M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

Parashah 10: Mikketz (At the end) 41:1–44:17

41 At the end of two years, Pharaoh had a dream: he was standing beside the Nile River; ² and there came up out of the river seven cows, sleek and fat; and they began feeding in swamp grass. ³ After them, there came up out of the river seven more cows, miserable-looking and lean; and they stood by the other cows at the edge of the river. ⁴ Then the miserable-looking and lean cows ate up the seven sleek, fat cows. At this point Pharaoh woke up. ⁵ But he went to sleep again and dreamt a second time: seven full, ripe ears of grain grew out of a single stalk. ⁶ After them, seven ears, thin and blasted by the east wind, sprang up. ⁷ And the thin ears swallowed up the seven full, ripe ears. Then Pharaoh woke up and realized it had been a dream.

⁸ In the morning he found himself so upset that he summoned all the magicians of Egypt and all its wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but no one there could interpret them for him. ⁹ Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, “Today reminds me of something wherein I am at fault: ¹⁰ Pharaoh was angry with his officials and put me in the prison of the house of the captain of the guard, me and the chief baker. ¹¹ One night both I and he had dreams, and each man’s dream had its own meaning. ¹² There was with us a young man, a Hebrew, a servant of the captain of the guard; and we told him our dreams, and he interpreted them for us — he interpreted each man’s dream individually. ¹³ And it came about as he interpreted to us — I was restored to my office, and he was hanged.”

¹⁴ Then Pharaoh summoned Yosef, and they brought him quickly out of the dungeon. He shaved himself, changed his clothes, and came in to Pharaoh.

(A: ii) ¹⁵ Pharaoh said to Yosef, “I had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it; but I’ve heard it said about you that when you hear a dream, you can interpret it.” ¹⁶ Yosef answered Pharaoh, “It isn’t in me. God will give Pharaoh an answer that will set his mind at peace.” (S: ii) ¹⁷ Pharaoh said to Yosef, “In my dream, I stood at the edge of the river; ¹⁸ and there came up out of the river seven cows, fat and sleek; and they began feeding in the swamp grass. ¹⁹ After them, there came up out of the river seven more cows, poor, miserable-looking and lean — I’ve never seen such bad-looking cows in all the land of Egypt! ²⁰ Then the lean and miserable-looking cows ate up the first seven fat cows. ²¹ But after they had eaten them up, one couldn’t tell that they had eaten them; because they were as miserable-looking as before. At this point I woke up. ²² But I dreamed again and saw seven full, ripe ears of grain growing out of a single stalk. ²³ After them, seven ears, thin and blasted by the east wind, sprang up. ²⁴ And the thin ears swallowed up the seven ripe ears. I told this to the magicians, but none of them could explain it to me.”

²⁵ Yosef said to Pharaoh, “The dreams of Pharaoh are the same: God has told Pharaoh what he is about to do. ²⁶ The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears of grain are seven years — the dreams are the same. ²⁷ Likewise the seven lean and miserable-looking cows that came up after them are seven years, and also the seven empty ears blasted by the east wind — there will be seven years of famine. ²⁸ This is what I told Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do. ²⁹ Here it is: there will be seven years of abundance throughout the whole land of Egypt; ³⁰ but afterwards, there will come seven years of famine; and Egypt will forget all the abundance. The famine will consume the land, ³¹ and the abundance will not be known in the land because of the famine that will follow, because it will be truly terrible. ³² Why was the dream doubled for Pharaoh? Because the matter has been fixed by God, and God will shortly cause it to happen.

³³ “Therefore, Pharaoh should look for a man both discreet and wise to put in charge of the land of Egypt. ³⁴ Pharaoh should do this, and he should appoint supervisors over the land to receive a twenty percent tax on the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven years of abundance. ³⁵ They should gather all the food produced during these good years coming up and set aside grain under the supervision of Pharaoh to be used for food in the cities, and they should store it. ³⁶ This will be the land’s food supply for the seven years of famine that will come over the land of Egypt, so that the land will not perish as a result of the famine.”

³⁷ The proposal seemed good both to Pharaoh and to all his officials. ³⁸ Pharaoh said to his officials, “Can we find anyone else like him? The Spirit of God lives in him!”

(iii) ³⁹ So Pharaoh said to Yosef, “Since God has shown you all this — there is no one as discerning and wise as you — ⁴⁰ you will be in charge of my household; all my people will be ruled by what you say. Only when I rule from my throne will I be greater than you.” ⁴¹ Pharaoh said to Yosef, “Here, I place you in charge of the whole land of Egypt.” ⁴² Pharaoh took his signet ring off his hand and put it on Yosef’s hand, had him clothed in fine linen with a gold chain around his neck ⁴³ and had him ride in his second best chariot; and they cried before him, “Bow down!” Thus he placed him in charge of the whole land of Egypt. ⁴⁴ Pharaoh said to Yosef, “I, Pharaoh, decree that without your approval no one is to raise his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt.” ⁴⁵ Pharaoh called Yosef by the name Tzafnat-Pa‘neach and gave him as his wife Osnat the daughter of Poti-Fera priest of On. Then Yosef went out through all the land of Egypt.

