Day 25 reading

Wisdom·Psalm 18:44–50

⁴⁴When they hear me, they obey me; foreigners cower before me. ⁴⁵Foreigners lose heart and come trembling from their strongholds. ⁴⁶The LORD lives, and blessed be my Rock! And may the God of my salvation be exalted— ⁴⁷the God who avenges me and subdues nations beneath me, ⁴⁸who delivers me from my enemies. You exalt me above my foes; You rescue me from violent men. ⁴⁹Therefore I will praise You, O LORD, among the nations; I will sing praises to Your name. ⁵⁰Great salvation He brings to His king. He shows loving devotion to His anointed, to David and his descendants forever.

New Testament·Matthew 16:1–16

¹Then the Pharisees and Sadducees came and tested Jesus by asking Him to show them a sign from heaven. ²But He replied, “When evening comes, you say, ‘The weather will be fair, for the sky is red,’ ³and in the morning, ‘Today it will be stormy, for the sky is red and overcast.’ You know how to interpret the appearance of the sky, but not the signs of the times. ⁴A wicked and adulterous generation demands a sign, but none will be given it except the sign of Jonah.” Then He left them and went away. ⁵When they crossed to the other side, the disciples forgot to take bread. ⁶“Watch out!” Jesus told them. “Beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” ⁷They discussed this among themselves and concluded, “It is because we did not bring any bread.” ⁸Aware of their conversation, Jesus said, “You of little faith, why are you debating among yourselves about having no bread? ⁹Do you still not understand? Do you not remember the five loaves for the five thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? ¹⁰Or the seven loaves for the four thousand, and how many basketfuls you gathered? ¹¹How do you not understand that I was not telling you about bread? But beware of the leaven of the Pharisees and Sadducees.” ¹²Then they understood that He was not telling them to beware of the leaven used in bread, but of the teaching of the Pharisees and Sadducees. ¹³When Jesus came to the region of Caesarea Philippi, He questioned His disciples: “Who do people say the Son of Man is?” ¹⁴They replied, “Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, Jeremiah or one of the prophets.” ¹⁵“But what about you?” Jesus asked. “Who do you say I am?” ¹⁶Simon Peter answered, “You are the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Old Testament·Genesis 43–44

¹Now the famine was still severe in the land. ²So when Jacob’s sons had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go back and buy us a little more food.” ³But Judah replied, “The man solemnly warned us, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’ ⁴If you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy food for you. ⁵But if you will not send him, we will not go; for the man told us, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’” ⁶“Why did you bring this trouble upon me?” Israel asked. “Why did you tell the man you had another brother?” ⁷They replied, “The man questioned us in detail about ourselves and our family: ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ And we answered him accordingly. How could we possibly know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother here’?” ⁸And Judah said to his father Israel, “Send the boy with me, and we will go at once, so that we may live and not die—neither we, nor you, nor our children. ⁹I will guarantee his safety. You may hold me personally responsible. If I do not bring him back and set him before you, then may I bear the guilt before you all my life. ¹⁰If we had not delayed, we could have come and gone twice by now.” ¹¹Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Put some of the best products of the land in your packs and carry them down as a gift for the man—a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachios and almonds. ¹²Take double the silver with you so that you may return the silver that was put back into the mouths of your sacks. Perhaps it was a mistake. ¹³Take your brother as well, and return to the man at once. ¹⁴May God Almighty grant you mercy before the man, that he may release your other brother along with Benjamin. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.” ¹⁵So the men took these gifts, along with double the amount of silver, and Benjamin as well. Then they hurried down to Egypt and stood before Joseph. ¹⁶When Joseph saw Benjamin with his brothers, he said to the steward of his house, “Take these men to my house. Slaughter an animal and prepare it, for they shall dine with me at noon.” ¹⁷The man did as Joseph had commanded and took the brothers to Joseph’s house. ¹⁸But the brothers were frightened that they had been taken to Joseph’s house. “We have been brought here because of the silver that was returned in our bags the first time,” they said. “They intend to overpower us and take us as slaves, along with our donkeys.” ¹⁹So they approached Joseph’s steward and spoke to him at the entrance to the house. ²⁰“Please, sir,” they said, “we really did come down here the first time to buy food. ²¹But when we came to the place we lodged for the night, we opened our sacks and, behold, each of us found his silver in the mouth of his sack! It was the full amount of our silver, and we have brought it back with us. ²²We have brought additional silver with us to buy food. We do not know who put our silver in our sacks.” ²³“It is fine,” said the steward. “Do not be afraid. Your God, the God of your father, gave you the treasure that was in your sacks. I received your silver.” Then he brought Simeon out to them. ²⁴And the steward took the men into Joseph’s house, gave them water to wash their feet, and provided food for their donkeys. ²⁵Since the brothers had been told that they were going to eat a meal there, they prepared their gift for Joseph’s arrival at noon. ²⁶When Joseph came home, they presented him with the gifts they had brought, and they bowed to the ground before him. ²⁷He asked if they were well, and then he asked, “How is your elderly father you told me about? Is he still alive?” ²⁸“Your servant our father is well,” they answered. “He is still alive.” And they bowed down to honor him. ²⁹When Joseph looked up and saw his brother Benjamin, his own mother’s son, he asked, “Is this your youngest brother, the one you told me about?” Then he declared, “May God be gracious to you, my son.” ³⁰Joseph hurried out because he was moved to tears for his brother, and he went to a private room to weep. ³¹Then he washed his face and came back out. Regaining his composure, he said, “Serve the meal.” ³²They separately served Joseph, his brothers, and the Egyptians. They ate separately because the Egyptians would not eat with the Hebrews, since that was detestable to them. ³³They were seated before Joseph in order by age, from the firstborn to the youngest, and the men looked at one another in astonishment. ³⁴When the portions were served to them from Joseph’s table, Benjamin’s portion was five times larger than any of the others. So they feasted and drank freely with Joseph.

