The Brothers Are Brought Back

44 ^(A)Then he commanded his house steward, saying, “Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man’s money in the mouth of his sack. ² Put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest, and his money for the grain.” And he did ^[a]as Joseph had told him. ^3 [b]As soon as it was light, the men were sent away, they with their donkeys. ⁴ They had just gone out of ^(B)the city, and were not far off, when Joseph said to his house steward, “Up, follow the men; and when you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid evil for good? ⁵ Is not this the one from which my lord drinks and which he indeed uses for ^(C)divination? You have done wrong in doing this.’”

⁶ So he overtook them and spoke these words to them. ⁷ They said to him, “Why does my lord speak such words as these? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing. ⁸ Behold, ^(D)the money which we found in the mouth of our sacks we have brought back to you from the land of Canaan. How then could we steal silver or gold from your lord’s house? ^9 (E)With whomever of your servants it is found, let him die, and we also will be my lord’s ^(F)slaves.” ¹⁰ So he said, “Now let it also be according to your words; he with whom it is found shall be my slave, and the rest of you shall be innocent.” ¹¹ Then they hurried, each man lowered his sack to the ground, and each man opened his sack. ¹² He searched, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest, and ^(G)the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. ¹³ Then they ^(H)tore their clothes, and when each man loaded his donkey, they returned to ^(I)the city.

¹⁴ When Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, he was still there, and ^(J)they fell to the ground before him. ¹⁵ Joseph said to them, “What is this deed that you have done? Do you not know that such a man as I can indeed practice ^(K)divination?” ¹⁶ So Judah said, “What can we say to my lord? What can we speak? And how can we justify ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants; behold, we are my lord’s ^(L)slaves, both we and the one in whose ^[c]possession the cup has been found.” ¹⁷ But he said, “Far be it from me to do this. The man in whose ^[d]possession the cup has been found, he shall be my slave; but as for you, go up in peace to your father.”

¹⁸ Then Judah approached him, and said, “Oh my lord, may your servant please speak a word in my lord’s ears, and ^[e](M)do not be angry with your servant; for ^(N)you are equal to Pharaoh. ^19 (O)My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father or a brother?’ ²⁰ We said to my lord, ‘We have an old father and ^(P)a little child of his old age. Now ^(Q)his brother is dead, so he alone is left of his mother, and his father loves him.’ ²¹ Then you said to your servants, ‘^(R)Bring him down to me that I may set my eyes on him.’ ²² But we said to my lord, ‘The lad cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, ^[f]his father would die.’ ²³ You said to your servants, however, ‘^(S)Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.’ ²⁴ Thus it came about when we went up to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord. ^25 (T)Our father said, ‘Go back, buy us a little food.’ ²⁶ But we said, ‘We cannot go down. If our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down; for we cannot see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’ ²⁷ Your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that ^(U)my wife bore me two sons; ²⁸ and the one went out from me, and ^(V)I said, “Surely he is torn in pieces,” and I have not seen him since. ²⁹ If you take this one also from ^[g]me, and harm befalls him, you will ^(W)bring my gray hair down to Sheol in ^[h]sorrow.’ ³⁰ Now, therefore, when I come to your servant my father, and the lad is not with us, since ^[i](X)his life is bound up in the lad’s life, ³¹ when he sees that the lad is not with us, he will die. Thus your servants will ^(Y)bring the gray hair of your servant our father down to Sheol in sorrow. ³² For your servant ^(Z)became surety for the lad to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then ^[j]let me bear the blame before my father forever.’ ³³ Now, therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the lad a slave to my lord, and let the lad go up with his brothers. ³⁴ For how shall I go up to my father if the lad is not with me—for fear that I see the evil that would ^[k]overtake my father?”

The Transfiguration

9 And Jesus was saying to them, “^(A)Truly I say to you, there are some of those who are standing here who will not taste death until they see the kingdom of God after it has come with power.”

^2 (B)Six days later, Jesus *took with Him ^(C)Peter and ^[a]James and John, and *brought them up on a high mountain by themselves. And He was transfigured before them; ³ and ^(D)His garments became radiant and exceedingly white, as no launderer on earth can whiten them. ⁴ Elijah appeared to them along with Moses; and they were talking with Jesus. ⁵ Peter *said to Jesus, “^(E)Rabbi, it is good for us to be here; ^(F)let us make three ^[b]tabernacles, one for You, and one for Moses, and one for Elijah.” ⁶ For he did not know what to answer; for they became terrified. ⁷ Then a cloud ^[c]formed, overshadowing them, and ^(G)a voice ^[d]came out of the cloud, “^(H)This is My beloved Son, ^[e]listen to Him!” ⁸ All at once they looked around and saw no one with them anymore, except Jesus alone.

^9 (I)As they were coming down from the mountain, He ^(J)gave them orders not to relate to anyone what they had seen, ^[f]until the Son of Man rose from the dead. ¹⁰ They ^[g]seized upon ^[h]that statement, discussing with one another ^[i]what rising from the dead meant. ¹¹ They asked Him, saying, “Why is it that the scribes say that ^(K)Elijah must come first?” ¹² And He said to them, “Elijah does first come and restore all things. And yet how is it written of ^(L)the Son of Man that ^(M)He will suffer many things and be treated with contempt? ¹³ But I say to you that Elijah has ^[j]indeed come, and they did to him whatever they wished, just as it is written of him.”

All Things Possible

^14 (N)When they came back to the disciples, they saw a large crowd around them, and some scribes arguing with them. ¹⁵ Immediately, when the entire crowd saw Him, they were ^(O)amazed and began running up to greet Him. ¹⁶ And He asked them, “What are you discussing with them?” ¹⁷ And one of the crowd answered Him, “Teacher, I brought You my son, possessed with a spirit which makes him mute; ¹⁸ and ^[k]whenever it seizes him, it ^[l]slams him to the ground and he foams at the mouth, and grinds his teeth and ^[m]stiffens out. I told Your disciples to cast it out, and they could not do it.” ¹⁹ And He *answered them and *said, “O unbelieving generation, how long shall I be with you? How long shall I put up with you? Bring him to Me!” ²⁰ They brought ^[n]the boy to Him. When he saw Him, immediately the spirit threw him into a convulsion, and falling to the ground, he began rolling around and foaming at the mouth. ²¹ And He asked his father, “How long has this been happening to him?” And he said, “From childhood. ²² It has often thrown him both into the fire and into the water to destroy him. But if You can do anything, take pity on us and help us!” ²³ And Jesus said to him, “‘If You can?’ ^(P)All things are possible to him who believes.” ²⁴ Immediately the boy’s father cried out and said, “I do believe; help my unbelief.” ²⁵ When Jesus saw that ^(Q)a crowd was ^[o]rapidly gathering, He rebuked the unclean spirit, saying to it, “You deaf and mute spirit, I ^[p]command you, come out of him and do not enter him ^[q]again.” ²⁶ After crying out and throwing him into terrible convulsions, it came out; and the boy became so much like a corpse that most of them said, “He is dead!” ²⁷ But Jesus took him by the hand and raised him; and he got up. ²⁸ When He came ^(R)into the house, His disciples began questioning Him privately, “Why could we not drive it out?” ²⁹ And He said to them, “This kind cannot come out by anything but prayer.”