The Daily Audio Bible

¹⁸ And Joseph said to them on the third day, “Do this and live, for ^(A)I fear God: ¹⁹ if you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined in ^[a]your prison; but as for the rest of you, go, bring grain for the famine of your households, ²⁰ and ^(B)bring your youngest brother to me, so your words may be proven true, and you will not die.” And they did so. ²¹ Then they said to one another, “^(C)Surely we are guilty concerning our brother because we saw the distress of his soul when he begged us, yet we would not listen; therefore this distress has come upon us.” ²² And Reuben answered them, saying, “^(D)Did I not tell you, saying, ‘Do not sin against the boy’; yet you would not listen? ^(E)So also his blood, behold, it is required of us.” ²³ Now they did not know that Joseph was listening, for there was an interpreter between them. ²⁴ And he turned away from them and ^(F)wept. Then he returned to them and spoke to them. And he ^(G)took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes. ^25 (H)Then Joseph gave a command to fill their bags with grain and to restore every man’s money in his sack and to give them provisions for the journey. And thus it was done for them.

²⁶ So they loaded their donkeys with their grain and went from there. ²⁷ Then one of them opened his sack to give his donkey fodder at the lodging place. And he saw his ^(I)money; and behold, it was in the mouth of his sack. ²⁸ So he said to his brothers, “My money has been returned, and behold, it is even in my sack.” And their hearts ^[b]sank, and they turned ^[c]trembling to one another, saying, “^(J)What is this that God has done to us?”

Jacob Is Bereaved

²⁹ Then they came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan and told him all that had happened to them, saying, ³⁰ “The man, the lord of the land, ^(K)spoke harshly with us and took us for spies of the country. ³¹ So we said to him, ‘We are ^(L)honest men; we are not spies. ³² We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no more, and the youngest is with our father today in the land of Canaan.’ ³³ Then the man, the lord of the land, said to us, ‘^(M)By this I will know that you are honest men: leave one of your brothers with me and take grain for the famine of your households, and go. ³⁴ But bring your youngest brother to me that I may know that you are not spies, but ^[d]honest men. I will give your brother to you, and you may ^(N)trade in the land.’”

³⁵ Now it happened that they were emptying their sacks, and behold, ^(O)every man’s bundle of money was in his sack; and they and their father saw their bundles of money, and they feared. ³⁶ And their father Jacob said to them, “You have ^(P)bereaved me of my children: Joseph is no more, and Simeon is no more, and you would take Benjamin; all these things are against me.” ³⁷ Then Reuben spoke to his father, saying, “You may put my two sons to death if I do not bring him back to you; put him in my hand, and I will return him to you.” ³⁸ But ^[e]Jacob said, “My son shall not go down with you; for his ^(Q)brother is dead, and he alone remains. ^(R)If harm should befall him on the journey on which you are going, then you will ^(S)bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.”

The Brothers Return to Egypt

43 ^(T)Now the famine was heavy in the land. ² And it happened when they had finished eating the grain which they had brought from Egypt, that their father said to them, “Go back, buy us a little food.” ³ Judah spoke to him, however, saying, “^(U)The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ ⁴ If you send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. ⁵ But if you do not send him, we will not go down; for the man said to us, ‘You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.’” ⁶ Then Israel said, “Why did you treat me so badly ^[f]by telling the man whether you still had another brother?” ⁷ But they said, “The man questioned particularly about us and our kin, saying, ‘^(V)Is your father still alive? Have you another brother?’ So we told him concerning these things. Could we possibly have known that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?” ⁸ Then Judah said to his father Israel, “Send the boy with me, and we will arise and go, ^(W)that we may live and not die, we as well as you and our little ones. ^9 (X)I myself will be the guarantee for him; from my hand you may require him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then ^[g]I shall bear the sin before you all my days. ¹⁰ For if we had not delayed, surely by now we could have returned twice.”

¹¹ Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: take some of the best products of the land in your ^[h]bags, and bring them down to the man ^(Y)as a present, a little ^[i](Z)balm and a little honey, ^[j]aromatic gum and ^[k]myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds. ¹² Now take double the money in your hand, and take back in your hand ^(AA)the money that was put back in the mouth of your sacks; perhaps it was a mistake. ¹³ And take your brother also, and arise, return to the man; ¹⁴ and may ^[l](AB)God Almighty ^(AC)grant you compassion before the man, so that he will release to you ^(AD)your other brother and Benjamin. And as for me, ^(AE)if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.” ¹⁵ So the men took ^(AF)this present, and they took double the money in their hand, and Benjamin; and they arose and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph.

