461 And Israel went on his journey with all he had, and came to Beer-sheba, where he made offerings to the God of his father Isaac. 2 And God said to Israel in a night-vision, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I. 3 And he said, I am God, the God of your father: go down to Egypt without fear, for I will make a great nation of you there: 4 I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will see that you come back again, and at your death Joseph will put his hands on your eyes.
5 Then Jacob went on from Beer-sheba; and the sons of Jacob took their father and their little ones and their wives in the carts which Pharaoh had sent for them. 6 And they took their cattle and all the goods which they had got in the land of Canaan, and came to Egypt, even Jacob and all his seed: 7 His sons and his sons' sons, his daughters and his daughters' sons and all his family he took with him into Egypt. 8 And these are the names of the children of Israel who came into Egypt, even Jacob and all his sons: Reuben, Jacob's oldest son; 9 And the sons of Reuben: Hanoch and Pallu and Hezron and Carmi; 10 And the sons of Simeon: Jemuel and Jamin and Ohad and Jachin and Zohar and Shaul, the son of a woman of Canaan; 11 And the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari; 12 And the sons of Judah: Er and Onan and Shelah and Perez and Zerah: but Er and Onan had come to their death in the land of Canaan; and the sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul. 13 And the sons of Issachar: Tola and Puah and Job and Shimron; 14 And the sons of Zebulun: Sered and Elon and Jahleel; 15 All these, together with his daughter Dinah, were the children of Leah, whom Jacob had by her in Paddan-aram; they were thirty-three in number. 16 And the sons of Gad: Ziphion and Haggi, Shuni and Ezbon, Eri and Arodi and Areli; 17 And the sons of Asher: Jimnah and Ishvah and Ishvi and Beriah, and Sarah, their sister; and the sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel. 18 These are the children of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah, and Jacob had these sixteen children by her. 19 The sons of Jacob's wife Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. 20 And Joseph had Manasseh and Ephraim in the land of Egypt, by Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera, priest of On. 21 And the sons of Benjamin were Belah and Becher and Ashbel, Gera and Naaman, Ehi and Rosh, Muppim and Huppim and Ard. 22 All these were the children of Rachel whom Jacob had by her, fourteen persons. 23 And the son of Dan was Hushim. 24 And the sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel and Guni and Jezer and Shillem. 25 These were the children of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel, seven persons. 26 All the persons who came with Jacob into Egypt, the offspring of his body, were sixty-six, without taking into account the wives of Jacob's sons. 27 And the sons of Joseph whom he had in Egypt were two. Seventy persons of the family of Jacob came into Egypt.
28 Now he had sent Judah before him to Goshen, to get word from Joseph; and so they came to the land of Goshen. 29 And Joseph got his carriage ready and went to Goshen for the meeting with his father; and when he came before him, he put his arms round his neck, weeping. 30 And Israel said to Joseph, Now that I have seen you living again, I am ready for death. 31 And Joseph said to his brothers and to his father's people, I will go and give the news to Pharaoh, and say to him, My brothers and my father's people, from the land of Canaan, have come to me; 32 And these men are keepers of sheep and owners of cattle, and have with them their flocks and their herds and all they have. 33 Now when Pharaoh sends for you and says, What is your business? 34 You are to say, Your servants have been keepers of cattle from our early days up to now, like our fathers; in this way you will be able to have the land of Goshen for yourselves; because keepers of sheep are unclean in the eyes of the Egyptians.
