M’Cheyne Bible Reading Plan

47 Then Yosef went in and told Pharaoh, “My father and brothers have come from the land of Kena‘an with their flocks, livestock and all their possessions; right now they are in the land of Goshen.” ² He took five of his brothers and presented them to Pharaoh. ³ Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What is your occupation?” They answered Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, both we and our ancestors,” ⁴ and added, “We have come to live in the land, because in the land of Kena‘an there is no place to pasture your servant’s flocks, the famine is so severe there. Therefore, please, let your servants live in the land of Goshen.” ⁵ Pharaoh said to Yosef, “Your father and brothers have come to you, ⁶ and the land of Egypt lies before you. Have your father and brothers live on the best property in the country — let them live in the land of Goshen. Moreover, if you know that some of them are particularly competent, put them in charge of my livestock.”

⁷ Yosef then brought in Ya‘akov his father and presented him to Pharaoh, and Ya‘akov blessed Pharaoh. ⁸ Pharaoh asked Ya‘akov, “How old are you?” ⁹ and Ya‘akov replied, “The time of my stay on earth has been 130 years; they have been few and difficult, fewer than the years my ancestors lived.” ¹⁰ Then Ya‘akov blessed Pharaoh and left his presence.

(vii) ¹¹ Yosef found a place for his father and brothers and gave them property in the land of Egypt, in the best region of the country, in the land of Ra‘amses, as Pharaoh had ordered. ¹² Yosef provided food for his father, his brothers and all his father’s household, taking full care of even the youngest.

¹³ There was no food anywhere, for the famine was very severe, so that both Egypt and Kena‘an grew weak from hunger. ¹⁴ Yosef collected all the money there was in Egypt and Kena‘an in exchange for the grain they bought, and put the money in Pharaoh’s treasury. ¹⁵ When all the money in Egypt had been spent, and likewise in Kena‘an, all the Egyptians approached Yosef and said, “Give us something to eat, even though we have no money; why should we die before your eyes?” ¹⁶ Yosef replied, “Give me your livestock. If you don’t have money, I will give you food in exchange for your livestock.” ¹⁷ So they brought Yosef their livestock; and Yosef gave them food in exchange for the horses, flocks, cattle and donkeys — all that year he provided them with food in exchange for all their livestock.

¹⁸ When that year was over, they approached Yosef again and said to him, “We won’t hide from my lord that all our money is spent, and the herds of livestock belong to my lord. We have nothing left, as my lord can see, but our bodies and our land. ¹⁹ Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for food, and we and our land will be enslaved to Pharaoh. But also give us seed to plant, so that we can stay alive and not die, and so that the land won’t become barren.” ²⁰ So Yosef acquired all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh, as one by one the Egyptians sold their fields, because the famine weighed on them so severely. Thus the land became the property of Pharaoh. ²¹ As for the people, he reduced them to serfdom city by city, from one end of Egypt’s territory to the other. ²² Only the priests’ land did he not acquire, because the priests were entitled to provisions from Pharaoh, and they ate from what Pharaoh provided them; therefore they did not sell their land.

²³ Then Yosef said to the people, “As of today I have acquired you and your land for Pharaoh. Here is seed for you to sow the land. ²⁴ When harvest time comes, you are to give twenty percent to Pharaoh; eighty percent will be yours to keep for seed to plant in the fields, as well as for your food and for that of your households and your little ones.”

(Maftir) ²⁵ They replied, “You have saved our lives! So if it pleases my lord, we will be Pharaoh’s slaves.” ²⁶ Yosef made it a law for the country of Egypt, valid to this day, that Pharaoh should have twenty percent. Only the property belonging to the priests did not become Pharaoh’s.

²⁷ Isra’el lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. They acquired possessions in it and were productive, and their numbers multiplied greatly.

