The Daily Audio Bible

¹⁸ On the third day, Yosef said to them, “Do what I say, and stay alive, for I fear God. (v) ¹⁹ If you are upright men, let one of your brothers remain incarcerated in the prison you’re being kept in, while you go and carry grain back to relieve the famine in your homes. ²⁰ But bring your youngest brother to me. In this way your statements will be verified, and you won’t die.”

So they did it. ²¹ They said to each other, “We are in fact guilty concerning our brother. He was in distress and pleaded with us; we saw it and wouldn’t listen. That’s why this distress has come upon us now.” ²² Re’uven answered them, “Didn’t I tell you, ‘Don’t wrong the boy’? But you wouldn’t hear of it. Now comes the reckoning for his blood!” ²³ They had no idea that Yosef understood them, since an interpreter was translating for them. ²⁴ Yosef turned away from them and wept; then he returned and spoke to them. He took Shim‘on from among them and put him in prison before their eyes. ²⁵ Next he ordered that their containers be filled with grain, that every man’s money be put back in his pack and that they be given provisions for the journey. When these things had been done for them, ²⁶ they loaded their grain on their donkeys and departed.

²⁷ But at camp that night, as one of them opened his pack to give fodder to his donkey, he noticed his money — there it was, just inside his pack. ²⁸ He said to his brothers, “My money has been restored — there it is, right in my pack!” At that, their hearts sank; they turned, trembling, to one another and said, “What is this that God has done to us?”

²⁹ They returned to Ya‘akov their father in the land of Kena‘an and told him all that had happened to them. ³⁰ “The man, the lord of the land, spoke harshly with us. He took us for spies in his country. ³¹ We said to him, ‘We are upright men, we’re not spies; ³² we are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is gone, and the youngest stayed with our father in the land of Kena‘an.’ ³³ But the man, the lord of the land, said to us, ‘Here is how I will know that you are upright men: leave one of your brothers with me, take grain to relieve the famine in your homes, and go on your way; ³⁴ but bring your youngest brother to me. By this I will know that you aren’t spies, but are upright men; then I will return your brother to you; and you will do business in the land.’”

³⁵ Next, as they emptied their packs, there was each man’s bag of money in his pack; and when they and their father saw their bags of money, they became afraid. ³⁶ Ya‘akov their father said to them, “You have robbed me of my children! Yosef is gone, Shim‘on is gone, now you’re taking Binyamin away — it all falls on me!” ³⁷ Re’uven said to his father, “If I don’t bring him back to you, you can kill my own two sons! Put him in my care; I will return him to you.” ³⁸ But he replied, “My son will not go down with you. His brother is dead, and he alone is left. If anything were to happen to him while traveling with you, you would bring my gray hair down to Sh’ol with grief.”

43 But the famine was severe in the land; ² so when they had eaten up the grain which they had brought out of Egypt, their father said to them, “Go again, buy us a little food.” ³ Y’hudah said to him, “The man expressly warned us, ‘You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ ⁴ If you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food; ⁵ but if you will not send him, we will not go down; for the man said to us, ‘You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.’” ⁶ Isra’el said, “Why did you bring such trouble my way by telling the man you had another brother?” ⁷ They answered, “The man kept questioning us about ourselves and about our kinsmen. He asked, ‘Is your father still alive?’ ‘Do you have another brother?’ and we answered according to the literal meaning of his questions. How were we to know he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?”

⁸ Y’hudah said to Isra’el his father, “Send the boy with me; and we will make preparations and leave; so that we may stay alive and not die, both we and you, and also our little ones. ⁹ I myself will guarantee his safety; you can hold me responsible. If I fail to bring him to you and present him to your face, let me bear the blame forever. ¹⁰ Except for our lengthy delay, we would have been there again by now.”

¹¹ Their father Isra’el answered them, “If that’s how it is, do this: take in your containers some of the land’s best products, and bring the man a gift — some healing resin, a little honey, aromatic gum, opium, pistachio nuts and almonds. ¹² Take twice the amount of money with you; and return the money that came back with you in your packs — it could have been an oversight. ¹³ Yes, and take your brother too; and get ready; and go again to the man. ¹⁴ May El Shaddai give you favor in the man’s sight, so that he will release to you your other brother as well as Binyamin. As for me, if I must lose my children, lose them I will.” ¹⁵ The men took that gift, and they took twice the money with them, and Binyamin; then they prepared, went down to Egypt and stood before Yosef.

(vi) ¹⁶ When Yosef saw Binyamin with them, he said to his household manager, “Take the men inside the house, kill the animals and prepare the meat. These men will dine with me at noon.” ¹⁷ The man did as Yosef ordered and brought the men into Yosef’s house.

