The Daily Audio Bible

¹⁷ Pharaoh spoke to Joseph: “In my dream, there I was, standing on the bank of the river. ¹⁸ Suddenly seven fat, beautiful cows came up out of the river and were grazing in the marsh grass. ¹⁹ Just then seven poor cattle, very ugly and thin, came up after them. They were uglier than any I had ever seen in the whole land of Egypt. ²⁰ The thin, ugly cattle ate up the first seven cattle, the fat ones, ²¹ and when they had eaten them up, you could not even tell that they had eaten them, because they were still as ugly as they were at the beginning. Then I woke up.

²² “Later I had another dream, in which I saw seven heads of grain grow on one stalk. They were full and good. ²³ Then I saw seven heads of grain spring up after them. They were withered, thin, and blasted by the east wind. ²⁴ The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven good heads of grain. I told the dream to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me.”

²⁵ Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dream of Pharaoh is one. God has declared to Pharaoh what he is about to do. ²⁶ The seven good cattle are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years. It is one dream. ²⁷ The seven thin, ugly cattle that came up after them are seven years, and also the seven empty heads of grain blasted by the east wind. They will be seven years of famine. ²⁸ This is the very thing that I told Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do. ²⁹ Look, seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the whole land of Egypt. ³⁰ Seven years of famine will come up after them, and all the abundance in the land of Egypt will be forgotten. The famine will consume the land, ³¹ and the abundance will not be remembered in the land because of the famine that follows, for it will be very severe. ³² The double dream was shown to Pharaoh, because this matter is established by God, and God will bring it to pass very soon.”

Joseph Comes to Power

³³ “Let Pharaoh, therefore, look for a man who is wise and discerning, and set him over the land of Egypt. ³⁴ When Pharaoh does this, let him appoint overseers over the land to collect one fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven years of abundance. ³⁵ Let them collect all this food from these good years that are coming. Accumulate grain under the authority of Pharaoh to provide food for the cities, and let them store it. ³⁶ The food will be a reserve for the land against the seven years of famine that will take place in the land of Egypt so that the land does not perish because of the famine.”

³⁷ The plan seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his officials. ³⁸ Pharaoh said to his officials, “Can we find anyone else like this man, a man who has the spirit of God?”

³⁹ Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Because God has shown you all of this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you are. ⁴⁰ You shall be in charge of my house, and all my people will submit to your word. Only in regard to the throne will I be greater than you.” ⁴¹ Pharaoh also said to Joseph, “Look, I have appointed you over the whole land of Egypt.”

⁴² Pharaoh took his signet ring off of his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand. He dressed Joseph in robes made from the best linen and put a gold chain around his neck. ⁴³ He had him ride in the second best chariot that he had. Men went ahead of him crying out, “Kneel down!”^[a] Pharaoh appointed him over the whole land of Egypt. ⁴⁴ Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, but in the whole land of Egypt no one will lift up his hand or his foot without your permission.” ⁴⁵ Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath Paneah, and he gave him Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, as a wife. Joseph went out and began to rule over the land of Egypt.

⁴⁶ Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and traveled throughout the whole land of Egypt. ⁴⁷ During the seven years of abundance the earth produced plentiful harvests. ⁴⁸ He collected all the food during the seven good years in the land of Egypt, and he stored up the food in the cities. In every city he stored the food from the fields that were around the city. ⁴⁹ Joseph stored up a huge amount of grain, like the sand of the sea. Finally he stopped keeping track, because it was too much to measure.

⁵⁰ Two sons were born to Joseph before the first year of famine arrived. Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, gave birth to them. ⁵¹ Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, because he said, “God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s house.”^{[b] 52} He named the second son Ephraim. He said, “Yes, God has made me fruitful in the land where I was afflicted.”^[c]

⁵³ So the seven years of abundance in the land of Egypt came to an end. ⁵⁴ The seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in every land, but in the whole land of Egypt there was bread. ⁵⁵ When the whole land of Egypt was starving, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread, and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph. Do whatever he tells you.” ⁵⁶ The famine spread over the face of the whole earth. Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians. The famine was severe in the land of Egypt. ⁵⁷ The whole world came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain, because the famine was severe all over the whole world.