Joseph Sees Benjamin

¹⁶ Then Joseph saw Benjamin with them and said to his ^(AG)house steward, “Bring the men into the house, and slay an animal and prepare it; for the men are to eat with me at noon.” ¹⁷ So the man did as Joseph said and ^[m]brought the men to Joseph’s house. ¹⁸ And the men were afraid because they were brought to Joseph’s house; and they said, “It is because of the money that was returned in our sacks the first time that we are being brought in, that he may ^[n]seek occasion against us and fall upon us and take us for slaves with our donkeys.” ¹⁹ So they came near to Joseph’s house steward and spoke to him at the entrance of the house, ²⁰ and they said, “Oh, my lord, we indeed came down the first time to buy food, ²¹ and it happened when we came to the lodging place, that we opened our sacks, and behold, ^(AH)each man’s money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in ^[o]full. So ^(AI)we have brought it back in our hand. ²² We have also brought down other money in our hand to buy food; we do not know who put our money in our sacks.” ²³ And he said, “^[p]Be well, do not be afraid. ^(AJ)Your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks; your money has come to me.” Then ^(AK)he brought Simeon out to them. ²⁴ Then the man brought the men into Joseph’s house and ^(AL)gave them water, and they ^(AM)washed their feet; and he gave their donkeys fodder. ²⁵ So they prepared ^(AN)the present ^[q]for Joseph’s coming at noon; for they had heard that they were to eat ^[r]a meal there.

²⁶ Then Joseph came home, and they brought into the house to him the present which was in their hand and ^(AO)bowed to the ground before him. ²⁷ And he asked them about their ^[s]well-being and said, “^(AP)Is your old father ^[t]well, of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?” ²⁸ And they said, “Your servant our father is well; he is still alive.” ^(AQ)They bowed down and prostrated themselves. ²⁹ Then he lifted his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son. And he said, “Is this ^(AR)your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me?” And he said, “^(AS)May God be gracious to you, my son.” ³⁰ And Joseph hurried out for ^[u](AT)he was deeply stirred with compassion over his brother, and he sought a place to weep; and he entered his chamber and ^(AU)wept there. ³¹ Then he washed his face and came out; and he ^(AV)restrained himself and said, “Set the ^[v]meal.” ³² So they set the meal for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because the Egyptians could not eat bread with the Hebrews, for that is ^(AW)an abomination to the Egyptians. ³³ And they ^[w]were seated before him, ^(AX)the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth, and the men looked at one another in astonishment. ³⁴ And he took portions to them from ^[x]his own table, ^(AY)but Benjamin’s portion was five times greater than any of theirs. So they feasted and drank freely with him.

A Dragnet

⁴⁷ “Again, ^(A)the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet cast into the sea, and gathering fish of every kind; ⁴⁸ and when it was filled, they drew it up on the beach; and they sat down and gathered the good fish into containers, but the bad they threw away. ⁴⁹ So it will be at ^(B)the ^[a]end of the age; the angels will come forth and ^[b]take out the wicked from among the righteous, ⁵⁰ and ^(C)will throw them into the fiery furnace; in that place ^(D)there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

⁵¹ “Have you understood all these things?” They *said to Him, “Yes.” ⁵² And He said to them, “Therefore every scribe who has become a disciple of the kingdom of heaven is like a head of a household, who brings out of his treasure things new and old.”

Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

^53 [c](E)Now it happened that when Jesus had finished these parables, He departed from there. ^54 (F)And He came to ^[d]His hometown and ^(G)began teaching them in their synagogue, so that ^(H)they were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these ^[e]miraculous powers? ⁵⁵ Is not this the carpenter’s son? Is not ^(I)His mother called Mary, and His ^(J)brothers, James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? ⁵⁶ And ^(K)His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” ⁵⁷ And they were taking ^(L)offense at Him. But Jesus said to them, “^(M)A prophet is not without honor except in his ^[f]hometown and in his own household.” ⁵⁸ And He did not do many ^[g]miracles there because of their unbelief.

John the Baptist Beheaded

14 ^(N)At that ^[h]time ^(O)Herod the tetrarch heard the news about Jesus, ² and said to his servants, “^(P)This is John the Baptist; ^[i]he has risen from the dead, and that is why miraculous powers are at work in him.”

³ For when ^(Q)Herod had John arrested, he bound him and put him ^(R)in prison because of ^(S)Herodias, the wife of his brother Philip. ⁴ For John had been saying to him, “^(T)It is not lawful for you to have her.” ⁵ And although Herod wanted to put him to death, he feared the crowd, because they were regarding ^[j]John as ^(U)a prophet.

⁶ But when Herod’s birthday came, the daughter of ^(V)Herodias danced ^[k]before them and pleased ^(W)Herod, ⁷ so much that he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked. ⁸ Now having been prompted by her mother, she *said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.” ⁹ And although he was grieved, the king commanded it to be given because of his oaths, and because of ^[l]his dinner guests. ¹⁰ And he sent and had John beheaded in the prison. ¹¹ And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother. ¹² And his disciples came and took away the body and buried ^[m]it; and they went and reported to Jesus.