Sunday, June 3, 2012

Genesis 47:13-31 and Matthew 28:1-10 (NIV)

Genesis 47:13-31
Joseph and the Famine

13  There was no food, however, in the whole region because the famine was severe; both Egypt and Canaan wasted away because of the famine. 
14  Joseph collected all the money that was to be found in Egypt and Canaan in payment for the grain they were buying, and he brought it to Pharaoh’s palace. 
15  When the money of the people of Egypt and Canaan was gone, all Egypt came to Joseph and said, “Give us food. Why should we die before your eyes? Our money is all gone.”
16  “Then bring your livestock, ” said Joseph. “I will sell you food in exchange for your livestock, since your money is gone.
17  So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and he gave them food in exchange for their horses, their sheep and goats, their cattle and donkeys. And he brought them through that year with food in exchange for all their livestock.
18  When that year was over, they came to him the following year and said, “We cannot hide from our lord the fact that since our money is gone and our livestock belongs to you, there is nothing left for our lord except our bodies and our land.
19  Why should we perish before your eyes —we and our land as well? Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we with our land will be in bondage to Pharaoh. Give us seed so that we may live and not die, and that the land may not become desolate.”
20  So Joseph bought all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh. The Egyptians, one and all, sold their fields, because the famine was too severe for them. The land became Pharaoh’s,
21  and Joseph reduced the people to servitude, from one end of Egypt to the other.
22  However, he did not buy the land of the priests, because they received a regular allotment from Pharaoh and had food enough from the allotment Pharaoh gave them. That is why they did not sell their land.
23  Joseph said to the people, “Now that I have bought you and your land today for Pharaoh, here is seed for you so you can plant the ground. 
24  But when the crop comes in, give a fifth of it to Pharaoh. The other four-fifths you may keep as seed for the fields and as food for yourselves and your households and your children.”
25  “You have saved our lives,” they said. “May we find favor in the eyes of our lord; we will be in bondage to Pharaoh.”
26  So Joseph established it as a law concerning land in Egypt—still in force today—that a fifth of the produce belongs to Pharaoh. It was only the land of the priests that did not become Pharaoh’s.
27  Now the Israelites settled in Egypt in the region of Goshen. They acquired property there and were fruitful and increased greatly in number.
28  Jacob lived in Egypt seventeen years, and the years of his life were a hundred and forty-seven. 
29  When the time drew near for Israel to die, he called for his son Joseph and said to him, “If I have found favor in your eyes, put your hand under my thigh and promise that you will show me kindness and faithfulness. Do not bury me in Egypt,
30  but when I rest with my fathers, carry me out of Egypt and bury me where they are buried.”
“I will do as you say,” he said.
31  “Swear to me,” he said. Then Joseph swore to him, and Israel worshiped as he leaned on the top of his staff.

Matthew 28:1-10
He Has Risen

1    After the Sabbath, at dawn on the first day of the week, Mary Magdalene and the other Mary went to look at the tomb.
2    There was a violent earthquake, for an angel of the Lord came down from heaven and, going to the tomb, rolled back the stone and sat on it.
3    His appearance was like lightning, and his clothes were white as snow. 
4    The guards were so afraid of him that they shook and became like dead men.
5    The angel said to the women, “Do not be afraid, for I know that you are looking for Jesus, who was crucified.
6    He is not here; he has risen, just as he said. Come and see the place where he lay.
7    Then go quickly and tell his disciples: ‘He has risen from the dead and is going ahead of you into Galilee. There you will see him.’ Now I have told you.”
8    So the women hurried away from the tomb, afraid yet filled with joy, and ran to tell his disciples.
9    Suddenly Jesus met them. “Greetings,” he said. They came to him, clasped his feet and worshiped him. 10  Then Jesus said to them, “Do not be afraid. Go and tell my brothers to go to Galilee; there they will see me.”

