37Now the proposal seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his servants.
Joseph Is Made a Ruler of Egypt
38Then Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find a man like this, in whom is a divine spirit?” 39So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has informed you of all this, there is no one so discerning and wise as you are. 40You shall be over my house, and according to your command all my people shall do homage; only in the throne I will be greater than you.” 41Pharaoh said to Joseph, “See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.” 42Then Pharaoh took off his signet ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand, and clothed him in garments of fine linen and put the gold necklace around his neck. 43He had him ride in his second chariot; and they proclaimed before him, “Bow the knee!” And he set him over all the land of Egypt. 44Moreover, Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Though I am Pharaoh, yet without your permission no one shall raise his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.” 45Then Pharaoh named Joseph Zaphenath-paneah; and he gave him Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, as his wife. And Joseph went forth over the land of Egypt.
46Now Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt. 47During the seven years of plenty the land brought forth abundantly. 48So he gathered all the food of these seven years which occurred in the land of Egypt and placed the food in the cities; he placed in every city the food from its own surrounding fields. 49Thus Joseph stored up grain in great abundance like the sand of the sea, until he stopped measuring it, for it was beyond measure.
The Sons of Joseph
50Now before the year of famine came, two sons were born to Joseph, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore to him. 51Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, “For,” he said, “God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s household.” 52He named the second Ephraim, “For,” he said, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”
53When the seven years of plenty which had been in the land of Egypt came to an end, 54and the seven years of famine began to come, just as Joseph had said, then there was famine in all the lands, but in all the land of Egypt there was bread. 55So when all the land of Egypt was famished, the people cried out to Pharaoh for bread; and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph; whatever he says to you, you shall do.” 56When the famine was spread over all the face of the earth, then Joseph opened all the storehouses, and sold to the Egyptians; and the famine was severe in the land of Egypt. 57The people of all the earth came to Egypt to buy grain from Joseph, because the famine was severe in all the earth.
The People’s Apostasy Rebuked
1Hear this, O priests!
Give heed, O house of Israel!
Listen, O house of the king!
For the judgment applies to you,
For you have been a snare at Mizpah
And a net spread out on Tabor.
2The revolters have gone deep in depravity,
But I will chastise all of them.
3I know Ephraim, and Israel is not hidden from Me;
For now, O Ephraim, you have played the harlot,
Israel has defiled itself.
4Their deeds will not allow them
To return to their God.
For a spirit of harlotry is within them,
And they do not know the Lord.
5Moreover, the pride of Israel testifies against him,
And Israel and Ephraim stumble in their iniquity;
Judah also has stumbled with them.
6They will go with their flocks and herds
To seek the Lord, but they will not find Him;
He has withdrawn from them.
7They have dealt treacherously against the Lord,
For they have borne illegitimate children.
Now the new moon will devour them with their land.
8Blow the horn in Gibeah,
The trumpet in Ramah.
Sound an alarm at Beth-aven:
“Behind you, Benjamin!”
9Ephraim will become a desolation in the day of rebuke;
Among the tribes of Israel I declare what is sure.
10The princes of Judah have become like those who move a boundary;
On them I will pour out My wrath like water.
11Ephraim is oppressed, crushed in judgment,
Because he was determined to follow man’s command.
12Therefore I am like a moth to Ephraim
And like rottenness to the house of Judah.
13When Ephraim saw his sickness,
And Judah his wound,
Then Ephraim went to Assyria
And sent to King Jareb.
But he is unable to heal you,
Or to cure you of your wound.
14For I will be like a lion to Ephraim
And like a young lion to the house of Judah.
I, even I, will tear to pieces and go away,
I will carry away, and there will be none to deliver.
15I will go away and return to My place
Until they acknowledge their guilt and seek My face;
In their affliction they will earnestly seek Me.
26For consider your calling, brethren, that there were not many wise according to the flesh, not many mighty, not many noble; 27but God has chosen the foolish things of the world to shame the wise, and God has chosen the weak things of the world to shame the things which are strong, 28and the base things of the world and the despised God has chosen, the things that are not, so that He may nullify the things that are, 29so that no man may boast before God. 30But by His doing you are in Christ Jesus, who became to us wisdom from God, and righteousness and sanctification, and redemption, 31so that, just as it is written, “Let him who boasts, boast in the Lord.”
1) How does Hosea show יהוה using affliction to turn His people back?
2) How does Joseph’s rise echo this divine reversal?
3) How does יהוה use the foolish things of this world to shame the wise?
Job Affirms His Righteousness
1Then Job continued his discourse and said,
2“As God lives, who has taken away my right,
And the Almighty, who has embittered my soul,
3For as long as life is in me,
And the breath of God is in my nostrils,
4My lips certainly will not speak unjustly,
Nor will my tongue mutter deceit.
5Far be it from me that I should declare you right;
Till I die I will not put away my integrity from me.
6I hold fast my righteousness and will not let it go.
My heart does not reproach any of my days.
The State of the Godless
7“May my enemy be as the wicked
And my opponent as the unjust.
