Old Testament

Genesis 41-42

^41:1It happened at the end of two full years, that Pharaoh dreamed: and, behold, he stood by the river. ^41:2Behold, there came up out of the river seven cattle, well-favored and fat-fleshed, and they fed in the reed-grass. ^41:3Behold, seven other cattle came up after them out of the river, ill-favored and lean-fleshed, and stood by the other cattle on the brink of the river. ^41:4The ill-favored and lean-fleshed cattle ate up the seven well-favored and fat cattle. So Pharaoh awoke. ^41:5He slept and dreamed a second time: and, behold, seven ears of grain came up on one stalk, rank and good. ^41:6Behold, seven ears, thin and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them. ^41:7The thin ears swallowed up the seven rank and full ears. Pharaoh awoke, and, behold, it was a dream. ^41:8It happened in the morning that his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the magicians of Egypt, and all the wise men of it. Pharaoh told them his dream, but there was no one who could interpret them to Pharaoh.

^41:9Then the chief butler spoke to Pharaoh, saying, "I remember my faults today. ^41:10Pharaoh was angry with his servants, and put me in custody in the house of the captain of the guard, me and the chief baker. ^41:11We dreamed a dream in one night, I and he. We dreamed each man according to the interpretation of his dream. ^41:12There was with us there a young man, a Hebrew, servant to the captain of the guard, and we told him, and he interpreted to us our dreams. To each man according to his dream he did interpret. ^41:13It happened, as he interpreted to us, so it was: me he restored to my office, and him he hanged."

^41:14Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon. He shaved himself, changed his clothing, and came in to Pharaoh. ^41:15Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I have dreamed a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. I have heard it said of you, that when you hear a dream you can interpret it."

^41:16Joseph answered Pharaoh, saying, "It isn't in me: God will give Pharaoh an answer of peace."

^41:17Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, "In my dream, behold, I stood on the brink of the river: ^41:18and, behold, there came up out of the river seven cattle, fat-fleshed and well-favored. They fed in the reed-grass, ^41:19and, behold, seven other cattle came up after them, poor and very ill-favored and lean-fleshed, such as I never saw in all the land of Egypt for badness. ^41:20The lean and ill-favored cattle ate up the first seven fat cattle, ^41:21and when they had eaten them up, it couldn't be known that they had eaten them, but they were still ill-favored, as at the beginning. So I awoke. ^41:22I saw in my dream, and, behold, seven ears came up on one stalk, full and good: ^41:23and, behold, seven ears, withered, thin, and blasted with the east wind, sprung up after them. ^41:24The thin ears swallowed up the seven good ears. I told it to the magicians; but there was no one who could explain it to me."

^41:25Joseph said to Pharaoh, "The dream of Pharaoh is one. What God is about to do he has declared to Pharaoh. ^41:26The seven good cattle are seven years; and the seven good ears are seven years. The dream is one. ^41:27The seven lean and ill-favored cattle that came up after them are seven years, and also the seven empty ears blasted with the east wind; they will be seven years of famine. ^41:28That is the thing which I spoke to Pharaoh. What God is about to do he has shown to Pharaoh. ^41:29Behold, there come seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt. ^41:30There will arise after them seven years of famine, and all the plenty will be forgotten in the land of Egypt. The famine will consume the land, ^41:31and the plenty will not be known in the land by reason of that famine which follows; for it will be very grievous. ^41:32The dream was doubled to Pharaoh, because the thing is established by God, and God will shortly bring it to pass. ^41:33Now therefore let Pharaoh look for a discreet and wise man, and set him over the land of Egypt. ^41:34Let Pharaoh do this, and let him appoint overseers over the land, and take up the fifth part of the land of Egypt's produce in the seven plenteous years. ^41:35Let them gather all the food of these good years that come, and lay up grain under the hand of Pharaoh for food in the cities, and let them keep it. ^41:36The food will be for a store to the land against the seven years of famine, which will be in the land of Egypt; that the land not perish through the famine."

^41:37The thing was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of all his servants. ^41:38Pharaoh said to his servants, "Can we find such a one as this, a man in whom is the Spirit of God?" ^41:39Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Because God has shown you all of this, there is none so discreet and wise as you. ^41:40You shall be over my house, and according to your word will all my people be ruled. Only in the throne I will be greater than you." ^41:41Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Behold, I have set you over all the land of Egypt." ^41:42Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand, and put it on Joseph's hand, and arrayed him in robes of fine linen, and put a gold chain about his neck, ^41:43and he made him to ride in the second chariot which he had. They cried before him, "Bow the knee!" He set him over all the land of Egypt. ^41:44Pharaoh said to Joseph, "I am Pharaoh, and without you shall no man lift up his hand or his foot in all the land of Egypt." ^41:45Pharaoh called Joseph's name Zaphenath-paneah; and he gave him Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On as a wife. Joseph went out over the land of Egypt.

