¹Then Joseph fell on his father’s face, and wept over him, and kissed him. ²And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel. ³Forty days were required for him, for such are the days required for those who are embalmed; and the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days. ⁴And when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the hearing of Pharaoh, saying, ⁵‘My father made me swear, saying, “Behold, I am dying; in my grave which I dug for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me.” Now therefore, please let me go up and bury my father, and I will come back.’ ” ⁶And Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear.” ⁷So Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, ⁸as well as all the house of Joseph, his brothers, and his father’s house. Only their little ones, their flocks, and their herds they left in the land of Goshen. ⁹And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen, and it was a very great gathering. ¹⁰Then they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and they mourned there with a great and very solemn lamentation. He observed seven days of mourning for his father. ¹¹And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a deep mourning of the Egyptians.” Therefore its name was called Abel Mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan. ¹²So his sons did for him just as he had commanded them. ¹³For his sons carried him to the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, before Mamre, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite as property for a burial place. ¹⁴And after he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brothers and all who went up with him to bury his father. ¹⁵When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “Perhaps Joseph will hate us, and may actually repay us for all the evil which we did to him.” ¹⁶So they sent messengers to Joseph, saying, “Before your father died he commanded, saying, ¹⁷‘Thus you shall say to Joseph: “I beg you, please forgive the trespass of your brothers and their sin; for they did evil to you.” ’ Now, please, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of your father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him. ¹⁸Then his brothers also went and fell down before his face, and they said, “Behold, we are your servants.” ¹⁹Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? ²⁰But as for you, you meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, in order to bring it about as it is this day, to save many people alive. ²¹Now therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little ones.” And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. ²²So Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he and his father’s household. And Joseph lived one hundred and ten years. ²³Joseph saw Ephraim’s children to the third generation. The children of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were also brought up on Joseph’s knees. ²⁴And Joseph said to his brethren, “I am dying; but God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land to the land of which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” ²⁵Then Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.” ²⁶So Joseph died, being one hundred and ten years old; and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.

¹Now in the fifteenth year of the reign of Tiberius Caesar, Pontius Pilate being governor of Judea, Herod being tetrarch of Galilee, his brother Philip tetrarch of Iturea and the region of Trachonitis, and Lysanias tetrarch of Abilene, ²while Annas and Caiaphas were high priests, the word of God came to John the son of Zacharias in the wilderness. ³And he went into all the region around the Jordan, preaching a baptism of repentance for the remission of sins, ⁴as it is written in the book of the words of Isaiah the prophet, saying: “The voice of one crying in the wilderness: ‘Prepare the way of the Lord; Make His paths straight. ⁵Every valley shall be filled And every mountain and hill brought low; The crooked places shall be made straight And the rough ways smooth; ⁶And all flesh shall see the salvation of God.’ ” ⁷Then he said to the multitudes that came out to be baptized by him, “Brood of vipers! Who warned you to flee from the wrath to come? ⁸Therefore bear fruits worthy of repentance, and do not begin to say to yourselves, ‘We have Abraham as our father.’ For I say to you that God is able to raise up children to Abraham from these stones. ⁹And even now the ax is laid to the root of the trees. Therefore every tree which does not bear good fruit is cut down and thrown into the fire.” ¹⁰So the people asked him, saying, “What shall we do then?” ¹¹He answered and said to them, “He who has two tunics, let him give to him who has none; and he who has food, let him do likewise.” ¹²Then tax collectors also came to be baptized, and said to him, “Teacher, what shall we do?” ¹³And he said to them, “Collect no more than what is appointed for you.” ¹⁴Likewise the soldiers asked him, saying, “And what shall we do?” So he said to them, “Do not intimidate anyone or accuse falsely, and be content with your wages.” ¹⁵Now as the people were in expectation, and all reasoned in their hearts about John, whether he was the Christ or not, ¹⁶John answered, saying to all, “I indeed baptize you with water; but One mightier than I is coming, whose sandal strap I am not worthy to loose. He will baptize you with the Holy Spirit and fire. ¹⁷His winnowing fan is in His hand, and He will thoroughly clean out His threshing floor, and gather the wheat into His barn; but the chaff He will burn with unquenchable fire.” ¹⁸And with many other exhortations he preached to the people. ¹⁹But Herod the tetrarch, being rebuked by him concerning Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife, and for all the evils which Herod had done, ²⁰also added this, above all, that he shut John up in prison. ²¹When all the people were baptized, it came to pass that Jesus also was baptized; and while He prayed, the heaven was opened. ²²And the Holy Spirit descended in bodily form like a dove upon Him, and a voice came from heaven which said, “You are My beloved Son; in You I am well pleased.” ²³Now Jesus Himself began His ministry at about thirty years of age, being (as was supposed) the son of Joseph, the son of Heli, ²⁴the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, the son of Melchi, the son of Janna, the son of Joseph, ²⁵the son of Mattathiah, the son of Amos, the son of Nahum, the son of Esli, the son of Naggai, ²⁶the son of Maath, the son of Mattathiah, the son of Semei, the son of Joseph, the son of Judah, ²⁷the son of Joannas, the son of Rhesa, the son of Zerubbabel, the son of Shealtiel, the son of Neri, ²⁸the son of Melchi, the son of Addi, the son of Cosam, the son of Elmodam, the son of Er, ²⁹the son of Jose, the son of Eliezer, the son of Jorim, the son of Matthat, the son of Levi, ³⁰the son of Simeon, the son of Judah, the son of Joseph, the son of Jonan, the son of Eliakim, ³¹the son of Melea, the son of Menan, the son of Mattathah, the son of Nathan, the son of David, ³²the son of Jesse, the son of Obed, the son of Boaz, the son of Salmon, the son of Nahshon, ³³the son of Amminadab, the son of Ram, the son of Hezron, the son of Perez, the son of Judah, ³⁴the son of Jacob, the son of Isaac, the son of Abraham, the son of Terah, the son of Nahor, ³⁵the son of Serug, the son of Reu, the son of Peleg, the son of Eber, the son of Shelah, ³⁶the son of Cainan, the son of Arphaxad, the son of Shem, the son of Noah, the son of Lamech, ³⁷the son of Methuselah, the son of Enoch, the son of Jared, the son of Mahalalel, the son of Cainan, ³⁸the son of Enos, the son of Seth, the son of Adam, the son of God.

¹Then Job answered and said: ²“I have heard many such things; Miserable comforters are you all! ³Shall words of wind have an end? Or what provokes you that you answer? ⁴I also could speak as you do, If your soul were in my soul’s place. I could heap up words against you, And shake my head at you; ⁵But I would strengthen you with my mouth, And the comfort of my lips would relieve your grief. ⁶“Though I speak, my grief is not relieved; And if I remain silent, how am I eased? ⁷But now He has worn me out; You have made desolate all my company. ⁸You have shriveled me up, And it is a witness against me; My leanness rises up against me And bears witness to my face. ⁹He tears me in His wrath, and hates me; He gnashes at me with His teeth; My adversary sharpens His gaze on me. ¹⁰They gape at me with their mouth, They strike me reproachfully on the cheek, They gather together against me. ¹¹God has delivered me to the ungodly, And turned me over to the hands of the wicked. ¹²I was at ease, but He has shattered me; He also has taken me by my neck, and shaken me to pieces; He has set me up for His target, ¹³His archers surround me. He pierces my heart and does not pity; He pours out my gall on the ground. ¹⁴He breaks me with wound upon wound; He runs at me like a warrior. ¹⁵“I have sewn sackcloth over my skin, And laid my head in the dust. ¹⁶My face is flushed from weeping, And on my eyelids is the shadow of death; ¹⁷Although no violence is in my hands, And my prayer is pure. ¹⁸“O earth, do not cover my blood, And let my cry have no resting place! ¹⁹Surely even now my witness is in heaven, And my evidence is on high. ²⁰My friends scorn me; My eyes pour out tears to God. ²¹Oh, that one might plead for a man with God, As a man pleads for his neighbor! ²²For when a few years are finished, I shall go the way of no return.

