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Reading Plan
Day 17 Day 18Day 19

Genesis chapter 44

1
Joseph commanded the servant in charge of his house, "Fill the men's sacks with as much food as they can carry, and put each man's money in the top of his sack.
2
Put my silver cup in the top of the youngest brother's sack, together with the money for his grain." He did as he was told.
3
Early in the morning the brothers were sent on their way with their donkeys.
4
When they had gone only a short distance from the city, Joseph said to the servant in charge of his house, "Hurry after those men. When you catch up with them, ask them, 'Why have you paid back evil for good?
5
Why did you steal my master's silver cup? It is the one he drinks from, the one he uses for divination. You have committed a serious crime!' "
6
When the servant caught up with them, he repeated these words.
7
They answered him, "What do you mean, sir, by talking like this? We swear that we have done no such thing.
8
You know that we brought back to you from the land of Canaan the money we found in the top of our sacks. Why then should we steal silver or gold from your master's house?
9
Sir, if any one of us is found to have it, he will be put to death, and the rest of us will become your slaves."
10
He said, "I agree; but only the one who has taken the cup will become my slave, and the rest of you can go free."
11
So they quickly lowered their sacks to the ground, and each man opened his sack.
12
Joseph's servant searched carefully, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest, and the cup was found in Benjamin's sack.
13
The brothers tore their clothes in sorrow, loaded their donkeys, and returned to the city.
14
When Judah and his brothers came to Joseph's house, he was still there. They bowed down before him,
15
and Joseph said, "What have you done? Didn't you know that a man in my position could find you out by practicing divination?"
16
"What can we say to you, sir?" Judah answered. "How can we argue? How can we clear ourselves? God has uncovered our guilt. All of us are now your slaves and not just the one with whom the cup was found."
17
Joseph said, "Oh, no! I would never do that! Only the one who had the cup will be my slave. The rest of you may go back safe and sound to your father."
18
Judah went up to Joseph and said, "Please, sir, allow me to speak with you freely. Don't be angry with me; you are like the king himself.
19
Sir, you asked us, 'Do you have a father or another brother?'
20
We answered, 'We have a father who is old and a younger brother, born to him in his old age. The boy's brother is dead, and he is the only one of his mother's children still alive; his father loves him very much.'
21
Sir, you told us to bring him here, so that you could see him,
22
and we answered that the boy could not leave his father; if he did, his father would die.
23
Then you said, 'You will not be admitted to my presence again unless your youngest brother comes with you.'
24
"When we went back to our father, we told him what you had said.
25
Then he told us to return and buy a little food.
26
We answered, 'We cannot go; we will not be admitted to the man's presence unless our youngest brother is with us. We can go only if our youngest brother goes also.'
27
Our father said to us, 'You know that my wife Rachel bore me only two sons.
28
One of them has already left me. He must have been torn to pieces by wild animals, because I have not seen him since he left.
29
If you take this one from me now and something happens to him, the sorrow you would cause me would kill me, as old as I am.'
30
"And now, sir," Judah continued, "if I go back to my father without the boy, as soon as he sees that the boy is not with me, he will die. His life is wrapped up with the life of the boy, and he is so old that the sorrow we would cause him would kill him.
31
(SEE 44:30)
32
What is more, I pledged my life to my father for the boy. I told him that if I did not bring the boy back to him, I would bear the blame all my life.
33
And now, sir, I will stay here as your slave in place of the boy; let him go back with his brothers.
34
How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I cannot bear to see this disaster come upon my father."

