The Daily Audio Bible

¹⁸ On the third day Joseph said to them, “I am a God-fearing man, and I will spare your lives on one condition. ¹⁹ To prove that you are honest, one of you will stay in the prison where you have been kept; the rest of you may go and take back to your starving families the grain that you have bought. ²⁰ Then you must bring your youngest brother to me. This will prove that you have been telling the truth, and I will not put you to death.”

They agreed to this ²¹ and said to one another, “Yes, now we are suffering the consequences of what we did to our brother; we saw the great trouble he was in when he begged for help, but we would not listen. That is why we are in this trouble now.”

^22 (A)Reuben said, “I told you not to harm the boy, but you wouldn't listen. And now we are being paid back for his death.” ²³ Joseph understood what they said, but they did not know it, because they had been speaking to him through an interpreter. ²⁴ Joseph left them and began to cry. When he was able to speak again, he came back, picked out Simeon, and had him tied up in front of them.

Joseph's Brothers Return to Canaan

²⁵ Joseph gave orders to fill his brothers' packs with grain, to put each man's money back in his sack, and to give them food for the trip. This was done. ²⁶ The brothers loaded their donkeys with the grain they had bought, and then they left. ²⁷ At the place where they spent the night, one of them opened his sack to feed his donkey and found his money at the top of the sack. ²⁸ “My money has been returned to me,” he called to his brothers. “Here it is in my sack!” Their hearts sank, and in fear they asked one another, “What has God done to us?”

²⁹ When they came to their father Jacob in Canaan, they told him all that had happened to them: ³⁰ “The governor of Egypt spoke harshly to us and accused us of spying against his country. ³¹ ‘We are not spies,’ we answered, ‘we are honest men. ³² We were twelve brothers in all, sons of the same father. One brother is dead, and the youngest is still in Canaan with our father.’ ³³ The man answered, ‘This is how I will find out if you are honest men: One of you will stay with me; the rest will take grain for your starving families and leave. ³⁴ Bring your youngest brother to me. Then I will know that you are not spies, but honest men; I will give your brother back to you, and you can stay here and trade.’”

³⁵ Then when they emptied out their sacks, every one of them found his bag of money; and when they saw the money, they and their father Jacob were afraid. ³⁶ Their father said to them, “Do you want to make me lose all my children? Joseph is gone; Simeon is gone; and now you want to take away Benjamin. I am the one who suffers!”

³⁷ Reuben said to his father, “If I do not bring Benjamin back to you, you can kill my two sons. Put him in my care, and I will bring him back.”

³⁸ But Jacob said, “My son cannot go with you; his brother is dead, and he is the only one left. Something might happen to him on the way. I am an old man, and the sorrow you would cause me would kill me.”

Joseph's Brothers Return to Egypt with Benjamin

43 The famine in Canaan got worse, ² and when the family of Jacob had eaten all the grain which had been brought from Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, “Go back and buy a little food for us.”

³ Judah said to him, “The man sternly warned us that we would not be admitted to his presence unless we had our brother with us. ⁴ If you are willing to send our brother with us, we will go and buy food for you. ⁵ If you are not willing, we will not go, because the man told us we would not be admitted to his presence unless our brother was with us.”

⁶ Jacob said, “Why did you cause me so much trouble by telling the man that you had another brother?”

⁷ They answered, “The man kept asking about us and our family, ‘Is your father still living? Do you have another brother?’ We had to answer his questions. How could we know that he would tell us to bring our brother with us?”

⁸ Judah said to his father, “Send the boy with me, and we will leave at once. Then none of us will starve to death. ⁹ I will pledge my own life, and you can hold me responsible for him. If I do not bring him back to you safe and sound, I will always bear the blame. ¹⁰ If we had not waited so long, we could have been there and back twice by now.”

¹¹ Their father said to them, “If that is how it has to be, then take the best products of the land in your packs as a present for the governor: a little resin, a little honey, spices, pistachio nuts, and almonds. ¹² Take with you also twice as much money, because you must take back the money that was returned in the top of your sacks. Maybe it was a mistake. ¹³ Take your brother and return at once. ¹⁴ May Almighty God cause the man to have pity on you, so that he will give Benjamin and your other brother back to you. As for me, if I must lose my children, I must lose them.”

¹⁵ So the brothers took the gifts and twice as much money, and set out for Egypt with Benjamin. There they presented themselves to Joseph. ¹⁶ When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the servant in charge of his house, “Take these men to my house. They are going to eat with me at noon, so kill an animal and prepare it.” ¹⁷ The servant did as he was commanded and took the brothers to Joseph's house.