Joseph and His Brothers

42 When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why are you standing here looking at each other?” ² He also said, “Listen, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us there, so that we may live and not die.” ³ So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. ⁴ But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin along with his other brothers, because he said, “Something bad might happen to him.”

⁵ The sons of Israel were among those who came to buy grain because of the famine in the land of Canaan. ⁶ Joseph was the governor over the land. He was the one who sold grain to all the people of the land. Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down to him with their faces to the ground. ⁷ Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he acted like a stranger toward them and spoke harshly to them. He asked them, “Where did you come from?”

They said, “From the land of Canaan to buy food.”

⁸ Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. ⁹ Joseph remembered the dreams that he had dreamed about them and said to them, “You are spies! You have come to see where the land is exposed.”

¹⁰ They said to him, “No, my lord, your servants have come to buy food. ¹¹ We are all one man’s sons. We are honest men. Your servants are not spies.”

¹² He said to them, “No, you have come to see where the land is exposed!”

¹³ They said, “We, your servants, are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. Listen, at the present time the youngest remains with our father, and one is no more.”

¹⁴ Joseph said to them, “It is just as I said. You are spies! ¹⁵ This is how you will be tested: By the life of Pharaoh, you shall never get out of here, unless your youngest brother comes here. ¹⁶ Send one of you to get your brother. The rest of you will be kept under arrest, so that your words may be tested, whether you are telling the truth. Otherwise, by the life of Pharaoh, you are spies.” ¹⁷ He kept them all together, confined in the jail for three days.

The Parable of the Weeds

²⁴ He presented another parable to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. ²⁵ But while people were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds among the wheat and went away. ²⁶ When the plants sprouted and produced heads of grain, the weeds also appeared. ²⁷ The servants of the owner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? Where did the weeds come from?’ ²⁸ He said to them, ‘An enemy did this.’ The servants asked him, ‘Do you want us to go and gather up the weeds?’ ²⁹ ‘No,’ he answered, ‘because when you gather up the weeds, you might pull up the wheat along with them. ³⁰ Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, “First, gather up the weeds, bind them in bundles, and burn them. Then, gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

Mustard Seed and Yeast

³¹ He presented another parable to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed, which a man took and planted in his field. ³² It is one of the smallest of seeds. But when it grows, it is larger than the other plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and nest in its branches.”

³³ He spoke another parable to them: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast, which a woman took and mixed into a bushel^[a] of flour until the whole batch was leavened.”

³⁴ Jesus spoke all these things in parables to the crowds. He did not speak to them without telling a parable. ³⁵ This was to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:

Jesus Explains the Parable of the Weeds

³⁶ Then Jesus sent the people away and went into the house. His disciples came to him and said, “Explain to us the parable of the weeds in the field.”

³⁷ He answered them, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. ³⁸ The field is the world. The good seeds are the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the Evil One. ³⁹ The enemy who sowed them is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the world. The reapers are angels. ⁴⁰ Therefore, just as the weeds are gathered up and burned with fire, so it will be at the end of the world. ⁴¹ The Son of Man will send out his angels, and they will pull out of his kingdom everything that causes sin^[c] and those who continue to break the law. ⁴² The angels will throw them into the fiery furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. ⁴³ Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Whoever has ears to hear, let him hear.

The Treasure, the Pearl, and the Net

⁴⁴ “The kingdom of heaven is like a treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and hid again. In his joy, he goes away and sells all that he has and buys that field.

⁴⁵ “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant seeking fine pearls. ⁴⁶ When he found one very valuable pearl, he went and sold all that he had and bought it.

Psalm 18

Unfailing Kindness to David
And to His Descendant Forever

(2 Samuel 22)

Heading

For the choir director.
By David, the servant of the Lord, who spoke the words of this song to the Lord on the day when the Lord had delivered him from the grasp of all his enemies, even from the grasp of Saul.

Praise to the Rock of Salvation

Deliverance From Death

The Greatness of the Deliverance

An Address to Sons:
Your Parents Teach You Wisdom