The Daily Audio Bible Reading for Wednesday January 23, 2019 (NIV)

Joseph Brings His Family to Egypt

46 So Israel took his journey with all that he had and came to ^(A)Beersheba, and offered sacrifices ^(B)to the God of his father Isaac. ² And God spoke to Israel ^(C)in visions of the night and said, “Jacob, Jacob.” And he said, “Here I am.” ³ Then he said, “I am God, ^(D)the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will ^(E)make you into a great nation. ⁴ I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also ^(F)bring you up again, and ^(G)Joseph's hand shall close your eyes.”

⁵ Then Jacob set out from Beersheba. The sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons ^(H)that Pharaoh had sent to carry him. ⁶ They also took their livestock and their goods, which they had gained in the land of Canaan, and ^(I)came into Egypt, Jacob and all his offspring with him, ⁷ his sons, and his sons' sons with him, his daughters, and his sons' daughters. All his offspring he brought with him into Egypt.

^8 (J)Now ^(K)these are the names of the descendants of Israel, who came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons. ^(L)Reuben, Jacob's firstborn, ⁹ and the sons of Reuben: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. ¹⁰ The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman. ¹¹ The sons of ^(M)Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. ¹² The sons of ^(N)Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah (but ^(O)Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan); and the sons of ^(P)Perez were Hezron and Hamul. ^13 (Q)The sons of Issachar: Tola, Puvah, Yob, and Shimron. ¹⁴ The sons of Zebulun: Sered, Elon, and Jahleel. ¹⁵ These are the sons of Leah, ^(R)whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan-aram, together with his daughter Dinah; altogether his sons and his daughters numbered thirty-three.

¹⁶ The sons of Gad: Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli. ^17 (S)The sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, with Serah their sister. And the sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel. ^18 (T)These are the sons of Zilpah, ^(U)whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter; and these she bore to Jacob—sixteen persons.

¹⁹ The sons of Rachel, Jacob's wife: Joseph and Benjamin. ²⁰ And ^(V)to Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera the priest of ^(W)On, bore to him. ²¹ And ^(X)the sons of Benjamin: Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard. ²² These are the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob—fourteen persons in all.

²³ The son^[a] of Dan: Hushim. ^24 (Y)The sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem. ^25 (Z)These are the sons of Bilhah, ^(AA)whom Laban gave to Rachel his daughter, and these she bore to Jacob—seven persons in all.

²⁶ All the persons belonging to Jacob who came into Egypt, who were his own descendants, not including Jacob's sons' wives, were sixty-six persons in all. ²⁷ And the sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt, were two. ^(AB)All the persons of the house of Jacob who came into Egypt were seventy.

Jacob and Joseph Reunited

²⁸ He had sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to show the way before him in Goshen, and they came ^(AC)into the land of Goshen. ²⁹ Then Joseph prepared his chariot and went up to meet Israel his father in Goshen. He presented himself to him and ^(AD)fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while. ³⁰ Israel said to Joseph, ^(AE)“Now let me die, since I have seen your face and know that you are still alive.” ³¹ Joseph said to his brothers and to his father's household, ^(AF)“I will go up and tell Pharaoh and will say to him, ‘My brothers and my father's household, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me. ^32 (AG)And the men are shepherds, for they have been keepers of livestock, and they have brought their flocks and their herds and all that they have.’ ³³ When Pharaoh calls you and says, ^(AH)‘What is your occupation?’ ³⁴ you shall say, ^(AI)‘Your servants have been keepers of livestock ^(AJ)from our youth even until now, both we and our fathers,’ in order that you may dwell ^(AK)in the land of Goshen, for every shepherd is ^(AL)an abomination to the Egyptians.”

Jacob's Family Settles in Goshen

47 So Joseph ^(AM)went in and told Pharaoh, “My father and my brothers, with their flocks and herds and all that they possess, have come from the land of Canaan. They are now in ^(AN)the land of Goshen.” ² And from among his brothers he took five men and ^(AO)presented them to Pharaoh. ³ Pharaoh said to his brothers, ^(AP)“What is your occupation?” And they said to Pharaoh, ^(AQ)“Your servants are shepherds, as our fathers were.” ⁴ They said to Pharaoh, ^(AR)“We have come to sojourn in the land, for there is no pasture for your servants' flocks, for the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. And now, please let your servants dwell ^(AS)in the land of Goshen.” ⁵ Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you. ⁶ The land of Egypt is before you. Settle your father and your brothers ^(AT)in the best of the land. ^(AU)Let them settle in the land of Goshen, and if you know any ^(AV)able men among them, put them in charge of my livestock.”

⁷ Then Joseph brought in Jacob his father and stood him before Pharaoh, ^(AW)and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. ⁸ And Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How many are the days of the years of your life?” ⁹ And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my ^(AX)sojourning are 130 years. ^(AY)Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and ^(AZ)they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their ^(BA)sojourning.” ¹⁰ And Jacob ^(BB)blessed Pharaoh and went out from the presence of Pharaoh. ¹¹ Then Joseph settled his father and his brothers and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of ^(BC)Rameses, ^(BD)as Pharaoh had commanded. ¹² And Joseph ^(BE)provided his father, his brothers, and all his father's household with food, according to the number of their dependents.

