Thematic Bible




Thematic Bible



Eventually, Jacob observed that there was grain in Egypt, so he asked his sons, "Why do you keep on staring at one another? Pay attention now! I've heard that there is grain in Egypt, so go down there and buy some grain for us, so we can live, instead of dying."

Meanwhile, the famine remained severe throughout the region. As a result, when Jacob's family was beginning to eat the last of the grain that they had brought back from Egypt, their father Jacob told his sons, "Go back to Egypt and buy us some food." But Judah reminded him, "The man distinctly warned us: "You'll never see my face unless your brother comes with you.' read more.
So if you send our brother with us, we'll go down and buy some food. 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. I'll even offer myself to guarantee that I'll be responsible for him. If I don't bring him back and present him to you, I'll personally bear the consequences forever. After all, if we hadn't delayed, we could have been there and back twice by now!" "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."


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."

If you take this one from me, too, and then something harmful happens to him, then it will be death for me and my sad, gray hair!'


Jacob would not send Joseph's brother Benjamin to accompany them, because he was saying, "I'm afraid that he'll come to some kind of harm."

When Joseph was seventeen years old, he was helping his brothers tend their flocks. He was a young man at that time, as were the children of Bilhah and Zilpah, his father's wives. But Joseph would come back and tell his father that his brothers were doing bad things. Now Israel loved Joseph more than all his brothers, since he was born to him in his old age, so he had made a richly-embroidered tunic for him. When Joseph's brothers realized that their father loved him more than all of his brothers, they hated him so much that they were unable to speak politely to him.

But Jacob replied, "My son isn't going back with you, since his brother is dead and he's the only one left. If something should harm him as you travel, then it'll be death for me and my sad, gray hair!"

where they informed their father, "Joseph is still alive! As a matter of fact, he's ruling the entire land of Egypt." But Jacob didn't believe them, because he had become cynical. However, as soon as his sons had told him everything Joseph had said, and after he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent along to carry him, their father Jacob's spirit was encouraged. "It's enough," Israel replied. "My son Joseph is still alive. I'm going to go see him before I die!"

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."

Now Israel's eyesight had become poor from age. Because he couldn't see well, Joseph brought them close to him, and Israel kissed them both and embraced them. Then he told Joseph, "I never thought I'd see you again, and now God has allowed me to see your children as well!"


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."


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."


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."