⁴⁶ Yosef was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt; then he left Pharaoh’s presence and traveled through all the land of Egypt. ⁴⁷ During the seven years of abundance, the earth brought forth heaps of produce. ⁴⁸ He collected all the food of these seven years in the land of Egypt and stored it in the cities — the food grown in the fields outside each city he stored in that city. ⁴⁹ Yosef stored grain in quantities like the sand on the seashore, so much that they stopped counting, because it was beyond measure.

⁵⁰ Two sons were born to Yosef before the year of famine came; Osnat the daughter of Poti-Fera priest of On bore them to him. ⁵¹ Yosef called the firstborn M’nasheh [causing to forget], “Because God has caused me to forget all the troubles I suffered at the hands of my family.” ⁵² The second he called Efrayim [fruit], “For God has made me fruitful in the land of my misfortune.”

(iv) ⁵³ The seven years of abundance in the land of Egypt ended; ⁵⁴ and the seven years of famine began to come, just as Yosef had said. There was famine in all lands, but throughout the land of Egypt there was food. ⁵⁵ When the whole land of Egypt started feeling the famine, the people cried to Pharaoh for food, and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Yosef, and do what he tells you to do.” ⁵⁶ The famine was over all the earth, but then Yosef opened all the storehouses and sold food to the Egyptians, since the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. ⁵⁷ Moreover all countries came to Egypt to Yosef to buy grain, because the famine was severe throughout the earth.

11 As they were approaching Yerushalayim, near Beit-Pagei and Beit-Anyah, by the Mount of Olives, Yeshua sent two of his talmidim ² with these instructions: “Go into the village ahead of you; and as soon as you enter it, you will find a colt tied there that has never been ridden. Untie it, and bring it here. ³ If anyone asks you, ‘Why are you doing this?’ tell him, ‘The Lord needs it,’ and he will send it here right away.”

⁴ They went off and found a colt in the street tied in a doorway, and they untied it. ⁵ The bystanders said to them, “What are you doing, untying that colt?” ⁶ They gave the answer Yeshua had told them to give, and they let them continue. ⁷ They brought the colt to Yeshua and threw their robes on it, and he sat on it.

⁸ Many people carpeted the road with their clothing, while others spread out green branches which they had cut in the fields. ⁹ Those who were ahead and those behind shouted,

¹¹ Yeshua entered Yerushalayim, went into the Temple courts and took a good look at everything; but since it was now late, he went out with the Twelve to Beit-Anyah.

¹² The next day, as they came back from Beit-Anyah, he felt hungry. ¹³ Spotting in the distance a fig tree in leaf, he went to see if he could find anything on it. When he came up to it, he found nothing but leaves; for it wasn’t fig season. ¹⁴ He said to it, “May no one ever eat fruit from you again!” And his talmidim heard what he said.

¹⁵ On reaching Yerushalayim, he entered the Temple courts and began driving out those who were carrying on business there, both the merchants and their customers. He also knocked over the desks of the money-changers, upset the benches of the pigeon-dealers, ¹⁶ and refused to let anyone carry merchandise through the Temple courts. ¹⁷ Then, as he taught them, he said, “Isn’t it written in the Tanakh, My house will be called a house of prayer for all the Goyim^[f] But you have made it into a den of robbers!”^{[g] 18} The head cohanim and the Torah-teachers heard what he said and tried to find a way to do away with him; they were afraid of him, because the crowds were utterly taken by his teaching. ¹⁹ When evening came, they left the city.

²⁰ In the morning, as the talmidim passed by, they saw the fig tree withered all the way to its roots. ²¹ Kefa remembered and said to Yeshua, “Rabbi! Look! The fig tree that you cursed has dried up!” ²² He responded, “Have the kind of trust that comes from God! ²³ Yes! I tell you that whoever does not doubt in his heart but trusts that what he says will happen can say to this mountain, ‘Go and throw yourself into the sea!’ and it will be done for him. ²⁴ Therefore, I tell you, whatever you ask for in prayer, trust that you are receiving it, and it will be yours. ²⁵ And when you stand praying, if you have anything against anyone, forgive him; so that your Father in heaven may also forgive your offenses.” ^26 [h]

