Daily Reading

1 And Jacob dwelt in the land where his father had sojourned, in the land of Canaan.

2 These are the generations of Jacob. Joseph, when he was seventeen years old, was shepherding the flock with his brothers while he was still a youth, with the sons of Bilhah and with the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives. And Joseph brought an evil report of them to their father.

3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his sons because he was the son of his old age, and he had made him a coat of many colors.

4 And when his brothers saw that their father loved him more than all his brothers, they hated him and could not speak peaceably to him.

5 Then Joseph had a dream; and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him even more.

6 And he said to them, Listen to this dream which I have had:

7 There we were, binding sheaves in the field, when suddenly my sheaf rose up and remained standing; and then your sheaves gathered around and bowed down to my sheaf.

8 And his brothers said to him, Will you indeed reign over us and actually be a ruler among us? So they hated him even more for his dreams and for his words.

9 And he had still another dream and told it to his brothers and said, Now I have had another dream: There were the sun and the moon and eleven stars, bowing down to me.

10 And he told it to his father and to his brothers; and his father rebuked him and said to him, What is this dream that you have had? Shall I and your mother and your brothers indeed come to bow down to the ground to you?

11 And his brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the saying in his heart.

12 Then his brothers went to shepherd their father’s flock in Shechem.

13 And Israel said to Joseph, Your brothers are now shepherding the flock in Shechem. Come, and I will send you to them. And he said to him, Here I am.

14 And he said to him, Go now, see if it is well with your brothers and well with the flock, and bring word back to me. So he sent him from the valley of Hebron, and he came to Shechem.

15 And a man found him; and there he was, wandering in the field, and the man asked him, saying, What are you seeking?

16 And he said, I am seeking my brothers. Please tell me where they are shepherding the flock.

17 And the man said, They have moved on from here; for I heard them say, Let us go to Dothan. And Joseph went after his brothers and found them in Dothan.

18 And when they saw him from a distance and before he came near to them, they conspired against him to put him to death.

19 And they said one to another, Here comes this master of dreams.

20 Now then, come and let us slay him and throw him into one of the pits; and we will say, A wild beast has devoured him; then we will see what will become of his dreams.

21 But when Reuben heard it, he tried to deliver him out of their hand and said, Let us not take his life.

22 And Reuben said to them, Shed no blood; throw him into this pit that is in the wilderness, but do not lay a hand on him — that he might deliver him out of their hand to restore him to his father.

23 And when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped Joseph of his coat, the coat of many colors that was on him;

24 And they took him and threw him into the pit. Now the pit was empty; there was no water in it.

25 Then they sat down to eat food; and they lifted up their eyes and looked, and there was a caravan of Ishmaelites, coming from Gilead, with their camels bearing aromatic gum and balm and myrrh, going to carry it down to Egypt.

26 Then Judah said to his brothers, What gain is there if we slay our brother and conceal his blood?

27 Come, and let us sell him to the Ishmaelites, and let our hand not be on him; for he is our brother, our flesh. And his brothers listened to him.

28 So when some Midianite traders passed by, they pulled Joseph up, lifting him out of the pit, and they sold Joseph to the Ishmaelites for twenty pieces of silver. And these brought Joseph into Egypt.

29 And when Reuben returned to the pit and saw that Joseph was not in the pit, he tore his clothes.

30 And he returned to his brothers and said, The boy is not there; so as for me, what shall I do?

31 Then they took Joseph’s coat and slaughtered a male goat and dipped the coat in the blood.

32 And they sent the coat of many colors and had it brought to their father and said, We found this; please examine it, and see whether it is your son’s coat or not.

33 And he recognized it and said, It is my son’s coat. A wild beast has devoured him; Joseph is without doubt torn to pieces.

34 And Jacob tore his garments and put sackcloth upon his loins and mourned for his son many days.

35 And all his sons and all his daughters rose up to comfort him; but he refused to be comforted and said, Surely I will go down to Sheol to my son, mourning. Thus his father wept for him.

36 Meanwhile the Midianites had sold him in Egypt to Potiphar, an official of Pharaoh, the captain of the guard.

1 Now at that time Judah went down from his brothers and pitched his tent near a certain Adullamite, whose name was Hirah.

2 And Judah saw there the daughter of a certain Canaanite whose name was Shua. And he took her and went in to her.

3 And she conceived and bore a son, and he called his name Er.

4 And she conceived again and bore a son, and she called his name Onan.

5 And yet again she bore a son and called his name Shelah, and she was in Chezib when she bore him.

6 And Judah took a wife for Er his firstborn, and her name was Tamar.

7 And Er, Judah’s firstborn, was wicked in the sight of Jehovah. And Jehovah put him to death.

8 And Judah said to Onan, Go in to your brother’s wife, and perform the duty of a brother-in-law to her, and raise up seed to your brother.

9 But since Onan knew that the seed would not be his, whenever he went in to his brother’s wife, he spilled it on the ground, so that he would not give seed to his brother.

10 But what he did was evil in the sight of Jehovah, so He put him to death also.

11 Then Judah said to Tamar his daughter-in-law, Remain a widow in your father’s house until Shelah my son grows up. For he thought, He also may die, like his brothers. So Tamar went and dwelt in her father’s house.

12 And in process of time Shua’s daughter, the wife of Judah, died; and Judah was comforted and went up to his sheepshearers at Timnah, he and his friend Hirah the Adullamite.

