Welcome to Through the Bible in a Year. Today is January 21st. Our reading today is Genesis chapters 42 and 43, Matthew chapter 14, verses 1 through 21, and Psalm chapter 21. So let's get started with Matthew chapter 14, verses 1 through 21. At that time Herod the Tetriarch heard of the fame of Jesus, and said unto his servants, This is John the Baptist, he is risen from the dead, and therefore mighty works do show forth themselves in him. For Herod had laid hold on John, and bound him, and put him in prison for Herodias' sake, his brother Philip's wife. For John said unto him, It is not lawful for thee to have her, And when he would have put him to death, he feared the multitude, because they counted him as a prophet. But when Herod's birthday was kept, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod. whereupon he promised with an oath to give her whatsoever she would ask. And she, being before instructed of her mother, said, give me here John Baptist's head in a charger. And the king was sorry. Nevertheless, for the oath's sake, and them which sat with him at meet, he commanded it to be given her. And he sent and beheaded John. in the prison. And his head was brought in a charger and given to the damsel, and she brought it to her mother. And his disciples came and took up the body and buried it, and went and told Jesus. When Jesus heard of it, he departed thence by ship into a desert place apart. And when the people had heard thereof, they followed him on foot out of the cities. And Jesus went forth and saw a great multitude, and was moved with compassion toward them, and he healed their sick. And when it was evening, his disciples came to him, saying, This is a desert place, and the time is now past. Send the multitude away, that they may go into the villages and buy themselves vittles. But Jesus said unto them, They need not depart, give ye them to eat. And they say unto him, we have here but five loaves and two fishes. He said, bring them hither to me. And he commanded the multitude to sit down on the grass and took the five loaves and the two fishes. And looking up to heaven, he blessed and break and gave the loaves to his disciples and the disciples to the multitude. And they did all eat and were filled. And they took up of the fragments that remained 12 baskets full. and they that had eaten were about five thousand men, beside women and children." This concludes the reading of Matthew chapter 14, verses 1 through 21, Genesis chapter 42. Now when Jacob saw that there was corn in Egypt, Jacob said unto his sons, Why do you look one upon another? And he said, Behold, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt. Get you down thither and buy for us from thence that we may live and not die. And Joseph's ten brethren went down to buy corn in Egypt. But Benjamin, Joseph's brother, Jacob sent not with his brethren, for he said, lest peradventure mischief befall him. And the sons of Israel came to buy corn among those that came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan. And Joseph was the governor over the land, and he it was that sold to all the people of the land. And Joseph's brethren came and bowed down themselves before him with their faces to the earth. And Joseph saw his brethren, and he knew them, but made himself strange unto them, and spake roughly unto them. And he said unto them, Whence come ye? And they said, From the land of Canaan, to buy food. And Joseph knew his brethren, but they knew not him. And Joseph remembered the dreams which he dreamed of them and said unto them, ye are spies. To see the nakedness of the land, ye are come. And they said unto him, nay, my lord, but to buy food are thy servants come. We are all one man's sons. We are true men. Thy servants are no spies. And he said unto them, Nay, but to see the nakedness of the land ye are come. And they said, Thy servants are twelve brethren, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. And behold, the youngest is this day with our father, and one is not. And Joseph said unto them, That is it that I speak unto you, saying, Ye are spies. Hereby ye shall be proved, by the life of Pharaoh, ye shall not go forth hence, except your youngest brother come hither. Send one of you, and let him fetch your brother, and ye shall be kept in prison, that your words may be proved, whether there be any truth in you, or else by the life of Pharaoh, surely ye are spies. And he put them all together into ward three days. And Joseph said unto them the third day, this do and live, for I fear God. If ye be true men, let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your prison. Go ye, carry corn for the famine of your houses, but bring your youngest brother unto me. So shall your words be verified, and ye shall not die. And they did so. And they said one to another, we are verily guilty concerning our brother in that we saw the anguish of his soul when he besought us and we would not hear. Therefore is this distress come upon us. And Reuben answered them, saying, Speak I not unto you, saying, Do not sin against the child, and ye would not hear? Therefore, behold, also his blood is required. And they knew not that Joseph understood them, for he spake unto them by an interpreter. And he turned himself about from them, and wept, and returned to them again, and communed with them, and took from them Simeon, and bound him before their eyes. Then Joseph commanded to fill their sacks with corn, and to restore every man's money into his sack, and to give them provision for the way, And thus did he unto them. And they laded their asses with the corn and departed thence. And as one of them opened his sack to give his ass provender in the inn, he aspied his money, for behold, it was in his sack's mouth. And he said unto his brethren, My money is restored, and lo, it is even in my sack. and their heart failed them, and they were afraid, saying one to another, What is this that God hath done unto us? And they came unto Jacob their father unto the land of Canaan, and told him all that befell unto them, saying, The man who is the lord of the land spake roughly to us, and took us for spies of the country. And we said unto him, We are true men, we are no spies. We be twelve brethren, sons of our Father. One is not, and the youngest is this day with our Father in the land of Canaan. And the man, the Lord of the country, said unto us, Hereby shall I know that ye are true men. Leave one of your brethren here with me, and take food for the famine of your households, and be gone. And bring your youngest brother unto me. Then shall I know that ye are no spies, but that ye are true men. So will I deliver you your brother, and ye shall traffic in the land. And it came to pass, as they emptied their sacks, that, behold, every man's bundle of money was in his sack. And when both they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid. And