From Famine's Grip to Faith's Legacy

1. Then Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, and said, “My father and my brothers, with their flocks, their herds, and all that they own, have come out of the land of Canaan; and behold, they are in the land of Goshen.” 2. From among his brothers he took five men, and presented them to Pharaoh. 3. Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What is your occupation?” They said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, both we, and our fathers.” 4. They said to Pharaoh, “We have come to live as foreigners in the land, for there is no pasture for your servants’ flocks. For the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now therefore, please let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen.” 5. Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, saying, “Your father and your brothers have come to you. 6. The land of Egypt is before you. Make your father and your brothers dwell in the best of the land. Let them dwell in the land of Goshen. If you know any able men among them, then put them in charge of my livestock.” 7. Joseph brought in Jacob, his father, and set him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. 8. Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How many are the days of the years of your life?” 9. Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred thirty years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.” 10. Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from the presence of Pharaoh. 11. Joseph placed his father and his brothers, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. 12. Joseph nourished his father, his brothers, and all of his father’s household, with bread, according to their families. 13. There was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine. 14. Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the grain which they bought: and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house. 15. When the money was all spent in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph, and said, “Give us bread, for why should we die in your presence? For our money fails.” 16. Joseph said, “Give me your livestock; and I will give you food for your livestock, if your money is gone.” 17. They brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, and for the flocks, and for the herds, and for the donkeys: and he fed them with bread in exchange for all their livestock for that year. 18. When that year was ended, they came to him the second year, and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord how our money is all spent, and the herds of livestock are my lord’s. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands. 19. Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants to Pharaoh. Give us seed, that we may live, and not die, and that the land won’t be desolate.” 20. So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for every man of the Egyptians sold his field, because the famine was severe on them, and the land became Pharaoh’s. 21. As for the people, he moved them to the cities from one end of the border of Egypt even to the other end of it. 22. Only he didn’t buy the land of the priests, for the priests had a portion from Pharaoh, and ate their portion which Pharaoh gave them. That is why they didn’t sell their land. 23. Then Joseph said to the people, “Behold, I have bought you and your land today for Pharaoh. Behold, here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land. 24. It will happen at the harvests, that you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four parts will be your own, for seed of the field, for your food, for them of your households, and for food for your little ones.” 25. They said, “You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.” 26. Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth. Only the land of the priests alone didn’t become Pharaoh’s. 27. Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen; and they got themselves possessions therein, and were fruitful, and multiplied exceedingly. 28. Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were one hundred forty-seven years. 29. The time came near that Israel must die, and he called his son Joseph, and said to him, “If now I have found favor in your sight, please put your hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me. Please don’t bury me in Egypt, 30. but when I sleep with my fathers, you shall carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying place.” He said, “I will do as you have said.” 31. He said, “Swear to me,” and he swore to him. Israel bowed himself on the bed’s head. 1. After these things, someone said to Joseph, “Behold, your father is sick.” He took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. 2. Someone told Jacob, and said, “Behold, your son Joseph comes to you,” and Israel strengthened himself, and sat on the bed. 3. Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me, 4. and said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful, and multiply you, and I will make of you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your offspring after you for an everlasting possession.’ 5. Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you into Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh, even as Reuben and Simeon, will be mine. 6. Your issue, whom you become the father of after them, will be yours. They will be called after the name of their brothers in their inheritance. 7. As for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan on the way, when there was still some distance to come to Ephrath, and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (also called Bethlehem).” 8. Israel saw Joseph’s sons, and said, “Who are these?” 9. Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons, whom God has given me here.” He said, “Please bring them to me, and I will bless them.” 10. Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he couldn’t see. He brought them near to him; and he kissed them, and embraced them. 11. Israel said to Joseph, “I didn’t think I would see your face, and behold, God has let me see your offspring also.” 12. Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth. 13. Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them near to him. 14. Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it on Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands knowingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn. 15. He blessed Joseph, and said, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has fed me all my life long to this day, 16. the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads, and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac. Let them grow into a multitude upon the earth.” 17. When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him. He held up his father’s hand, to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. 18. Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father; for this is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.” 19. His father refused, and said, “I know, my son, I know. He also will become a people, and he also will be great. However, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his offspring will become a multitude of nations.” 