The Daily Audio Bible

50 Then Joseph threw himself on his father’s face and wept over him and kissed him.^{(A) 2} Joseph commanded the physicians in his service to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel;^{(B) 3} they spent forty days doing this, for that is the time required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.^(C)

⁴ When the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph addressed the household of Pharaoh, “If now I have found favor with you, please speak to Pharaoh as follows: ⁵ My father made me swear an oath; he said, ‘I am about to die. In the tomb that I hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me.’ Now therefore let me go up, so that I may bury my father; then I will return.”^{(D) 6} Pharaoh answered, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear to do.”

⁷ So Joseph went up to bury his father. With him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, ⁸ as well as all the household of Joseph, his brothers, and his father’s household. Only their children, their flocks, and their herds were left in the land of Goshen.^{(E) 9} Both chariots and charioteers went up with him. It was a very great company. ¹⁰ When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they held there a very great and sorrowful lamentation, and he observed a time of mourning for his father seven days.^{(F) 11} When the Canaanite inhabitants of the land saw the mourning on the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous mourning on the part of the Egyptians.” Therefore the place was named Abel-mizraim;^[a] it is beyond the Jordan. ¹² Thus his sons did for him as he had instructed them. ¹³ They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field at Machpelah, the field near Mamre, which Abraham bought as a burial site from Ephron the Hittite.^{(G) 14} After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone up with him to bury his father.

Joseph Forgives His Brothers

¹⁵ Realizing that their father was dead, Joseph’s brothers said, “What if Joseph still bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong that we did to him?”^{(H) 16} So they approached^[b] Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this instruction before he died, ¹⁷ ‘Say to Joseph: I beg you, forgive the crime of your brothers and the wrong they did in harming you.’ Now therefore please forgive the crime of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him. ¹⁸ Then his brothers also wept,^[c] fell down before him, and said, “We are here as your slaves.”^{(I) 19} But Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid! Am I in the place of God?^{(J) 20} Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today.^{(K) 21} So have no fear; I myself will provide for you and your little ones.” In this way he reassured them, speaking kindly to them.^(L)

Joseph’s Last Days and Death

²² So Joseph remained in Egypt, he and his father’s household, and Joseph lived one hundred ten years. ²³ Joseph saw Ephraim’s children of the third generation; the children of Machir son of Manasseh were also born on Joseph’s knees.

²⁴ Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will surely come to you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”^{(M) 25} So Joseph made the Israelites swear, saying, “When God comes to you, you shall carry up my bones from here.” ²⁶ And Joseph died, being one hundred ten years old; he was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt.

1 These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each with his household:^{(N) 2} Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, ³ Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, ⁴ Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. ⁵ The total number of people born to Jacob was seventy. (Joseph was already in Egypt.)^{(O) 6} Then Joseph died, and all his brothers, and that whole generation.^{(P) 7} But the Israelites were fruitful and prolific; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them.^(Q)

The Israelites Are Oppressed

⁸ Now a new king arose over Egypt who did not know Joseph.^{(R) 9} He said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we.^{(S) 10} Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.” ¹¹ Therefore they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor. They built supply cities, Pithom and Rameses, for Pharaoh.^{(T) 12} But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread, so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites. ¹³ The Egyptians subjected the Israelites to hard servitude ¹⁴ and made their lives bitter with hard servitude in mortar and bricks and in every kind of field labor. They were ruthless in all the tasks that they imposed on them.^(U)

¹⁵ The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah, ¹⁶ “When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women and see them on the birthstool, if it is a son, kill him, but if it is a daughter, she shall live.”^{(V) 17} But the midwives feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but they let the boys live.^{(W) 18} So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this and allowed the boys to live?” ¹⁹ The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.” ²⁰ So God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied and became very strong.^{(X) 21} And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.^{(Y) 22} Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every son that is born to the Hebrews^[d] you shall throw into the Nile, but you shall let every daughter live.”^(Z)

Birth and Youth of Moses

2 Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman.^{(AA) 2} The woman conceived and bore a son, and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him three months.^{(AB) 3} When she could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket for him and plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river. ⁴ His sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him.^(AC)

⁵ The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her attendants walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it. ⁶ When she opened it, she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him. “This must be one of the Hebrews’ children,” she said. ⁷ Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?” ⁸ Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Yes.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother. ⁹ Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed it. ¹⁰ When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses,^[e] “because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”^(AD)

Peter’s Declaration about Jesus

¹³ Now when Jesus came into the district of Caesarea Philippi, he asked his disciples, “Who do people say that the Son of Man is?” ¹⁴ And they said, “Some say John the Baptist but others Elijah and still others Jeremiah or one of the prophets.”^{(A) 15} He said to them, “But who do you say that I am?” ¹⁶ Simon Peter answered, “You are the Messiah,^[a] the Son of the living God.”^{(B) 17} And Jesus answered him, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For flesh and blood has not revealed this to you but my Father in heaven.^{(C) 18} And I tell you, you are Peter,^[b] and on this rock^[c] I will build my church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it.^{(D) 19} I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven, and whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.”^{(E) 20} Then he sternly ordered the disciples not to tell anyone that he was^[d] the Messiah.^[e](F)

Jesus Foretells His Death and Resurrection

²¹ From that time on, Jesus began to show his disciples that he must go to Jerusalem and undergo great suffering at the hands of the elders and chief priests and scribes and be killed and on the third day be raised.^{(G) 22} And Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him, saying, “God forbid it, Lord! This must never happen to you.” ²³ But he turned and said to Peter, “Get behind me, Satan! You are a hindrance^[f] to me, for you are setting your mind not on divine things but on human things.”

The Cross and Self-Denial

²⁴ Then Jesus told his disciples, “If any wish to come after me, let them deny themselves and take up their cross and follow me.^{(H) 25} For those who want to save their life will lose it, and those who lose their life for my sake will find it. ²⁶ For what will it profit them if they gain the whole world but forfeit their life? Or what will they give in return for their life?

²⁷ “For the Son of Man is to come with his angels in the glory of his Father, and then he will repay everyone for what has been done.^{(I) 28} Truly I tell you, there are some standing here who will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in his kingdom.”^(J)

The Transfiguration

17 Six days later, Jesus took with him Peter and James and his brother John and led them up a high mountain, by themselves.^{(K) 2} And he was transfigured before them, and his face shone like the sun, and his clothes became bright as light. ³ Suddenly there appeared to them Moses and Elijah, talking with him. ⁴ Then Peter said to Jesus, “Lord, it is good for us to be here; if you wish, I^[g] will set up three tents here, one for you, one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” ⁵ While he was still speaking, suddenly a bright cloud overshadowed them, and a voice from the cloud said, “This is my Son, the Beloved;^[h] with him I am well pleased; listen to him!”^{(L) 6} When the disciples heard this, they fell to the ground and were overcome by fear. ⁷ But Jesus came and touched them, saying, “Get up and do not be afraid.”^{(M) 8} And when they raised their eyes, they saw no one except Jesus himself alone.

⁹ As they were coming down the mountain, Jesus ordered them, “Tell no one about the vision until after the Son of Man has been raised from the dead.”^(N)

Psalm 21

Thanksgiving for Victory

To the leader. A Psalm of David.

Warning against Impurity and Infidelity