One Year Bible.

Benjamin and the Silver Cup

¹Then Joseph instructed his steward: “Fill the men’s sacks with as much food as they can carry, and put each one’s silver in the mouth of his sack. ²Put my cup, the silver one, in the mouth of the youngest one’s sack, along with the silver for his grain.”

So the steward did as Joseph had instructed.

³At daybreak, the men were sent on their way with their donkeys. ⁴They had not gone far from the city when Joseph told his steward, “Pursue the men at once, and when you overtake them, ask, ‘Why have you repaid good with evil? ⁵Is this not the cup my master drinks from and uses for divination? What you have done is wicked!’”

⁶When the steward overtook them, he relayed these words to them.

⁷“Why does my lord say these things?” they asked. “Your servants could not possibly do such a thing. ⁸We even brought back to you from the land of Canaan the silver we found in the mouths of our sacks. Why would we steal silver or gold from your master’s house? ⁹If any of your servants is found to have it, he must die, and the rest will become slaves of my lord.”

¹⁰“As you say,” replied the steward. “But only the one who is found with the cup will be my slave, and the rest of you shall be free of blame.”

¹¹So each one quickly lowered his sack to the ground and opened it. ¹²The steward searched, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest — and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. ¹³Then they all tore their clothes, loaded their donkeys, and returned to the city.

¹⁴When Judah and his brothers arrived at Joseph’s house, he was still there, and they fell to the ground before him.

¹⁵“What is this deed you have done?” Joseph declared. “Do you not know that a man like me can surely divine the truth?”

¹⁶“What can we say to my lord?” Judah replied. “How can we plead? How can we justify ourselves? God has exposed the iniquity of your servants. We are now my lord’s slaves— both we and the one who was found with the cup.”

¹⁷But Joseph replied, “Far be it from me to do this. The man who was found with the cup will be my slave. The rest of you may return to your father in peace.”

Judah Pleads for Benjamin

¹⁸Then Judah approached Joseph and said, “Sir, please let your servant speak personally to my lord. Do not be angry with your servant, for you are equal to Pharaoh himself. ¹⁹My lord asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’

²⁰And we answered, ‘We have an elderly father and a younger brother, the child of his old age. The boy’s brother is dead. He is the only one of his mother’s sons left, and his father loves him.’

²¹Then you told your servants, ‘Bring him down to me so that I can see him for myself.’

²²So we said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father. If he were to leave, his father would die.’

²³But you said to your servants, ‘Unless your younger brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.’

²⁴Now when we returned to your servant my father, we relayed your words to him.

²⁵Then our father said, ‘Go back and buy us some food.’

²⁶But we answered, ‘We cannot go down there unless our younger brother goes with us. So if our younger brother is not with us, we cannot see the man.’

²⁷And your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons. ²⁸When one of them was gone, I said: “Surely he has been torn to pieces.” And I have not seen him since. ²⁹Now if you also take this one from me and harm comes to him, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.’

³⁰So if the boy is not with us when I return to your servant, and if my father, whose life is wrapped up in the boy’s life, ³¹sees that the boy is not with us, he will die. Then your servants will have brought the gray hair of your servant our father down to Sheol in sorrow. ³²Indeed, your servant guaranteed the boy’s safety to my father, saying, ‘If I do not return him to you, I will bear the guilt before you, my father, all my life.’

³³Now please let your servant stay here as my lord’s slave in place of the boy. Let him return with his brothers. ³⁴For how can I go back to my father without the boy? I could not bear to see the misery that would overwhelm him.”

Joseph Reveals His Identity

¹Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Send everyone away from me!”

So none of them were with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers. ²But he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh’s household soon heard of it.

³Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?”

But they were unable to answer him, because they were terrified in his presence.

⁴Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come near me.” And they did so.

“I am Joseph, your brother,” he said, “the one you sold into Egypt! ⁵And now, do not be distressed or angry with yourselves that you sold me into this place, because it was to save lives that God sent me before you. ⁶For the famine has covered the land these two years, and there will be five more years without plowing or harvesting. ⁷God sent me before you to preserve you as a remnant on the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. ⁸Therefore it was not you who sent me here, but God, who has made me a father to Pharaoh — lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

Joseph Sends for His Father

⁹Now return quickly to my father and tell him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me without delay. ¹⁰You shall settle in the land of Goshen and be near me— you and your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and everything you own. ¹¹And there I will provide for you, because there will be five more years of famine. Otherwise, you and your household and everything you own will come to destitution.’

¹²Behold! You and my brother Benjamin can see that I, Joseph, am the one speaking with you. ¹³Tell my father about all my splendor in Egypt and everything you have seen. And bring my father down here quickly.”

¹⁴Then Joseph threw his arms around his brother Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin wept as they embraced. ¹⁵Joseph kissed each of his brothers as he wept over them. And afterward his brothers talked with him.