20. He blessed them that day, saying, “In you will Israel bless, saying, ‘God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh’” He set Ephraim before Manasseh. 21. Israel said to Joseph, “Behold, I am dying, but God will be with you, and bring you again to the land of your fathers. 22. Moreover I have given to you one portion above your brothers, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.” 1. Jacob called to his sons, and said: “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which will happen to you in the days to come. 2. Assemble yourselves, and hear, you sons of Jacob. Listen to Israel, your father. 3. “Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength; excelling in dignity, and excelling in power. 4. Boiling over like water, you shall not excel; because you went up to your father’s bed, then defiled it. He went up to my couch. 5. “Simeon and Levi are brothers. Their swords are weapons of violence. 6. My soul, don’t come into their council. My glory, don’t be united to their assembly; for in their anger they killed men. In their self-will they hamstrung cattle. 7. Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel. I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel. 8. “Judah, your brothers will praise you. Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies. Your father’s sons will bow down before you. 9. Judah is a lion’s cub. From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down, he crouched as a lion, as a lioness. Who will rouse him up? 10. The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs. To him will the obedience of the peoples be. 11. Binding his foal to the vine, his donkey’s colt to the choice vine; he has washed his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. 12. His eyes will be red with wine, his teeth white with milk. 13. “Zebulun will dwell at the haven of the sea. He will be for a haven of ships. His border will be on Sidon. 14. “Issachar is a strong donkey, lying down between the saddlebags. 15. He saw a resting place, that it was good, the land, that it was pleasant. He bows his shoulder to the burden, and becomes a servant doing forced labor. 16. “Dan will judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. 17. Dan will be a serpent on the trail, an adder in the path, That bites the horse’s heels, so that his rider falls backward. 18. I have waited for your salvation, Yahweh. 19. “A troop will press on Gad, but he will press on their heel. 20. “Asher’s food will be rich. He will produce royal dainties. 21. “Naphtali is a doe set free, who bears beautiful fawns. 22. “Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine by a spring. His branches run over the wall. 23. The archers have severely grieved him, shot at him, and persecuted him: 24. But his bow remained strong. The arms of his hands were made strong, by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, (from there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel), 25. even by the God of your father, who will help you; by the Almighty, who will bless you, with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies below, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb. 26. The blessings of your father have prevailed above the blessings of your ancestors, above the boundaries of the ancient hills. They will be on the head of Joseph, on the crown of the head of him who is separated from his brothers. 27. “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf. In the morning he will devour the prey. At evening he will divide the plunder.” 28. All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke to them and blessed them. He blessed everyone according to his blessing. 29. He instructed them, and said to them, “I am to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 30. in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite as a burial place. 31. There they buried Abraham and Sarah, his wife. There they buried Isaac and Rebekah, his wife, and there I buried Leah: 32. the field and the cave that is therein, which was purchased from the children of Heth.” 33. When Jacob finished charging his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the spirit, and was gathered to his people. 1. Joseph fell on his father’s face, wept on him, and kissed him. 2. Joseph commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father; and the physicians embalmed Israel. 3. Forty days were fulfilled for him, for that is how many the days it takes to embalm. The Egyptians wept for him for seventy days. 4. When the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke to the house of Pharaoh, saying, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, 5. ‘My father made me swear, saying, “Behold, I am dying. Bury me in my grave which I have dug for myself in the land of Canaan.” Now therefore, please let me go up and bury my father, and I will come again.’” 6. Pharaoh said, “Go up, and bury your father, just like he made you swear.” 7. Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, all the elders of the land of Egypt, 8. All the house of Joseph, his brothers, and his father’s house. Only their little ones, their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen. 9. There went up with him both chariots and horsemen. It was a very great company. 10. They came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and there they lamented with a very great and severe lamentation. He mourned for his father seven days. 11. When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous mourning by the Egyptians.” Therefore its name was called Abel Mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan. 12. His sons did to him just as he commanded them, 13. for his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field, as a possession for a burial site, from Ephron the Hittite, near Mamre. 14. Joseph returned into Egypt—he, and his brothers, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father. 15. When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us, and will fully pay us back for all the evil which we did to him.” 16. They sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father commanded before he died, saying, 17. ‘You shall tell Joseph, “Now please forgive the disobedience of your brothers, and their sin, because they did evil to you.”’ Now, please forgive the disobedience of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him. 18. His brothers also went and fell down before his face; and they said, “Behold, we are your servants.” 19. Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for am I in the place of God? 20. As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is today, to save many people alive. 21. Now therefore don’t be afraid. I will nourish you and your little ones.” He comforted them, and spoke kindly to them. 22. Joseph lived in Egypt, he, and his father’s house. Joseph lived one hundred ten years. 23. Joseph saw Ephraim’s children to the third generation. The children also of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were born on Joseph’s knees. 24. Joseph said to his brothers, “I am dying, but God will surely visit you, and bring you up out of this land to the land which he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” 25. Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.” 26. So Joseph died, being one hundred ten years old, and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.