44Then Joseph instructed his steward: “Fill the men’s sacks with as much food as they can carry, and put each one’s silver in the mouth of his sack. ²Put my cup, the silver one, in the mouth of the youngest one’s sack, along with the silver for his grain.” So the steward did as Joseph had instructed. ³At daybreak, the men were sent on their way with their donkeys. ⁴They had not gone far from the city when Joseph told his steward, “Pursue the men at once, and when you overtake them, ask, ‘Why have you repaid good with evil? ⁵Is this not the cup my master drinks from and uses for divination? What you have done is wicked!’” ⁶When the steward overtook them, he relayed these words to them. ⁷“Why does my lord say these things?” they asked. “Your servants could not possibly do such a thing. ⁸We even brought back to you from the land of Canaan the silver we found in the mouths of our sacks. Why would we steal silver or gold from your master’s house? ⁹If any of your servants is found to have it, he must die, and the rest will become slaves of my lord.” ¹⁰“As you say,” replied the steward. “But only the one who is found with the cup will be my slave, and the rest of you shall be free of blame.” ¹¹So each one quickly lowered his sack to the ground and opened it. ¹²The steward searched, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest—and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. ¹³Then they all tore their clothes, loaded their donkeys, and returned to the city. ¹⁴When Judah and his brothers arrived at Joseph’s house, he was still there, and they fell to the ground before him. ¹⁵“What is this deed you have done?” Joseph declared. “Do you not know that a man like me can surely divine the truth?” ¹⁶“What can we say to my lord?” Judah replied. “How can we plead? How can we justify ourselves? God has exposed the iniquity of your servants. We are now my lord’s slaves—both we and the one who was found with the cup.” ¹⁷But Joseph replied, “Far be it from me to do this. The man who was found with the cup will be my slave. The rest of you may return to your father in peace.” ¹⁸Then Judah approached Joseph and said, “Sir, please let your servant speak personally to my lord. Do not be angry with your servant, for you are equal to Pharaoh himself. ¹⁹My lord asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’ ²⁰And we answered, ‘We have an elderly father and a younger brother, the child of his old age. The boy’s brother is dead. He is the only one of his mother’s sons left, and his father loves him.’ ²¹Then you told your servants, ‘Bring him down to me so that I can see him for myself.’ ²²So we said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father. If he were to leave, his father would die.’ ²³But you said to your servants, ‘Unless your younger brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.’ ²⁴Now when we returned to your servant my father, we relayed your words to him. ²⁵Then our father said, ‘Go back and buy us some food.’ ²⁶But we answered, ‘We cannot go down there unless our younger brother goes with us. So if our younger brother is not with us, we cannot see the man.’ ²⁷And your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons. ²⁸When one of them was gone, I said: “Surely he has been torn to pieces.” And I have not seen him since. ²⁹Now if you also take this one from me and harm comes to him, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.’ ³⁰So if the boy is not with us when I return to your servant, and if my father, whose life is wrapped up in the boy’s life, ³¹sees that the boy is not with us, he will die. Then your servants will have brought the gray hair of your servant our father down to Sheol in sorrow. ³²Indeed, your servant guaranteed the boy’s safety to my father, saying, ‘If I do not return him to you, I will bear the guilt before you, my father, all my life.’ ³³Now please let your servant stay here as my lord’s slave in place of the boy. Let him return with his brothers. ³⁴For how can I go back to my father without the boy? I could not bear to see the misery that would overwhelm him.”