¹⁸ Then Judah went up to him and said, ^(A)“Oh, my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord's ears, and ^(B)let not your anger burn against your servant, for ^(C)you are like Pharaoh himself. ¹⁹ My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father, or a brother?’ ²⁰ And we said to my lord, ‘We have a father, an old man, ^(D)and a young brother, ^(E)the child of his old age. His brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother's children, and his father loves him.’ ²¹ Then you said to your servants, ^(F)‘Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him.’ ²² We said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, ^(G)his father would die.’ ²³ Then you said to your servants, ^(H)‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall not see my face again.’

²⁴ “When we went back to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord. ²⁵ And when ^(I)our father said, ‘Go again, buy us a little food’, ²⁶ we said, ‘We cannot go down. If our youngest brother goes with us, then we will go down. For we cannot see the man's face unless our youngest brother is with us.’ ²⁷ Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me ^(J)two sons. ²⁸ One left me, and I said, ^(K)Surely he has been torn to pieces, and I have never seen him since. ²⁹ If you ^(L)take this one also from me, ^(M)and harm happens to him, you will bring down my grey hairs in evil to Sheol.’

³⁰ “Now therefore, as soon as I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us, then, as his life is bound up in the boy's life, ³¹ as soon as he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die, and your servants will bring down the grey hairs of your servant our father with sorrow to Sheol. ³² For your servant became a pledge of safety for the boy to my father, saying, ^(N)‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father all my life.’ ³³ Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a servant to my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers. ³⁴ For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would find my father.”

Joseph Provides for His Brothers and Family

45 Then Joseph could not ^(O)control 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. ² And he wept aloud, so that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. ³ And Joseph said to his brothers, ^(P)“I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence.

⁴ So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, ^(Q)whom you sold into Egypt. ⁵ And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, ^(R)for God sent me before you to preserve life. ⁶ For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are ^(S)yet five years in which there will be neither ^(T)ploughing nor harvest. ⁷ And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. ⁸ So 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 ^(U)ruler over all the land of Egypt. ⁹ Hurry 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.

Blessed Are the Forgiven

A Maskil^[a] of David.

Walking in the Light

^5 (A)This is the message we have heard from him and proclaim to you, that ^(B)God is light, and in him is no darkness at all. ^6 (C)If we say we have fellowship with him while we walk in darkness, we lie and ^(D)do not practise the truth. ⁷ But ^(E)if we walk in the light, ^(F)as he is in the light, we have fellowship with one another, and ^(G)the blood of Jesus his Son cleanses us from all sin. ^8 (H)If we say we have no sin, we deceive ourselves, and ^(I)the truth is not in us. ^9 (J)If we confess our sins, he is ^(K)faithful and just to forgive us our sins and ^(L)to cleanse us from all unrighteousness. ¹⁰ If we say we have not sinned, ^(M)we make him a liar, and ^(N)his word is not in us.

Christ Our Advocate

2 My little children, I am writing these things to you so that you may not sin. But if anyone does sin, ^(O)we have an advocate with the Father, Jesus Christ the righteous. ^2 (P)He is the propitiation for our sins, and not for ours only but ^(Q)also for the sins of the whole world. ³ And by this we know that we have come to know him, if we ^(R)keep his commandments. ⁴ Whoever says “I know him” but does not keep his commandments ^(S)is a liar, and ^(T)the truth is not in him, ⁵ but whoever ^(U)keeps his word, in him truly ^(V)the love of God is perfected. ^(W)By this we may know that we are in him: ⁶ whoever says he ^(X)abides in him ^(Y)ought to walk in the same way in which he walked.

The Parable of the Prodigal Son

¹¹ And he said, “There was a man who had two sons. ¹² And the younger of them said to his father, ‘Father, give me ^(A)the share of property that is coming to me.’ And he divided ^(B)his property between them. ¹³ Not many days later, the younger son gathered all he had and took a journey into a far country, and there he squandered his property in ^(C)reckless living. ¹⁴ And when he had spent everything, a severe famine arose in that country, and he began to be in need. ¹⁵ So he went and hired himself out to^[a] one of the citizens of that country, who sent him into his fields to feed pigs. ¹⁶ And he ^(D)was longing to be fed with the pods that the pigs ate, and no one gave him anything.

¹⁷ “But ^(E)when he ^(F)came to himself, he said, ‘How many of my father's hired servants have more than enough bread, but I perish here with hunger! ¹⁸ I will arise and go to my father, and I will say to him, “Father, ^(G)I have sinned against ^(H)heaven and before you. ^19 (I)I am no longer worthy to be called your son. Treat me as one of your hired servants.”’ ²⁰ And he arose and came to his father. But while he was still a long way off, his father saw him and felt compassion, and ^(J)ran and ^(K)embraced him and ^(L)kissed him. ²¹ And the son said to him, ‘Father, I have sinned against heaven and before you. ^(M)I am no longer worthy to be called your son.’^{[b] 22} But the father said to his servants,^[c] ‘Bring quickly ^(N)the best robe, and put it on him, and put ^(O)a ring on his hand, and ^(P)shoes on his feet. ²³ And bring ^(Q)the fattened calf and kill it, and ^(R)let us eat and celebrate. ²⁴ For this my son ^(S)was dead, and is alive again; he was lost, and is found.’ And they began to celebrate.

²⁵ “Now his older son was in the field, and as he came and drew near to the house, he heard music and dancing. ²⁶ And he called one of the servants and asked what these things meant. ²⁷ And he said to him, ‘Your brother has come, and your father has killed the fattened calf, because he has received him back safe and sound.’ ²⁸ But he was angry and refused to go in. His father came out and entreated him, ²⁹ but he answered his father, ‘Look, these many years I have served you, and I never disobeyed your command, yet you never gave me a young goat, that I might ^(T)celebrate with my friends. ³⁰ But when this son of yours came, ^(U)who has devoured ^(V)your property with prostitutes, you killed the fattened calf for him!’ ³¹ And he said to him, ‘Son, ^(W)you are always with me, and all that is mine is yours. ³² It was fitting ^(X)to celebrate and be glad, for this your brother ^(Y)was dead, and is alive; he was lost, and is found.’”