Jacob their father said unto them, Me have ye bereaved of my children, Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and ye will take Benjamin away. All these things are against me. And Reuben spake unto his father, saying, Slay my two sons, if I bring him not to thee. Deliver him into my hand, and I will bring him to thee again. And he said, My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he is left alone. If mischief befall him by the way in the which he go, then shall you bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave. This concludes the reading of Genesis chapter 42. Genesis chapter 43 And the famine was sore in the land. And it came to pass, when they had eaten up the corn which they had brought out of Egypt, their father said unto them, Go again, buy us a little food. And Judah spake unto him, saying, The man did solemnly protest unto us, saying, Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you. If thou wilt send our brother with us, we will go down and buy thee food. But if thou wilt not send him, we will not go down. For the man said unto us, Ye shall not see my face, except your brother be with you. And Israel said, Wherefore dealt ye so ill with me as to tell the man whether ye had yet a brother? And they said, the man asked us straightly of our state and of our kindred, saying, is your father yet alive? Have ye another brother? And we told him according to the tenor of these words. Could we certainly know that he would say, bring your brother down? And Judah said unto Israel his father, send the lad with me, and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and thou, and also our little ones. I will be surety for him, of my hand shalt thou require him, If I bring him not unto thee and set him before thee, then let me bear the blame forever. For except we had lingered, surely now we had returned this second time. And their father Israel said unto them, If it must be so now, do this. Take of the best fruits in the land in your vessels and carry down the man a present, a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, nuts and almonds, and take double money in your hand. And the money that was brought again in the mouth of your sacks, carry it again in your hand. Peradventure, it was an oversight. Take also your brother and arise, go again unto the man. and God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may send away your other brother and Benjamin. If I be bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.' And the men took that present, and they took double money in their hand and Benjamin, and rose up, and went down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph. And when Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the ruler of his house, Bring these men home and slay, and make ready, for these men shall dine with me at noon.' And the man did as Joseph bade, and the man brought the men into Joseph's house. And the men were afraid, because they were brought into Joseph's house, and they said, Because of the money that was returned in our sacks at the first time are we brought in that he may seek occasion against us and fall upon us and take us for bondmen and our asses. And they came near to the steward of Joseph's house and they communed with him at the door of the house and said, oh sir, we came indeed down at the first time to buy food. And it came to pass, when we came to the inn, that we opened our sacks, and behold, every man's money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight, and we have brought it again in our hand, and other money we brought down in our hands to buy food? We cannot tell who put our money in our sacks." And he said, "'Peace be to you, fear not. Your God and the God of your father hath given you treasure in your sacks. I had your money,' and he brought Simeon out unto them. And the man brought the men into Joseph's house, and gave them water, and they washed their feet, and he gave their asses provender. And they made ready the present against Joseph came at noon, for they heard that they should eat bread there. And when Joseph came home, they brought him the present, which was in their hand, into the house, and bowed themselves to him to the earth. And he asked them of their welfare and said, Is your father well, the old man of whom you speak? Is he yet alive? And they answered, Thy servant our father is in good health. He is yet alive. And they bowed down their heads and made obeisance. And he lifted up his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother's son, and said, is this your younger brother of whom you spake unto me? And he said, God be gracious unto thee, my son. And Joseph made haste, for his bowels did yearn upon his brother, and he sought where to weep. And he entered into his chamber, and wept there. And he washed his face, and went out, and refrained himself, and said, Set on bread. And they set on for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians, which did eat with them by themselves. Because the Egyptians might not eat bread with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination unto the Egyptians. And they sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth, and the men marveled one at another. And he took and sent messes unto them from before him, but Benjamin's mess was five times so much as any of theirs, and they drank and were merry with him. This concludes the reading of Genesis chapter 43. Psalm Chapter 21 The King shall joy in thy strength, O Lord, and in thy salvation, how greatly shall he rejoice! Thou hast given him his heart's desire, and hast not withholden the request of his lips, Selah. For thou preventest him with the blessings of goodness. Thou settest a crown of pure gold on his head. He asked life of thee, and thou gavest it him, even length of days for ever and ever. His glory is great in thy salvation. Honor and majesty hast thou laid upon him. For thou hast made him most blessed for ever. Thou hast made him exceeding glad with thy countenance. For the king trusteth in the Lord, and through the mercy of the Most High he shall not be moved. Thine hand shall find out all thine enemies, thy right hand shall find out those that hate thee. Thou shalt make them as a fiery oven in the time of thine anger. The Lord shall swallow them up in his wrath, and the fire shall devour them. Their fruit shalt thou destroy from the earth, and their seed from among the children of men. For they intended evil against thee. They imagined a mischievous device, which they are not able to perform. Therefore shalt thou make them turn their back, when thou shalt make ready thine arrows upon thy strings against the face of them. Be thou exalted, Lord, in thine own strength. So will we sing and praise thy power. This concludes the reading of Psalm chapter 21, and this also concludes the readings for January 21st. May the Lord richly bless your day.