²⁷ They went back into Yerushalayim; and as he was walking in the Temple courts, there came to him the head cohanim, the Torah-teachers and the elders; ²⁸ and they said to him, “What s’mikhah do you have that authorizes you to do these things? Who gave you this s’mikhah authorizing you to do them?” ²⁹ Yeshua said to them, “I will ask you just one question: answer me, and I will tell you by what s’mikhah I do these things. ³⁰ The immersion of Yochanan — was it from Heaven or from a human source? Answer me.” ³¹ They discussed it among themselves: “If we say, ‘From Heaven,’ he will say, ‘Then why didn’t you believe him?’ ³² But if we say, ‘From a human source, . . . ’” — they were afraid of the people, for they all regarded Yochanan as a genuine prophet. ³³ So they answered Yeshua, “We don’t know.” “Then,” he replied, “I won’t tell you by what s’mikhah I do these things.”

11 “In that case, I say, isn’t it that God has repudiated his people?” Heaven forbid! For I myself am a son of Isra’el, from the seed of Avraham,^[a] of the tribe of Binyamin. ² God has not repudiated his people,^[b] whom he chose in advance. Or don’t you know what the Tanakh says about Eliyahu? He pleads with God against Isra’el, ³ “Adonai, they have killed your prophets and torn down your altars, and I’m the only one left, and now they want to kill me too!”^{[c] 4} But what is God’s answer to him? “I have kept for myself seven thousand men who have not knelt down to Ba‘al.”^{[d] 5} It’s the same way in the present age: there is a remnant, chosen by grace. ⁶ (Now if it is by grace, it is accordingly not based on legalistic works; if it were otherwise, grace would no longer be grace.) ⁷ What follows is that Isra’el has not attained the goal for which she is striving. The ones chosen have obtained it, but the rest have been made stonelike, ⁸ just as the Tanakh says,

⁹ And David says,

¹¹ “In that case, I say, isn’t it that they have stumbled with the result that they have permanently fallen away?” Heaven forbid! Quite the contrary, it is by means of their stumbling that the deliverance has come to the Gentiles, in order to provoke them to jealousy.^{[g] 12} Moreover, if their stumbling is bringing riches to the world — that is, if Isra’el’s being placed temporarily in a condition less favored than that of the Gentiles is bringing riches to the latter — how much greater riches will Isra’el in its fullness bring them!

¹³ However, to those of you who are Gentiles I say this: since I myself am an emissary sent to the Gentiles, I make known the importance of my work ¹⁴ in the hope that somehow I may provoke some of my own people to jealousy and save some of them! ¹⁵ For if their casting Yeshua aside means reconciliation for the world, what will their accepting him mean? It will be life from the dead!

¹⁶ Now if the hallah offered as firstfruits is holy, so is the whole loaf. And if the root is holy, so are the branches. ¹⁷ But if some of the branches were broken off, and you — a wild olive — were grafted in among them and have become equal sharers in the rich root of the olive tree, ¹⁸ then don’t boast as if you were better than the branches! However, if you do boast, remember that you are not supporting the root, the root is supporting you. ¹⁹ So you will say, “Branches were broken off so that I might be grafted in.” ²⁰ True, but so what? They were broken off because of their lack of trust. However, you keep your place only because of your trust. So don’t be arrogant; on the contrary, be terrified! ²¹ For if God did not spare the natural branches, he certainly won’t spare you! ²² So take a good look at God’s kindness and his severity: on the one hand, severity toward those who fell off; but, on the other hand, God’s kindness toward you — provided you maintain yourself in that kindness! Otherwise, you too will be cut off! ²³ Moreover, the others, if they do not persist in their lack of trust, will be grafted in; because God is able to graft them back in. ²⁴ For if you were cut out of what is by nature a wild olive tree and grafted, contrary to nature, into a cultivated olive tree, how much more will these natural branches be grafted back into their own olive tree!

²⁵ For, brothers, I want you to understand this truth which God formerly concealed but has now revealed, so that you won’t imagine you know more than you actually do. It is that stoniness, to a degree, has come upon Isra’el, until the Gentile world enters in its fullness; ²⁶ and that it is in this way that all Isra’el will be saved. As the Tanakh says,

²⁸ With respect to the Good News they are hated for your sake. But with respect to being chosen they are loved for the Patriarchs’ sake, ²⁹ for God’s free gifts and his calling are irrevocable. ³⁰ Just as you yourselves were disobedient to God before but have received mercy now because of Isra’el’s disobedience; ³¹ so also Isra’el has been disobedient now, so that by your showing them the same mercy that God has shown you, they too may now receive God’s mercy. ³² For God has shut up all mankind together in disobedience, in order that he might show mercy to all.