^41:46Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh, and went throughout all the land of Egypt. ^41:47In the seven plenteous years the earth brought forth by handfuls. ^41:48He gathered up all the food of the seven years which were in the land of Egypt, and laid up the food in the cities: the food of the field, which was round about every city, he laid up in the same. ^41:49Joseph laid up grain as the sand of the sea, very much, until he stopped counting, for it was without number. ^41:50To Joseph were born two sons before the year of famine came, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore to him. ^41:51Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh, "For," he said, "God has made me forget all my toil, and all my father's house." ^41:52The name of the second, he called Ephraim: "For God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction."

^41:53The seven years of plenty, that was in the land of Egypt, came to an end. ^41:54The seven years of famine began to come, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in all lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. ^41:55When all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread, and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, "Go to Joseph. What he says to you, do." ^41:56The famine was over all the surface of the earth. Joseph opened all the store-houses, and sold to the Egyptians. The famine was severe in the land of Egypt. ^41:57All countries came into Egypt, to Joseph, to buy grain, because the famine was severe in all the earth.

^42:1Now Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, and Jacob said to his sons, "Why do you look at one another?" ^42:2He said, "Behold, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there, and buy for us from there, so that we may live, and not die." ^42:3Joseph's ten brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. ^42:4But Jacob didn't send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with his brothers; for he said, "Lest perhaps harm befall him." ^42:5The sons of Israel came to buy among those who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan. ^42:6Joseph was the governor over the land. It was he who sold to all the people of the land. Joseph's brothers came, and bowed themselves down to him with their faces to the earth. ^42:7Joseph saw his brothers, and he recognized them, but acted like a stranger to them, and spoke roughly with them. He said to them, "Where did you come from?"

They said, "From the land of Canaan to buy food."

^42:8Joseph recognized his brothers, but they didn't recognize him. ^42:9Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed about them, and said to them, "You are spies! You have come to see the nakedness of the land."

^42:10They said to him, "No, my lord, but your servants have come to buy food. ^42:11We are all one man's sons; we are honest men. Your servants are not spies."

^42:12He said to them, "No, but you have come to see the nakedness of the land."

^42:13They said, "We, your servants, are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; and, behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is no more."

^42:14Joseph said to them, "It is like I told you, saying, 'You are spies.' ^42:15Hereby you shall be tested. By the life of Pharaoh you shall not go forth from here, unless your youngest brother come here. ^42:16Send one of you, and let him get your brother, and you shall be bound, that your words may be tested, whether there is truth in you, or else by the life of Pharaoh surely you are spies." ^42:17He put them all together into custody three days.

^42:18Joseph said to them the third day, "Do this, and live, for I fear God. ^42:19If you are honest men, then let one of your brothers be bound in your prison-house; but you go, carry grain for the famine of your houses. ^42:20Bring your youngest brother to me; so will your words be verified, and you won't die."

They did so. ^42:21They said one to another, "We are most assuredly guilty concerning our brother, in that we saw the distress of his soul, when he begged us, and we wouldn't listen. Therefore this distress has come on us." ^42:22Reuben answered them, saying, "Didn't I tell you, saying, 'Don't sin against the child,' and you wouldn't listen? Therefore also, behold, his blood is required." ^42:23They didn't know that Joseph understood them; for there was an interpreter between them. ^42:24He turned himself about from them, and wept, and he returned to them, and spoke to them, and took Simeon from among them, and bound him before their eyes. ^42:25Then Joseph commanded to fill their vessels with grain, and to restore every man's money into his sack, and to give them provisions for the way. Thus was it done to them.

