Joseph Deals Kindly with His Brothers

45 Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried, “Have everyone go out from me.” So there ^[a]was no man with him ^(A)when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. ^2 (B)He ^[b]wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard of it. ³ Then Joseph said to his brothers, “^(C)I am Joseph! ^(D)Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, for ^(E)they were dismayed at his presence.

⁴ Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come ^[c]closer to me.” And they came ^[d]closer. And he said, “I am your brother Joseph, whom you ^(F)sold into Egypt. ⁵ Now do not be grieved or angry ^[e]with yourselves, because ^(G)you sold me here, for ^(H)God sent me before you to preserve life. ⁶ For the famine has been in the land ^(I)these two years, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. ^7 (J)God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to keep you alive by a great ^[f]deliverance. ⁸ Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a ^(K)father to Pharaoh and lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt. ⁹ Hurry and go up to my father, and ^(L)say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, “God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay. ¹⁰ You shall ^[g]live in the land of ^(M)Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children and your flocks and your herds and all that you have. ¹¹ There I will also ^(N)provide for you, for there are still five years of famine to come, and you and your household and all that you have would be impoverished.”’ ¹² Behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is my mouth which is speaking to you. ¹³ Now you must tell my father of all my splendor in Egypt, and all that you have seen; and you must hurry and ^(O)bring my father down here.” ¹⁴ Then he fell on his brother Benjamin’s neck and ^(P)wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. ¹⁵ He kissed all his brothers and wept on them, and afterward his brothers talked with him.

¹⁶ Now when ^(Q)the ^[h]news was heard in Pharaoh’s house ^[i]that Joseph’s brothers had come, it ^[j]pleased Pharaoh and his servants. ¹⁷ Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this: load your beasts and ^[k]go to the land of Canaan, ¹⁸ and take your father and your households and come to me, and ^(R)I will give you the ^[l]best of the land of Egypt and you will eat the fat of the land.’ ¹⁹ Now you are ordered, ‘Do this: ^[m]take ^(S)wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring your father and come. ²⁰ Do not ^[n]concern yourselves with your goods, for the ^[o]best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’”

²¹ Then the sons of Israel did so; and Joseph gave them ^(T)wagons according to the ^[p]command of Pharaoh, and gave them provisions for the journey. ²² To ^[q]each of them he gave ^(U)changes of garments, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and ^(V)five changes of garments. ²³ To his father he sent ^[r]as follows: ten donkeys loaded with the ^[s]best things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and sustenance for his father ^[t]on the journey.

²⁴ So he sent his brothers away, and ^[u]as they departed, he said to them, “Do not ^[v]quarrel on the journey.” ²⁵ Then they went up from Egypt, and came to the land of Canaan to their father Jacob. ²⁶ They told him, saying, “Joseph is still alive, and indeed he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” But ^[w]he was stunned, for ^(W)he did not believe them. ²⁷ When they told him all the words of Joseph that he had spoken to them, and when he saw the ^(X)wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. ²⁸ Then Israel said, “It is enough; my son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”

Jesus before Pilate

15 ^(A)Early in the morning the chief priests with the elders and scribes and the whole ^[a](B)Council, immediately held a consultation; and binding Jesus, they led Him away and delivered Him to Pilate. ^2 (C)Pilate questioned Him, “Are You the King of the Jews?” And He *answered him, “It is as you say.” ³ The chief priests began to accuse Him ^[b]harshly. ⁴ Then Pilate questioned Him again, saying, “Do You not answer? See how many charges they bring against You!” ⁵ But Jesus ^(D)made no further answer; so Pilate was amazed.

^6 (E)Now at the feast he used to release for them any one prisoner whom they requested. ⁷ The man named Barabbas had been imprisoned with the insurrectionists who had committed murder in the insurrection. ⁸ The crowd went up and began asking him to do as he had been accustomed to do for them. ⁹ Pilate answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” ¹⁰ For he was aware that the chief priests had handed Him over because of envy. ¹¹ But the chief priests stirred up the crowd ^(F)to ask him to release Barabbas for them instead. ¹² Answering again, Pilate said to them, “Then what shall I do with Him whom you call the King of the Jews?” ¹³ They shouted ^[c]back, “Crucify Him!” ¹⁴ But Pilate said to them, “Why, what evil has He done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify Him!” ¹⁵ Wishing to satisfy the crowd, Pilate released Barabbas for them, and after having Jesus ^(G)scourged, he handed Him over to be crucified.

