Joseph Tests His Brothers

1 Then he commanded ^pthe steward of his house, ^q“Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man’s money in the mouth of his sack, 2 and put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest, with his money for the grain.” And he did as Joseph told him.

3 As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away with their donkeys. 4 They had gone only a short distance from the city. Now Joseph said to his ^rsteward, “Up, follow after the men, and when you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid evil for good?¹ 5 Is it not from this that my lord drinks, and ^sby this that he practices divination? You have done evil in doing this.’”

6 When he overtook them, he spoke to them these words. 7 They said to him, “Why does my lord speak such words as these? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing! 8 Behold, ^tthe money that we found in the mouths of our sacks we brought back to you from the land of Canaan. How then could we steal silver or gold from your lord’s house? 9 ^uWhichever of your servants is found with it shall die, and we also will be ^vmy lord’s servants.” 10 He said, “Let it be as you say: he who is found with it shall be my servant, and the rest of you shall be innocent.” 11 Then each man quickly lowered his sack to the ground, and each man opened his sack. 12 And he searched, beginning with the eldest and ending with the youngest. And the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. 13 Then they ^wtore their clothes, and every man loaded his donkey, and they returned to the city.

14 When Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, he was still there. They ^xfell before him to the ground. 15 Joseph said to them, “What deed is this that you have done? Do you not know that a man like me ^ycan indeed practice divination?” 16 And Judah said, “What shall we say to my lord? What shall we speak? Or how can we clear ourselves? God has found out ^zthe guilt of your servants; behold, we are ^amy lord’s servants, both we and he also in whose hand the cup has been found.” 17 But he said, “Far be it from me that I should do so! Only the man in whose hand the cup was found shall be my servant. But as for you, go up in peace to your father.”

18 Then Judah went up to him and said, ^b“Oh, my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord’s ears, and ^clet not your anger burn against your servant, for ^dyou are like Pharaoh himself. 19 My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father, or a brother?’ 20 And we said to my lord, ‘We have a father, an old man, ^eand a young brother, ^fthe child of his old age. His brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother’s children, and his father loves him.’ 21 Then you said to your servants, ^g‘Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him.’ 22 We said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, ^hhis father would die.’ 23 Then you said to your servants, ⁱ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall not see my face again.’

24 “When we went back to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord. 25 And when ^jour father said, ‘Go again, buy us a little food,’ 26 we said, ‘We cannot go down. If our youngest brother goes with us, then we will go down. For we cannot see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’ 27 Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me ^ktwo sons. 28 One left me, and I said, ^l“Surely he has been torn to pieces,” and I have never seen him since. 29 If you ^mtake this one also from me, ⁿand harm happens to him, you will bring down my gray hairs in evil to Sheol.’

30 “Now therefore, as soon as I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us, then, as his life is bound up in the boy’s life, 31 as soon as he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die, and your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant our father with sorrow to Sheol. 32 For your servant became a pledge of safety for the boy to my father, saying, ^o‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father all my life.’ 33 Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a servant to my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers. 34 For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would find my father.”

Joseph Provides for His Brothers and Family

1 Then Joseph could not ^pcontrol himself before all those who stood by him. He cried, “Make everyone go out from me.” So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. 2 And he wept aloud, so that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. 3 And Joseph said to his brothers, ^q“I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence.

4 So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, ^rwhom you sold into Egypt. 5 And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, ^sfor God sent me before you to preserve life. 6 For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are ^tyet five years in which there will be neither ^uplowing nor harvest. 7 And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. 8 So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ^vruler over all the land of Egypt. 9 Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not tarry. 10 ^wYou shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, and your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. 11 ^xThere I will provide for you, for there are yet five years of famine to come, so that you and your household, and all that you have, do not come to poverty.’ 12 And now your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is ^ymy mouth that speaks to you. 13 You must tell my father of all my honor in Egypt, and of all that you have seen. Hurry and ^zbring my father down here.” 14 Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept upon his neck. 15 And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them. After that his brothers talked with him.

16 When the report was heard in Pharaoh’s house, “Joseph’s brothers have come,” it pleased Pharaoh and his servants. 17 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this: load your beasts and go back to the land of Canaan, 18 and take your father and your households, and come to me, and ^aI will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you shall eat the fat of the land.’ 19 And you, Joseph, are commanded to say, ‘Do this: take ^bwagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring your father, and come. 20 Have no concern for² your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’”

21 The sons of Israel did so: and Joseph gave them ^bwagons, according to the command of Pharaoh, and gave them provisions for the journey. 22 To each and all of them he gave ^ca change of clothes, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels³ of silver and ^dfive changes of clothes. 23 To his father he sent as follows: ten donkeys loaded with the good things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain, bread, and provision for his father on the journey. 24 Then he sent his brothers away, and as they departed, he said to them, ^e“Do not quarrel on the way.”

25 So they went up out of Egypt and came to the land of Canaan to their father Jacob. 26 And they told him, “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” And his heart became numb, for he did not believe them. 27 But when they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them, and when he saw ^fthe wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. 28 And Israel said, “It is enough; Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”

The Parable of the Sower

1 That same day Jesus went out of the house ^oand sat beside the sea. 2 And great crowds gathered about him, ^pso that he got into a boat and sat down. And the whole crowd stood on the beach. 3 And ^qhe told them many things in parables, saying: ^r“A sower went out to sow. 4 And as he sowed, some seeds fell along the path, and the birds came and devoured them. 5 Other seeds fell on rocky ground, where they did not have much soil, and immediately they sprang up, since they had no depth of soil, 6 but ^swhen the sun rose they were scorched. And since they had no root, ^tthey withered away. 7 Other seeds fell among ^uthorns, and the thorns grew up and choked them. 8 Other seeds fell on good soil and produced grain, some ^va hundredfold, some sixty, some thirty. 9 ^wHe who has ears,¹ let him hear.”