^42:26They loaded their donkeys with their grain, and departed from there. ^42:27As one of them opened his sack to give his donkey food in the lodging-place, he saw his money. Behold, it was in the mouth of his sack. ^42:28He said to his brothers, "My money is restored! Behold, it is even in my sack." Their hearts failed them, and they turned trembling one to another, saying, "What is this that God has done to us?" ^42:29They came to Jacob their father to the land of Canaan, and told him all that had befallen them, saying, ^42:30"The man, the lord of the land, spoke roughly with us, and took us for spies of the country. ^42:31We said to him, 'We are honest men. We are no spies. ^42:32We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is no more, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.' ^42:33The man, the lord of the land, said to us, 'Hereby will I know that you are honest men. Leave one of your brothers with me, and take grain for the famine of your houses, and go your way. ^42:34Bring your youngest brother to me. Then will I know that you are not spies, but that you are honest men. So will I deliver you your brother, and you shall trade in the land.'"

^42:35It happened as they emptied their sacks, that behold, every man's bundle of money was in his sack. When they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were afraid. ^42:36Jacob, their father, said to them, "You have bereaved me of my children! Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you want to take Benjamin away. All these things are against me."

^42:37Reuben spoke to his father, saying, "Kill my two sons, if I don't bring him to you. Deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him to you again."

^42:38He said, "My son shall not go down with you; for his brother is dead, and he only is left. If harm befall him by the way in which you go, then you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol."

New Testament

Matthew 26

^26:1It happened, when Jesus had finished all these words, that he said to his disciples, ^26:2"You know that after two days the Passover is coming, and the Son of Man will be delivered up to be crucified."

^26:3Then the chief priests, the scribes, and the elders of the people were gathered together in the court of the high priest, who was called Caiaphas. ^26:4They took counsel together that they might take Jesus by deceit, and kill him. ^26:5But they said, "Not during the feast, lest a riot occur among the people."

^26:6Now when Jesus was in Bethany, in the house of Simon the leper, ^26:7a woman came to him having an alabaster jar of very expensive ointment, and she poured it on his head as he sat at the table. ^26:8But when his disciples saw this, they were indignant, saying, "Why this waste? ^26:9For this ointment might have been sold for much, and given to the poor."

^26:10But Jesus, knowing this, said to them, "Why do you trouble the woman? Because she has done a good work for me. ^26:11For you always have the poor with you; but you don't always have me. ^26:12For in pouring this ointment on my body, she did it to prepare me for burial. ^26:13Most assuredly I tell you, wherever this gospel is preached in the whole world, what this woman has done will also be spoken of as a memorial of her."

^26:14Then one of the twelve, who was called Judas Iscariot, went to the chief priests, ^26:15and said, "What are you willing to give me, that I should deliver him to you?" They weighed out for him thirty pieces of silver. ^26:16From that time he sought opportunity to betray him.

^26:17Now on the first day of unleavened bread, the disciples came to Jesus, saying to him, "Where do you want us to prepare for you to eat the Passover?"

^26:18He said, "Go into the city to a certain person, and tell him, 'The Teacher says, "My time is at hand. I will keep the Passover at your house with my disciples."'"

^26:19The disciples did as Jesus commanded them, and they prepared the Passover. ^26:20Now when evening had come, he was reclining at the table with the twelve disciples. ^26:21As they were eating, he said, "Most assuredly I tell you that one of you will betray me."

^26:22They were exceedingly sorrowful, and each began to ask him, "It isn't me, is it, Lord?"

^26:23He answered, "He who dipped his hand with me in the dish, the same will betray me. ^26:24The Son of Man goes, even as it is written of him, but woe to that man through whom the Son of Man is betrayed! It would be better for that man if he had not been born."

^26:25Judas, who betrayed him, answered, "It isn't me, is it, Rabbi?"

He said to him, "You said it."

^26:26As they were eating, Jesus took bread, gave thanks for it, and broke it. He gave to the disciples, and said, "Take, eat; this is my body." ^26:27He took the cup, gave thanks, and gave to them, saying, "All of you drink it, ^26:28for this is my blood of the new covenant, which is poured out for many for the remission of sins. ^26:29But I tell you that I will not drink of this fruit of the vine from now on, until that day when I drink it anew with you in my Father's kingdom." ^26:30When they had sung a hymn, they went out to the Mount of Olives.

^26:31Then Jesus said to them, "All of you will be made to stumble because of me tonight, for it is written, 'I will strike the shepherd, and the sheep of the flock will be scattered.' ^26:32But after I am raised up, I will go before you into Galilee."

^26:33But Peter answered him, "Even if all will be made to stumble because of you, I will never be made to stumble."

^26:34Jesus said to him, "Most assuredly I tell you that tonight, before the cock crows, you will deny me three times."