Haftarah Vayigash: Yechezk’el (Ezekiel) 37:15–28

B’rit Hadashah suggested reading for Parashah Vayigash: Acts 7:9–16 (specifically vv. 13–15)

Parashah 12: Vayechi (He lived) 47:28–50:26

²⁸ Ya‘akov lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years; thus Ya‘akov lived to be 147 years old. ²⁹ The time came when Isra’el was approaching death; so he called for his son Yosef and said to him, “If you truly love me, please put your hand under my thigh and pledge that, out of consideration for me, you will not bury me in Egypt. ³⁰ Rather, when I sleep with my fathers, you are to carry me out of Egypt and bury me where they are buried.” He replied, “I will do as you have said.” ³¹ He said, “Swear it to me,” and he swore to him. Then Isra’el bowed down at the head of his bed.

1 Dear Theophilos:

Concerning the matters that have taken place among us, many people have undertaken to draw up accounts ² based on what was handed down to us by those who from the start were eyewitnesses and proclaimers of the message. ³ Therefore, Your Excellency, since I have carefully investigated all these things from the beginning, it seemed good to me that I too should write you an accurate and ordered narrative, ⁴ so that you might know how well-founded are the things about which you have been taught.

⁵ In the days of Herod, King of Y’hudah, there was a cohen named Z’kharyah who belonged to the Aviyah division. His wife was a descendant of Aharon, and her name was Elisheva. ⁶ Both of them were righteous before God, observing all the mitzvot and ordinances of Adonai blamelessly. ⁷ But they had no children, because Elisheva was barren; and they were both well along in years.

⁸ One time, when Z’kharyah was fulfilling his duties as cohen during his division’s period of service before God, ⁹ he was chosen by lot (according to the custom among the cohanim) to enter the Temple and burn incense. ¹⁰ All the people were outside, praying, at the time of the incense burning, ¹¹ when there appeared to him an angel of Adonai standing to the right of the incense altar. ¹² Z’kharyah was startled and terrified at the sight. ¹³ But the angel said to him, “Don’t be afraid, Z’kharyah; because your prayer has been heard. Your wife Elisheva will bear you a son, and you are to name him Yochanan. ¹⁴ He will be a joy and a delight to you, and many people will rejoice when he is born, ¹⁵ for he will be great in the sight of Adonai. He is never to drink wine or other liquor, and he will be filled with the Ruach HaKodesh even from his mother’s womb. ¹⁶ He will turn many of the people of Isra’el to Adonai their God. ¹⁷ He will go out ahead of Adonai in the spirit and power of Eliyahu to turn the hearts of fathers to their children^[a] and the disobedient to the wisdom of the righteous, to make ready for Adonai a people prepared.”

¹⁸ Z’kharyah said to the angel, “How can I be sure of this? For I am an old man; my wife too is well on in years.” ¹⁹ “I am Gavri’el,” the angel answered him, “and I stand in the presence of God. I was sent to speak to you, to give you this good news. ²⁰ Now, because you didn’t believe what I said, which will be fulfilled when the time comes, you will be silent, unable to speak until the day these things take place.”

²¹ Meanwhile, the people were waiting for Z’kharyah; they were surprised at his taking so long in the Temple. ²² But when he came out unable to talk to them, they realized that he had seen a vision in the Temple; speechless, he communicated to them with signs.

²³ When his period of his Temple service was over, he returned home. ²⁴ Following this, Elisheva his wife conceived, and she remained five months in seclusion, saying, ²⁵ “Adonai has done this for me; he has shown me favor at this time, so as to remove my public disgrace.”

²⁶ In the sixth month, the angel Gavri’el was sent by God to a city in the Galil called Natzeret, ²⁷ to a virgin engaged to a man named Yosef, of the house of David; the virgin’s name was Miryam. ²⁸ Approaching her, the angel said, “Shalom, favored lady! Adonai is with you!” ²⁹ She was deeply troubled by his words and wondered what kind of greeting this might be. ³⁰ The angel said to her, “Don’t be afraid, Miryam, for you have found favor with God. ³¹ Look! You will become pregnant, you will give birth to a son, and you are to name him Yeshua. ³² He will be great, he will be called Son of Ha‘Elyon. Adonai, God, will give him the throne of his forefather David; ³³ and he will rule the House of Ya‘akov forever — there will be no end to his Kingdom.” ³⁴ “How can this be,” asked Miryam of the angel, “since I am a virgin?” ³⁵ The angel answered her,

³⁶ “You have a relative, Elisheva, who is an old woman; and everyone says she is barren. But she has conceived a son and is six months pregnant! ³⁷ For with God, nothing is impossible.” ³⁸ Miryam said, “I am the servant of Adonai; may it happen to me as you have said.” Then the angel left her.