¹“My spirit is broken, My days are extinguished, The grave is ready for me. ²Are not mockers with me? And does not my eye dwell on their provocation? ³“Now put down a pledge for me with Yourself. Who is he who will shake hands with me? ⁴For You have hidden their heart from understanding; Therefore You will not exalt them. ⁵He who speaks flattery to his friends, Even the eyes of his children will fail. ⁶“But He has made me a byword of the people, And I have become one in whose face men spit. ⁷My eye has also grown dim because of sorrow, And all my members are like shadows. ⁸Upright men are astonished at this, And the innocent stirs himself up against the hypocrite. ⁹Yet the righteous will hold to his way, And he who has clean hands will be stronger and stronger. ¹⁰“But please, come back again, all of you, For I shall not find one wise man among you. ¹¹My days are past, My purposes are broken off, Even the thoughts of my heart. ¹²They change the night into day; ‘The light is near,’ they say, in the face of darkness. ¹³If I wait for the grave as my house, If I make my bed in the darkness, ¹⁴If I say to corruption, ‘You are my father,’ And to the worm, ‘You are my mother and my sister,’ ¹⁵Where then is my hope? As for my hope, who can see it? ¹⁶Will they go down to the gates of Sheol? Shall we have rest together in the dust?”

¹Let a man so consider us, as servants of Christ and stewards of the mysteries of God. ²Moreover it is required in stewards that one be found faithful. ³But with me it is a very small thing that I should be judged by you or by a human court. In fact, I do not even judge myself. ⁴For I know nothing against myself, yet I am not justified by this; but He who judges me is the Lord. ⁵Therefore judge nothing before the time, until the Lord comes, who will both bring to light the hidden things of darkness and reveal the counsels of the hearts. Then each one’s praise will come from God. ⁶Now these things, brethren, I have figuratively transferred to myself and Apollos for your sakes, that you may learn in us not to think beyond what is written, that none of you may be puffed up on behalf of one against the other. ⁷For who makes you differ from another? And what do you have that you did not receive? Now if you did indeed receive it, why do you boast as if you had not received it? ⁸You are already full! You are already rich! You have reigned as kings without us—and indeed I could wish you did reign, that we also might reign with you! ⁹For I think that God has displayed us, the apostles, last, as men condemned to death; for we have been made a spectacle to the world, both to angels and to men. ¹⁰We are fools for Christ’s sake, but you are wise in Christ! We are weak, but you are strong! You are distinguished, but we are dishonored! ¹¹To the present hour we both hunger and thirst, and we are poorly clothed, and beaten, and homeless. ¹²And we labor, working with our own hands. Being reviled, we bless; being persecuted, we endure; ¹³being defamed, we entreat. We have been made as the filth of the world, the offscouring of all things until now. ¹⁴I do not write these things to shame you, but as my beloved children I warn you. ¹⁵For though you might have ten thousand instructors in Christ, yet you do not have many fathers; for in Christ Jesus I have begotten you through the gospel. ¹⁶Therefore I urge you, imitate me. ¹⁷For this reason I have sent Timothy to you, who is my beloved and faithful son in the Lord, who will remind you of my ways in Christ, as I teach everywhere in every church. ¹⁸Now some are puffed up, as though I were not coming to you. ¹⁹But I will come to you shortly, if the Lord wills, and I will know, not the word of those who are puffed up, but the power. ²⁰For the kingdom of God is not in word but in power. ²¹What do you want? Shall I come to you with a rod, or in love and a spirit of gentleness?