Saturday, June 2, 2012

Genesis 47:1-12 and Matthew 27:57-66 (NIV)

Genesis 47:1-12
Jacob Goes to Eygpt

1    Joseph went and told Pharaoh, “My father and brothers, with their flocks and herds and everything they own, have come from the land of Canaan and are now in Goshen.” 
2    He chose five of his brothers and presented them before Pharaoh.
3    Pharaoh asked the brothers, “What is your occupation?”  “Your servants are shepherds, ” they replied to Pharaoh, “just as our fathers were.”
4    They also said to him, “We have come to live here for a while, because the famine is severe in Canaan and your servants’ flocks have no pasture. So now, please let your servants settle in Goshen.”
5    Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you,
6    and the land of Egypt is before you; settle your father and your brothers in the best part of the land. Let them live in Goshen. And if you know of any among them with special ability, put them in charge of my own livestock.
7    Then Joseph brought his father Jacob in and presented him before Pharaoh. After Jacob blessed Pharaoh, 
8    Pharaoh asked him, “How old are you?”
9    And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty. My years have been few and difficult, and they do not equal the years of the pilgrimage of my fathers.
10  Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from his presence.
11  So Joseph settled his father and his brothers in Egypt and gave them property in the best part of the land, the district of Rameses, as Pharaoh directed.
12  Joseph also provided his father and his brothers and all his father’s household with food, according to the number of their children. 


Matthew 27:57-61
The Burial of Jesus
57  As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus.
58  Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him.
59  Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,
60  and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away.
61  Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.

Matthew 27:62-66
The Guard at the Tomb
62  The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate.
63  “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’
64  So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.”
65  “Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.”
66  So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.

Friday, June 1, 2012

Genesis 46:26-34 and Matthew 27:57-66 (NIV)

Genesis 46:26-34
Jacob Goes to Egypt

26  All those who went to Egypt with Jacob--those who were his direct descendants, not counting his sons' wives—numbered sixty-six persons. 
27  With the two sons who had been born to Joseph in Egypt, the members of Jacob’s family, which went to Egypt, were seventy in all.
28  Now Jacob sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to get directions to Goshen. When they arrived in the region of Goshen, 
29  Joseph had his chariot made ready and went to Goshen to meet his father Israel. As soon as Joseph appeared before him, he threw his arms around his father and wept for a long time.
30  Israel said to Joseph, “Now I am ready to die, since I have seen for myself that you are still alive.”
31  Then Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “I will go up and speak to Pharaoh and will say to him, ‘My brothers and my father’s household, who were living in the land of Canaan, have come to me.
32  The men are shepherds; they tend livestock, and they have brought along their flocks and herds and everything they own.’ 
33  When Pharaoh calls you in and asks, ‘What is your occupation?’ 
34  you should answer, ‘Your servants have tended livestock from our boyhood on, just as our fathers did.’ Then you will be allowed to settle in the region of Goshen, for all shepherds are detestable to the Egyptians.

Matthew 27:57-61
The Burial of Jesus
57  As evening approached, there came a rich man from Arimathea, named Joseph, who had himself become a disciple of Jesus.
58  Going to Pilate, he asked for Jesus’ body, and Pilate ordered that it be given to him.
59  Joseph took the body, wrapped it in a clean linen cloth,
60  and placed it in his own new tomb that he had cut out of the rock. He rolled a big stone in front of the entrance to the tomb and went away.
61  Mary Magdalene and the other Mary were sitting there opposite the tomb.


Matthew 27:62-66
The Guard of the Tomb

62  The next day, the one after Preparation Day, the chief priests and the Pharisees went to Pilate.
63  “Sir,” they said, “we remember that while he was still alive that deceiver said, ‘After three days I will rise again.’ 
64  So give the order for the tomb to be made secure until the third day. Otherwise, his disciples may come and steal the body and tell the people that he has been raised from the dead. This last deception will be worse than the first.”
65  “Take a guard,” Pilate answered. “Go, make the tomb as secure as you know how.”
66  So they went and made the tomb secure by putting a seal on the stone and posting the guard.