(Now this is love: that we walk ¹  according to his commandments.) This is the commandment, just as you have heard from the beginning; thus ²  you should walk in it. ³ 

But I hope to see you right away, and we will speak face to face. ¹  (1:15) Peace be with you. ²  The friends here ³  greet you. Greet the friends ⁴  there ⁵  by name.

with these words: ¹  “We give you thanks, Lord God, the All-Powerful, ²  the one who is and who was, because you have taken your great power and begun to reign. ³ 

Now the entire family has risen up against your servant, saying, ‘Turn over the one who struck down his brother, so that we can execute him and avenge the death ¹  of his brother whom he killed. In so doing we will also destroy the heir.’ They want to extinguish my remaining coal, ²  leaving no one on the face of the earth to carry on the name of my husband.”

She said, “As certainly as the Lord your God lives, I have no food, except for a handful of flour in a jar and a little olive oil in a jug. Right now I am gathering a couple of sticks for a fire. Then I’m going home to make one final meal for my son and myself. After we have eaten that, we will die of starvation.” ¹ 

We will also bring the first of our coarse meal, of our contributions, of the fruit of every tree, of new wine, and of olive oil to the priests at the storerooms of the temple of our God, along with a tenth of the produce ¹  of our land to the Levites, for the Levites are the ones who collect the tithes in all the cities where we work. ² 

He said, “Here, my lords, please turn aside to your servant’s house. Stay the night ¹  and wash your feet. Then you can be on your way early in the morning.” ²  “No,” they replied, “we’ll spend the night in the town square.” ³ 

“Out of our way!” ¹  they cried, and “This man came to live here as a foreigner, ²  and now he dares to judge us! ³  We’ll do more harm ⁴  to you than to them!” They kept ⁵  pressing in on Lot until they were close enough ⁶  to break down the door.

So in the morning the older daughter ¹  said to the younger, “Since I had sexual relations with my father last night, let’s make him drunk again tonight. ²  Then you go and have sexual relations with him so we can preserve our family line through our father.” ³ 

My integrity will testify for me ¹  later on. ²  When you come to verify that I’ve taken only the wages we agreed on, ³  if I have in my possession any goat that is not speckled or spotted or any sheep that is not dark-colored, it will be considered stolen.” ⁴ 

But the men were afraid when they were brought to Joseph’s house. They said, “We are being brought in because of ¹  the money that was returned in our sacks last time. ²  He wants to capture us, ³  make us slaves, and take ⁴  our donkeys!”

Tell him, ‘Your servants have taken care of cattle ¹  from our youth until now, both we and our fathers,’ so that you may live in the land of Goshen, ²  for everyone who takes care of sheep is disgusting ³  to the Egyptians.”

Then they said to Pharaoh, “We have come to live as temporary residents ¹  in the land. There ²  is no pasture for your servants’ flocks because the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. So now, please let your servants live in the land of Goshen.”

When that year was over, they came to him the next year and said to him, “We cannot hide from our ¹  lord that the money is used up and the livestock and the animals belong to our lord. Nothing remains before our lord except our bodies and our land.

“The elders ¹  will listen ²  to you, and then you and the elders of Israel must go to the king of Egypt and tell him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met ³  with us. So now, let us go ⁴  three days’ journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice ⁵  to the Lord our God.’

And they said, “The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Let us go a three-day journey ¹  into the desert so that we may sacrifice ²  to the Lord our God, so that he does not strike us with plague or the sword.” ³ 

Moses said, “You will know this ¹  when the Lord gives you ²  meat to eat in the evening and bread in the morning to satisfy you, because the Lord has heard your murmurings that you are murmuring against him. As for us, what are we? ³  Your murmurings are not against us, ⁴  but against the Lord.”

¹ When the people saw that Moses delayed ²  in coming down ³  from the mountain, they ⁴  gathered around Aaron and said to him, “Get up, ⁵  make us gods ⁶  that will go before us. As for this fellow Moses, ⁷  the man who brought us up from the land of Egypt, we do not know what ⁸  has become of him!”

For how will it be known then that I have found favor in your sight, I and your people? Is it not by your going with us, so that we will be distinguished, I and your people, from all the people who are on the face of the earth?” ¹ 

So ¹  now, please come and curse this nation ²  for me, for they are too powerful for me. Perhaps I will prevail so that we may conquer them ³  and drive them out of the land. For I know that whoever you bless is blessed, ⁴  and whoever you curse is cursed.”