^26:35Peter said to him, "Even if I must die with you, I will not deny you." All of the disciples also said likewise.

^26:36Then Jesus came with them to a place called Gethsemane, and said to his disciples, "Sit here, while I go there and pray." ^26:37He took with him Peter and the two sons of Zebedee, and began to be sorrowful and severely troubled. ^26:38Then he said to them, "My soul is exceedingly sorrowful, even to death. Stay here, and watch with me."

^26:39He went forward a little, fell on his face, and prayed, saying, "My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass away from me; nevertheless, not what I desire, but what you desire."

^26:40He came to the disciples, and found them sleeping, and said to Peter, "What, couldn't you watch with me for one hour? ^26:41Watch and pray, that you don't enter into temptation. The spirit indeed is willing, but the flesh is weak."

^26:42Again, a second time he went away, and prayed, saying, "My Father, if this cup can't pass away from me unless I drink it, your desire be done." ^26:43He came again and found them sleeping, for their eyes were heavy. ^26:44He left them again, went away, and prayed a third time, saying the same words. ^26:45Then he came to his disciples, and said to them, "Sleep on now, and take your rest. Behold, the hour is at hand, and the Son of Man is betrayed into the hands of sinners. ^26:46Arise, let's be going. Behold, he who betrays me is at hand."

^26:47While he was still speaking, behold, Judas, one of the twelve, came, and with him a great multitude with swords and clubs, from the chief priest and elders of the people. ^26:48Now he who betrayed him gave them a sign, saying, "Whoever I kiss, he is the one. Seize him." ^26:49Immediately he came to Jesus, and said, "Hail, Rabbi!" and kissed him.

^26:50Jesus said to him, "Friend, why are you here?" Then they came and laid hands on Jesus, and took him. ^26:51Behold, one of those who were with Jesus stretched out his hand, and drew his sword, and struck the servant of the high priest, and struck off his ear. ^26:52Then Jesus said to him, "Put your sword back into its place, for all those who take the sword will die by the sword. ^26:53Or do you think that I couldn't ask my Father, and he would even now send me more than twelve legions of angels? ^26:54How then would the Scriptures be fulfilled that it must be so?"

^26:55In that hour Jesus said to the multitudes, "Have you come out as against a robber with swords and clubs to seize me? I sat daily in the temple teaching, and you didn't arrest me. ^26:56But all this has happened, that the Scriptures of the prophets might be fulfilled."

Then all the disciples left him, and fled. ^26:57Those who had taken Jesus led him away to Caiaphas the high priest, where the scribes and the elders were gathered together. ^26:58But Peter followed him from a distance, to the court of the high priest, and entered in and sat with the officers, to see the end. ^26:59Now the chief priests, the elders, and the whole council sought false testimony against Jesus, that they might put him to death; ^26:60and they found none. Even though many false witnesses came forward, they found none. But at last two false witnesses came forward, ^26:61and said, "This man said, 'I am able to destroy the temple of God, and to build it in three days.'"

^26:62The high priest stood up, and said to him, "Have you no answer? What is this that these testify against you?" ^26:63But Jesus held his peace. The high priest answered him, "I adjure you by the living God, that you tell us whether you are the Christ, the Son of God."

^26:64Jesus said to him, "You have said it. Nevertheless, I tell you, henceforth you will see the Son of Man sitting at the right hand of Power, and coming on the clouds of the sky."

^26:65Then the high priest tore his clothing, saying, "He has spoken blasphemy! Why do we need any more witnesses? Behold, now you have heard his blasphemy. ^26:66What do you think?"

They answered, "He is worthy of death!" ^26:67Then they spit in his face and beat him with their fists, and some slapped him, ^26:68saying, "Prophesy to us, you Christ! Who hit you?"

^26:69Now Peter was sitting outside in the court, and a maid came to him, saying, "You were also with Jesus, the Galilean!"

^26:70But he denied it before them all, saying, "I don't know what you are talking about."

^26:71When he had gone out onto the porch, someone else saw him, and said to those who were there, "This man also was with Jesus of Nazareth."

^26:72Again he denied it with an oath, "I don't know the man."

^26:73After a little while those who stood by came and said to Peter, "Surely you are also one of them, for your speech makes you known."

^26:74Then he began to curse and to swear, "I don't know the man!"

Immediately the cock crowed. ^26:75Peter remembered the word which Jesus had said to him, "Before the cock crows, you will deny me three times." He went out and wept bitterly.