The Daily Audio Bible

¹⁸ Now Joseph said to them on the third day, “Do this and live, for ^(A)I fear God: ¹⁹ if you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined in ^[a]your prison; but as for the rest of you, go, carry grain for the famine of your households, ²⁰ and ^(B)bring your youngest brother to me, so that your words may be verified, and you will not die.” And they did so. ²¹ Then they said to one another, “^(C)Truly we are guilty concerning our brother, because we saw the distress of his soul when he pleaded with us, yet we would not listen; for that reason this distress has happened to us.” ²² Reuben answered them, saying, “^(D)Did I not tell ^[b]you, ‘Do not sin against the boy’; and you would not listen? ^[c](E)Now justice for his blood is required.” ²³ They did not know, however, that Joseph understood, for there was an interpreter between them. ²⁴ Then he turned away from them and ^(F)wept. But when he returned to them and spoke to them, he ^(G)took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes. ^25 (H)Then Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, but also to return every man’s money in his sack, and to give them provisions for the journey. And that is what was done for them.

²⁶ So they loaded their donkeys with their grain and departed from there. ²⁷ But when one of them opened his sack to give his donkey feed at the overnight campsite, he saw his ^(I)money; and behold, it was in the opening of his sack! ²⁸ So he said to his brothers, “My money has been returned, and look, it is right in my sack!” Then their hearts ^[d]sank, and they turned ^[e]trembling to one another, saying, “^(J)What is this that God has done to us?”

Simeon Is Held Hostage

²⁹ When they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they told him everything that had happened to them, saying, ³⁰ “The man, the lord of the land, ^(K)spoke harshly with us, and took us for spies of the country. ³¹ But we said to him, ‘We are ^(L)honest men; we are not spies. ³² We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no longer alive, and the youngest is with our father today in the land of Canaan.’ ³³ But the man, the lord of the land, said to us, ‘^(M)By this I will know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me and take grain for the famine of your households, and go. ³⁴ But bring your youngest brother to me so that I may know that you are not spies, but ^[f]honest men. I will give your brother to you, and you may ^(N)trade in the land.’”

³⁵ Now it came about, as they were emptying their sacks, that behold, ^(O)every man’s bag of money was in his sack; and when they and their father saw their bags of money, they were afraid. ³⁶ And their father Jacob said to them, “You have ^(P)deprived me of my sons: Joseph is gone, and Simeon is gone, and now you would take Benjamin; all these things are against me.” ³⁷ Then Reuben spoke to his father, saying, “You may put my two sons to death if I do not bring him back to you; put him in my ^[g]care, and I will return him to you.” ³⁸ But ^[h]Jacob said, “My son shall not go down with you; for his ^(Q)brother is dead, and he alone is left. ^(R)If harm should happen to him on the journey ^[i]you are taking, then you will ^(S)bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.”

The Return to Egypt

43 ^(T)Now the famine was severe in the land. ² So it came about, when they had finished eating the grain which they had brought from Egypt, that their father said to them, “Go back, buy us a little food.” ³ Judah spoke to him, however, saying, “^(U)The man sternly warned ^[j]us, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ ⁴ If you send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. ⁵ But if you do 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 Then Israel said, “Why did you treat me so badly, ^[k]by telling the man whether you still had another brother?” ⁷ But they said, “The man specifically asked about us and our relatives, saying, ‘^(V)Is your father still alive? Have you another brother?’ So we ^[l]answered his questions. Could we possibly know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?” ⁸ So Judah said to his father Israel, “Send the boy with me and we will arise and go, ^(W)so that we may live and not die, we as well as you and our little ones. ^9 (X)I myself will take responsibility for him! You may demand him back from ^[m]me. If I do not bring him back to you and present him to you, then ^[n]you can let me take the blame forever. ¹⁰ For if we had not delayed, surely by now we could have returned twice.”

¹¹ Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: take some of the best products of the land in your ^[o]bags, and carry down to the man ^(Y)as a gift, a little ^(Z)balsam and a little honey, labdanum resin and ^[p]myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds. ¹² And take double the money in your hand, and take back in your hand ^(AA)the money that was returned in the opening of your sacks; perhaps it was a mistake. ¹³ Take your brother also, and arise, return to the man; ¹⁴ and may ^[q](AB)God Almighty ^(AC)grant you compassion in the sight of the man, so that he will release to you ^(AD)your other brother and Benjamin. And as for me, ^(AE)if I am bereaved of my sons, I am bereaved!” ¹⁵ So the men took ^(AF)this gift, and they took double the money in their hand, and Benjamin; then they set out and went down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph.