¹⁸ As they were being brought to the house, they were afraid and thought, “We are being brought here because of the money that was returned in our sacks the first time. They will suddenly attack us, take our donkeys, and make us his slaves.” ¹⁹ So at the door of the house, they said to the servant in charge, ²⁰ “If you please, sir, we came here once before to buy food. ²¹ When we set up camp on the way home, we opened our sacks, and each man found his money in the top of his sack—every bit of it. We have brought it back to you. ²² We have also brought some more money with us to buy more food. We do not know who put our money back in our sacks.”

²³ The servant said, “Don't worry. Don't be afraid. Your God, the God of your father, must have put the money in your sacks for you. I received your payment.” Then he brought Simeon to them.

²⁴ The servant took the brothers into the house. He gave them water so that they could wash their feet, and he fed their donkeys. ²⁵ They got their gifts ready to present to Joseph when he arrived at noon, because they had been told that they were to eat with him. ²⁶ When Joseph got home, they took the gifts into the house to him and bowed down to the ground before him. ²⁷ He asked about their health and then said, “You told me about your old father—how is he? Is he still alive and well?”

²⁸ They answered, “Your humble servant, our father, is still alive and well.” And they knelt and bowed down before him.

²⁹ When Joseph saw his brother Benjamin, he said, “So this is your youngest brother, the one you told me about. God bless you, my son.” ³⁰ Then Joseph left suddenly, because his heart was full of tender feelings for his brother. He was about to break down, so he went to his room and cried. ³¹ After he had washed his face, he came out, and controlling himself, he ordered the meal to be served. ³² Joseph was served at one table and his brothers at another. The Egyptians who were eating there were served separately, because they considered it beneath their dignity to eat with Hebrews. ³³ The brothers had been seated at the table, facing Joseph, in the order of their age from the oldest to the youngest. When they saw how they had been seated, they looked at one another in amazement. ³⁴ Food was served to them from Joseph's table, and Benjamin was served five times as much as the rest of them. So they ate and drank with Joseph until they were drunk.

The Parable of the Net

⁴⁷ “Also, the Kingdom of heaven is like this. Some fishermen throw their net out in the lake and catch all kinds of fish. ⁴⁸ When the net is full, they pull it to shore and sit down to divide the fish: the good ones go into the buckets, the worthless ones are thrown away. ⁴⁹ It will be like this at the end of the age: the angels will go out and gather up the evil people from among the good ⁵⁰ and will throw them into the fiery furnace, where they will cry and gnash their teeth.

New Truths and Old

⁵¹ “Do you understand these things?” Jesus asked them.

“Yes,” they answered.

⁵² So he replied, “This means, then, that every teacher of the Law who becomes a disciple in the Kingdom of heaven is like a homeowner who takes new and old things out of his storage room.”

Jesus Is Rejected at Nazareth^(A)

⁵³ When Jesus finished telling these parables, he left that place ⁵⁴ and went back to his hometown. He taught in the synagogue, and those who heard him were amazed. “Where did he get such wisdom?” they asked. “And what about his miracles? ⁵⁵ Isn't he the carpenter's son? Isn't Mary his mother, and aren't James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas his brothers? ⁵⁶ Aren't all his sisters living here? Where did he get all this?” ^57 (B)And so they rejected him.

Jesus said to them, “A prophet is respected everywhere except in his hometown and by his own family.” ⁵⁸ Because they did not have faith, he did not perform many miracles there.

The Death of John the Baptist^(C)

14 At that time Herod, the ruler of Galilee, heard about Jesus. ² “He is really John the Baptist, who has come back to life,” he told his officials. “That is why he has this power to perform miracles.”

^3 (D)For Herod had earlier ordered John's arrest, and he had him tied up and put in prison. He had done this because of Herodias, his brother Philip's wife. ^4 (E)For some time John the Baptist had told Herod, “It isn't right for you to be married to Herodias!” ⁵ Herod wanted to kill him, but he was afraid of the Jewish people, because they considered John to be a prophet.

⁶ On Herod's birthday the daughter of Herodias danced in front of the whole group. Herod was so pleased ⁷ that he promised her, “I swear that I will give you anything you ask for!”

⁸ At her mother's suggestion she asked him, “Give me here and now the head of John the Baptist on a plate!”

⁹ The king was sad, but because of the promise he had made in front of all his guests he gave orders that her wish be granted. ¹⁰ So he had John beheaded in prison. ¹¹ The head was brought in on a plate and given to the girl, who took it to her mother. ¹² John's disciples came, carried away his body, and buried it; then they went and told Jesus.

⁷ Getting wisdom is the most important thing you can do. Whatever else you get, get insight. ⁸ Love wisdom, and she will make you great. Embrace her,^[a] and she will bring you honor. ⁹ She will be your crowning glory.”

¹⁰ Listen to me, my child. Take seriously what I am telling you, and you will live a long life.