One Year Bible.

Joseph’s Brothers Sent to Egypt

¹When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why are you staring at one another?”

²“Look,” he added, “I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die.”

³So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. ⁴But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he said, “I am afraid that harm might befall him.”

⁵So the sons of Israel were among those who came to buy grain, since the famine had also spread to the land of Canaan.

⁶Now Joseph was the ruler of the land; he was the one who sold grain to all its people. So when his brothers arrived, they bowed down before him with their faces to the ground. ⁷And when Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he treated them as strangers and spoke harshly to them. “Where have you come from?” he asked.

“From the land of Canaan,” they replied. “We are here to buy food.”

⁸Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him. ⁹Joseph remembered his dreams about them and said, “You are spies! You have come to see if our land is vulnerable.”

¹⁰“Not so, my lord,” they replied. “Your servants have come to buy food. ¹¹We are all sons of one man. Your servants are honest men, not spies.”

¹²“No,” he told them. “You have come to see if our land is vulnerable.”

¹³But they answered, “Your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. The youngest is now with our father, and one is no more.”

¹⁴Then Joseph declared, “Just as I said, you are spies! ¹⁵And this is how you will be tested: As surely as Pharaoh lives, you shall not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here. ¹⁶Send one of your number to get your brother; the rest of you will be confined so that the truth of your words may be tested. If they are untrue, then as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!”

¹⁷So Joseph imprisoned them for three days, ¹⁸and on the third day he said to them, “I fear God. So do this and you will live: ¹⁹If you are honest, leave one of your brothers in custody while the rest of you go and take back grain to relieve the hunger of your households. ²⁰Then bring your youngest brother to me so that your words can be verified, that you may not die.”

And to this they consented.

²¹Then they said to one another, “Surely we are being punished because of our brother. We saw his anguish when he pleaded with us, but we would not listen. That is why this distress has come upon us.”

²²And Reuben responded, “Didn’t I tell you not to sin against the boy? But you would not listen. Now we must account for his blood!”

²³They did not realize that Joseph understood them, since there was an interpreter between them. ²⁴And he turned away from them and wept. When he turned back and spoke to them, he took Simeon from them and had him bound before their eyes.

Joseph’s Brothers Return to Canaan

²⁵Then Joseph gave orders to fill their bags with grain, to return each man’s silver to his sack, and to give them provisions for their journey. This order was carried out, ²⁶and they loaded the grain on their donkeys and departed.

²⁷At the place where they lodged for the night, one of them opened his sack to get feed for his donkey, and he saw his silver in the mouth of the sack. ²⁸“My silver has been returned!” he said to his brothers. “It is here in my sack.”

Their hearts sank, and trembling, they turned to one another and said, “What is this that God has done to us?”

²⁹When they reached their father Jacob in the land of Canaan, they described to him all that had happened to them: ³⁰“The man who is lord of the land spoke harshly to us and accused us of spying on the country.

³¹But we told him, ‘We are honest men, not spies. ³²We are twelve brothers, sons of one father. One is no more, and the youngest is now with our father in the land of Canaan.’

³³Then the man who is lord of the land said to us, ‘This is how I will know whether you are honest: Leave one brother with me, take food to relieve the hunger of your households, and go. ³⁴But bring your youngest brother back to me so I will know that you are not spies but honest men. Then I will give your brother back to you, and you can trade in the land.’”

³⁵As they began emptying their sacks, there in each man’s sack was his bag of silver! And when they and their father saw the bags of silver, they were dismayed.

³⁶Their father Jacob said to them, “You have deprived me of my sons. Joseph is gone and Simeon is no more. Now you want to take Benjamin. Everything is going against me!”

³⁷Then Reuben said to his father, “You may kill my two sons if I fail to bring him back to you. Put him in my care, and I will return him.”

³⁸But Jacob replied, “My son will not go down there with you, for his brother is dead, and he alone is left. If any harm comes to him on your journey, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.”

The Return to Egypt with Benjamin

¹Now the famine was still severe in the land. ²So when Jacob’s sons had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go back and buy us a little more food.”

³But Judah replied, “The man solemnly warned us, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’ ⁴If you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy food for you. ⁵But if you will not send him, we will not go; for the man told us, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’”

⁶“Why did you bring this trouble upon me?” Israel asked. “Why did you tell the man you had another brother?”

⁷They replied, “The man questioned us in detail about ourselves and our family: ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ And we answered him accordingly. How could we possibly know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother here’?”

⁸And Judah said to his father Israel, “Send the boy with me, and we will go at once, so that we may live and not die— neither we, nor you, nor our children. ⁹I will guarantee his safety. You may hold me personally responsible. If I do not bring him back and set him before you, then may I bear the guilt before you all my life. ¹⁰If we had not delayed, we could have come and gone twice by now.”

¹¹Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Put some of the best products of the land in your packs and carry them down as a gift for the man — a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachios and almonds. ¹²Take double the silver with you so that you may return the silver that was put back into the mouths of your sacks. Perhaps it was a mistake. ¹³Take your brother as well, and return to the man at once. ¹⁴May God Almighty grant you mercy before the man, that he may release your other brother along with Benjamin. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.”

