Joseph’s Brothers Return to Egypt

1 Now the famine was ^qsevere in the land. 2 And when they had eaten the grain that they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go again, buy us a little food.” 3 But Judah said to him, “The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face unless your ^rbrother is with you.’ 4 If you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food. 5 But if you will not send him, we will not go down, for the man said to us, ‘You shall not see my face, unless your brother is with you.’” 6 Israel said, “Why did you treat me so badly as to tell the man that you had another brother?” 7 They replied, “The man questioned us carefully about ourselves and our kindred, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ What we told him was in answer to these questions. Could we in any way know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?” 8 And Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the boy with me, and we will arise and go, that we may ^slive and not die, both we and you and also our little ones. 9 I will be a pledge of his safety. From my hand you shall require him. ^tIf I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever. 10 If we had not delayed, we would now have returned twice.”

11 Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: take some of the choice fruits of the land in your bags, and carry a present down to the man, a little ^ubalm and a little honey, gum, myrrh, pistachio nuts, and almonds. 12 Take double the money with you. Carry back with you the money ^vthat was returned in the mouth of your sacks. Perhaps it was an oversight. 13 Take also your brother, and arise, go again to the man. 14 May ^wGod Almighty^{1 x}grant you mercy before the man, and may he send back your other brother and Benjamin. And as for me, ^yif I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.”

15 So the men took this present, and they took double the money with them, and Benjamin. They arose and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph.

16 When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the ^zsteward of his house, “Bring the men into the house, and slaughter an animal and make ready, for the men are to dine with me at noon.” 17 The man did as Joseph told him and 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, which was replaced in our sacks the first time, that we are brought in, so that he may assault us and fall upon us to make us servants and seize our donkeys.” 19 So they went up to the steward of Joseph’s house and spoke with him at the door of the house, 20 and said, ^a“Oh, my lord, ^bwe came down the first time to buy food. 21 And ^cwhen we came to the lodging place we opened our sacks, and there was each man’s money in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight. So we have brought it again with us, 22 and we have brought other money down with us to buy food. We do not know who put our money in our sacks.” 23 He replied, “Peace to you, do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has put treasure in your sacks for you. I received your money.” Then he brought Simeon out to them. 24 And when the man had brought the men into Joseph’s house and ^dgiven them water, and they had washed their feet, and when he had given their donkeys fodder, 25 they prepared ^ethe present for Joseph’s coming at noon, for they heard that they should eat bread there.

26 When Joseph came home, they brought into the house to him the present that they had with them and ^fbowed down to him to the ground. 27 And he inquired about their welfare and said, “Is your father well, the old man ^gof whom you spoke? Is he still alive?” 28 They said, “Your servant our father is well; he is still alive.” And they ^hbowed their heads and prostrated themselves. 29 And he lifted up his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, ⁱhis mother’s son, and said, “Is this your youngest brother, ^gof whom you spoke to me? God be gracious to you, my son!” 30 Then Joseph hurried out, for ^jhis compassion grew warm for his brother, and he sought a place to weep. And he entered his chamber and ^kwept there. 31 Then he washed his face and came out. And ^lcontrolling himself he said, “Serve the food.” 32 They served him by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because the Egyptians could not eat with the Hebrews, for that is ^man abomination to the Egyptians. 33 And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth. And the men looked at one another in amazement. 34 ⁿPortions were taken to them from Joseph’s table, but Benjamin’s portion was ^ofive times as much as any of theirs. And they drank and were merry² with him.

Jesus Foretells Destruction of the Temple

1 ^yAnd as he came out of the temple, one of his disciples said to him, “Look, Teacher, what wonderful stones and what wonderful buildings!” 2 And Jesus said to him, “Do you see these great buildings? ^zThere will not be left here one stone upon another that will not be thrown down.”

Signs of the End of the Age

3 And as he sat on ^athe Mount of Olives opposite the temple, ^bPeter and James and John and ^cAndrew asked him ^dprivately, 4 “Tell us, ^ewhen will these things be, and what will be the sign when all these things are about to be accomplished?” 5 And Jesus began to say to them, ^f“See that no one leads you astray. 6 ^gMany will come in my name, saying, ^h‘I am he!’ and they will lead many astray. 7 And when you hear of wars and rumors of wars, ⁱdo not be alarmed. This ^jmust take place, but the end is not yet. 8 For ^knation will rise against nation, and ^lkingdom against kingdom. There will be ^mearthquakes in various places; there will be ⁿfamines. These are but the beginning of the birth pains.

9 ^o“But ^pbe on your guard. For they will deliver you over to councils, and you will be beaten ^qin synagogues, and you will stand before ^rgovernors and ^skings for my sake, ^tto bear witness before them. 10 And the gospel must first be proclaimed ^uto all nations. 11 And when they bring you to trial and deliver you over, ^vdo not be anxious beforehand what you are to say, but say ^wwhatever is given you in that hour, ^xfor it is not you who speak, but the Holy Spirit. 12 ^yAnd brother will deliver brother over to death, and the father his child, and children will rise against parents and have them put to death. 13 ^zAnd you will be hated by all for my name’s sake. ^aBut the one who endures to the end will be saved.