Pharaoh Invites Jacob to Egypt

¹⁶When the news reached Pharaoh’s house that Joseph’s brothers had come, Pharaoh and his servants were pleased.

¹⁷Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Tell your brothers, ‘Do as follows: Load your animals and return to the land of Canaan. ¹⁸Then bring your father and your families and return to me. I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you shall eat from the fat of the land.’ ¹⁹You are also directed to tell them: ‘Take wagons from the land of Egypt for your young children and your wives, and bring your father and come back. ²⁰But pay no regard to your belongings, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’”

²¹So the sons of Israel did as they were told. Joseph gave them wagons as Pharaoh had instructed, and he also gave them provisions for their journey. ²²He gave new garments to each of them, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels of silver and five sets of clothes. ²³And he sent to his father the following: ten donkeys loaded with the best of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and provisions for his father’s journey.

²⁴Then Joseph sent his brothers on their way, and as they were leaving, he said to them, “Do not quarrel on the way!”

The Revival of Jacob

²⁵So the brothers went up out of Egypt and came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan. ²⁶“Joseph is still alive,” they said, “and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt!”

But Jacob was stunned, for he did not believe them. ²⁷However, when they relayed all that Joseph had told them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him back, the spirit of their father Jacob was revived.

²⁸“Enough!” declared Israel. “My son Joseph is still alive! I will go to see him before I die.”

God’s Name Is Great in Israel

¹For the choirmaster. With stringed instruments. A Psalm of Asaph. A song.

God is known in Judah;

His name is great in Israel.

²His tent is in Salem,

His dwelling place in Zion.

³There He shattered the flaming arrows,

the shield and sword and weapons of war.

Selah

⁴You are resplendent with light,

more majestic than mountains filled with game.

⁵The valiant lie plundered; they sleep their last sleep.

No men of might could lift a hand.

⁶At Your rebuke, O God of Jacob,

both horse and rider lie stunned.

⁷You alone are to be feared.

When You are angry, who can stand before You?

⁸From heaven You pronounced judgment,

and the earth feared and was still

⁹when God rose up to judge,

to save all the lowly of the earth.

Selah

¹⁰Even the wrath of man shall praise You;

with the survivors of wrath You will clothe Yourself.

¹¹Make and fulfill your vows to the LORD your God;

let all the neighboring lands bring tribute

to Him who is to be feared.

¹²He breaks the spirits of princes;

He is feared by the kings of the earth.

A Greeting from Peter

¹Peter, an apostle of Jesus Christ,

To the elect who are exiles of the Dispersion throughout Pontus, Galatia, Cappadocia, Asia, and Bithynia, chosen ²according to the foreknowledge of God the Father and sanctified by the Spirit for obedience to Jesus Christ and sprinkling by His blood:

Grace and peace be yours in abundance.

A Living Hope

³Blessed be the God and Father of our Lord Jesus Christ! By His great mercy He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of Jesus Christ from the dead, ⁴and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, reserved in heaven for you, ⁵who through faith are shielded by God’s power for the salvation that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

⁶In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in various trials ⁷so that the proven character of your faith — more precious than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire — may result in praise, glory, and honor at the revelation of Jesus Christ.

⁸Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with an inexpressible and glorious joy, ⁹now that you are receiving the goal of your faith, the salvation of your souls.

¹⁰Concerning this salvation, the prophets who foretold the grace to come to you searched and investigated carefully, ¹¹trying to determine the time and setting to which the Spirit of Christ in them was pointing when He predicted the sufferings of Christ and the glories to follow.

¹²It was revealed to them that they were not serving themselves, but you, when they foretold the things now announced by those who preached the gospel to you by the Holy Spirit sent from heaven. Even angels long to look into these things.

A Call to Holiness

¹³Therefore prepare your minds for action. Be sober-minded. Set your hope fully on the grace to be given you at the revelation of Jesus Christ. ¹⁴As obedient children, do not conform to the passions of your former ignorance. ¹⁵But just as He who called you is holy, so be holy in all you do, ¹⁶for it is written: “Be holy, because I am holy.”

¹⁷Since you call on a Father who judges each one’s work impartially, conduct yourselves in reverent fear during your stay as foreigners. ¹⁸For you know that it was not with perishable things such as silver or gold that you were redeemed from the empty way of life you inherited from your forefathers, ¹⁹but with the precious blood of Christ, a lamb without blemish or spot. ²⁰He was known before the foundation of the world, but was revealed in the last times for your sake.

²¹Through Him you believe in God, who raised Him from the dead and glorified Him; and so your faith and hope are in God.

The Enduring Word

²²Since you have purified your souls by obedience to the truth so that you have a genuine love for your brothers, love one another deeply, from a pure heart. ²³For you have been born again, not of perishable seed, but of imperishable, through the living and enduring word of God. ²⁴For,

“All flesh is like grass,

and all its glory like the flowers of the field;

the grass withers and the flowers fall,

²⁵but the word of the Lord stands forever.”

And this is the word that was proclaimed to you.