He reported to his brothers, "My money has been returned! It's right here in my sack!" Trembling with mounting consternation, each of them asked one another, "What is God doing to us?"

"The man who was in charge of the land spoke harshly to us," they said. "He accused us of being spies!

But we told him, "No! We're honest men! We're not spies!

But the man who was in charge of the land responded, "I'm going to test your honesty. Leave one of your brothers with me, take some grain for the famine that's afflicting your households, and leave.

But bring your youngest brother back to me so I can be sure that you're honest men, and not spies. Then I'll return your brother to you, and you'll be allowed to trade anywhere in the land.'"

Later on, as they went about unloading their sacks, each man's bundle of money was found in each man's sack. When they and their father saw their bundles of money, they were greatly distressed.

But Judah reminded him, "The man distinctly warned us: "You'll never see my face unless your brother comes with you.'

But if you don't send him, we're not going, because the man told us, "You'll never see my face unless your brother is with you.'"

Israel replied, "Why did you make all this trouble by telling the man that you have another brother?"

"The man specifically asked about us and our relatives," they responded. "He asked us, "Is your father still alive?' and "Do you have another brother?' So we answered his questions. How could we have known that he would tell us to bring our brother back with us?"

"Send the young man with me," Judah told his father Israel, "and we'll get up and go so we can survive and not die and that includes all of us, you and our families.

"If that's the way it has to be," their father Israel replied, "then do this: take some of the best produce of the land in your containers and take them to the man as a gift some resin ointment, some honey, fragrant resins, myrrh, pistachios, and almonds.

Also take twice as much money with you so you can return the money that had been replaced in the mouth of your sacks. Maybe it was an accounting mistake on his part.

And be sure to take your brother, too. So get up, return to the man,

and may God Almighty cause the man to show compassion toward you. May he send all of you back, including your other brother and Benjamin. Now as for me, if I lose my children, I lose them."

So the men took their gift and twice as much money, got up, took Benjamin with them, and set out for Egypt. Eventually they appeared before Joseph.

As soon as Joseph noticed that Benjamin had come with them, he ordered his palace manager, "Bring the men into the palace. Slaughter an animal and prepare it, because these men will be dining with me for lunch."

So the man did what Joseph had ordered, and brought the men to Joseph's palace.

The men were terrified as they were being taken to Joseph's palace. "It's because of that money that was returned to our sacks the first time we were brought to him," they reasoned. "He's seeking an excuse to attack us, enslave us, and confiscate our donkeys!"

when we arrived at our overnight lodging place, we opened our sacks and discovered each man's money was still in the mouth of his sack. All of our money was there! We've brought it back with us in full.

We've also brought along some more money to buy supplies, but we don't know who put our money back into our sacks."

ushered the men into Joseph's palace, gave them water to wash their feet, and provided fodder for their donkeys.

Meanwhile, the brothers were seated in front of Joseph in birth order, from firstborn to youngest. The men stared at one another in astonishment.

Later, Joseph commanded his palace manager, "Fill the men's sacks to full capacity with food and replace each man's money at the top of the sack.

Then place my cup the silver one in the top of the sack belonging to the youngest one, along with the money he brought to buy grain." So the manager did precisely what Joseph told him to do.

Early the next morning, the men were sent on their way, along with their donkeys.

They had not traveled far from the city when Joseph ordered his palace manager, "Get up, follow those men, and when you've caught up with them, ask them, "Why did you repay evil for good?

Look, we brought back to you from the land of Canaan the money that we found at the top of our sacks. How, then, could we have stolen silver or gold from your master's palace?

"Far be it from me to do this," Joseph responded. "The man in whose possession the cup was discovered will be my slave, but the rest of you may leave in peace to be with your father."

So we told Your Excellency, "The young man cannot leave his father, because if he were to do so, his father would die.'

"But we told him, "We can't go back there. If our youngest brother accompanies us, we'll go back, but we cannot see the man's face again unless our youngest brother accompanies us.'