The Abomination of Desolation

14 “But when you see ^bthe abomination of desolation standing where he ought not to be (^clet the reader understand), then let those who are in Judea flee to the mountains. 15 ^dLet the one who is on ^ethe housetop not go down, nor enter his house, to take anything out, 16 and let the one who is in the field not turn back to take his cloak. 17 And ^falas for women who are pregnant and for those who are nursing infants in those days! 18 Pray that it may not happen in winter. 19 For in those days there will be ^gsuch ^htribulation as has not been ⁱfrom the beginning of the creation that ^jGod created until now, and never will be. 20 And if the Lord had not cut short the days, no human being would be saved. But for ^kthe sake of the elect, whom ^lhe chose, he shortened the days. 21 And ^mthen if anyone says to you, ‘Look, here is the Christ!’ or ‘Look, there he is!’ do not believe it. 22 ⁿFor false christs and false prophets will arise and ^operform signs and wonders, ^pto lead astray, if possible, ^qthe elect. 23 But ^rbe on guard; ^sI have told you all things beforehand.

The Coming of the Son of Man

24 “But in those days, after ^tthat tribulation, ^uthe sun will be darkened, and the moon will not give its light, 25 and ^vthe stars will be falling from heaven, and the powers in the heavens will be shaken. 26 And then they will see ^wthe Son of Man coming in clouds ^xwith great power and glory. 27 And then ^yhe will send out the angels and ^zgather ^ahis elect from ^bthe four winds, from ^cthe ends of the earth ^dto the ends of heaven.

The Lesson of the Fig Tree

28 “From the fig tree learn its lesson: as soon as its branch becomes tender and puts out its leaves, you know that summer is near. 29 So also, when you see these things taking place, you know that he is near, ^eat the very gates. 30 ^fTruly, I say to you, this generation will not pass away until all these things take place. 31 ^gHeaven and earth will pass away, but ^hmy words will not pass away.

No One Knows That Day or Hour

32 “But concerning that day or that hour, ⁱno one knows, not even the angels in heaven, ^jnor the Son, ^kbut only the Father. 33 ^lBe on guard, ^mkeep awake.¹ For you do not know when the time will come. 34 ⁿIt is like a man ^ogoing on a journey, when he leaves home and puts his servants² in charge, ^peach with his work, and commands ^qthe doorkeeper to stay awake. 35 ^rTherefore stay awake—for you do not know when the master of the house will come, ^sin the evening, or ^sat midnight, or ^twhen the rooster crows,³ or ^uin the morning— 36 lest ^vhe come suddenly and ^wfind you asleep. 37 And what I say to you I say to all: ^rStay awake.”

Job Replies: There Is No Arbiter

1 Then Job answered and said:

Submission to the Authorities

1 Let every person ^pbe subject to the governing authorities. For ^qthere is no authority except from God, and those that exist have been instituted by God. 2 Therefore whoever resists the authorities resists what God has appointed, and those who resist will incur judgment. 3 For rulers are not a terror to good conduct, but to bad. Would you have no fear of the one who is in authority? Then do what is good, and you ^rwill receive his approval, 4 for ^she is God’s servant for your good. But if you do wrong, be afraid, for he does not bear the sword in vain. For he is the servant of God, ^tan avenger who carries out God’s wrath on the wrongdoer. 5 Therefore one must be in subjection, not only to avoid God’s wrath but also ^ufor the sake of conscience. 6 For because of this you also pay taxes, for the authorities are ministers of God, attending to this very thing. 7 ^vPay to all what is owed to them: taxes to whom taxes are owed, revenue to whom revenue is owed, respect to whom respect is owed, honor to whom honor is owed.

Fulfilling the Law Through Love

8 ^wOwe no one anything, except to love each other, for ^xthe one who loves another has fulfilled the law. 9 For the commandments, ^y“You shall not commit adultery, You shall not murder, You shall not steal, You shall not covet,” and any other commandment, are summed up in this word: ^z“You shall love your neighbor as yourself.” 10 Love does no wrong to a neighbor; therefore ^alove is the fulfilling of the law.

11 Besides this you know the time, that the hour has come for you ^bto wake from sleep. ^cFor salvation is nearer to us now than when we first believed. 12 ^dThe night is far gone; the day is at hand. So then let us ^ecast off ^fthe works of darkness and ^gput on the armor of light. 13 ^hLet us walk properly as in the daytime, ⁱnot in orgies and drunkenness, not in sexual immorality and sensuality, ^jnot in quarreling and jealousy. 14 But ^kput on the Lord Jesus Christ, and make no provision for the flesh, ^lto gratify its desires.