Monday in Season after Pentecost

16Verse 16. At that time two prostitutes came to the king and stood before him. 17Verse 17. One woman said, “Please, my lord, this woman and I live in the same house, and I gave birth while she was in the house. 18Verse 18. On the third day after I gave birth, this woman also had a baby. We were alone, with no one in the house but the two of us. 19Verse 19. During the night this woman’s son died because she rolled over on him. 20Verse 20. So she got up in the middle of the night and took my son from my side while I was asleep. She laid him in her bosom and put her dead son at my bosom. 21Verse 21. The next morning, when I got up to nurse my son, I discovered he was dead. But when I examined him, I realized that he was not the son I had borne.” 22Verse 22. “No,” said the other woman, “the living one is my son and the dead one is your son.” But the first woman insisted, “No, the dead one is yours and the living one is mine.” So they argued before the king. 23Verse 23. Then the king replied, “This woman says, ‘My son is alive and yours is dead,’ but that woman says, ‘No, your son is dead and mine is alive.’” 24Verse 24. The king continued, “Bring me a sword.” So they brought him a sword, 25Verse 25. and the king declared, “Cut the living child in two and give half to one and half to the other.” 26Verse 26. Then the woman whose son was alive spoke to the king because she yearned with compassion for her son. “Please, my lord,” she said, “give her the living baby. Do not kill him!” But the other woman said, “He will be neither mine nor yours. Cut him in two!” 27Verse 27. Then the king gave his ruling: “Give the living baby to the first woman. By no means should you kill him; she is his mother.” 28Verse 28. When all Israel heard of the judgment the king had given, they stood in awe of him, for they saw that the wisdom of God was in him to administer justice.

1Verse 1. Now the famine was still severe in the land. 2Verse 2. So when Jacob’s sons had eaten all the grain they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go back and buy us a little more food.” 3Verse 3. But Judah replied, “The man solemnly warned us, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’ 4Verse 4. If you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy food for you. 5Verse 5. But if you will not send him, we will not go; for the man told us, ‘You will not see my face again unless your brother is with you.’” 6Verse 6. “Why did you bring this trouble upon me?” Israel asked. “Why did you tell the man you had another brother?” 7Verse 7. They replied, “The man questioned us in detail about ourselves and our family: ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ And we answered him accordingly. How could we possibly know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother here’?” 8Verse 8. And Judah said to his father Israel, “Send the boy with me, and we will go at once, so that we may live and not die— neither we, nor you, nor our children. 9Verse 9. I will guarantee his safety. You may hold me personally responsible. If I do not bring him back and set him before you, then may I bear the guilt before you all my life. 10Verse 10. If we had not delayed, we could have come and gone twice by now.” 11Verse 11. Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Put some of the best products of the land in your packs and carry them down as a gift for the man — a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachios and almonds. 12Verse 12. Take double the silver with you so that you may return the silver that was put back into the mouths of your sacks. Perhaps it was a mistake. 13Verse 13. Take your brother as well, and return to the man at once. 14Verse 14. May God Almighty grant you mercy before the man, that he may release your other brother along with Benjamin. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.” 15Verse 15. So the men took these gifts, along with double the amount of silver, and Benjamin as well. Then they hurried down to Egypt and stood before Joseph.