Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

Thanksgiving for Yahweh’s Compassion

Of David.^[a]

⁵³ And the seven years of abundance which were in the land of Egypt came to an end. ⁵⁴ And the seven years of famine began to come as Joseph had said. And there was famine in all of the countries, but in the land of Egypt there was food. ⁵⁵ And when all the land of Egypt was hungry the people cried out to Pharaoh for food. And Pharaoh said to all the land of Egypt, “Go to Joseph; what he says to you, you must do.” ⁵⁶ And the famine was over the whole land, and Joseph opened all the storehouses^[a] and sold food to the Egyptians. And the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. ⁵⁷ And every land came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain, for the famine was severe in every land.

Joseph’s Brothers Go to Egypt for Food

42 When Jacob realized that there was grain in Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, “Why do you look at one another?” ² Then he said, “Look, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy grain for us there that we may live and not die.” ³ And the ten brothers of Joseph went down to buy grain from Egypt. ⁴ But Jacob did not send Benjamin, the brother of Joseph, for he feared harm would come to him.^{[b] 5} Then the sons of Israel went to buy grain amid those other people who went as well, for there was famine in the land of Canaan. ⁶ Now Joseph was the governor over the land. He was the one who sold food to all the people of the land. And the brothers of Joseph came and bowed down to him with their faces to the ground. ⁷ And Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he pretended to be a stranger to them. And he spoke with them harshly and said to them, “From where have you come?” And they said, “From the land of Canaan to buy food.” ⁸ And Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. ⁹ And Joseph remembered the dreams which he had dreamed concerning them, and he said to them, “You are spies! You have come to see the nakedness of the land!” ¹⁰ And they said to him, “No, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food. ¹¹ We all are sons of one man. We are honest men. We, your servants, are not spies.” ¹² Then he said to them, “No, but you have come to see the nakedness of the land.” ¹³ Then they said, “We, your servants, are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan, but behold, the youngest is with our father today, and one is no more.” ¹⁴ But Joseph said to them, “It is what I said to you—you are spies. ¹⁵ By this you shall be tested. By the life of Pharaoh you will not go out from here unless your youngest brother comes here. ¹⁶ Send one of you, and let him bring your brother, but you will be kept in prison so that your words might be tested to see if there is truth with you. And if not, by the life of Pharaoh surely you are spies.” ¹⁷ Then he gathered them into the prison for three days.

⁹ And the patriarchs, because they^[a] were jealous of Joseph, sold him^[b] into Egypt. And God was with him, ¹⁰ and rescued him from all his afflictions and granted him favor and wisdom in the sight of Pharaoh king of Egypt. And he appointed him ruler over Egypt and all^[c] his household. ¹¹ And a famine came over all Egypt and Canaan and great affliction, and our fathers could not find food. ¹² So when^[d] Jacob heard there was grain in Egypt, he sent out our fathers first. ¹³ And on the second visit^[e] Joseph was made known to his brothers, and the family of Joseph became known to Pharaoh. ¹⁴ So Joseph sent and^[f] summoned his father Jacob and all his^[g] relatives, seventy-five persons in all. ¹⁵ And Jacob went down to Egypt and died, he and our fathers. ¹⁶ And they were brought back to Shechem and buried in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a sum of silver from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.