¹⁵So the men took these gifts, along with double the amount of silver, and Benjamin as well. Then they hurried down to Egypt and stood before Joseph.

Joseph’s Hospitality to His Brothers

¹⁶When Joseph saw Benjamin with his brothers, he said to the steward of his house, “Take these men to my house. Slaughter an animal and prepare it, for they shall dine with me at noon.” ¹⁷The man did as Joseph had commanded and took the brothers to Joseph’s house.

¹⁸But the brothers were frightened that they had been taken to Joseph’s house. “We have been brought here because of the silver that was returned in our bags the first time,” they said. “They intend to overpower us and take us as slaves, along with our donkeys.”

¹⁹So they approached Joseph’s steward and spoke to him at the entrance to the house. ²⁰“Please, sir,” they said, “we really did come down here the first time to buy food. ²¹But when we came to the place we lodged for the night, we opened our sacks and, behold, each of us found his silver in the mouth of his sack! It was the full amount of our silver, and we have brought it back with us. ²²We have brought additional silver with us to buy food. We do not know who put our silver in our sacks.”

²³“It is fine,” said the steward. “Do not be afraid. Your God, the God of your father, gave you the treasure that was in your sacks. I received your silver.” Then he brought Simeon out to them. ²⁴And the steward took the men into Joseph’s house, gave them water to wash their feet, and provided food for their donkeys.

²⁵Since the brothers had been told that they were going to eat a meal there, they prepared their gift for Joseph’s arrival at noon. ²⁶When Joseph came home, they presented him with the gifts they had brought, and they bowed to the ground before him.

²⁷He asked if they were well, and then he asked, “How is your elderly father you told me about? Is he still alive?”

²⁸“Your servant our father is well,” they answered. “He is still alive.” And they bowed down to honor him.

²⁹When Joseph looked up and saw his brother Benjamin, his own mother’s son, he asked, “Is this your youngest brother, the one you told me about?” Then he declared, “May God be gracious to you, my son.”

³⁰Joseph hurried out because he was moved to tears for his brother, and he went to a private room to weep. ³¹Then he washed his face and came back out. Regaining his composure, he said, “Serve the meal.”

³²They separately served Joseph, his brothers, and the Egyptians. They ate separately because the Egyptians would not eat with the Hebrews, since that was detestable to them. ³³They were seated before Joseph in order by age, from the firstborn to the youngest, and the men looked at one another in astonishment. ³⁴When the portions were served to them from Joseph’s table, Benjamin’s portion was five times larger than any of the others. So they feasted and drank freely with Joseph.

Sennacherib Invades Judah

¹After all these acts of faithfulness, Sennacherib king of Assyria came and invaded Judah. He laid siege to the fortified cities, intending to conquer them for himself.

²When Hezekiah saw that Sennacherib had come to make war against Jerusalem, ³he consulted with his leaders and mighty men about stopping up the waters of the springs outside the city, and they helped him carry it out. ⁴Many people assembled and stopped up all the springs and the stream that flowed through the land. “Why should the kings of Assyria come and find plenty of water?” they said.

⁵Then Hezekiah worked resolutely to rebuild all the broken sections of the wall and to raise up towers on it. He also built an outer wall and reinforced the supporting terraces of the City of David, and he produced an abundance of weapons and shields.

⁶Hezekiah appointed military commanders over the people and gathered the people in the square of the city gate. Then he encouraged them, saying, ⁷“Be strong and courageous! Do not be afraid or discouraged before the king of Assyria and the vast army with him, for there is a greater One with us than with him. ⁸With him is only the arm of flesh, but with us is the LORD our God to help us and to fight our battles.”

So the people were strengthened by the words of Hezekiah king of Judah.

Sennacherib Threatens Jerusalem

⁹Later, as Sennacherib king of Assyria and all his forces besieged Lachish, he sent his servants to Jerusalem with a message for King Hezekiah of Judah and all the people of Judah who were in Jerusalem: ¹⁰“This is what Sennacherib king of Assyria says: What is the basis of your confidence, that you remain in Jerusalem under siege? ¹¹Is not Hezekiah misleading you to give you over to death by famine and thirst when he says, ‘The LORD our God will deliver us from the hand of the king of Assyria ?’ ¹²Did not Hezekiah himself remove His high places and His altars and say to Judah and Jerusalem, ‘You must worship before one altar, and on it you shall burn sacrifices’ ?

¹³Do you not know what I and my fathers have done to all the peoples of the lands? Have the gods of these nations ever been able to deliver their land from my hand? ¹⁴Who among all the gods of these nations that my fathers devoted to destruction has been able to deliver his people from my hand? How then can your God deliver you from my hand?

¹⁵So now, do not let Hezekiah deceive you, and do not let him mislead you like this. Do not believe him, for no god of any nation or kingdom has been able to deliver his people from my hand or from the hand of my fathers. How much less will your God deliver you from my hand!”

