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First Reading: Genesis Chapter 47 and 48Genesis 47
47:1 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 awhile, 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.
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 used up."
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.
Genesis 48
48:1 Some time later Joseph was told, "Your father is ill." So he
took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim along with him. 2 When Jacob was told,
"Your son Joseph has come to you," Israel rallied his strength and
sat up on the bed.
3 Jacob said to Joseph, "God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land
of Canaan, and there he blessed me 4 and said to me, 'I am going to make you
fruitful and will increase your numbers. I will make you a community of peoples,
and I will give this land as an everlasting possession to your descendants after
you.'
5 "Now then, your two sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you here
will be reckoned as mine; Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, just as Reuben
and Simeon are mine. 6 Any children born to you after them will be yours; in
the territory they inherit they will be reckoned under the names of their brothers.
7 As I was returning from Paddan, to my sorrow Rachel died in the land of Canaan
while we were still on the way, a little distance from Ephrath. So I buried
her there beside the road to Ephrath" (that is, Bethlehem).
8 When Israel saw the sons of Joseph, he asked, "Who are these?"
9 "They are the sons God has given me here," Joseph said to his father.
Then Israel said, "Bring them to me so I may bless them."
10 Now Israel's eyes were failing because of old age, and he could hardly see.
So Joseph brought his sons close to him, and his father kissed them and embraced
them.
11 Israel said to Joseph, "I never expected to see your face again, and
now God has allowed me to see your children too."
12 Then Joseph removed them from Israel's knees and bowed down with his face
to the ground. 13 And Joseph took both of them, Ephraim on his right toward
Israel's left hand and Manasseh on his left toward Israel's right hand, and
brought them close to him. 14 But Israel reached out his right hand and put
it on Ephraim's head, though he was the younger, and crossing his arms, he put
his left hand on Manasseh's head, even though Manasseh was the firstborn.
15 Then he blessed Joseph and said,
"May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked,the God who
has been my shepherd all my life to this day, 16 the Angel who has delivered
me from all harm — may he bless these boys.May they be called by my name
and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac,and may they increase greatly
upon the earth."
17 When Joseph saw his father placing his right hand on Ephraim's head he was
displeased; so he took hold of his father's hand to move it from Ephraim's head
to Manasseh's head. 18 Joseph said to him, "No, my father, this one is
the firstborn; put your right hand on his head."
19 But his father refused and said, "I know, my son, I know. He too will
become a people, and he too will become great. Nevertheless, his younger brother
will be greater than he, and his descendants will become a group of nations."
20 He blessed them that day and said,
"In your name will Israel pronounce this blessing:'May God make you like
Ephraim and Manasseh.'"
So he put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh.
21 Then Israel said to Joseph, "I am about to die, but God will be with
you and take you back to the land of your fathers. 22 And to you, as one who
is over your brothers, I give the ridge of land I took from the Amorites with
my sword and my bow."
Matthew 21
21:1 As they approached Jerusalem and came to Bethphage on the Mount of Olives,
Jesus sent two disciples, 2 saying to them, "Go to the village ahead of
you, and at once you will find a donkey tied there, with her colt by her. Untie
them and bring them to me. 3 If anyone says anything to you, tell him that the
Lord needs them, and he will send them right away."
4 This took place to fulfill what was spoken through the prophet:
5 "Say to the Daughter of Zion, 'See, your king comes to you, gentle and
riding on a donkey, on a colt, the foal of a donkey.'"
6 The disciples went and did as Jesus had instructed them. 7 They brought the
donkey and the colt, placed their cloaks on them, and Jesus sat on them. 8 A
very large crowd spread their cloaks on the road, while others cut branches
from the trees and spread them on the road. 9 The crowds that went ahead of
him and those that followed shouted,
"Hosanna to the Son of David!"
"Blessed is he who comes in the name of the Lord!"
"Hosanna in the highest!"
10 When Jesus entered Jerusalem, the whole city was stirred and asked, "Who
is this?"
