Genesis 37

• 1. Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.
• 2. This is the account of Jacob. Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father's wives, and he brought their father a bad report about them.
• 3. Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him in his old age; and he made a richly ornamented robe for him.
• 4. When his brothers saw that their father loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.
• 5. Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more.
• 6. He said to them, "Listen to this dream I had:
• 7. We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine and bowed down to it."
• 8. His brothers said to him, "Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?" And they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.
• 9. Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. "Listen," he said, "I had another dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me."
• 10. When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, "What is this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to the ground before you?"
• 11. His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in mind.
• 12. Now his brothers had gone to graze their father's flocks near Shechem,
• 13. and Israel said to Joseph, "As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem. Come, I am going to send you to them.Very well," he replied.
• 14. So he said to him, "Go and see if all is well with your brothers and with the flocks, and bring word back to me." Then he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron. When Joseph arrived at Shechem,
• 15. a man found him wandering around in the fields and asked him, "What are you looking for?"
• 16. He replied, "I'm looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their flocks?"
• 17. "They have moved on from here," the man answered. "I heard them say, 'Let's go to Dothan.'" So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan.
• 18. But they saw him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.
• 19. "Here comes that dreamer!" they said to each other.
• 20. "Come now, let's kill him and throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we'll see what comes of his dreams."
• 21. When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. "Let's not take his life," he said.
• 22. "Don't shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the desert, but don't lay a hand on him." Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his father.
• 23. So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe-the richly ornamented robe he was wearing-
• 24. and they took him and threw him into the cistern. Now the cistern was empty; there was no water in it.
• 25. As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on their way to take them down to Egypt.
• 26. Judah said to his brothers, "What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?
• 27. Come, let's sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our brother, our own flesh and blood." His brothers agreed.
• 28. So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.
• 29. When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes.
• 30. He went back to his brothers and said, "The boy isn't there! Where can I turn now?"
• 31. Then they got Joseph's robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood.
• 32. They took the ornamented robe back to their father and said, "We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son's robe."
• 33. He recognized it and said, "It is my son's robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces."
• 34. Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days.
• 35. All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. "No," he said, "in mourning will I go down to the grave to my son." So his father wept for him.
• 36. Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh's officials, the captain of the guard.

Mark 8

• 1. During those days another large crowd gathered. Since they had nothing to eat, Jesus called his disciples to him and said,
• 2. "I have compassion for these people; they have already been with me three days and have nothing to eat.
• 3. If I send them home hungry, they will collapse on the way, because some of them have come a long distance."
• 4. His disciples answered, "But where in this remote place can anyone get enough bread to feed them?"
• 5. "How many loaves do you have?" Jesus asked. "Seven," they replied.
• 6. He told the crowd to sit down on the ground. When he had taken the seven loaves and given thanks, he broke them and gave them to his disciples to set before the people, and they did so.
• 7. They had a few small fish as well; he gave thanks for them also and told the disciples to distribute them.
• 8. The people ate and were satisfied. Afterward the disciples picked up seven basketfuls of broken pieces that were left over.
• 9. About four thousand men were present. And having sent them away,
• 10. he got into the boat with his disciples and went to the region of Dalmanutha.
• 11. The Pharisees came and began to question Jesus. To test him, they asked him for a sign from heaven.
• 12. He sighed deeply and said, "Why does this generation ask for a miraculous sign? I tell you the truth, no sign will be given to it."
• 13. Then he left them, got back into the boat and crossed to the other side.
• 14. The disciples had forgotten to bring bread, except for one loaf they had with them in the boat.
• 15. "Be careful," Jesus warned them. "Watch out for the yeast of the Pharisees and that of Herod."
• 16. They discussed this with one another and said, "It is because we have no bread."
• 17. Aware of their discussion, Jesus asked them: "Why are you talking about having no bread? Do you still not see or understand? Are your hearts hardened?
• 18. Do you have eyes but fail to see, and ears but fail to hear? And don't you remember?
• 19. When I broke the five loaves for the five thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?Twelve," they replied.
• 20. "And when I broke the seven loaves for the four thousand, how many basketfuls of pieces did you pick up?" They answered, "Seven."
• 21. He said to them, "Do you still not understand?"
• 22. They came to Bethsaida, and some people brought a blind man and begged Jesus to touch him.
• 23. He took the blind man by the hand and led him outside the village. When he had spit on the man's eyes and put his hands on him, Jesus asked, "Do you see anything?"
• 24. He looked up and said, "I see people; they look like trees walking around."
• 25. Once more Jesus put his hands on the man's eyes. Then his eyes were opened, his sight was restored, and he saw everything clearly.
• 26. Jesus sent him home, saying, "Don't go into the village. "
• 27. Jesus and his disciples went on to the villages around Caesarea Philippi. On the way he asked them, "Who do people say I am?"
• 28. They replied, "Some say John the Baptist; others say Elijah; and still others, one of the prophets."
• 29. "But what about you?" he asked. "Who do you say I am?" Peter answered, "You are the Christ. "
• 30. Jesus warned them not to tell anyone about him.
• 31. He then began to teach them that the Son of Man must suffer many things and be rejected by the elders, chief priests and teachers of the law, and that he must be killed and after three days rise again.
• 32. He spoke plainly about this, and Peter took him aside and began to rebuke him.
• 33. But when Jesus turned and looked at his disciples, he rebuked Peter. "Get behind me, Satan!" he said. "You do not have in mind the things of God, but the things of men."
• 34. Then he called the crowd to him along with his disciples and said: "If anyone would come after me, he must deny himself and take up his cross and follow me.
• 35. For whoever wants to save his life will lose it, but whoever loses his life for me and for the gospel will save it.
• 36. What good is it for a man to gain the whole world, yet forfeit his soul?
• 37. Or what can a man give in exchange for his soul?
• 38. If anyone is ashamed of me and my words in this adulterous and sinful generation, the Son of Man will be ashamed of him when he comes in his Father's glory with the holy angels."