¹⁶And the servants of Sennacherib spoke further against the LORD God and against His servant Hezekiah. ¹⁷He also wrote letters mocking the LORD, the God of Israel, and saying against Him: “Just as the gods of the nations did not deliver their people from my hand, so the God of Hezekiah will not deliver His people from my hand.”

¹⁸Then the Assyrians called out loudly in Hebrew to the people of Jerusalem who were on the wall, to frighten and terrify them in order to capture the city. ¹⁹They spoke against the God of Jerusalem as they had spoken against the gods of the peoples of the earth — the work of human hands.

Jerusalem Delivered from the Assyrians

²⁰In response, King Hezekiah and the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz cried out to heaven in prayer, ²¹and the LORD sent an angel who annihilated every mighty man of valor and every leader and commander in the camp of the king of Assyria. So he withdrew to his own land in disgrace. And when he entered the temple of his god, some of his own sons struck him down with the sword.

²²So the LORD saved Hezekiah and the people of Jerusalem from the hands of King Sennacherib of Assyria and all others, and He gave them rest on every side. ²³Many brought offerings to Jerusalem for the LORD and valuable gifts for Hezekiah king of Judah, and from then on he was exalted in the eyes of all nations.

Hezekiah’s Illness and Recovery

²⁴In those days Hezekiah became mortally ill. So he prayed to the LORD, who spoke to him and gave him a sign. ²⁵But because his heart was proud, Hezekiah did not repay the favor shown to him. Therefore wrath came upon him and upon Judah and Jerusalem.

²⁶Then Hezekiah humbled the pride of his heart— he and the people of Jerusalem— so that the wrath of the LORD did not come upon them during the days of Hezekiah.

²⁷Hezekiah had very great riches and honor, and he made treasuries for his silver, gold, precious stones, spices, shields, and all kinds of valuable articles. ²⁸He also made storehouses for the harvest of grain and new wine and oil, stalls for all kinds of livestock, and pens for the flocks. ²⁹He made cities for himself, and he acquired herds of sheep and cattle in abundance, for God gave him very great wealth.

³⁰It was Hezekiah who blocked the upper outlet of the Spring of Gihon and channeled it down to the west side of the City of David. And Hezekiah prospered in all that he did. ³¹And so when ambassadors of the rulers of Babylon were sent to him to inquire about the wonder that had happened in the land, God left him alone to test him, that He might know all that was in Hezekiah’s heart.

Hezekiah’s Death

³²As for the rest of the acts of Hezekiah and his deeds of loving devotion, they are indeed written in the vision of the prophet Isaiah son of Amoz in the Book of the Kings of Judah and Israel. ³³And Hezekiah rested with his fathers and was buried in the upper tombs of David’s descendants. All Judah and the people of Jerusalem paid him honor at his death. And his son Manasseh reigned in his place.

A Warning to the Rich

¹Come now, you who are rich, weep and wail over the misery to come upon you. ²Your riches have rotted and moths have eaten your clothes. ³Your gold and silver are corroded. Their corrosion will testify against you and consume your flesh like fire.

You have hoarded treasure in the last days. ⁴Look, the wages you withheld from the workmen who mowed your fields are crying out against you. The cries of the harvesters have reached the ears of the Lord of Hosts.

⁵You have lived on earth in luxury and self-indulgence. You have fattened your hearts in the day of slaughter. ⁶You have condemned and murdered the righteous, who did not resist you.

Patience in Suffering

⁷Be patient, then, brothers, until the Lord’s coming. See how the farmer awaits the precious fruit of the soil — how patient he is for the fall and spring rains. ⁸You, too, be patient and strengthen your hearts, because the Lord’s coming is near. ⁹Do not complain about one another, brothers, so that you will not be judged. Look, the Judge is standing at the door!

¹⁰Brothers, as an example of patience in affliction, take the prophets who spoke in the name of the Lord. ¹¹See how blessed we consider those who have persevered. You have heard of Job’s perseverance and have seen the outcome from the Lord. The Lord is full of compassion and mercy.

¹²Above all, my brothers, do not swear, not by heaven or earth or by any other oath. Simply let your “Yes” be yes, and your “No,” no, so that you will not fall under judgment.

The Prayer of Faith

¹³Is any one of you suffering? He should pray. Is anyone cheerful? He should sing praises. ¹⁴Is any one of you sick? He should call the elders of the church to pray over him and anoint him with oil in the name of the Lord. ¹⁵And the prayer offered in faith will restore the one who is sick. The Lord will raise him up. If he has sinned, he will be forgiven.

¹⁶Therefore confess your sins to each other and pray for each other so that you may be healed. The prayer of a righteous man has great power to prevail. ¹⁷Elijah was a man just like us. He prayed earnestly that it would not rain, and it did not rain on the land for three and a half years. ¹⁸Again he prayed, and the heavens gave rain, and the earth yielded its crops.

Restoring a Sinner

¹⁹My brothers, if one of you should wander from the truth and someone should bring him back, ²⁰consider this: Whoever turns a sinner from the error of his way will save his soul from death and cover over a multitude of sins.