11 The crowds answered, "This is Jesus, the prophet from Nazareth in Galilee."
12 Jesus entered the temple area and drove out all who were buying and selling
there. He overturned the tables of the money changers and the benches of those
selling doves. 13 "It is written," he said to them, "'My house
will be called a house of prayer,' but you are making it a 'den of robbers.'"
14 The blind and the lame came to him at the temple, and he healed them. 15
But when the chief priests and the teachers of the law saw the wonderful things
he did and the children shouting in the temple area, "Hosanna to the Son
of David," they were indignant.
16 "Do you hear what these children are saying?" they asked him.
"Yes," replied Jesus, "have you never read,
"'From the lips of children and infants you have ordained praise'?"
17 And he left them and went out of the city to Bethany, where he spent the
night.
18 Early in the morning, as he was on his way back to the city, he was hungry.
19 Seeing a fig tree by the road, he went up to it but found nothing on it except
leaves. Then he said to it, "May you never bear fruit again!" Immediately
the tree withered.
20 When the disciples saw this, they were amazed. "How did the fig tree
wither so quickly?" they asked.
21 Jesus replied, "I tell you the truth, if you have faith and do not doubt,
not only can you do what was done to the fig tree, but also you can say to this
mountain, 'Go, throw yourself into the sea,' and it will be done. 22 If you
believe, you will receive whatever you ask for in prayer."
23 Jesus entered the temple courts, and, while he was teaching, the chief priests
and the elders of the people came to him. "By what authority are you doing
these things?" they asked. "And who gave you this authority?"
24 Jesus replied, "I will also ask you one question. If you answer me,
I will tell you by what authority I am doing these things. 25 John's baptism-where
did it come from? Was it from heaven, or from men?"
They discussed it among themselves and said, "If we say, 'From heaven,'
he will ask, 'Then why didn't you believe him?' 26 But if we say, 'From men'-we
are afraid of the people, for they all hold that John was a prophet."
27 So they answered Jesus, "We don't know."
Then he said, "Neither will I tell you by what authority I am doing these
things.
28 "What do you think? There was a man who had two sons. He went to the
first and said, 'Son, go and work today in the vineyard.'
29 "'I will not,' he answered, but later he changed his mind and went.
30 "Then the father went to the other son and said the same thing. He answered,
'I will, sir,' but he did not go.
31 "Which of the two did what his father wanted?"
"The first," they answered.
Jesus said to them,
"I tell you the truth, the tax collectors and the prostitutes are entering
the kingdom of God ahead of you. 32 For John came to you to show you the way
of righteousness, and you did not believe him, but the tax collectors and the
prostitutes did. And even after you saw this, you did not repent and believe
him.
33 "Listen to another parable: There was a landowner who planted a vineyard.
He put a wall around it, dug a winepress in it and built a watchtower. Then
he rented the vineyard to some farmers and went away on a journey. 34 When the
harvest time approached, he sent his servants to the tenants to collect his
fruit.
35 "The tenants seized his servants; they beat one, killed another, and
stoned a third. 36 Then he sent other servants to them, more than the first
time, and the tenants treated them the same way. 37 Last of all, he sent his
son to them. 'They will respect my son,' he said.
38 "But when the tenants saw the son, they said to each other, 'This is
the heir. Come, let's kill him and take his inheritance.' 39 So they took him
and threw him out of the vineyard and killed him.
40 "Therefore, when the owner of the vineyard comes, what will he do to
those tenants?"
41 "He will bring those wretches to a wretched end," they replied,
"and he will rent the vineyard to other tenants, who will give him his
share of the crop at harvest time."
42 Jesus said to them, "Have you never read in the Scriptures:
"'The stone the builders rejected has become the capstone; the Lord has
done this, and it is marvelous in our eyes'?
43 "Therefore I tell you that the kingdom of God will be taken away from
you and given to a people who will produce its fruit. 44 He who falls on this
stone will be broken to pieces, but he on whom it falls will be crushed."
45 When the chief priests and the Pharisees heard Jesus' parables, they knew
he was talking about them. 46 They looked for a way to arrest him, but they
were afraid of the crowd because the people held that he was a prophet.
BIBLE STUDY PRINCIPLES
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