The Purpose of the Parables

10 Then the disciples came and said to him, “Why do you speak to them in parables?” 11 And he answered them, ^x“To you it has been given to know ^ythe secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been given. 12 ^zFor to the one who has, more will be given, and he will have an abundance, but from the one who has not, ^aeven what he has will be taken away. 13 This is why I speak to them in parables, because ^bseeing they do not see, and hearing they do not hear, ^cnor do they understand. 14 Indeed, in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is fulfilled that says:

16 But ⁱblessed are your eyes, for they see, and your ears, for they hear. 17 ⁱFor truly, I say to you, ^jmany prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

The Parable of the Sower Explained

18 ^k“Hear then the parable of the sower: 19 When anyone hears the word of ^lthe kingdom and ^mdoes not understand it, ⁿthe evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is what was sown along the path. 20 As for what was sown on rocky ground, this is the one who hears the word and immediately ^oreceives it with joy, 21 yet he has no root in himself, but ^pendures for a while, and when tribulation or persecution arises on account of the word, immediately ^qhe falls away.² 22 As for what was sown among thorns, this is the one who hears the word, but ^rthe cares of ^sthe world and ^tthe deceitfulness of riches choke the word, and it proves unfruitful. 23 As for what was sown on good soil, this is the one who hears the word and ^munderstands it. He indeed ^ubears fruit and yields, in one case ^va hundredfold, in another sixty, and in another thirty.”

The Parable of the Weeds

24 He put another parable before them, saying, ^w“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a man who sowed good seed in his field, 25 but while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed weeds³ among the wheat and went away. 26 So when the plants came up and bore grain, then the weeds appeared also. 27 And the servants⁴ of the master of the house came and said to him, ‘Master, did you not sow good seed in your field? How then does it have weeds?’ 28 He said to them, ‘An enemy has done this.’ So the servants said to him, ‘Then do you want us to go and gather them?’ 29 But he said, ^x‘No, lest in gathering the weeds you root up the wheat along with them. 30 Let both grow together until the harvest, and at harvest time I will tell the reapers, ^y“Gather the weeds first and bind them in bundles to be burned, but gather the wheat into my barn.”’”

The Mustard Seed and the Leaven

31 He put another parable before them, saying, ^z“The kingdom of heaven is like ^aa grain of mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field. 32 It is the smallest of all seeds, but when it has grown it is larger than all the garden plants and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and make nests in its branches.”

33 He told them another parable. ^b“The kingdom of heaven is like leaven that a woman took and hid in ^cthree measures of flour, till it was ^dall leavened.”

Prophecy and Parables

34 ^eAll these things Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, he said nothing to them without a parable. 35 This was to fulfill what was spoken by the prophet:⁵

The Parable of the Weeds Explained

36 Then he left the crowds and went into ⁱthe house. And his disciples came to him, saying, ^j“Explain to us the parable of the weeds of the field.” 37 He answered, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man. 38 The field is the world, and the good seed is ^kthe sons of the kingdom. The weeds are ^lthe sons of the evil one, 39 and the enemy who sowed them is the devil. ^mThe harvest is ⁿthe end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 Just as the weeds ^oare gathered and burned with fire, so will it be at ⁿthe end of the age. 41 ^pThe Son of Man will send his angels, and they will gather out of his kingdom all ^qcauses of sin and ^rall law-breakers, 42 ^sand throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place ^tthere will be weeping and gnashing of teeth. 43 Then ^uthe righteous will shine like the sun ^vin the kingdom of their Father. ^wHe who has ears, let him hear.

The Parable of the Hidden Treasure

44 “The kingdom of heaven ^xis like treasure hidden in a field, which a man found and covered up. Then in his joy ^yhe goes and sells all that he has and ^zbuys that field.

The Parable of the Pearl of Great Value

45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls, 46 who, on finding ^aone pearl of great value, ^ywent and sold all that he had and ^zbought it.

The Parable of the Net

47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is ^blike a net that was thrown into the sea and ^cgathered fish of every kind. 48 When it was full, ^dmen drew it ashore and sat down and sorted the good into containers but threw away the bad. 49 So it will be at ^ethe end of the age. The angels will come out and ^fseparate the evil from the righteous 50 ^gand throw them into the fiery furnace. In that place ^gthere will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

New and Old Treasures

51 ^h“Have you understood all these things?” They said to him, “Yes.” 52 And he said to them, “Therefore every ⁱscribe ^jwho has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like a master of a house, who ^kbrings out of his treasure what is new and what is old.”

Jesus Rejected at Nazareth

53 And when Jesus had finished these parables, he went away from there, 54 ^land coming to ^mhis hometown ⁿhe taught them in their synagogue, so that ^othey were astonished, and said, “Where did this man get this wisdom and these mighty works? 55 ^pIs not this ^qthe carpenter’s son? Is not his mother called Mary? And are not ^rhis brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56 And are not all his sisters with us? Where then did this man get all these things?” 57 And ^sthey took offense at him. But Jesus said to them, ^t“A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his own household.” 58 And he did not do many mighty works there, ^ubecause of their unbelief.