Joseph Provides for His Brothers and Family

¹Then Joseph could not pcontrol himself before all those who stood by him. He cried, “Make everyone go out from me.” So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. ²And he wept aloud, so that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. ³And Joseph said to his brothers, q“I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence.

⁴So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, rwhom you sold into Egypt. ⁵And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, sfor God sent me before you to preserve life. ⁶For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are tyet five years in which there will be neither uplowing nor harvest. ⁷And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. ⁸So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and vruler over all the land of Egypt. ⁹Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not tarry. ¹⁰wYou shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children's children, and your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. ¹¹xThere I will provide for you, for there are yet five years of famine to come, so that you and your household, and all that you have, do not come to poverty.’ ¹²And now your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is ymy mouth that speaks to you. ¹³You must tell my father of all my honor in Egypt, and of all that you have seen. Hurry and zbring my father down here.” ¹⁴Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck and wept, and Benjamin wept upon his neck. ¹⁵And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them. After that his brothers talked with him.

¹⁶When the report was heard in Pharaoh's house, “Joseph's brothers have come,” it pleased Pharaoh and his servants. ¹⁷And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this: load your beasts and go back to the land of Canaan, ¹⁸and take your father and your households, and come to me, and aI will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you shall eat the fat of the land.’ ¹⁹And you, Joseph, are commanded to say, ‘Do this: take bwagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring your father, and come. ²⁰Have no concern for1 your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’”

²¹The sons of Israel did so: and Joseph gave them bwagons, according to the command of Pharaoh, and gave them provisions for the journey. ²²To each and all of them he gave ca change of clothes, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels2 of silver and dfive changes of clothes. ²³To his father he sent as follows: ten donkeys loaded with the good things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain, bread, and provision for his father on the journey. ²⁴Then he sent his brothers away, and as they departed, he said to them, e“Do not quarrel on the way.”

²⁵So they went up out of Egypt and came to the land of Canaan to their father Jacob. ²⁶And they told him, “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” And his heart became numb, for he did not believe them. ²⁷But when they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them, and when he saw fthe wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. ²⁸And Israel said, “It is enough; Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”

Jesus Delivered to Pilate

¹cAnd as soon as it was morning, the chief priests dheld a consultation with the elders and scribes and the whole council. And ethey bound Jesus and fled him away and gdelivered him over to hPilate. ²iAnd Pilate asked him, j“Are you the King of the Jews?” And he answered him, k“You have said so.” ³And the chief priests accused him of many things. ⁴And Pilate again asked him, l“Have you no answer to make? See how many charges they bring against you.” ⁵But Jesus lmade no further answer, so that Pilate was amazed.

Pilate Delivers Jesus to Be Crucified

⁶mNow at the feast he used to release for them one prisoner for whom they asked. ⁷And among the rebels in prison, who had ncommitted murder oin the insurrection, there was a man called Barabbas. ⁸And the crowd came up and began to ask Pilate to do as he usually did for them. ⁹And he answered them, saying, “Do you want me to release for you the King of the Jews?” ¹⁰For he perceived that pit was out of envy that the chief priests had delivered him up. ¹¹But the chief priests stirred up the crowd to have him release for them Barabbas instead. ¹²And Pilate again said to them, “Then what shall I do with qthe man you call the King of the Jews?” ¹³And they cried out again, “Crucify him.” ¹⁴And Pilate said to them, “Why? rWhat evil has he done?” But they shouted all the more, “Crucify him.” ¹⁵So Pilate, wishing to satisfy the crowd, released for them Barabbas, and having sscourged1 Jesus, he delivered him to be crucified.

Jesus Is Mocked

¹⁶tAnd the soldiers led him away inside uthe palace (that is, vthe governor's headquarters),2 and they called together the whole wbattalion.3 ¹⁷And they clothed him in xa purple cloak, and twisting together a crown of thorns, they put it on him. ¹⁸And they began to salute him, y“Hail, King of the Jews!” ¹⁹And they were striking his head with a reed and zspitting on him and akneeling down in homage to him. ²⁰And when they had bmocked him, they stripped him of xthe purple cloak and put his own clothes on him. And they cled him out to crucify him.