1 From: Sha’ul, called by God’s will to be an emissary of the Messiah Yeshua; and from brother Sosthenes

² To: God’s Messianic community in Corinth, consisting of those who have been set apart by Yeshua the Messiah and called to be God’s holy people — along with everyone everywhere who calls on the name of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah, their Lord as well as ours:

³ Grace to you and shalom from God our Father and the Lord Yeshua the Messiah.

⁴ I thank my God always for you because of God’s love and kindness given to you through the Messiah Yeshua, ⁵ in that you have been enriched by him in so many ways, particularly in power of speech and depth of knowledge. ⁶ Indeed, the testimony about the Messiah has become firmly established in you; ⁷ so that you are not lacking any spiritual gift and are eagerly awaiting the revealing of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah. ⁸ He will enable you to hold out until the end and thus be blameless on the Day of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah — ⁹ God is trustworthy: it was he who called you into fellowship with his Son, Yeshua the Messiah, our Lord.

¹⁰ Nevertheless, brothers, I call on you in the name of our Lord Yeshua the Messiah to agree, all of you, in what you say, and not to let yourselves remain split into factions but be restored to having a common mind and a common purpose. ¹¹ For some of Chloe’s people have made it known to me, my brothers, that there are quarrels among you. ¹² I say this because one of you says, “I follow Sha’ul”; another says, “I follow Apollos”; another, “I follow Kefa”; while still another says, “I follow the Messiah!” ¹³ Has the Messiah been split in pieces? Was it Sha’ul who was put to death on a stake for you? Were you immersed into the name of Sha’ul? ¹⁴ I thank God that I didn’t immerse any of you except Crispus and Gaius — ¹⁵ otherwise someone might say that you were indeed immersed into my name. ¹⁶ (Oh yes, I did also immerse Stephanas and his household; beyond that, I can’t remember whether I immersed anyone else.)

¹⁷ For the Messiah did not send me to immerse but to proclaim the Good News — and to do it without relying on “wisdom” that consists of mere rhetoric, so as not to rob the Messiah’s execution-stake of its power. ¹⁸ For the message about the execution-stake is nonsense to those in the process of being destroyed, but to us in the process of being saved it is the power of God. ¹⁹ Indeed, the Tanakh says,

²⁰ Where does that leave the philosopher, the Torah-teacher, or any of today’s thinkers? Hasn’t God made this world’s wisdom look pretty foolish? ²¹ For God’s wisdom ordained that the world, using its own wisdom, would not come to know him. Therefore God decided to use the “nonsense” of what we proclaim as his means of saving those who come to trust in it. ²² Precisely because Jews ask for signs and Greeks try to find wisdom, ²³ we go on proclaiming a Messiah executed on a stake as a criminal! To Jews this is an obstacle, and to Greeks it is nonsense; ²⁴ but to those who are called, both Jews and Greeks, this same Messiah is God’s power and God’s wisdom! ²⁵ For God’s “nonsense” is wiser than humanity’s “wisdom.”

And God’s “weakness” is stronger than humanity’s “strength.” ²⁶ Just look at yourselves, brothers — look at those whom God has called! Not many of you are wise by the world’s standards, not many wield power or boast noble birth. ²⁷ But God chose what the world considers nonsense in order to shame the wise; God chose what the world considers weak in order to shame the strong; ²⁸ and God chose what the world looks down on as common or regards as nothing in order to bring to nothing what the world considers important; ²⁹ so that no one should boast before God. ³⁰ It is his doing that you are united with the Messiah Yeshua. He has become wisdom for us from God, and righteousness and holiness and redemption as well! ³¹ Therefore — as the Tanakh says — “Let anyone who wants to boast, boast about Adonai.”^[b]