8For what is the hope of the godless when he is cut off,
When God requires his life?
9Will God hear his cry
When distress comes upon him?
10Will he take delight in the Almighty?
Will he call on God at all times?
11I will instruct you in the power of God;
What is with the Almighty I will not conceal.
12Behold, all of you have seen it;
Why then do you act foolishly?
13“This is the portion of a wicked man from God,
And the inheritance which tyrants receive from the Almighty.
14Though his sons are many, they are destined for the sword;
And his descendants will not be satisfied with bread.
15His survivors will be buried because of the plague,
And their widows will not be able to weep.
16Though he piles up silver like dust
And prepares garments as plentiful as the clay,
17He may prepare it, but the just will wear it
And the innocent will divide the silver.
18He has built his house like the spider’s web,
Or as a hut which the watchman has made.
19He lies down rich, but never again;
He opens his eyes, and it is no longer.
20Terrors overtake him like a flood;
A tempest steals him away in the night.
21The east wind carries him away, and he is gone,
For it whirls him away from his place.
22For it will hurl at him without sparing;
He will surely try to flee from its power.
23Men will clap their hands at him
And will hiss him from his place.
14“Is Israel a slave? Or is he a homeborn servant?
Why has he become a prey?
15The young lions have roared at him,
They have roared loudly.
And they have made his land a waste;
His cities have been destroyed, without inhabitant.
16Also the men of Memphis and Tahpanhes
Have shaved the crown of your head.
17Have you not done this to yourself
By your forsaking the Lord your God
When He led you in the way?
18But now what are you doing on the road to Egypt,
To drink the waters of the Nile?
Or what are you doing on the road to Assyria,
To drink the waters of the Euphrates?
19Your own wickedness will correct you,
And your apostasies will reprove you;
Know therefore and see that it is evil and bitter
For you to forsake the Lord your God,
And the dread of Me is not in you,” declares the Lord God of hosts.
20“For long ago I broke your yoke
And tore off your bonds;
But you said, ‘I will not serve!’
For on every high hill
And under every green tree
You have lain down as a harlot.
21Yet I planted you a choice vine,
A completely faithful seed.
How then have you turned yourself before Me
Into the degenerate shoots of a foreign vine?
22Although you wash yourself with lye
And use much soap,
The stain of your iniquity is before Me,” declares the Lord God.
23“How can you say, ‘I am not defiled,
I have not gone after the Baals’?
Look at your way in the valley!
Know what you have done!
You are a swift young camel entangling her ways,
24A wild donkey accustomed to the wilderness,
That sniffs the wind in her passion.
In the time of her heat who can turn her away?
All who seek her will not become weary;
In her month they will find her.
25Keep your feet from being unshod
And your throat from thirst;
But you said, ‘It is hopeless!
No! For I have loved strangers,
And after them I will walk.’
26“As the thief is shamed when he is discovered,
So the house of Israel is shamed;
They, their kings, their princes
And their priests and their prophets,
27Who say to a tree, ‘You are my father,’
And to a stone, ‘You gave me birth.’
For they have turned their back to Me,
And not their face;
But in the time of their trouble they will say,
‘Arise and save us.’
28But where are your gods
Which you made for yourself?
Let them arise, if they can save you
In the time of your trouble;
For according to the number of your cities
Are your gods, O Judah.
29“Why do you contend with Me?
You have all transgressed against Me,” declares the Lord.
30“In vain I have struck your sons;
They accepted no chastening.
Your sword has devoured your prophets
Like a destroying lion.
31O generation, heed the word of the Lord.
Have I been a wilderness to Israel,
Or a land of thick darkness?
Why do My people say, ‘We are free to roam;
We will no longer come to You’?
32Can a virgin forget her ornaments,
Or a bride her attire?
Yet My people have forgotten Me
Days without number.
33How well you prepare your way
To seek love!
Therefore even the wicked women
You have taught your ways.
34Also on your skirts is found
The lifeblood of the innocent poor;
You did not find them breaking in.
But in spite of all these things,
35Yet you said, ‘I am innocent;
Surely His anger is turned away from me.’
Behold, I will enter into judgment with you
Because you say, ‘I have not sinned.’
36Why do you go around so much
Changing your way?
Also, you will be put to shame by Egypt
As you were put to shame by Assyria.
37From this place also you will go out
With your hands on your head;
For the Lord has rejected those in whom you trust,
And you will not prosper with them.”
Foundations for Living
1And I, brethren, could not speak to you as to spiritual men, but as to men of flesh, as to infants in Christ. 2I gave you milk to drink, not solid food; for you were not yet able to receive it. Indeed, even now you are not yet able, 3for you are still fleshly. For since there is jealousy and strife among you, are you not fleshly, and are you not walking like mere men? 4For when one says, “I am of Paul,” and another, “I am of Apollos,” are you not mere men?
5What then is Apollos? And what is Paul? Servants through whom you believed, even as the Lord gave opportunity to each one.