1. Brothers, my heart’s desire and my prayer to God is for Israel, that they may be saved. 2. For I testify about them that they have a zeal for God, but not according to knowledge. 3. For being ignorant of God’s righteousness, and seeking to establish their own righteousness, they didn’t subject themselves to the righteousness of God. 4. For Christ is the fulfillment of the law for righteousness to everyone who believes. 5. For Moses writes about the righteousness of the law, “The one who does them will live by them.” 6. But the righteousness which is of faith says this, “Don’t say in your heart, ‘Who will ascend into heaven?’ (that is, to bring Christ down); 7. or, ‘Who will descend into the abyss?’ (that is, to bring Christ up from the dead.)” 8. But what does it say? “The word is near you, in your mouth, and in your heart”; that is, the word of faith, which we preach: 9. that if you will confess with your mouth that Jesus is Lord, and believe in your heart that God raised him from the dead, you will be saved. 10. For with the heart, one believes unto righteousness; and with the mouth confession is made unto salvation. 11. For the Scripture says, “Whoever believes in him will not be disappointed.” 12. For there is no distinction between Jew and Greek; for the same Lord is Lord of all, and is rich to all who call on him. 13. For, “Whoever will call on the name of the Lord will be saved.” 14. How then will they call on him in whom they have not believed? How will they believe in him whom they have not heard? How will they hear without a preacher? 15. And how will they preach unless they are sent? As it is written: “How beautiful are the feet of those who preach the Good News of peace, who bring glad tidings of good things!” 16. But they didn’t all listen to the glad news. For Isaiah says, “Lord, who has believed our report?” 17. So faith comes by hearing, and hearing by the word of God. 18. But I say, didn’t they hear? Yes, most certainly, “Their sound went out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world.” 19. But I ask, didn’t Israel know? First Moses says, “I will provoke you to jealousy with that which is no nation, with a nation void of understanding I will make you angry.” 20. Isaiah is very bold, and says, “I was found by those who didn’t seek me. I was revealed to those who didn’t ask for me.” 21. But as to Israel he says, “All day long I stretched out my hands to a disobedient and contrary people.” 1. I ask then, did God reject his people? May it never be! For I also am an Israelite, a descendant of Abraham, of the tribe of Benjamin. 2. God didn’t reject his people, which he foreknew. Or don’t you know what the Scripture says about Elijah? How he pleads with God against Israel: 3. “Lord, they have killed your prophets, they have broken down your altars; and I am left alone, and they seek my life.” 4. But how does God answer him? “I have reserved for myself seven thousand men, who have not bowed the knee to Baal.” 5. Even so then at this present time also there is a remnant according to the election of grace. 6. And if by grace, then it is no longer of works; otherwise grace is no longer grace. But if it is of works, it is no longer grace; otherwise work is no longer work. 7. What then? That which Israel seeks for, that he didn’t obtain, but the chosen ones obtained it, and the rest were hardened. 8. According as it is written, “God gave them a spirit of stupor, eyes that they should not see, and ears that they should not hear, to this very day.” 9. David says, “Let their table be made a snare, and a trap, a stumbling block, and a retribution to them. 10. Let their eyes be darkened, that they may not see. Bow down their back always.” 11. I ask then, did they stumble that they might fall? May it never be! But by their fall salvation has come to the Gentiles, to provoke them to jealousy. 12. Now if their fall is the riches of the world, and their loss the riches of the Gentiles; how much more their fullness? 13. For I speak to you who are Gentiles. Since then as I am an apostle to Gentiles, I glorify my ministry; 14. if by any means I may provoke to jealousy those who are my flesh, and may save some of them. 15. For if the rejection of them is the reconciling of the world, what would their acceptance be, but life from the dead? 16. If the first fruit is holy, so is the lump. If the root is holy, so are the branches. 17. But if some of the branches were broken off, and you, being a wild olive, were grafted in among them, and became partaker with them of the root and of the richness of the olive tree; 18. don’t boast over the branches. But if you boast, it is not you who support the root, but the root supports you. 19. You will say then, “Branches were broken off, that I might be grafted in.” 20. True; by their unbelief they were broken off, and you stand by your faith. Don’t be conceited, but fear; 21. for if God didn’t spare the natural branches, neither will he spare you. 22. See then the goodness and severity of God. Toward those who fell, severity; but toward you, goodness, if you continue in his goodness; otherwise you also will be cut off. 23. They also, if they don’t continue in their unbelief, will be grafted in, for God is able to graft them in again. 