Joseph and the Famine

¹³ Now there was no food in all the land, for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished by reason of the famine. ^14 (BF)And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, in exchange for the grain that they bought. And Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house. ¹⁵ And when the money was all spent in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us food. ^(BG)Why should we die before your eyes? For our money is gone.” ¹⁶ And Joseph answered, “Give your livestock, and I will give you food in exchange for your livestock, if your money is gone.” ¹⁷ So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them food in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the herds, and the donkeys. He supplied them with food in exchange for all their livestock that year. ¹⁸ And when that year was ended, they came to him the following year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that our money is all spent. The herds of livestock are my lord's. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our land. ¹⁹ Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? ^(BH)Buy us and our land for food, and we with our land will be servants to Pharaoh. And give us seed that we may live and not die, and that the land may not be desolate.”

²⁰ So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for all the Egyptians sold their fields, because the famine was severe on them. The land became Pharaoh's. ²¹ As for the people, he made servants of them^[b] from one end of Egypt to the other. ^22 (BI)Only the land of the priests he did not buy, for the priests had a fixed allowance from Pharaoh and lived on the allowance that Pharaoh gave them; therefore they did not sell their land.

²³ Then Joseph said to the people, “Behold, I have this day bought you and your land for Pharaoh. Now here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land. ²⁴ And at the harvests you shall give a ^(BJ)fifth to Pharaoh, and four fifths shall be your own, as seed for the field and as food for yourselves and your households, and as food for your little ones.” ²⁵ And they said, “You have saved our lives; ^(BK)may it please my lord, we will be servants to Pharaoh.” ²⁶ So Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt, and it stands to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth; ^(BL)the land of the priests alone did not become Pharaoh's.

²⁷ Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, ^(BM)in the land of Goshen. ^(BN)And they gained possessions in it, and were fruitful and multiplied greatly. ²⁸ And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. ^(BO)So the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were 147 years.

²⁹ And ^(BP)when the time drew near that Israel must die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “If now ^(BQ)I have found favor in your sight, ^(BR)put your hand under my thigh and ^(BS)promise to deal kindly and truly with me. ^(BT)Do not bury me in Egypt, ³⁰ but let me lie with my fathers. Carry me out of Egypt and ^(BU)bury me in their burying place.” He answered, “I will do as you have said.” ³¹ And he said, “Swear to me”; and he swore to him. Then ^(BV)Israel bowed himself upon the head of his bed.^[c]

Traditions and Commandments

15 ^(A)Then Pharisees and ^(B)scribes came to Jesus ^(C)from Jerusalem and said, ^2 (D)“Why do your disciples break ^(E)the tradition of the elders? ^(F)For they do not wash their hands when they eat.” ³ He answered them, “And why do you break the commandment of God for the sake of your tradition? ⁴ For God commanded, ^(G)‘Honor your father and your mother,’ and, ^(H)‘Whoever reviles father or mother must surely die.’ ⁵ But you say, ‘If anyone tells his father or his mother, “What you would have gained from me is given to God,”^{[a] 6} he need not honor his father.’ So for the sake of your tradition you have ^(I)made void the word^[b] of God. ^7 (J)You hypocrites! Well did Isaiah prophesy of you, when he said:

What Defiles a Person

¹⁰ And he called the people to him and said to them, ^(M)“Hear and understand: ^11 (N)it is not what goes into the mouth that defiles a person, but what comes out of the mouth; this defiles a person.” ¹² Then the disciples came and said to him, “Do you know that the Pharisees were ^(O)offended when they heard this saying?” ¹³ He answered, ^(P)“Every plant that my heavenly Father has not planted ^(Q)will be rooted up. ¹⁴ Let them alone; ^(R)they are blind guides.^[c] And ^(S)if the blind lead the blind, both will fall into a pit.” ¹⁵ But Peter said to him, ^(T)“Explain the parable to us.” ¹⁶ And he said, ^(U)“Are you also still without understanding? ¹⁷ Do you not see that ^(V)whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is expelled?^{[d] 18} But ^(W)what comes out of the mouth proceeds from the heart, and this defiles a person. ¹⁹ For out of the heart come ^(X)evil thoughts, ^(Y)murder, adultery, sexual immorality, theft, false witness, ^(Z)slander. ^20 (AA)These are what defile a person. But ^(AB)to eat with unwashed hands does not defile anyone.”

The Faith of a Canaanite Woman

^21 (AC)And Jesus went away from there and withdrew to the district of Tyre and Sidon. ²² And behold, ^(AD)a Canaanite woman from that region came out and was crying, ^(AE)“Have mercy on me, O Lord, Son of David; my daughter is severely oppressed by a demon.” ²³ But he did not answer her a word. And his disciples came and begged him, saying, ^(AF)“Send her away, for she is crying out after us.” ²⁴ He answered, ^(AG)“I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.” ²⁵ But she came and ^(AH)knelt before him, saying, “Lord, help me.” ²⁶ And he answered, “It is not right to take the children's bread and ^(AI)throw it to the dogs.” ²⁷ She said, “Yes, Lord, yet even the dogs eat ^(AJ)the crumbs that fall from their masters' table.” ²⁸ Then Jesus answered her, “O woman, ^(AK)great is your faith! ^(AL)Be it done for you as you desire.” ^(AM)And her daughter was ^(AN)healed instantly.^[e]

The Law of the Lord Is Perfect

To the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.