"So when I go back to your servant, my father, and the young man isn't with us, since he's constantly living life focused on his son,

when he notices that the young man hasn't come back with us, he'll die, and your servants really will have brought death to your servant, our father, along with his sad, gray hair!

Also, your servant pledged his own life as a guarantee of the young man's safety. I told my father, "If I don't bring him back to you, you can blame me forever.'

Therefore, please allow your servant to remain as a slave to Your Excellency, instead of the young man, and let the young man go back home with his brothers.

After all, how can I go back to my father if the young man doesn't accompany me? I'm afraid of what might happen to my father."

I'll mention that the men are shepherds. Because they've been taking care of livestock, they brought along their flocks, their herds, and everything else that they own.

So Joseph kept on accumulating all the money that was to be found throughout Egypt and Canaan in exchange for the grain that was being purchased. He stored the money in Pharaoh's palace.

After all the money had been spent throughout Egypt and Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and demanded, "Give us food! Why should we die right in front of you? Our money is spent!"

"You can surrender your livestock," Joseph replied. "I'll feed them in exchange, since your money is gone."

The following year, they came to him and reminded him, "We won't hide from you, your Excellency, that we've spent all of our money, and that our livestock all belong to you. There's nothing left to trade with you, your Excellency, except our bodies and our territories.

You have two sons who were born to you in Egypt before I came to be with you, whom I now take as my own. Ephraim and Manasseh are mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are.

the angel who has been rescuing me from all sorts of evil, bless these young men. May my name continue to live on within them, including the names of my ancestors Abraham and Isaac, and may they grow into a vast multitude throughout the earth."

A man of the family of Levi married the daughter of a descendant of Levi.

Going out the next day, Moses noticed two Hebrew men fighting right in front of him. He told the one who was at fault, "Why did you strike your companion?"

The man replied, "Who appointed you to be an official judge over us? Are you planning to kill me like you killed the Egyptian?" Then Moses became terrified and told himself, "Certainly this event has become known!"

"Then where is he?" He asked his daughters. "Why did you leave the man behind? Go invite him to have something to eat."

Moses agreed to stay with the man, and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses in marriage.

The LORD told Moses in Midian, "Go back to Egypt, because all the men who wanted to kill you are dead."

Then Pharaoh also called for the wise men and sorcerers, and they along with the Egyptian magicians did the same thing with their secret arts.

Then the LORD told Moses, "Go to Pharaoh, for I've hardened his heart and the hearts of his officials in order to perform these signs of mine among them,

Then the officials of Pharaoh told him, "How long will this man be a snare to us? Let the people go so they may serve the LORD their God! Don't you realize yet that Egypt is about to be destroyed?"

No! Let the men go and serve the LORD, for that is what you were seeking." Then they were driven out from the presence of Pharaoh.

Tellthe people that each man is to ask his neighbor and each woman her neighbor for articles of silver and gold."

The LORD made the Egyptians look on the people with favor. Also the man Moses was highly regarded in the land of Egypt, both in the opinion of Pharaoh's officials and in the opinion of the people.

And when your children say to you, "What does this ritual mean?'

About 600,000 Israeli men traveled from Rameses to Succoth on foot, not counting children.

though any slave purchased with money may eat it after you have circumcised him.

The LORD is a man of war, the LORD is his name!

The Israelis named it "manna". It was white like coriander seed, and tasted like a wafer made with honey.

Then Moses told Aaron, "Take a jar, fill it with about one omer of manna, and place it in the LORD's presence, to be preserved throughout future generations."

The Israelis ate manna for 40 years until they came to a land where they could settle. They ate manna until they came to the border of the land of Canaan.

Moses told Joshua, "Choose some men for us and go out to fight against the Amalekites. Tomorrow I'll stand on top of the hill with the staff of God in my hand."

You are to look for capable men among the people, men who fear God, men of integrity who hate dishonest gain. You are to set these men over them as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens.

Moses chose capable men from all Israel and appointed them as heads over the people, as officials over thousands, hundreds, fifties, and tens.

On the third New Moon after the Israelis went out of the land of Egypt, on that very day, they came to the desert of Sinai.