24. For if you were cut out of that which is by nature a wild olive tree, and were grafted contrary to nature into a good olive tree, how much more will these, which are the natural branches, be grafted into their own olive tree? 25. For I don’t desire you to be ignorant, brothers, of this mystery, so that you won’t be wise in your own conceits, that a partial hardening has happened to Israel, until the fullness of the Gentiles has come in, 26. and so all Israel will be saved. Even as it is written, “There will come out of Zion the Deliverer, and he will turn away ungodliness from Jacob. 27. This is my covenant with them, when I will take away their sins.” 28. Concerning the Good News, they are enemies for your sake. But concerning the election, they are beloved for the fathers’ sake. 29. For the gifts and the calling of God are irrevocable. 30. For as you in time past were disobedient to God, but now have obtained mercy by their disobedience, 31. even so these also have now been disobedient, that by the mercy shown to you they may also obtain mercy. 32. For God has shut up all to disobedience, that he might have mercy on all. 33. Oh the depth of the riches both of the wisdom and the knowledge of God! How unsearchable are his judgments, and his ways past tracing out! 34. “For who has known the mind of the Lord? Or who has been his counselor?” 35. “Or who has first given to him, and it will be repaid to him again?” 36. For of him, and through him, and to him, are all things. To him be the glory for ever! Amen. 1. Therefore I urge you, brothers, by the mercies of God, to present your bodies a living sacrifice, holy, acceptable to God, which is your spiritual service. 2. Don’t be conformed to this world, but be transformed by the renewing of your mind, so that you may prove what is the good, well-pleasing, and perfect will of God. 3. For I say, through the grace that was given me, to every man who is among you, not to think of himself more highly than he ought to think; but to think reasonably, as God has apportioned to each person a measure of faith. 4. For even as we have many members in one body, and all the members don’t have the same function, 5. so we, who are many, are one body in Christ, and individually members one of another. 6. Having gifts differing according to the grace that was given to us, if prophecy, let us prophesy according to the proportion of our faith; 7. or service, let us give ourselves to service; or he who teaches, to his teaching; 8. or he who exhorts, to his exhorting: he who gives, let him do it with generosity; he who rules, with diligence; he who shows mercy, with cheerfulness. 9. Let love be without hypocrisy. Abhor that which is evil. Cling to that which is good. 10. In love of the brothers be tenderly affectionate to one another; in honor preferring one another; 11. not lagging in diligence; fervent in spirit; serving the Lord; 12. rejoicing in hope; enduring in troubles; continuing steadfastly in prayer; 13. contributing to the needs of the saints; given to hospitality. 14. Bless those who persecute you; bless, and don’t curse. 15. Rejoice with those who rejoice. Weep with those who weep. 16. Be of the same mind one toward another. Don’t set your mind on high things, but associate with the humble. Don’t be wise in your own conceits. 17. Repay no one evil for evil. Respect what is honorable in the sight of all men. 18. If it is possible, as much as it is up to you, be at peace with all men. 19. Don’t seek revenge yourselves, beloved, but give place to God’s wrath. For it is written, “Vengeance belongs to me; I will repay, says the Lord.” 20. Therefore “If your enemy is hungry, feed him. If he is thirsty, give him a drink; for in doing so, you will heap coals of fire on his head.” 21. Don’t be overcome by evil, but overcome evil with good.

1. Hear my voice, God, in my complaint. Preserve my life from fear of the enemy. 2. Hide me from the conspiracy of the wicked, from the noisy crowd of the ones doing evil; 3. who sharpen their tongue like a sword, and aim their arrows, deadly words, 4. to shoot innocent men from ambushes. They shoot at him suddenly and fearlessly. 5. They encourage themselves in evil plans. They talk about laying snares secretly. They say, “Who will see them?” 6. They plot injustice, saying, “We have made a perfect plan!” Surely man’s mind and heart are cunning. 7. But God will shoot at them. They will be suddenly struck down with an arrow. 8. Their own tongues shall ruin them. All who see them will shake their heads. 9. All mankind shall be afraid. They shall declare the work of God, and shall wisely ponder what he has done. 10. The righteous shall be glad in Yahweh, and shall take refuge in him. All the upright in heart shall praise him!