Joseph Sees Benjamin

¹⁶ When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to his ^(AG)house steward, “Bring the men into the house, and slaughter an animal and make preparations; for the men are to dine with me at noon.” ¹⁷ So the man did as Joseph said, and ^[r]brought the men to Joseph’s house. ¹⁸ Now the men were afraid, because they were brought to Joseph’s house; and they said, “It is because of the money that was returned in our sacks the first time that we are being brought in, so that he may ^[s]attack us and ^[t]overpower us, and take us as slaves with our donkeys.” ¹⁹ So they approached Joseph’s house steward, and spoke to him at the entrance of the house, ²⁰ and said, “Oh, my lord, we indeed came down the first time to buy food, ²¹ and it happened when we came to the campsite, that we opened our sacks, and behold, ^(AH)each man’s money was in the opening of his sack, our money in ^[u]full. So ^(AI)we have brought it back in our hand. ²² We have also brought down other money in our hand to buy food; we do not know who put our money in our sacks.” ²³ But he said, “Peace be to you, do not be afraid. ^(AJ)Your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks; your ^[v]money was in my possession.” Then ^(AK)he brought Simeon out to them. ²⁴ Then the man brought the men into Joseph’s house and ^(AL)gave them water, and they ^(AM)washed their feet; and he gave their donkeys feed. ²⁵ So they prepared ^(AN)the gift ^[w]for Joseph’s arrival at noon; for they had heard that they were to eat ^[x]a meal there.

²⁶ When Joseph came home, they brought into the house to him the gift which was in their hand, and they ^(AO)bowed down to the ground before him. ²⁷ Then he asked them about their welfare, and said, “^(AP)Is your old father well, of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?” ²⁸ And they said, “Your servant our father is well; he is still alive.” Then ^(AQ)they bowed down again ^[y]in homage. ²⁹ And as he raised his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, he said, “Is this ^(AR)your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me?” Then he said, “^(AS)May God be gracious to you, my son.” ³⁰ Joseph then hurried out, for ^[z](AT)he was deeply stirred over his brother, and he looked for a place to weep; so he entered his chamber and ^(AU)wept there. ³¹ Then he washed his face and came out; and he ^(AV)controlled himself and said, “^[aa]Serve the meal.” ³² Then they served him by himself, and ^[ab]Joseph’s brothers by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves; because the Egyptians could not eat bread with the Hebrews, for that is an ^(AW)abomination to the Egyptians. ³³ Now they ^[ac]were seated before him, from ^(AX)the firstborn according to his birthright to the youngest according to his youth, and the men looked at one another in astonishment. ³⁴ Then he took portions to them from ^[ad]his own table, ^(AY)but Benjamin’s portion was five times as much as any of theirs. So they drank freely with him.

A Dragnet

⁴⁷ “Again, ^(A)the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was cast into the sea and gathered fish of every kind; ⁴⁸ and when it was filled, they pulled it up on the beach; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. ⁴⁹ So it will be at ^(B)the ^[a]end of the age: the angels will come forth and remove the wicked from among the righteous, ⁵⁰ and they ^(C)will throw them into the furnace of fire; in that place ^(D)there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

⁵¹ “Have you understood all these things?” They *said to Him, “Yes.” ⁵² And ^[b]Jesus said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household, who brings out of his treasure new things and old.”

Jesus Revisits Nazareth

^53 (E)When Jesus had finished these parables, He departed from there. ⁵⁴ And ^(F)He came to ^[c]His hometown and ^(G)began teaching them in their synagogue, with the result that ^(H)they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man acquire this wisdom and these ^[d]miraculous powers? ⁵⁵ Is this not the carpenter’s son? Is ^(I)His mother not called Mary, and His ^(J)brothers, James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas? ⁵⁶ And ^(K)His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man acquire all these things?” ⁵⁷ And they took ^(L)offense at Him. But Jesus said to them, “^(M)A prophet is not dishonored except in his ^[e]hometown and in his own household.” ⁵⁸ And He did not do many ^[f]miracles there because of their unbelief.

John the Baptist Beheaded

14 ^[g](N)At that time ^[h](O)Herod ^[i]the tetrarch heard the news about Jesus, ² and said to his servants, “^(P)This is John the Baptist; he himself has been raised from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”

³ For when ^(Q)Herod had John arrested, he bound him and put him ^(R)in prison because of ^(S)Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip. ⁴ For John had been saying to him, “^(T)It is not lawful for you to have her.” ⁵ Although Herod wanted to put him to death, he feared the crowd, because they regarded ^[j]John as ^(U)a prophet.

⁶ But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of ^(V)Herodias danced ^[k]before them and pleased ^(W)Herod, ⁷ so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. ⁸ And after being prompted by her mother, she *said, “Give me the head of John the Baptist here on a platter.” ⁹ And although he was grieved, the king commanded it to be given because of his oaths and ^[l]his dinner guests. ¹⁰ He sent word and had John beheaded in the prison. ¹¹ And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. ^12 [m]John’s disciples came and took away the body and buried ^[n]it; and they went and reported to Jesus.