Day 26 reading

Wisdom·Psalm 19

¹The heavens declare the glory of God; the skies proclaim the work of His hands. ²Day after day they pour forth speech; night after night they reveal knowledge. ³Without speech or language, without a sound to be heard, ⁴their voice has gone out into all the earth, their words to the ends of the world. In the heavens He has pitched a tent for the sun. ⁵Like a bridegroom emerging from his chamber, like a champion rejoicing to run his course, ⁶it rises at one end of the heavens and runs its circuit to the other; nothing is deprived of its warmth. ⁷The Law of the LORD is perfect, reviving the soul; the testimony of the LORD is trustworthy, making wise the simple. ⁸The precepts of the LORD are right, bringing joy to the heart; the commandments of the LORD are radiant, giving light to the eyes. ⁹The fear of the LORD is pure, enduring forever; the judgments of the LORD are true, being altogether righteous. ¹⁰They are more precious than gold, than much pure gold; they are sweeter than honey, than honey from the comb. ¹¹By them indeed Your servant is warned; in keeping them is great reward. ¹²Who can discern his own errors? Cleanse me from my hidden faults. ¹³Keep Your servant also from willful sins; may they not rule over me. Then I will be blameless and cleansed of great transgression. ¹⁴May the words of my mouth and the meditation of my heart be pleasing in Your sight, O LORD, my Rock and my Redeemer.

New Testament·Matthew 16:17–28

¹⁷Jesus replied, “Blessed are you, Simon son of Jonah! For this was not revealed to you by flesh and blood, but by My Father in heaven. ¹⁸And I tell you that you are Peter, and on this rock I will build My church, and the gates of Hades will not prevail against it. ¹⁹I will give you the keys of the kingdom of heaven. Whatever you bind on earth will be bound in heaven, and whatever you loose on earth will be loosed in heaven.” ²⁰Then He admonished the disciples not to tell anyone that He was the Christ. ²¹From that time on Jesus began to show His disciples that He must go to Jerusalem and suffer many things at the hands of the elders, chief priests, and scribes, and that He must be killed and on the third day be raised to life. ²²Peter took Him aside and began to rebuke Him. “Far be it from You, Lord!” he said. “This shall never happen to You!” ²³But Jesus turned and said to Peter, “Get behind Me, Satan! You are a stumbling block to Me. For you do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men.” ²⁴Then Jesus told His disciples, “If anyone wants to come after Me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow Me. ²⁵For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for My sake will find it. ²⁶What will it profit a man if he gains the whole world, yet forfeits his soul? Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul? ²⁷For the Son of Man will come in His Father’s glory with His angels, and then He will repay each one according to what he has done. ²⁸Truly I tell you, some who are standing here will not taste death before they see the Son of Man coming in His kingdom.”

Old Testament·Genesis 45–46

¹Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Send everyone away from me!” So none of them were with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers. ²But he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh’s household soon heard of it. ³Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But they were unable to answer him, because they were terrified in his presence. ⁴Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come near me.” And they did so. “I am Joseph, your brother,” he said, “the one you sold into Egypt! ⁵And now, do not be distressed or angry with yourselves that you sold me into this place, because it was to save lives that God sent me before you. ⁶For the famine has covered the land these two years, and there will be five more years without plowing or harvesting. ⁷God sent me before you to preserve you as a remnant on the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. ⁸Therefore it was not you who sent me here, but God, who has made me a father to Pharaoh—lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt. ⁹Now return quickly to my father and tell him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me without delay. ¹⁰You shall settle in the land of Goshen and be near me—you and your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and everything you own. ¹¹And there I will provide for you, because there will be five more years of famine. Otherwise, you and your household and everything you own will come to destitution.’ ¹²Behold! You and my brother Benjamin can see that I, Joseph, am the one speaking with you. ¹³Tell my father about all my splendor in Egypt and everything you have seen. And bring my father down here quickly.” ¹⁴Then Joseph threw his arms around his brother Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin wept as they embraced. ¹⁵Joseph kissed each of his brothers as he wept over them. And afterward his brothers talked with him. ¹⁶When the news reached Pharaoh’s house that Joseph’s brothers had come, Pharaoh and his servants were pleased. ¹⁷Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Tell your brothers, ‘Do as follows: Load your animals and return to the land of Canaan. ¹⁸Then bring your father and your families and return to me. I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you shall eat from the fat of the land.’ ¹⁹You are also directed to tell them: ‘Take wagons from the land of Egypt for your young children and your wives, and bring your father and come back. ²⁰But pay no regard to your belongings, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’” ²¹So the sons of Israel did as they were told. Joseph gave them wagons as Pharaoh had instructed, and he also gave them provisions for their journey. ²²He gave new garments to each of them, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels of silver and five sets of clothes. ²³And he sent to his father the following: ten donkeys loaded with the best of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and provisions for his father’s journey. ²⁴Then Joseph sent his brothers on their way, and as they were leaving, he said to them, “Do not quarrel on the way!” ²⁵So the brothers went up out of Egypt and came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan. ²⁶“Joseph is still alive,” they said, “and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt!” But Jacob was stunned, for he did not believe them. ²⁷However, when they relayed all that Joseph had told them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him back, the spirit of their father Jacob was revived. ²⁸“Enough!” declared Israel. “My son Joseph is still alive! I will go to see him before I die.”