Jesus Is Mocked

^16 (H)The soldiers took Him away into ^(I)the ^[d]palace (that is, the Praetorium), and they *called together the whole Roman ^[e](J)cohort. ¹⁷ They *dressed Him up in purple, and after twisting a crown of thorns, they put it on Him; ¹⁸ and they began to acclaim Him, “Hail, King of the Jews!” ¹⁹ They kept beating His head with a ^[f]reed, and spitting on Him, and kneeling and bowing before Him. ²⁰ After they had mocked Him, they took the purple robe off Him and put His own garments on Him. And they *led Him out to crucify Him.

^21 (K)They *pressed into service a passer-by coming from the country, Simon of Cyrene (the father of Alexander and ^(L)Rufus), to bear His cross.

The Crucifixion

^22 (M)Then they *brought Him to the place ^(N)Golgotha, which is translated, Place of a Skull. ²³ They tried to give Him ^(O)wine mixed with myrrh; but He did not take it. ²⁴ And they *crucified Him, and *^(P)divided up His garments among themselves, casting ^[g]lots for them to decide ^[h]what each man should take. ²⁵ It was the ^[i](Q)third hour ^[j]when they crucified Him. ²⁶ The inscription of the charge against Him ^[k]read, “^(R)THE KING OF THE JEWS.”

²⁷ They *crucified two robbers with Him, one on His right and one on His left. ²⁸ [^[l]And the Scripture was fulfilled which says, “And He was numbered with transgressors.”] ²⁹ Those passing by were ^[m]hurling abuse at Him, ^(S)wagging their heads, and saying, “Ha! You who are going to ^(T)destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, ³⁰ save Yourself, and come down from the cross!” ³¹ In the same way the chief priests also, along with the scribes, were mocking Him among themselves and saying, “^(U)He saved others; ^[n]He cannot save Himself. ³² Let this Christ, ^(V)the King of Israel, now come down from the cross, so that we may see and believe!” ^(W)Those who were crucified with Him were also insulting Him.

^33 (X)When the ^[o](Y)sixth hour came, darkness ^[p]fell over the whole land until the ^[q](Z)ninth hour. ³⁴ At the ^(AA)ninth hour Jesus cried out with a loud voice, “^(AB)Eloi, Eloi, lama sabachthani?” which is translated, “My God, My God, why have You forsaken Me?” ³⁵ When some of the bystanders heard it, they began saying, “Behold, He is calling for Elijah.” ³⁶ Someone ran and filled a sponge with sour wine, put it on a reed, and gave Him a drink, saying, “^[r]Let us see whether Elijah will come to take Him down.” ^37 (AC)And Jesus uttered a loud cry, and breathed His last. ^38 (AD)And the veil of the temple was torn in two from top to bottom. ^39 (AE)When the centurion, who was standing ^[s]right in front of Him, saw ^[t]the way He breathed His last, he said, “Truly this man was ^[u]the Son of God!”

^40 (AF)There were also some women looking on from a distance, among whom were Mary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of ^[v]James ^(AG)the ^[w]Less and Joses, and ^(AH)Salome. ⁴¹ When He was in Galilee, they used to follow Him and ^[x](AI)minister to Him; and there were many other women who came up with Him to Jerusalem.

Jesus Is Buried

^42 (AJ)When evening had already come, because it was ^(AK)the preparation day, that is, the day before the Sabbath, ⁴³ Joseph of Arimathea came, a ^(AL)prominent member of the Council, who himself was ^(AM)waiting for the kingdom of God; and he ^(AN)gathered up courage and went in before Pilate, and asked for the body of Jesus. ⁴⁴ Pilate wondered if He was dead by this time, and summoning the centurion, he questioned him as to whether He was already dead. ⁴⁵ And ascertaining this from ^(AO)the centurion, he granted the body to Joseph. ⁴⁶ Joseph bought a linen cloth, took Him down, wrapped Him in the linen cloth and laid Him in a tomb which had been hewn out in the rock; and he rolled a stone against the entrance of the tomb. ^47 (AP)Mary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses were looking on to see where He was laid.