¹⁸ Upon being ushered inside Yosef’s house, the men became fearful. They said, “It’s because of the money that was returned in our packs the first time that we have been brought inside — so that he can use it as an excuse to attack us, take us as slaves and seize our donkeys too.” ¹⁹ So they approached the manager of Yosef’s household and spoke to him at the entrance of the house: ²⁰ “Please, my lord, the first time we indeed came down to buy food; ²¹ but when we got to camp, we opened our packs, and there inside our packs was each man’s money, the full amount. We have brought it back with us; ²² moreover, we have brought down other money to buy food. We have no idea who put our money in our packs.” ²³ “Stop worrying,” he replied, “don’t be afraid. Your God and the God of your father put treasure in your packs. As for your money — I was the one who received it.” Then he brought Shim‘on out to them.

²⁴ The man brought the men into Yosef’s house and gave them water, and they washed their feet, and he provided fodder for their donkeys. ²⁵ Then they got their gift ready for Yosef’s arrival at noon, for they had heard that they were going to eat a meal there. ²⁶ When Yosef arrived home, they went in the house and presented him with the gift they had brought with them, then prostrated themselves before him on the ground. ²⁷ He asked them how they were and inquired, “Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?” ²⁸ They answered, “Your servant our father is well; yes, he is still alive,” as they bowed in respect. ²⁹ He looked up and saw Binyamin his brother, his mother’s son, and said, “Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me?” and added, “May God be good to you, my son.”

(vii) ³⁰ Then Yosef hurried out, because his feelings toward his brother were so strong that he wanted to cry; he went into his bedroom and there he wept. ³¹ Then he washed his face and came out, but he controlled himself as he gave the order to serve the meal. ³² They served him by himself, the brothers by themselves, and the Egyptians included at the meal by themselves — Egyptians don’t eat with Hebrews, because that is abhorrent to them. ³³ So they sat there facing him, the firstborn in the place of honor, the youngest in last place; and the men expressed their amazement to each other. ³⁴ Each was given his serving there in front of him, but Binyamin’s portion was five times as large as any of theirs. So they drank and enjoyed themselves with him.

⁴⁷ “Once more, the Kingdom of Heaven is like a net thrown into the lake, that caught all kinds of fish. ⁴⁸ When it was full, the fishermen brought the net up onto the shore, sat down and collected the good fish in baskets, but threw the bad fish away. ⁴⁹ So it will be at the close of the age — the angels will go forth and separate the evil people from among the righteous ⁵⁰ and throw them into the fiery furnace, where they will wail and grind their teeth.

⁵¹ “Have you understood all these things?” “Yes,” they answered. ⁵² He said to them, “So then, every Torah-teacher who has been made into a talmid for the Kingdom of Heaven is like the owner of a home who brings out of his storage room both new things and old.”

⁵³ When Yeshua had finished these parables, he left ⁵⁴ and went to his home town. There he taught them in their synagogue in a way that astounded them, so that they asked, “Where do this man’s wisdom and miracles come from? ⁵⁵ Isn’t he the carpenter’s son? Isn’t his mother called Miryam? and his brothers Ya‘akov, Yosef, Shim‘on and Y’hudah? ⁵⁶ And his sisters, aren’t they all with us? So where does he get all this?” ⁵⁷ And they took offense at him. But Yeshua said to them, “The only place people don’t respect a prophet is in his home town and in his own house.” ⁵⁸ And he did few miracles there because of their lack of trust.

14 Around that time, Herod, the regional governor, heard of the fame of Yeshua ² and said to his attendants, “This must be Yochanan the Immerser. He has been raised from the dead; that is why these miraculous powers are at work in him.”

³ For Herod had arrested Yochanan, put him in chains and thrown him in prison because of Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip; ⁴ since Yochanan had told Herod, “It violates the Torah for you to have her as your wife.” ⁵ Herod had wanted to put Yochanan to death; but he was afraid of the people, in whose eyes Yochanan was a prophet. ⁶ However, at Herod’s birthday celebration, Herodias’ daughter danced before the company and pleased Herod so much ⁷ that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. ⁸ Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me here on a platter the head of Yochanan the Immerser.” ⁹ The king became deeply upset; but out of regard for the oaths he had sworn before his dinner guests, he ordered that her wish be granted, ¹⁰ and sent and had Yochanan beheaded in prison. ¹¹ The head was brought on a platter to the girl, and she gave it to her mother. ¹² Yochanan’s talmidim came, took the body and buried it; then they went and told Yeshua.