"When you acquire a Hebrew servant, he is to serve for six years, and in the seventh he is to go out a free man without paying anything.

But if the servant, in fact, says, "I love my master, my wife, and my children, and I won't go out a free man,'

"When a man sells his daughter as a servant, she won't go out as the male servants do.

"Whoever strikes a man so that he dies is certainly to be put to death.

If a man acts deliberately against his neighbor, to kill him by treachery, you are to take him to die even if he's at my altar.

"If a man strikes his male or female servant with a stick and he or she dies as a direct result, the master must be punished.

"If two men are fighting and they strike a pregnant woman and her children are born prematurely, but there is no harm, he is certainly to be fined as the husband of the woman demands of him, and he will pay as the court decides.

"If a man strikes the eye of his male or female servant and destroys it, he is to release him as a free man in exchange for his eye.

If he knocks out the tooth of his male or female servant, he is to release him as a free man in exchange for his tooth.

"If an ox gores a man or woman so that they die, the ox is certainly to be stoned and its flesh may not be eaten, but the owner of the ox is free from liability.

But if the ox has gored previously, and its owner has been warned about it but didn't restrain it, and it kills a man or woman, the ox is to be stoned and its owner also is to be put to death.

If a man opens a pit or digs a pit and does not cover it, and an ox or donkey falls into it,

the owner of the pit is to make restitution. He is to pay money to its owner, and the dead animal will become his.

"If a man's ox strikes his neighbor's ox and it dies, they are to sell the live ox and divide the money. They also are to divide the dead animal.

"If a man steals an ox or sheep and slaughters it or sells it, he is to repay five oxen for the ox and four sheep for the sheep.

"When a man lets a field or vineyard be grazed over or releases his livestock so that they graze in another man's field, he is to make restitution from the best of his field or vineyard.

"When a man gives his neighbor money or goods for safekeeping and it's stolen from the neighbor's house, the thief, if found, is to repay double.

"In every ownership dispute involving an ox, donkey, sheep, garment, or anything that is lost where a person says, "This is mine,' the case between the two of them is to come before the judges, and the one that the judges declare guilty is to repay double to his neighbor.

"When a man gives a donkey, ox, sheep, or any animal to his neighbor for safe keeping, and it dies or is injured or is driven away when no one is looking,

"When a man borrows an animal from his neighbor, and it's injured or dies while its owner was not with it, he is certainly to make restitution.

"When a man seduces a virgin who is not engaged to be married and has sexual relations with her, he must pay her bride price, and she is to become his wife.

"If you loan money to my people, to the poor among you, don't be like a creditor to them and don't impose interest on them.

You are not to show partiality to a poor man in his lawsuit.

He sent young Israeli men to offer up burnt offerings and sacrifice bulls as peace offerings to the LORD.

You are to take the atonement money from the Israelis and give it for the service of the Tent of Meeting, and it is to be a memorial for the Israelis in the LORD's presence to make atonement for yourselves."

He told them, "This is what the LORD, the God of Israel, says, "Every man put his sword on his thigh, and go back and forth from gate to gate in the camp, and each of you kill his brother and friend and neighbor.'"

Moses said, "You have been ordained to serve the LORD today, and you have brought a blessing on yourselves today because every man opposed his son or brother."

The LORD would speak to Moses face to face just as a man speaks with his friend. When Moses returned to the camp, Nun's son Joshua, his young servant, would not leave the tent.

But," he said, "You cannot see my face, because a man cannot see me and live."

Both the men and women came all whose hearts prompted them and brought brooches, earrings, rings, pendants, and all kinds of gold jewelry. Every person presented a wave offering of gold to the LORD.

Each Israeli man and woman whose heart was prompted brought something as a freewill offering to the LORD for all the work that the LORD had commanded them to do through Moses.

Then Moses issued an order, and the message was taken throughout the camp, "Men and women, don't bring any more offerings for the sanctuary." The people were restrained from bringing any more,

it's a festering skin disease in his body. The priest is to declare him unclean. The man need not be confined, since he's already unclean.

"Now when a man or a woman has a skin rash on the head or the man develops a skin rash under his beard,