Genesis chapter 45

1
Joseph was no longer able to control his feelings in front of his servants, so he ordered them all to leave the room. No one else was with him when Joseph told his brothers who he was.
2
He cried with such loud sobs that the Egyptians heard it, and the news was taken to the king's palace.
3
Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?" But when his brothers heard this, they were so terrified that they could not answer.
4
Then Joseph said to them, "Please come closer." They did, and he said, "I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.
5
Now do not be upset or blame yourselves because you sold me here. It was really God who sent me ahead of you to save people's lives.
6
This is only the second year of famine in the land; there will be five more years in which there will be neither plowing nor reaping.
7
God sent me ahead of you to rescue you in this amazing way and to make sure that you and your descendants survive.
8
So it was not really you who sent me here, but God. He has made me the king's highest official. I am in charge of his whole country; I am the ruler of all Egypt.
9
"Now hurry back to my father and tell him that this is what his son Joseph says: 'God has made me ruler of all Egypt; come to me without delay.
10
You can live in the region of Goshen, where you can be near me---you, your children, your grandchildren, your sheep, your goats, your cattle, and everything else that you have.
11
If you are in Goshen, I can take care of you. There will still be five years of famine; and I do not want you, your family, and your livestock to starve.' "
12
Joseph continued, "Now all of you, and you too, Benjamin, can see that I am really Joseph.
13
Tell my father how powerful I am here in Egypt and tell him about everything that you have seen. Then hurry and bring him here."
14
He threw his arms around his brother Benjamin and began to cry; Benjamin also cried as he hugged him.
15
Then, still weeping, he embraced each of his brothers and kissed them. After that, his brothers began to talk with him.
16
When the news reached the palace that Joseph's brothers had come, the king and his officials were pleased.
17
He said to Joseph, "Tell your brothers to load their animals and to return to the land of Canaan.
18
Let them get their father and their families and come back here. I will give them the best land in Egypt, and they will have more than enough to live on.
19
Tell them also to take wagons with them from Egypt for their wives and small children and to bring their father with them.
20
They are not to worry about leaving their possessions behind; the best in the whole land of Egypt will be theirs."
21
Jacob's sons did as they were told. Joseph gave them wagons, as the king had ordered, and food for the trip.
22
He also gave each of them a change of clothes, but he gave Benjamin three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of clothes.
23
He sent his father ten donkeys loaded with the best Egyptian goods and ten donkeys loaded with grain, bread, and other food for the trip.
24
He sent his brothers off and as they left, he said to them, "Don't quarrel on the way."
25
They left Egypt and went back home to their father Jacob in Canaan.
26
"Joseph is still alive!" they told him. "He is the ruler of all Egypt!" Jacob was stunned and could not believe them.
27
But when they told him all that Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to take him to Egypt, he recovered from the shock.
28
"My son Joseph is still alive!" he said. "This is all I could ask for! I must go and see him before I die."

Genesis chapter 46

1
Jacob packed up all he had and went to Beersheba, where he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.
2
God spoke to him in a vision at night and called, "Jacob, Jacob!" "Yes, here I am," he answered.
3
"I am God, the God of your father," he said. "Do not be afraid to go to Egypt; I will make your descendants a great nation there.
4
I will go with you to Egypt, and I will bring your descendants back to this land. Joseph will be with you when you die."
5
Jacob set out from Beersheba. His sons put him, their small children, and their wives in the wagons which the king of Egypt had sent.
6
They took their livestock and the possessions they had acquired in Canaan and went to Egypt. Jacob took all his descendants with him:
7
his sons, his grandsons, his daughters, and his granddaughters.
8
The members of Jacob's family who went to Egypt with him were his oldest son Reuben
9
and Reuben's sons: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.
10
Simeon and his sons: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman.
11
Levi and his sons: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
12
Judah and his sons: Shelah, Perez, and Zerah. (Judah's other sons, Er and Onan, had died in Canaan.) Perez' sons were Hezron and Hamul.
13
Issachar and his sons: Tola, Puah, Jashub, and Shimron.
14
Zebulun and his sons: Sered, Elon, and Jahleel.
15
These are the sons that Leah had borne to Jacob in Mesopotamia, besides his daughter Dinah. In all, his descendants by Leah numbered thirty-three.
16
Gad and his sons: Zephon, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arod, and Areli.
17
Asher and his sons: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and their sister Serah. Beriah's sons were Heber and Malchiel.
18
These sixteen are the descendants of Jacob by Zilpah, the slave woman whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah.
19
Jacob's wife Rachel bore him two sons: Joseph and Benjamin.
20
In Egypt Joseph had two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, by Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, a priest in Heliopolis.
21
Benjamin's sons were Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard.
22
These fourteen are the descendants of Jacob by Rachel.
23
Dan and his son Hushim.
24
Naphtali and his sons: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem.
25
These seven are the descendants of Jacob by Bilhah, the slave woman whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel.
26
The total number of the direct descendants of Jacob who went to Egypt was sixty-six, not including his sons' wives.
27
Two sons were born to Joseph in Egypt, bringing to seventy the total number of Jacob's family who went there.
28
Jacob sent Judah ahead to ask Joseph to meet them in Goshen. When they arrived,
29
Joseph got in his chariot and went to Goshen to meet his father. When they met, Joseph threw his arms around his father's neck and cried for a long time.
30
Jacob said to Joseph, "I am ready to die, now that I have seen you and know that you are still alive."
31
Then Joseph said to his brothers and the rest of his father's family, "I must go and tell the king that my brothers and all my father's family, who were living in Canaan, have come to me.
32
I will tell him that you are shepherds and take care of livestock and that you have brought your flocks and herds and everything else that belongs to you.
33
When the king calls for you and asks what your occupation is,
34
be sure to tell him that you have taken care of livestock all your lives, just as your ancestors did. In this way he will let you live in the region of Goshen." Joseph said this because Egyptians will have nothing to do with shepherds.