The Crucifixion

²¹dAnd they compelled a passerby, Simon of Cyrene, who was coming in from the country, the father of Alexander and Rufus, to carry his cross. ²²eAnd they brought him to the place called Golgotha (which means Place of a Skull). ²³And they offered him wine mixed with fmyrrh, but he did not take it. ²⁴And they crucified him and gdivided his garments among them, casting lots for them, to decide what each should take. ²⁵And hit was the third hour4 when they crucified him. ²⁶And the inscription of the charge against him read, i“The King of the Jews.” ²⁷And with him they crucified two jrobbers, kone on his right and one on his left.5 ²⁹And lthose who passed by derided him, mwagging their heads and saying, n“Aha! oYou who would destroy the temple and rebuild it in three days, ³⁰save yourself, and come down from the cross!” ³¹So also the chief priests with the scribes mocked him to one another, saying, p“He saved others; qhe cannot save himself. ³²Let rthe Christ, sthe King of Israel, come down now from the cross that we may tsee and believe.” uThose who were crucified with him also reviled him.

The Death of Jesus

³³And when the sixth hour6 had come, there was darkness over the whole land until the ninth hour.7 ³⁴And at the ninth hour Jesus vcried with a loud voice, w“Eloi, Eloi, lema sabachthani?” which means, “My God, my God, why have you forsaken me?” ³⁵And some of the bystanders hearing it said, “Behold, he is calling Elijah.” ³⁶And someone ran and filled a sponge with xsour wine, put it on a reed yand gave it to him to drink, saying, “Wait, let us see whether Elijah will come to take him down.” ³⁷And Jesus zuttered a loud cry and abreathed his last. ³⁸And bthe curtain of the temple was torn in two, from top to bottom. ³⁹cAnd when the centurion, who stood facing him, saw that in this way he8 breathed his last, he said, d“Truly this man was the Son9 of God!”

⁴⁰There were also ewomen looking on ffrom a distance, among whom were gMary Magdalene, and Mary the mother of James the younger and of Joses, and iSalome. ⁴¹When he was in Galilee, they followed him and gministered to him, and there were also many other women who jcame up with him to Jerusalem.

Jesus Is Buried

⁴²kAnd when evening had come, since it was lthe day of Preparation, that is, the day before the Sabbath, ⁴³Joseph of Arimathea, ma respected member of the council, who nwas also himself looking for the kingdom of God, took courage and went to Pilate and asked for the body of Jesus. ⁴⁴Pilate was surprised to hear that he should have already died.10 And summoning othe centurion, he asked him whether he was already dead. ⁴⁵And when he learned from othe centurion that he was dead, he granted the corpse to Joseph. ⁴⁶And Joseph11 bought pa linen shroud, and taking him down, wrapped him in the linen shroud and qlaid him in a tomb rthat had been cut out of the rock. And he rolled sa stone against the entrance of the tomb. ⁴⁷tMary Magdalene and Mary the mother of Joses saw where he was laid.

Zophar Speaks: You Deserve Worse

¹Then dZophar the Naamathite answered and said:

²“Should ea multitude of words go unanswered,

and a man full of talk be judged right?

³Should your babble silence men,

and when you mock, shall no one shame you?

⁴For fyou say, ‘My gdoctrine is pure,

and I am clean in God's1 eyes.’

⁵But oh, that God would speak

and open his lips to you,

⁶and that he would tell you the secrets of wisdom!

For he is manifold in hunderstanding.2

Know then that God iexacts of you less than your guilt deserves.

⁷j“Can you find out the deep things of God?

Can you find out the limit of the Almighty?

⁸It is khigher than heaven3—what can you do?

Deeper than Sheol—what can you know?

⁹Its measure is longer than the earth

and broader than the sea.

¹⁰If he lpasses through and mimprisons

and summons the court, who can nturn him back?

¹¹For he knows oworthless men;

when he sees iniquity, will he not consider it?

¹²But a stupid man will get understanding

when pa wild donkey's colt is qborn a man!

¹³“If you rprepare your heart,

you will sstretch out your hands toward him.

¹⁴If iniquity is in your hand, put it far away,

and let not injustice dwell in your tents.

¹⁵Surely then you will tlift up your face without ublemish;

you will be secure and will not fear.

