The Daily Audio Bible

¹⁸ Joseph said to them the third day, “Do this and live, for I fear God. ¹⁹ If you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined in your prison house. The rest of you go and carry grain for the famine of your households. ²⁰ Nevertheless, bring your youngest brother to me so that your words may be verified and you shall not die.” And they did so.

²¹ Then they said one to another, “We are guilty concerning our brother, because we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, but we would not listen. Therefore, this distress has come upon us.”

²² Reuben answered them, saying, “Did I not speak to you, saying, ‘Do not sin against the boy’; and you would not listen? Therefore, his blood is now required of us.” ²³ They did not know that Joseph understood them, for he spoke to them through an interpreter.

²⁴ He turned himself away from them and wept, but then turned back to them again and spoke with them. Then he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes.

²⁵ Joseph then gave the command to fill their sacks with grain and to restore every man’s money to his sack and to give them provisions for the way. And it was done for them.

Joseph’s Brothers Return Home

²⁶ They loaded their donkeys with the grain and departed from there.

²⁷ As one of them opened his sack to give his donkey feed in the lodging place, he saw his money. It was in the mouth of his sack. ²⁸ And he said to his brothers, “My money has been returned. Here it is in my sack!”

Then their hearts sank, and they were afraid, saying to one another, “What is this that God has done to us?”

²⁹ They came to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan and told him all that had happened to them, saying, ³⁰ “The man, the lord of the land, spoke harshly to us and took us for spies of the country. ³¹ And we said to him, ‘We are honest men. We are not spies. ³² We are twelve brothers, all sons of our father. One is no longer living, and the youngest is with our father today in the land of Canaan.’

³³ “The man, the lord of the country, said to us, ‘Here is how I may know that you are honest men. Leave one of your brothers here with me, take food for the famine of your households, and be gone. ³⁴ But bring your youngest brother back to me. Then I will know that you are not spies, but that you are honest men. Then I will deliver your brother to you, and you may trade in the land.’ ”

³⁵ As they emptied their sacks, every man’s bundle of money was in his sack. When both they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid. ³⁶ Then Jacob their father said to them, “You have bereaved me of my children! Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you will take Benjamin away. All these things are against me.”

³⁷ Reuben spoke to his father, saying, “Kill my two sons if I fail to bring him to you. Put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you.”

³⁸ But Jacob said, “My son must not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he alone is left. If harm should happen to him on the journey you are to make, then you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.”

Joseph’s Brothers Return With Benjamin

43 Now the famine was severe in the land. ² When they had eaten up the grain which they had brought out of Egypt, their father said to them, “Go back and buy us a little food.”

³ Judah spoke to him, saying, “The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ ⁴ If you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy food for you. ⁵ But if you will 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 Israel said, “Why did you treat me so badly as to tell the man that you had another brother?”

⁷ And they said, “The man asked us directly about ourselves and our family, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ So we answered his questions. How could we even know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?”

⁸ And Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the boy with me, and we will arise and go, so that we may live and not die, both we and you, and also our little ones. ⁹ I will be a surety for him. You may hold me personally responsible for him. If I fail to bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever. ¹⁰ For if we had not delayed, we could have returned twice.”

¹¹ Their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, do this. Take some of the best fruits in the land in your bags, and carry down a present for the man: a little balm and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds. ¹² Take double the money with you, along with the money that was brought back in the mouths of your sacks. Carry it with you again. Perhaps it was a mistake. ¹³ Also, take your brother and arise, return to the man. ¹⁴ And may God Almighty give you mercy before the man, so that he may send away your other brother, along with Benjamin. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.”

¹⁵ The men took the gift, and they took double the money with them, along with Benjamin. Then they went on their way down to Egypt and stood before Joseph. ¹⁶ When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the house steward, “Bring these men home, slaughter an animal and prepare it, for these men will dine with me at noon.”

