Saturday in Epiphany

18Verse 18. Then Judah approached Joseph and said, “Sir, please let your servant speak personally to my lord. Do not be angry with your servant, for you are equal to Pharaoh himself. 19Verse 19. My lord asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’ 20Verse 20. And we answered, ‘We have an elderly father and a younger brother, the child of his old age. The boy’s brother is dead. He is the only one of his mother’s sons left, and his father loves him.’ 21Verse 21. Then you told your servants, ‘Bring him down to me so that I can see him for myself.’ 22Verse 22. So we said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father. If he were to leave, his father would die.’ 23Verse 23. But you said to your servants, ‘Unless your younger brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.’ 24Verse 24. Now when we returned to your servant my father, we relayed your words to him. 25Verse 25. Then our father said, ‘Go back and buy us some food.’ 26Verse 26. But we answered, ‘We cannot go down there unless our younger brother goes with us. So if our younger brother is not with us, we cannot see the man.’ 27Verse 27. And your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons. 28Verse 28. When one of them was gone, I said: “Surely he has been torn to pieces.” And I have not seen him since. 29Verse 29. Now if you also take this one from me and harm comes to him, you will bring my gray hair down to Sheol in sorrow.’ 30Verse 30. So if the boy is not with us when I return to your servant, and if my father, whose life is wrapped up in the boy’s life, 31Verse 31. sees that the boy is not with us, he will die. Then your servants will have brought the gray hair of your servant our father down to Sheol in sorrow. 32Verse 32. Indeed, your servant guaranteed the boy’s safety to my father, saying, ‘If I do not return him to you, I will bear the guilt before you, my father, all my life.’ 33Verse 33. Now please let your servant stay here as my lord’s slave in place of the boy. Let him return with his brothers. 34Verse 34. For how can I go back to my father without the boy? I could not bear to see the misery that would overwhelm him.”

57Verse 57. And why don’t you judge for yourselves what is right? 58Verse 58. Make every effort to reconcile with your adversary while you are on your way to the magistrate. Otherwise, he may drag you off to the judge, and the judge may hand you over to the officer, and the officer may throw you into prison. 59Verse 59. I tell you, you will not get out until you have paid the very last penny. ”