And when Jesus had finished these parables, He departed from there.

And He came into His own country and taught them in their synagogue, so that they were astounded and said, Where did this man get this wisdom and these works of power?

Is not this the  ¹carpenter's son? Is not His mother called Mary, and His brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?

And His sisters, are they not all with us? Where then did this man get all these things?

And they were stumbled because of Him. But Jesus said to them, A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.

And He did  ¹not do many works of power there because of their unbelief.

At that time Herod the tetrarch heard the report concerning Jesus,

And he said to his servants, This is John the Baptist; he has been raised from the dead, and because of this these works of power  ¹are operating through him.

For Herod had seized John and bound him and put him in prison on account of Herodias, the wife of Philip his brother.

For John had been saying to him, It is not lawful for you to have her.

And though he desired to kill him, he feared the crowd because they held him as a prophet.

But when Herod's birthday came, the daughter of Herodias danced in their midst and pleased Herod;

Hence, he promised with an oath to give her whatever she asked.

And she, being instigated by her mother, said, Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.

And the king was grieved, yet because of the oaths and those reclining at table with him, he commanded it to be given.

And he sent men and  ¹beheaded John in the prison.

And his head was brought on a platter and given to the girl, and she brought it to her mother.

And his disciples came and took the corpse and buried it; and they came and reported the matter to Jesus.

And when Jesus heard this, He  ¹withdrew from there in a boat to a deserted place privately. And when the crowds heard of it, they  ²followed Him on foot from the cities.

Now the famine was severe in the land.

And when they had completely consumed the grain which they had brought out of Egypt, their father said to them, Go back; buy us a little food.

But Judah spoke to him, saying, The man solemnly warned us, saying, You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.

If you are willing to send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you grain for food;

But if you are not willing to send him, we will not go down; for the man said to us, You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.

And Israel said, Why did you treat me so badly as to tell the man that you had another brother?

And they said, The man asked very carefully about us and about our relatives, saying, Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother? So we told him about these things. Could we possibly know that he would say, Bring your brother down?

And Judah said to Israel his father, Send the boy with me, and we will rise up and go, that we may live and not die, we and you and our little ones.

I myself will be surety for him; of my hand you may require him. If I do not bring him to you and set him before you, then I shall bear the blame of sinning before you forever.

For if we had not delayed, by now we could have returned twice.

And their father Israel said to them, If it must be so, then do this: Take some of the choice fruits of the land in your bags, and carry a present down to the man — a little balm and a little honey, aromatic gum and myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds.

And take double the silver in your hand, and carry back in your hand the silver that was returned in the mouth of your sacks; perhaps it was a mistake.

Take your brother also, and rise up; return to the man.

And may the  ¹All-sufficient God grant you  ²mercy before the man, that he may release to you your other brother and Benjamin. And as for me, if I am to be bereaved of my children, I shall be bereaved.

So the men took this present, and they took double the silver in their hand and Benjamin; and they rose up and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph.

And when Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to him who was over his house, Bring the men into the house, and slaughter an  ¹animal, and prepare it; for the men will eat with me at noon.

And the man did as Joseph said, and the man brought the men into Joseph's house.

And the men were afraid because they were brought to Joseph's house; and they said, It is because of the silver that was returned in our sacks the first time, that we are being brought in, that he may come out against us and fall upon us and take us as slaves with our donkeys.

And they came near to the man who was over Joseph's house and spoke to him at the door of the house,

And said, Please, my lord, we indeed came down the first time to buy grain for food;

And when we came to the lodging place, we opened our sacks, and there was each man's silver, in the mouth of his sack, our silver in full weight. So we have brought it back in our hand.

And we have also brought down extra silver in our hand to buy grain for food. We do not know who put our silver in our sacks.

And he said, Be at peace; do not fear. Your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks; your silver came to me. Then he brought Simeon out to them.

And the man brought the men into Joseph's house and gave them water, and they washed their feet; and he gave their donkeys fodder.

And they prepared the present for Joseph's coming at noon, for they had heard that they would eat a meal there.

And when Joseph came into the house, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house and bowed down to the ground to him.

And he asked them about their welfare and said, Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?

And they said, Your servant our father is well; he is still alive. And they bowed and paid him homage.

And he lifted up his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, and said, Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me? And he said, God be gracious to you, my son.

And Joseph hurried — for his inward parts burned for his brother — and sought a place to weep. So he entered into his chamber and wept there.

Then he washed his face and came out, and he controlled himself and said, Serve the meal.

And they served him by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because the Egyptians could not eat a meal with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians.

And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth, and the men looked at one another in astonishment.

And he had portions brought to them from before him; however Benjamin's portion was five times as much as any of theirs. And they drank and were merry with him.

And he commanded him who was over his house, saying, Fill the men's sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man's silver in the mouth of his sack.

And put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest with his silver for the grain. And he did so, according to the word that Joseph had spoken.

As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away, they and their donkeys.

When they had just gone out of the city and were not yet far off, Joseph said to him who was over his house, Rise up, follow after the men; and when you overtake them, say to them, Why have you repaid evil for good?

Is not this that from which my lord drinks, and which he indeed uses for divining? You have done wrong in so doing.

And he overtook them and spoke these words to them.

And they said to him, Why does my lord speak such words as these? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing.

See how we brought back to you from the land of Canaan the silver which we found in the mouth of our sacks. How then could we steal silver or gold out of your lord's house?

With whomever of your servants it is found, let him die; and we ourselves will become my lord's slaves.

And he said, Now also let it be according to your words: He with whom it is found will be my slave, and the rest of you will be blameless.

Then each man hurried and lowered his sack to the ground, and each man opened his sack.

And he searched, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest; and the cup was found in Benjamin's sack.

Then they tore their garments, and each man loaded his donkey, and they returned to the city.

And Judah and his brothers came to Joseph's house, and he was still there; and they fell to the ground before him.

And Joseph said to them, What deed is this that you have done? Do you not know that such a man as I can indeed divine?

And Judah said, What can we say to my lord? What can we speak? And how can we justify ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants. Here we are, my lord's slaves, both we and the one in whose hand the cup has been found.

But he said, Far be it from me to do this. The man in whose hand the cup has been found, he will be my slave; but as for the rest of you, go up in peace to your father.

Then Judah came near to him and said, Please, my lord, let your servant speak a word in my lord's ears, and let not your anger burn against your servant; for you are even as Pharaoh.

My lord asked his servants, saying, Do you have a father or a brother?

And we said to my lord, We have an old father and a young child of his old age; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loves him.

And you said to your servants, Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him.

And we said to my lord, The boy cannot leave his father; for if he should leave his father, his father would die.

And you said to your servants, Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall see my face no more.

And when we went up to your servant my father, we told him my lord's words.

And our father said, Return, buy us a little food.

But we said, We cannot go down. If our youngest brother is with us, we will go down; for we cannot see the man's face unless our youngest brother is with us.

And your servant my father said to us, You know that my wife bore me two sons;

And the one went away from me, and I said, Surely he has been torn to pieces; and I have not seen him to this day.

And if you take this one also from me and harm befalls him, you will bring down my gray hairs in misery to Sheol.

Now therefore when I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us, then, his life being bound up in the boy's life,

When he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die; and your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant our father in sorrow to Sheol.

For your servant became surety for the lad to my father, saying, If I do not bring him to you, then I shall bear the blame of sinning before my father forever.

Now therefore, please let your servant remain as a slave to my lord instead of the boy, and let the boy go up with his brothers.

For how shall I go up to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would come on my father.