471 Then Joseph went to Pharaoh, and said, My father and my brothers with their flocks and their herds and all they have, are come from Canaan, and are now in the land of Goshen. 2 And he took five of his brothers to Pharaoh. 3 And Pharaoh said to them, What is your business? And they said, Your servants are keepers of sheep, as our fathers were before us. 4 And they said to Pharaoh, We have come to make a living in this land, because we have no grass for our flocks in the land of Canaan; so now let your servants make a place for themselves in the land of Goshen. 5 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Let them have the land of Goshen; and if there are any able men among them, put them over my cattle. 6 And Jacob and his sons came to Joseph in Egypt, and when word of it came to the ears of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, he said to Joseph, Your father and brothers have come to you; all the land of Egypt is before you; let your father and your brothers have the best of the land for their resting-place. 7 Then Joseph made his father Jacob come before Pharaoh, and Jacob gave him his blessing. 8 And Pharaoh said to him, How old are you? 9 And Jacob said, The years of my wanderings have been a hundred and thirty; small in number and full of sorrow have been the years of my life, and less than the years of the wanderings of my fathers. 10 And Jacob gave Pharaoh his blessing, and went out from before him. 11 And Joseph made a place for his father and his brothers, and gave them a heritage in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had given orders. 12 And Joseph took care of his father and his brothers and all his father's people, giving them food for the needs of their families.
13 Now there was no food to be had in all the land, so that all Egypt and Canaan were wasted from need of food. 14 And all the money in Egypt and in the land of Canaan which had been given for grain, came into the hands of Joseph: and he put it in Pharaoh's house. 15 And when all the money in Egypt and Canaan was gone, the Egyptians came to Joseph, and said, Give us bread; would you have us come to destruction before your eyes? for we have no more money. 16 And Joseph said, Give me your cattle; I will give you grain in exchange for your cattle if your money is all gone. 17 So they took their cattle to Joseph and he gave them bread in exchange for their horses and flocks and herds and asses, so all that year he gave them food in exchange for their cattle. 18 And when that year was ended, they came to him in the second year, and said, We may not keep it from our lord's knowledge that all our money is gone, and all the herds of cattle are my lord's; there is nothing more to give my lord but our bodies and our land; 19 Are we to come to destruction before your eyes, we and our land? take us and our land and give us bread; and we and our land will be servants to Pharaoh; and give us seed so that we may have life and the land may not become waste. 20 So Joseph got all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh; for every Egyptian gave up his land in exchange for food, because of their great need; so all the land became Pharaoh's. 21 And as for the people, he made servants of them, town by town, from one end of Egypt to the other. 22 Only he did not take the land of the priests, for the priests had their food given them by Pharaoh, and having what Pharaoh gave them, they had no need to give up their land. 23 Then Joseph said to the people, I have made you and your land this day the property of Pharaoh; here is seed for you to put in your fields. 24 And when the grain is cut, you are to give a fifth part to Pharaoh, and four parts will be yours for seed and food, and for your families and your little ones. 25 And they said to him, Truly you have kept us from death; may we have grace in your eyes, and we will be Pharaoh's servants. 26 Then Joseph made a law which is in force to this day, that Pharaoh was to have the fifth part; only the land of the priests did not become his.
27 And so Israel was living among the Egyptians in the land of Goshen; and they got property there, and became very great in numbers and in wealth. 28 And Jacob was living in the land of Goshen for seventeen years; so the years of his life were a hundred and forty-seven. 29 And the time of his death came near, and he sent for his son Joseph and said to him, If now I am dear to you, put your hand under my leg and take an oath that you will not put me to rest in Egypt; 30 But when I go to my fathers, you are to take me out of Egypt and put me to rest in their last resting-place. And he said, I will do so. 31 And he said, Take an oath to me; and he took an oath to him: and Israel gave worship on the bed's head.
481 Now after these things, word came to Joseph that his father was ill: and he took with him his sons Manasseh and Ephraim. 2 And when they said to Jacob, Your son Joseph is coming to see you: then Israel, getting all his strength together, had himself lifted up in his bed. 3 And Jacob said to Joseph, God, the Ruler of all, came to me in a vision at Luz in the land of Canaan, and gave me his blessing, 4 And said to me, Truly, I will make you fertile and give you increase and will make of you a great family of nations: and I will give this land to your seed after you to be their heritage for ever. 5 And now your two sons who came to birth in Egypt before I came to you here, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, in the same way as Reuben and Simeon are. 6 And any other offspring which you have after them, will be yours, and will be named after their brothers in their heritage. 7 And as for me, when I came from Paddan, death overtook Rachel on the way, when we were still some distance from Ephrath; and I put her to rest there on the road to Ephrath, which is Beth-lehem.
