Genesis 37: Joseph's Dreams (1-11); Joseph sold by his brothers (11-36). "Judah said to his brothers, 'What we gain if we kill Joseph, our brother and cover up his blood?' Come, let's sell Joseph to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all he is our brother, our own flesh and blood.' His brothers agreed. So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the cistern and sold him for 20 shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt. When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his clothes. He went back to his brothers and said, 'the boy is not there!Where can I turn now?' Then they got Joseph's robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. They took the ornamented robe back to their father and said, 'We found this. Examine it to see whether it is your son's robe.' Jacob recognized it and said, 'It is my son's robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him. Joseph has surely been torn to pieces.' then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days. All his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. 'No,' Jacob said, 'in mourning will I go down to the grave to my son.' So Jacob his father wept for him." (26-36)
Genesis 42: Joseph's brothers go to Egypt (1-38). "Now Joseph was the governor of the land of Egypt, the one who sold grain to all its people. So when Joseph's brothers arrived, they bowed down to him with their faces to the ground. As soon as Joseph saw his brothers he recognized them but he pretended to be a stranger and spoke harshly to them... Joseph said to them, 'It is just as I told you: You are spies! And this is how you will be tested: As surely as Pharaoh lives, you will not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here...' Then Reuben said to his father, 'You may put both of my sons to death if I do not bring my younger brother back.' But Jacob said, 'My son will not go down there with you; his brother is dead and he is the only one left. If harm comes to him on the journey you are taking, you will bring my gray head down to the grave in sorrow.' "
Genesis 44: A silver cup in a sack (1-34). "Each one of them quickly lowered his sack to the ground and opened it. Then the steward proceeded to search, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest. And the cup was found in Benjamin's sack. At this, they tore their clothes. Then they all loaded their donkeys and returned to the city. Joseph was still in the house when Judah and his brothers came in, and they threw themselves to the ground before him. Joseph said to them, 'What is this you have done? Don't you know that a man like me can find things out by divination?' "What can we say to my lord?' Judah replied. 'What can we say? How can we prove our innocence? God has uncovered your servants guilt. We are now my lord's slaves -we ourselves and the one who was found to have the cup.' But Joseph said, 'Far be it from me to do such thing! Only the man who was found to have the cup will become my slave. The rest of you, go back to your father in peace.' ... 'Your servant my father said to us, 'You know that my wife bore me two sons. One of them went away from me, and I said, He has surely been torn to pieces. And I have not seen him since. If you take this one from me too and harm comes to him, you will bring my gray head down to the grave in misery.' 'So now, if the boy is not with us when I go back to your servant my father and if my father, whose life is closely bound up with the boy's life, sees that the boy is not there, he will die.' "
Number 16: Korah, Dathan, and Abiram (1- 50). "But Moses and Aaron fell facedown and cried out, 'Oh God, God of the spirits of all mankind, will You be angry with the entire assembly when only one man sins?' Then the Lord said to Moses, 'Say to the assembly, Move away from the tents of Korah, Dathan, and Abiram.' ... Then Moses said, 'This is how you will know that the Lord has sent me to do all these things and that it was not my idea: If these men die a natural death and experience only what usually happens to men, then the Lord has not sent me. But if the Lord brings about something totally new, and the earth opens its mouth and swallows them, with everything that belongs to them, and they go down alive into the grave, then you will know that these men have treated the Lord with contempt.'
As soon as he finished saying all this, the ground under them split apart and the earth opened its mouth and swallowed them, with their households and all Korah's men and all their possessions. They went down alive into the grave, with everything they owned; the earth closed over them, and they perished and were gone from the community. At their cries, all the Israelites around them fled, shouting, 'the earth is going to swallow us too.' And fire came out from the Lord and consumed the 250 men who were offering the incense."
Deuteronomy 32: The Song of Moses (1-47) "And Moses recited the words of this song from beginning to end in the hearing of the whole assembly of Israel: 'Listen, O heavens, and I will speak; hear, O earth, the words of my mouth. Let my teaching fall like rain and my words descend like dew, like showers on new grass, like abundant rain on tender plants. I will proclaim the Name of the Lord. Oh, praise the greatness of our God! He is the Rock, His words are perfect and all His ways are just. A Faithful God who does no wrong. upright and just is He.' 'They have acted corruptly toward Him; to their shame they are no longer His children, but a warped and crooked generation ... When the Most High gave the nations their inheritance, when He divided all mankind, He set up boundaries for the peoples according to the number of the sons of Israel. For the Lord's portion is His people, Jacob His alloted inheritance. In a desert land He found him, in a barren and howling waste. He shielded him and cared for him; He guarded him as the apple of His eye, like an eagle that stirs up its nest and hovers over its young, that spreads its wings to catch them and carries them on its pinions. The Lord alone led him; no foreign god was with him. He made him ride on the heights of the land and fed him with the fruit of the fields. He nourished him with honey from the rock and with oil from the flinty crag, with curds and milk from herd and flock and with fattened lambs and goats, with choice rams of Bashan and the finest kernels of wheat. You drank the foaming blood of the grape. Jeshurum grew fat and kicked; filled with food, he became heavy and sleek. He abandoned the God who made him and rejected the Rock his Savior. They made Him jealous with their foreign gods and angered Him with their detestable idols. They sacrificed to demons, which are not God -gods they had not known, gods that recently appeared, gods your fathers did not fear. You deserted the Rock, who fathered you; you forgot the God who gave you birth. The Lord saw this and rejected them because he was angered by his sons and daughters. 'I will hide My Face from them,' He said, and see what their end will be; for they are a perverse generation, children who are unfaithful. They made Me jealous by what is not god and angered Me with their worthless idols. I will make them envious by those who are not a people; I will make them angry by a nation that has no understanding. For a fire has been kindle by My wrath, one that burns to the realm of death below. It will devour the earth and its harvests and set afire the foundations of the mountains.' "
1 Samuel 2: Hannah's prayer (1-10). "My heart rejoices in the Lord, in the Lord my horn is lifted high. My mouth boasts over my enemies, for I delight in your deliverance. There is no one holy like the Lord; there is no one besides you; there is no Rock like our God. Do not keep talking so proudly or let your mouth speak such arrogance, for the Lord is a God who knows, and by Him deeds are weighed.
.... The Lord brings death and makes alive; He brings down to the grave and raises up."
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