isn’t with us, we cannot see the man.’ ²⁷ Your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons. ²⁸ One is gone from me—I said he must have been torn to pieces—and I have never seen him again.^{(U) 29} If you also take this one from me and anything happens to him, you will bring my gray hairs down to Sheol in sorrow.’^(V)

³⁰ “So if I come to your servant my father and the boy is not with us—his life is wrapped up with the boy’s life— ³¹ when he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die. Then your servants will have brought the gray hairs of your servant our father down to Sheol in sorrow. ³² Your servant became accountable to my father for the boy, saying, ‘If I do not return him to you, I will always bear the guilt for sinning against you, my father.’^{(W) 33} Now please let your servant remain here as my lord’s slave, in place of the boy. Let him go back with his brothers. ³⁴ For how can I go back to my father without the boy? I could not bear to see the grief that would overwhelm my father.”

The Parables of the Hidden Treasure and of the Priceless Pearl

⁴⁴ “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure, buried in a field, that a man found and reburied. Then in his joy he goes and sells everything he has and buys that field.^(A)

⁴⁵ “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls. ⁴⁶ When he found one priceless^[a] pearl, he went and sold everything he had and bought it.^(B)

The Parable of the Net

⁴⁷ “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a large net thrown into the sea. It collected every kind of fish,^{(C) 48} and when it was full, they dragged it ashore, sat down, and gathered the good fish into containers, but threw out the worthless ones. ⁴⁹ So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out, separate the evil people from the righteous,^{(D) 50} and throw them into the blazing furnace, where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.^(E)

The Storehouse of Truth

⁵¹ “Have you understood all these things?”^[b]

They answered him, “Yes.”

⁵² “Therefore,” he said to them, “every teacher of the law^[c] who has become a disciple in the kingdom of heaven is like the owner of a house who brings out of his storeroom treasures new and old.”^(F)

Rejection at Nazareth

⁵³ When Jesus had finished these parables, he left there. ⁵⁴ He went to his hometown^(G) and began to teach them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?^{(H) 55} Isn’t this the carpenter’s son?^(I) Isn’t his mother called Mary, and his brothers James,^(J) Joseph,^[d] Simon, and Judas?^{(K) 56} And his sisters, aren’t they all with us? So where does he get all these things?” ⁵⁷ And they were offended by him.

Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his household.”^{(L) 58} And he did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.

Psalm 13

A Plea for Deliverance

For the choir director. A psalm of David.