8 Then Israel, looking at Joseph's sons, said, Who are these? 9 And Joseph said to his father, They are my sons, whom God has given me in this land. And he said, Let them come near me, and I will give them a blessing. 10 Now because Israel was old, his eyes were no longer clear, and he was not able to see. So he made them come near to him, and he gave them a kiss, folding them in his arms. 11 And Israel said to Joseph, I had no hope of seeing your face again, but God in his mercy has let me see you and your children. 12 Then Joseph took them from between his knees, and went down on his face to the earth. 13 Then taking Ephraim with his right hand, Joseph put him at Israel's left side, and with his left hand he put Manasseh at Israel's right side, placing them near him. 14 And Israel, stretching out his right hand, put it on the head of Ephraim, the younger, and his left hand on the head of Manasseh, crossing his hands on purpose, for Manasseh was the older. 15 And he gave Joseph a blessing, saying, May the God to whom my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, gave worship, the God who has taken care of me all my life till this day, 16 The angel who has been my saviour from all evil, send his blessing on these children: and let my name and the name of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, be given to them; and let them become a great nation in the earth. 17 Now when Joseph saw that his father had put his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it did not seem right to him; and lifting his father's hand he would have put it on the head of Manasseh. 18 And Joseph said to his father, Not so, my father, for this is the older; put your right hand on his head. 19 But his father would not, saying, I am doing it on purpose, my son; he will certainly become a nation and a great one; but his younger brother will be greater than he, and his seed will become a great family of nations. 20 So he gave them his blessing that day, saying, You will be the sign of blessing in Israel, for they will say, May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh; and he put Ephraim before Manasseh. 21 Then Israel said to Joseph, Now my death is near; but God will be with you, guiding you back to the land of your fathers. 22 And I have given you more than your brothers, even Shechem as your heritage, which I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow.
131 On that day Jesus went out of the house and was seated by the seaside. 2 And great numbers of people came together to him, so that he got into a boat; and the people took up their position by the sea. 3 And he gave them teaching in the form of a story, saying, A man went out to put seed in the earth; 4 And while he did so, some seeds were dropped by the wayside, and the birds came and took them for food: 5 And some of the seed went among the stones, where it had not much earth, and straight away it came up because the earth was not deep: 6 And when the sun was high, it was burned; and because it had no root it became dry and dead. 7 And some seeds went among thorns, and the thorns came up and they had no room for growth: 8 And some, falling on good earth, gave fruit, some a hundred, some sixty, some thirty times as much. 9 He who has ears, let him give ear.
10 And the disciples came and said to him, Why do you say things to them in the form of stories? 11 And he said to them in answer, To you is given the knowledge of the secrets of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it is not given. 12 Because whoever has, to him will be given, and he will have more; but from him who has not, even what he has will be taken away. 13 For this reason I put things into the form of stories; because they see without seeing, and give ear without hearing, and the sense is not clear to them. 14 And for them the words of Isaiah have come true, Though you give ear, you will not get knowledge; and seeing, you will see, but the sense will not be clear to you: 15 For the heart of this people has become fat and their ears are slow in hearing and their eyes are shut; for fear that they might see with their eyes and give hearing with their ears and become wise in their hearts and be turned again to me, so that I might make them well. 16 But a blessing be on your eyes, because they see; and on your ears, because they are open. 17 For truly, I say to you that prophets and upright men had a desire to see the things which you see, and saw them not; and to have knowledge of the words which have come to your ears, and they had it not.
18 Give ear, then, to the story of the man who put the seed in the earth. 19 When the word of the kingdom comes to anyone, and the sense of it is not clear to him, then the Evil One comes, and quickly takes away that which was put in his heart. He is the seed dropped by the wayside. 20 And that which went on the stones, this is he who, hearing the word, straight away takes it with joy; 21 But having no root in himself, he goes on for a time; and when trouble comes or pain, because of the word, he quickly becomes full of doubts. 22 And that which was dropped among the thorns, this is he who has the word; and the cares of this life, and the deceits of wealth, put a stop to the growth of the word and it gives no fruit. 23 And the seed which was put in good earth, this is he who gives ear to the word, and gets the sense of it; who gives fruit, some a hundred, some sixty, some thirty times as much.