Job 3

• 1. After this, Job opened his mouth and cursed the day of his birth.
• 2. He said:
• 3. "May the day of my birth perish, and the night it was said, 'A boy is born!'
• 4. That day-may it turn to darkness; may God above not care about it; may no light shine upon it.
• 5. May darkness and deep shadow claim it once more; may a cloud settle over it; may blackness overwhelm its light.
• 6. That night-may thick darkness seize it; may it not be included among the days of the year nor be entered in any of the months.
• 7. May that night be barren; may no shout of joy be heard in it.
• 8. May those who curse days curse that day, those who are ready to rouse Leviathan.
• 9. May its morning stars become dark; may it wait for daylight in vain and not see the first rays of dawn,
• 10. for it did not shut the doors of the womb on me to hide trouble from my eyes.
• 11. "Why did I not perish at birth, and die as I came from the womb?
• 12. Why were there knees to receive me and breasts that I might be nursed?
• 13. For now I would be lying down in peace; I would be asleep and at rest
• 14. with kings and counselors of the earth, who built for themselves places now lying in ruins,
• 15. with rulers who had gold, who filled their houses with silver.
• 16. Or why was I not hidden in the ground like a stillborn child, like an infant who never saw the light of day?
• 17. There the wicked cease from turmoil, and there the weary are at rest.
• 18. Captives also enjoy their ease; they no longer hear the slave driver's shout.
• 19. The small and the great are there, and the slave is freed from his master.
• 20. "Why is light given to those in misery, and life to the bitter of soul,
• 21. to those who long for death that does not come, who search for it more than for hidden treasure,
• 22. who are filled with gladness and rejoice when they reach the grave?
• 23. Why is life given to a man whose way is hidden, whom God has hedged in?
• 24. For sighing comes to me instead of food; my groans pour out like water.
• 25. What I feared has come upon me; what I dreaded has happened to me.
• 26. I have no peace, no quietness; I have no rest, but only turmoil."

Job 4

• 1. Then Eliphaz the Temanite replied:
• 2. "If someone ventures a word with you, will you be impatient? But who can keep from speaking?
• 3. Think how you have instructed many, how you have strengthened feeble hands.
• 4. Your words have supported those who stumbled; you have strengthened faltering knees.
• 5. But now trouble comes to you, and you are discouraged; it strikes you, and you are dismayed.
• 6. Should not your piety be your confidence and your blameless ways your hope?
• 7. "Consider now: Who, being innocent, has ever perished? Where were the upright ever destroyed?
• 8. As I have observed, those who plow evil and those who sow trouble reap it.
• 9. At the breath of God they are destroyed; at the blast of his anger they perish.
• 10. The lions may roar and growl, yet the teeth of the great lions are broken.
• 11. The lion perishes for lack of prey, and the cubs of the lioness are scattered.
• 12. "A word was secretly brought to me, my ears caught a whisper of it.
• 13. Amid disquieting dreams in the night, when deep sleep falls on men,
• 14. fear and trembling seized me and made all my bones shake.
• 15. A spirit glided past my face, and the hair on my body stood on end.
• 16. It stopped, but I could not tell what it was. A form stood before my eyes, and I heard a hushed voice:
• 17. 'Can a mortal be more righteous than God? Can a man be more pure than his Maker?
• 18. If God places no trust in his servants, if he charges his angels with error,
• 19. how much more those who live in houses of clay, whose foundations are in the dust, who are crushed more readily than a moth!
• 20. Between dawn and dusk they are broken to pieces; unnoticed, they perish forever.
• 21. Are not the cords of their tent pulled up, so that they die without wisdom?'

New International Version

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