46So Israel set out with all that he had, and when he came to Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. ²And that night God spoke to Israel in a vision: “Jacob, Jacob!” He said. “Here I am,” replied Jacob. ³“I am God,” He said, “the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. ⁴I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will surely bring you back. And Joseph’s own hands will close your eyes.” ⁵Then Jacob departed from Beersheba, and the sons of Israel took their father Jacob in the wagons Pharaoh had sent to carry him, along with their children and wives. ⁶They also took the livestock and possessions they had acquired in the land of Canaan, and Jacob and all his offspring went to Egypt. ⁷Jacob took with him to Egypt his sons and grandsons, and his daughters and granddaughters—all his offspring. ⁸Now these are the names of the sons of Israel (Jacob and his descendants) who went to Egypt: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn. ⁹The sons of Reuben: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. ¹⁰The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman. ¹¹The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. ¹²The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah; but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. The sons of Perez: Hezron and Hamul. ¹³The sons of Issachar: Tola, Puvah, Job, and Shimron. ¹⁴The sons of Zebulun: Sered, Elon, and Jahleel. ¹⁵These are the sons of Leah born to Jacob in Paddan-aram, in addition to his daughter Dinah. The total number of sons and daughters was thirty-three. ¹⁶The sons of Gad: Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli. ¹⁷The children of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and their sister Serah. The sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel. ¹⁸These are the sons of Jacob born to Zilpah—whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah—sixteen in all. ¹⁹The sons of Jacob’s wife Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. ²⁰Manasseh and Ephraim were born to Joseph in the land of Egypt by Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On. ²¹The sons of Benjamin: Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard. ²²These are the sons of Rachel born to Jacob—fourteen in all. ²³The son of Dan: Hushim. ²⁴The sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem. ²⁵These are the sons of Jacob born to Bilhah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel—seven in all. ²⁶All those belonging to Jacob who came to Egypt—his direct descendants, besides the wives of Jacob’s sons—numbered sixty-six persons. ²⁷And with the two sons who had been born to Joseph in Egypt, the members of Jacob’s family who went to Egypt were seventy in all. ²⁸Now Jacob had sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to get directions to Goshen. When Jacob’s family arrived in the land of Goshen, ²⁹Joseph prepared his chariot and went there to meet his father Israel. Joseph presented himself to him, embraced him, and wept profusely. ³⁰Then Israel said to Joseph, “Finally I can die, now that I have seen your face and know that you are still alive!” ³¹Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “I will go up and inform Pharaoh: ‘My brothers and my father’s household from the land of Canaan have come to me. ³²The men are shepherds; they raise livestock, and they have brought their flocks and herds and all that they own.’ ³³When Pharaoh summons you and asks, ‘What is your occupation?’ ³⁴you are to say, ‘Your servants have raised livestock ever since our youth—both we and our fathers.’ Then you will be allowed to settle in the land of Goshen, since all shepherds are detestable to the Egyptians.”