¹⁷ The man did as Joseph ordered, so the man brought the men into Joseph’s house. ¹⁸ The men were afraid because they were brought into Joseph’s house. They said, “We have been brought in because of the money that was returned in our sacks the first time, so that he may seek occasion against us and fall upon us and take us for slaves with our donkeys.”

The Feast With Joseph

¹⁹ They approached the steward of Joseph’s house, and they spoke with him at the entrance of the house. ²⁰ They said, “My lord, we indeed came down the first time to buy food. ²¹ When we came to the lodging place, we opened our sacks and realized every man’s money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight. So we have brought it again with us. ²² We have also brought additional money with us to buy food. We cannot tell who put our money in our sacks.”

²³ He said, “Be at peace; do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks. I had your money.” Then he brought Simeon out to them.

²⁴ The man brought the men into Joseph’s house and gave them water to wash their feet and gave feed to their donkeys. ²⁵ Then they made ready the gift for Joseph’s coming at noon, for they heard that they would be eating a meal there.

²⁶ When Joseph came home, they brought into the house to him the present that they had with them and bowed themselves to him to the ground. ²⁷ He asked them about their well-being and said, “Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?”

²⁸ And they answered, “Your servant our father is in good health. He is still alive.” And they bowed down their heads and prostrated themselves.

²⁹ He lifted up his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, and said, “Is this your younger brother of whom you spoke to me?” And he said, “God be gracious to you, my son.” ³⁰ Joseph hurried out, for he was deeply moved over his brother and sought a place to weep. So he entered into his chamber and wept there.

³¹ Then he washed his face and came out. Controlling himself, he said, “Serve the food.”

³² They served him by himself and them by themselves and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because the Egyptians could not eat a meal with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians. ³³ They sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth, and the men looked at one another in astonishment. ³⁴ He gave them portions from his own table, but Benjamin’s serving was five times more than any of theirs. So they drank and feasted with him.

The Parable of the Net

⁴⁷ “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a net that was cast into the sea and gathered all kinds of fish. ⁴⁸ When it was full, they drew it to shore, sat down, and gathered the good into baskets, but threw the bad away. ⁴⁹ So shall it be at the end of the world. The angels will come out and separate the evil from the righteous ⁵⁰ and throw them into the fiery furnace. There will be wailing and gnashing of teeth.”

Treasures New and Old

⁵¹ Jesus said to them, “Have you understood all of these things?”

They said to Him, “Yes, Lord.”

⁵² Then He said to them, “Therefore every scribe who is discipled for the kingdom of heaven is like a man who is master of the household who brings out of his treasure new and old things.”

The Rejection of Jesus at Nazareth^(A)

⁵³ When Jesus finished these parables, He departed from there. ⁵⁴ When He came to His own country, He taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished, and said, “Where did this Man get this wisdom and these mighty works? ⁵⁵ Is He not the carpenter’s son? Is His mother not called Mary? And are not His brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? ⁵⁶ And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this Man get all these things?” ⁵⁷ And they took offense at Him.

But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.”

⁵⁸ And He did not do many mighty works there because of their unbelief.

The Death of John the Baptist^(B)

14 At that time Herod the tetrarch heard of the fame of Jesus, ² and said to his servants, “This is John the Baptist; he has risen from the dead. And therefore mighty works are at work in him.”

³ For Herod had laid hold of John, bound him, and put him in prison for the sake of Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife. ⁴ For John said to him, “It is not lawful for you to have her.” ⁵ When Herod would have put him to death, he feared the crowd, because they counted him as a prophet.

⁶ But when Herod’s birthday was celebrated, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod. ⁷ Therefore he promised with an oath to give her whatever she would ask. ⁸ Being previously instructed by her mother, she said, “Give me John the Baptist’s head on a platter.” ⁹ The king was sorry. Nevertheless, for the oath’s sake and those who sat with him at supper, he commanded it to be given to her. ¹⁰ He sent and beheaded John in the prison. ¹¹ His head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. ¹² His disciples came and took up the body and buried it. And they went and told Jesus.