24 And he gave them another story, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like a man who put good seed in his field: 25 But while men were sleeping, one who had hate for him came and put evil seeds among the grain, and went away. 26 But when the green stem came up and gave fruit, the evil plants were seen at the same time. 27 And the servants of the master of the house came and said to him, Sir, did you not put good seed in your field? how then has it evil plants? 28 And he said, Someone has done this in hate. And the servants say to him, Is it your pleasure that we go and take them up? 29 But he says, No, for fear that by chance while you take up the evil plants, you may be rooting up the grain with them. 30 Let them come up together till the getting in of the grain; and then I will say to the workers, Take up first the evil plants, and put them together for burning: but put the grain into my store-house.
(Read Matthew 13:1-23)
Jesus entered into a boat that he might be the less pressed, and be the better heard by the people. By this he teaches us in the outward circumstances of worship not to covet that which is stately, but to make the best of the conveniences God in his providence allots to us. Christ taught in parables. Thereby the things of God were made more plain and easy to those willing to be taught, and at the same time more difficult and obscure to those who were willingly ignorant. The parable of the sower is plain. The seed sown is the word of God. The sower is our Lord Jesus Christ, by himself, or by his ministers. Preaching to a multitude is sowing the corn; we know not where it will light. Some sort of ground, though we take ever so much pains with it, brings forth no fruit to purpose, while the good soil brings forth plentifully. So it is with the hearts of men, whose different characters are here described by four sorts of ground. Careless, trifling hearers, are an easy prey to Satan; who, as he is the great murderer of souls, so he is the great thief of sermons, and will be sure to rob us of the word, if we take not care to keep it. Hypocrites, like the stony ground, often get the start of true Christians in the shows of profession. Many are glad to hear a good sermon, who do not profit by it. They are told of free salvation, of the believer's privileges, and the happiness of heaven; and, without any change of heart, without any abiding conviction of their own depravity, their need of a Saviour, or the excellence of holiness, they soon profess an unwarranted assurance. But when some heavy trial threatens them, or some sinful advantage may be had, they give up or disguise their profession, or turn to some easier system. Worldly cares are fitly compared to thorns, for they came in with sin, and are a fruit of the curse; they are good in their place to stop a gap, but a man must be well armed that has much to do with them; they are entangling, vexing, scratching, and their end is to be burned, Hebrews 6:8. Worldly cares are great hinderances to our profiting by the word of God. The deceitfulness of riches does the mischief; they cannot be said to deceive us unless we put our trust in them, then they choke the good seed. What distinguished the good ground was fruitfulness. By this true Christians are distinguished from hypocrites. Christ does not say that this good ground has no stones in it, or no thorns; but none that could hinder its fruitfulness. All are not alike; we should aim at the highest, to bring forth most fruit. The sense of hearing cannot be better employed than in hearing God's word; and let us look to ourselves that we may know what sort of hearers we are.
(Read Matthew 13:24-30)
36-43 This parable represents the present and future state of the gospel church; Christ's care of it, the devil's enmity against it, the mixture there is in it of good and bad in this world, and the separation between them in the other world. So prone is fallen man to sin, that if the enemy sow the tares, he may go his way, they will spring up, and do hurt; whereas, when good seed is sown, it must be tended, watered, and fenced. The servants complained to their master; Sir, didst thou not sow good seed in thy field? No doubt he did; whatever is amiss in the church, we are sure it is not from Christ. Though gross transgressors, and such as openly oppose the gospel, ought to be separated from the society of the faithful, yet no human skill can make an exact separation. Those who oppose must not be cut off, but instructed, and that with meekness. And though good and bad are together in this world, yet at the great day they shall be parted; then the righteous and the wicked shall be plainly known; here sometimes it is hard to distinguish between them. Let us, knowing the terrors of the Lord, not do iniquity. At death, believers shall shine forth to themselves; at the great day they shall shine forth before all the world. They shall shine by reflection, with light borrowed from the Fountain of light. Their sanctification will be made perfect, and their justification published. May we be found of that happy number.