Luke chapter 18

1
Then Jesus told his disciples a parable to teach them that they should always pray and never become discouraged.
2
"In a certain town there was a judge who neither feared God nor respected people.
3
And there was a widow in that same town who kept coming to him and pleading for her rights, saying, 'Help me against my opponent!'
4
For a long time the judge refused to act, but at last he said to himself, 'Even though I don't fear God or respect people,
5
yet because of all the trouble this widow is giving me, I will see to it that she gets her rights. If I don't, she will keep on coming and finally wear me out!' "
6
And the Lord continued, "Listen to what that corrupt judge said.
7
Now, will God not judge in favor of his own people who cry to him day and night for help? Will he be slow to help them?
8
I tell you, he will judge in their favor and do it quickly. But will the Son of Man find faith on earth when he comes?"
9
Jesus also told this parable to people who were sure of their own goodness and despised everybody else.
10
"Once there were two men who went up to the Temple to pray: one was a Pharisee, the other a tax collector.
11
The Pharisee stood apart by himself and prayed, 'I thank you, God, that I am not greedy, dishonest, or an adulterer, like everybody else. I thank you that I am not like that tax collector over there.
12
I fast two days a week, and I give you one tenth of all my income.'
13
But the tax collector stood at a distance and would not even raise his face to heaven, but beat on his breast and said, 'God, have pity on me, a sinner!'
14
I tell you," said Jesus, "the tax collector, and not the Pharisee, was in the right with God when he went home. For those who make themselves great will be humbled, and those who humble themselves will be made great."
15
Some people brought their babies to Jesus for him to place his hands on them. The disciples saw them and scolded them for doing so,
16
but Jesus called the children to him and said, "Let the children come to me and do not stop them, because the Kingdom of God belongs to such as these.
17
Remember this! Whoever does not receive the Kingdom of God like a child will never enter it."
18
A Jewish leader asked Jesus, "Good Teacher, what must I do to receive eternal life?"
19
"Why do you call me good?" Jesus asked him. "No one is good except God alone.
20
You know the commandments: 'Do not commit adultery; do not commit murder; do not steal; do not accuse anyone falsely; respect your father and your mother.' "
21
The man replied, "Ever since I was young, I have obeyed all these commandments."
22
When Jesus heard this, he said to him, "There is still one more thing you need to do. Sell all you have and give the money to the poor, and you will have riches in heaven; then come and follow me."
23
But when the man heard this, he became very sad, because he was very rich.
24
Jesus saw that he was sad and said, "How hard it is for rich people to enter the Kingdom of God!
25
It is much harder for a rich person to enter the Kingdom of God than for a camel to go through the eye of a needle."
26
The people who heard him asked, "Who, then, can be saved?"
27
Jesus answered, "What is humanly impossible is possible for God."
28
Then Peter said, "Look! We have left our homes to follow you."
29
"Yes," Jesus said to them, "and I assure you that anyone who leaves home or wife or brothers or parents or children for the sake of the Kingdom of God
30
will receive much more in this present age and eternal life in the age to come."
31
Jesus took the twelve disciples aside and said to them, "Listen! We are going to Jerusalem where everything the prophets wrote about the Son of Man will come true.
32
He will be handed over to the Gentiles, who will make fun of him, insult him, and spit on him.
33
They will whip him and kill him, but three days later he will rise to life."
34
But the disciples did not understand any of these things; the meaning of the words was hidden from them, and they did not know what Jesus was talking about.
35
As Jesus was coming near Jericho, there was a blind man sitting by the road, begging.
36
When he heard the crowd passing by, he asked, "What is this?"
37
"Jesus of Nazareth is passing by," they told him.
38
He cried out, "Jesus! Son of David! Have mercy on me!"
39
The people in front scolded him and told him to be quiet. But he shouted even more loudly, "Son of David! Have mercy on me!"
40
So Jesus stopped and ordered the blind man to be brought to him. When he came near, Jesus asked him,
41
"What do you want me to do for you?" "Sir," he answered, "I want to see again."
42
Jesus said to him, "Then see! Your faith has made you well."
43
At once he was able to see, and he followed Jesus, giving thanks to God. When the crowd saw it, they all praised God.

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