¹⁶You will vforget your misery;

you will remember it as waters that have passed away.

¹⁷And your life will be wbrighter than the noonday;

its darkness will be like the morning.

¹⁸And you will feel secure, because there is hope;

you will look around and xtake your rest in security.

¹⁹You will xlie down, and none will make you afraid;

many will ycourt your favor.

²⁰But zthe eyes of the wicked will fail;

all way of escape will be lost to them,

and their hope is ato breathe their last.”

The Example of Christ

¹sWe who are strong thave an obligation to bear with the failings of the weak, and not to please ourselves. ²uLet each of us please his neighbor for his good, to build him up. ³For vChrist did not please himself, but as it is written, w“The reproaches of those who reproached you fell on me.” ⁴For xwhatever was written in former days was written for our yinstruction, that through endurance and through zthe encouragement of the Scriptures we might have hope. ⁵May the God of endurance and encouragement grant you ato live in such harmony with one another, in accord with Christ Jesus, ⁶that together you may with one voice glorify bthe God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ. ⁷Therefore welcome one another as Christ has welcomed you, for the glory of God.

Christ the Hope of Jews and Gentiles

⁸For I tell you that Christ cbecame a servant to the circumcised to show God's truthfulness, in order dto confirm the promises given to the patriarchs, ⁹and in order ethat the Gentiles might glorify God for his mercy. As it is written,

f“Therefore I will praise you among the Gentiles,

and sing to your name.”

¹⁰And again it is said,

g“Rejoice, O Gentiles, with his people.”

¹¹And again,

h“Praise the Lord, all you Gentiles,

and let all the peoples extol him.”

¹²And again Isaiah says,

ij“The root of Jesse will come,

even he who arises to rule the Gentiles;

kin him will the Gentiles hope.”

¹³May the God of hope fill you with all ljoy and peace in believing, so that by the power of the Holy Spirit you may abound in hope.

Paul the Minister to the Gentiles

¹⁴mI myself am satisfied about you, my brothers,1 that you yourselves are full of goodness, filled with nall knowledge and able to instruct one another. ¹⁵But on some points I have written to you very boldly by way of reminder, obecause of the grace given me by God ¹⁶to be pa minister of Christ Jesus to the Gentiles qin the priestly service of the gospel of God, so that rthe offering of the Gentiles may be acceptable, sanctified by the Holy Spirit. ¹⁷In Christ Jesus, then, I have sreason to be proud of tmy work for God. ¹⁸For I will not venture to speak of anything except uwhat Christ has accomplished through me vto bring the Gentiles to obedience—by word and deed, ¹⁹wby the power of signs and wonders, by the power of the Spirit of God—so that xfrom Jerusalem and all the way around yto Illyricum I have fulfilled the ministry of the gospel of Christ; ²⁰and thus I make it my ambition to preach the gospel, not where Christ has already been named, zlest I build on someone else's foundation, ²¹but as it is written,

a“Those who have never been told of him will see,

and those who have never heard will understand.”

Paul's Plan to Visit Rome

²²This is the reason why bI have so often been hindered from coming to you. ²³But now, since I no longer have any room for work in these regions, and csince I have longed for many years to come to you, ²⁴I hope to see you in passing as I go dto Spain, and eto be helped on my journey there by you, once I have enjoyed your company for a while. ²⁵At present, however, fI am going to Jerusalem bringing aid to the saints. ²⁶For gMacedonia and Achaia have been pleased to make some contribution for the poor among the saints at Jerusalem. ²⁷For they were pleased to do it, and indeed hthey owe it to them. For if the Gentiles have come to share in their spiritual blessings, they ought also to be of service to them in material blessings. ²⁸When therefore I have completed this and have delivered to them what has been collected,2 I will leave ifor Spain by way of you. ²⁹I know that when I come to you I will come in the fullness of the blessing3 of Christ.

³⁰I appeal to you, brothers, by our Lord Jesus Christ and by jthe love of the Spirit, kto strive together with me in your prayers to God on my behalf, ³¹lthat I may be delivered from the unbelievers in Judea, and that mmy service for Jerusalem may be acceptable to the saints, ³²so that by God's will I may come to you with joy and nbe refreshed in your company. ³³May othe God of peace be with you all. Amen.