13 And it was told to Tamar, saying, Your father-in-law is now going up to Timnah to shear his sheep.

14 And she removed from herself her widow’s garments and covered herself with a veil and wrapped herself and sat in the gate of Enaim, which is on the way to Timnah; for she saw that Shelah had grown up, and she had not been given to him as his wife.

15 And when Judah saw her, he thought she was a harlot, for she had covered her face.

16 And he turned aside to her by the way and said, Come now, let me come in to you; for he did not know that she was his daughter-in-law. And she said, What will you give me, that you may come in to me?

17 And he said, I will send you a kid from the flock. And she said, Only if you give me a pledge until you send it.

18 And he said, What pledge shall I give you? And she said, Your seal and your cord and your staff that is in your hand. And he gave them to her and went in to her, and she conceived by him.

19 And she arose and went away, and removed her veil from herself and put on her widow’s garments.

20 And Judah sent the kid by the hand of his friend the Adullamite, to receive the pledge from the woman’s hand; but he did not find her.

21 Then he asked the men of her place, saying, Where is the prostitute who was by the road at Enaim? And they said, There has been no prostitute here.

22 And he returned to Judah and said, I did not find her; and also the men of the place said, There has been no prostitute here.

23 And Judah said, Let her keep the things for herself, lest we become a laughing stock; you see, I sent her this kid, but you did not find her.

24 And about three months later it was told Judah, saying, Tamar your daughter-in-law has played the harlot; moreover, now she is pregnant by harlotry. And Judah said, Bring her out, and let her be burned.

25 As she was being brought out, she sent word to her father-in-law, saying, I am pregnant by the man to whom these belong. And she said, Please note whose these are, the seal and the cords and the staff.

26 And Judah took note of them and said, She is more righteous than I, because I did not give her to my son Shelah. And he did not know her again anymore.

27 And at the time of her delivery, there were twins in her womb.

28 And while she was giving birth, one put out a hand; and the midwife took and tied a scarlet thread on his hand, saying, This one came out first.

29 But when he drew back his hand, his brother suddenly came out; and she said, What a breach you have made for yourself! Therefore his name was called Perez.

30 And afterward his brother came out, who had the scarlet thread on his hand; and his name was called Zerah.

22 Then there was brought to Him one possessed by a demon, blind and dumb, and He healed him, so that the dumb man spoke and saw.

23 And all the crowds were amazed and said, Is this not the Son of David?

24 But the Pharisees, hearing this, said, This man does not cast out the demons except by Beelzebul, ruler of the demons.

25 But knowing their thoughts, He said to them, Every kingdom divided against itself becomes desolate, and every city or house divided against itself will not stand.

26 And if Satan casts out Satan, he is divided against himself. How then will his kingdom stand?

27 And if I, by Beelzebul, cast out the demons, by whom do your sons cast them out? Therefore they shall be your judges.

28 But if I, by the Spirit of God, cast out the demons, then the kingdom of God has come upon you.

29 Or how can anyone enter into the house of the strong man and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man? And then he will thoroughly plunder his house.

30 He who is not with Me is against Me, and he who does not gather with Me scatters.

31 Therefore I say to you, Every sin and blasphemy will be forgiven men, but blasphemy against the Spirit will not be forgiven.

32 And whoever speaks a word against the Son of Man, it will be forgiven him; but whoever speaks against the Holy Spirit, it will not be forgiven him, neither in this age nor in the one to come.

33 Either make the tree good and its fruit good, or make the tree corrupt and its fruit corrupt; for by the fruit the tree is known.

34 Offspring of vipers, how can you, being evil, speak good things? For out of the abundance of the heart the mouth speaks.

35 The good man, out of his good treasure, brings forth good things, and the evil man, out of his evil treasure, brings forth evil things.

36 And I say to you that every idle word which men shall speak, they will render an account concerning it in the day of judgment.

37 For by your words you shall be justified, and by your words you shall be condemned.

38 Then some of the scribes and Pharisees answered Him, saying, Teacher, we want to see a sign from You.

39 But He answered and said to them, An evil and adulterous generation seeks after a sign, and a sign shall not be given to it except the sign of Jonah the prophet.

40 For just as Jonah was in the belly of the great fish three days and three nights, so will the Son of Man be in the heart of the earth three days and three nights.

41 Ninevite men will stand up in the judgment with this generation and will condemn it, because they repented at the preaching of Jonah, and behold, something more than Jonah is here.

42 The queen of the south will rise up in the judgment with this generation and will condemn it, because she came from the ends of the earth to hear the wisdom of Solomon, and behold, something more than Solomon is here.

43 When the unclean spirit goes out from the man, it roams through waterless places, seeking rest, and does not find it.

44 Then it says, I will return to my house from which I came out. And it comes and finds it unoccupied, swept, and decorated.

45 Then it goes and takes along with itself seven other spirits more evil than itself, and they enter in and settle down there. And the last state of that man becomes worse than the first. Thus shall it be also with this evil generation.

46 While He was still speaking to the crowds, behold, His mother and His brothers stood outside seeking to speak to Him.

47 And someone said to Him, Behold, Your mother and Your brothers are standing outside seeking to speak to You.

48 But He answered and said to him who spoke to Him, Who is My mother, and who are My brothers?

49 And stretching out His hand toward His disciples, He said, Behold, My mother and My brothers!

50 For whoever does the will of My Father who is in the heavens, he is My brother and sister and mother.