January 15
Morning Reading Passage
Genesis 36
Esau’s Descendants
1 This is the account of the family line of Esau (that is, Edom).
2 Esau took his wives from the women of Canaan: Adah daughter of Elon the Hittite, and
Oholibamah daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon the Hivite— 3 also Basemath
daughter of Ishmael and sister of Nebaioth.
4 Adah bore Eliphaz to Esau, Basemath bore Reuel, 5 and Oholibamah bore Jeush, Jalam and
Korah. These were the sons of Esau, who were born to him in Canaan.
6 Esau took his wives and sons and daughters and all the members of his household, as well
as his livestock and all his other animals and all the goods he had acquired in Canaan, and
moved to a land some distance from his brother Jacob. 7 Their possessions were too great for
them to remain together; the land where they were staying could not support them both
because of their livestock. 8 So Esau (that is, Edom) settled in the hill country of Seir.
9 This is the account of the family line of Esau the father of the Edomites in the hill country of
Seir.
10 These are the names of Esau’s sons: Eliphaz, the son of Esau’s wife Adah, and Reuel, the
son of Esau’s wife Basemath.
11 The sons of Eliphaz: Teman, Omar, Zepho, Gatam and Kenaz. 12 Esau’s son Eliphaz
also had a concubine named Timna, who bore him Amalek. These were grandsons of Esau’s
wife Adah.
13 The sons of Reuel: Nahath, Zerah, Shammah and Mizzah. These were grandsons of Esau’s
wife Basemath.
14 The sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah daughter of Anah and granddaughter of Zibeon, whom
she bore to Esau: Jeush, Jalam and Korah.
15 These were the chiefs among Esau’s descendants: The sons of Eliphaz the firstborn of
Esau: Chiefs Teman, Omar, Zepho, Kenaz, 16 Korah, Gatam and Amalek. These were the
chiefs descended from Eliphaz in Edom; they were grandsons of Adah.
17 The sons of Esau’s son Reuel: Chiefs Nahath, Zerah, Shammah and Mizzah. These were
the chiefs descended from Reuel in Edom; they were grandsons of Esau’s wife Basemath.
18 The sons of Esau’s wife Oholibamah: Chiefs Jeush, Jalam and Korah. These were the chiefs
descended from Esau’s wife Oholibamah daughter of Anah.
19 These were the sons of Esau (that is, Edom), and these were their chiefs.
20 These were the sons of Seir the Horite, who were living in the region: Lotan, Shobal,
Zibeon, Anah, 21 Dishon, Ezer and Dishan. These sons of Seir in Edom were Horite chiefs.
22 The sons of Lotan:Hori and Homam. Timna was Lotan’s sister.
23 The sons of Shobal: Alvan, Manahath, Ebal, Shepho and Onam.
24 The sons of Zibeon: Aiah and Anah. This is the Anah who discovered the hot springs in the
desert while he was grazing the donkeys of his father Zibeon.
25 The children of Anah: Dishon and Oholibamah daughter of Anah.
26 The sons of Dishon: Hemdan, Eshban, Ithran and Keran.The sons of Ezer: Bilhan, Zaavan
and Akan.
28 The sons of Dishan: Uz and Aran.
29 These were the Horite chiefs: Lotan, Shobal, Zibeon, Anah, 30 Dishon, Ezer and Dishan.
These were the Horite chiefs, according to their divisions, in the land of Seir.
The Rulers of Edom
31 These were the kings who reigned in Edom before any Israelite king reigned:
32 Bela son of Beor became king of Edom. His city was named Dinhabah.
33 When Bela died, Jobab son of Zerah from Bozrah succeeded him as king.
34 When Jobab died, Husham from the land of the Temanites succeeded him as king.
35 When Husham died, Hadad son of Bedad, who defeated Midian in the country of Moab,
succeeded him as king. His city was named Avith.
36 When Hadad died, Samlah from Masrekah succeeded him as king.
37 When Samlah died, Shaul from Rehoboth on the river succeeded him as king.
38 When Shaul died, Baal-Hanan son of Akbor succeeded him as king.
39 When Baal-Hanan son of Akbor died, Hadad[e] succeeded him as king. His city was named
Pau, and his wife’s name was Mehetabel daughter of Matred, the daughter of Me-Zahab.
40 These were the chiefs descended from Esau, by name, according to their clans and
regions:Timna, Alvah, Jetheth, 41 Oholibamah, Elah, Pinon, 42 Kenaz, Teman, Mibzar, 43
Magdiel and Iram. These were the chiefs of Edom, according to their settlements in the land
they occupied.
Genesis 37
Joseph’s Dreams
1 Jacob lived in the land where his father had stayed, the land of Canaan.
2 This is the account of Jacob’s family line.
Joseph, a young man of seventeen, was tending the flocks with his brothers, the sons of
Bilhah and the sons of Zilpah, his father’s wives, and he brought their father a bad report
about them.
3 Now Israel loved Joseph more than any of his other sons, because he had been born to him
in his old age; and he made an ornate robe for him. 4 When his brothers saw that their father
loved him more than any of them, they hated him and could not speak a kind word to him.
5 Joseph had a dream, and when he told it to his brothers, they hated him all the more. 6 He
said to them, “Listen to this dream I had: 7 We were binding sheaves of grain out in the field
when suddenly my sheaf rose and stood upright, while your sheaves gathered around mine
and bowed down to it.”
8 His brothers said to him, “Do you intend to reign over us? Will you actually rule us?” And
they hated him all the more because of his dream and what he had said.
9 Then he had another dream, and he told it to his brothers. “Listen,” he said, “I had another
dream, and this time the sun and moon and eleven stars were bowing down to me.”
10 When he told his father as well as his brothers, his father rebuked him and said, “What is
this dream you had? Will your mother and I and your brothers actually come and bow down to
the ground before you?” 11 His brothers were jealous of him, but his father kept the matter in
mind.
Joseph Sold by His Brothers
12 Now his brothers had gone to graze their father’s flocks near Shechem, 13 and Israel said
to Joseph, “As you know, your brothers are grazing the flocks near Shechem. Come, I am
going to send you to them.” “Very well,” he replied.
14 So he said to him, “Go and see if all is well with your brothers and with the flocks, and
bring word back to me.” Then he sent him off from the Valley of Hebron.
When Joseph arrived at Shechem, 15 a man found him wandering around in the fields and
asked him, “What are you looking for?”
16 He replied, “I’m looking for my brothers. Can you tell me where they are grazing their
flocks?”
17 “They have moved on from here,” the man answered. “I heard them say, ‘Let’s go to
Dothan.’” So Joseph went after his brothers and found them near Dothan. 18 But they saw
him in the distance, and before he reached them, they plotted to kill him.
19 “Here comes that dreamer!” they said to each other. 20 “Come now, let’s kill him and
throw him into one of these cisterns and say that a ferocious animal devoured him. Then we’ll
see what comes of his dreams.”
21 When Reuben heard this, he tried to rescue him from their hands. “Let’s not take his life,”
he said. 22 “Don’t shed any blood. Throw him into this cistern here in the wilderness, but
don’t lay a hand on him.” Reuben said this to rescue him from them and take him back to his
father.
23 So when Joseph came to his brothers, they stripped him of his robe—the ornate robe he
was wearing— 24 and they took him and threw him into the cistern. The cistern was empty;
there was no water in it.
25 As they sat down to eat their meal, they looked up and saw a caravan of Ishmaelites
coming from Gilead. Their camels were loaded with spices, balm and myrrh, and they were on
their way to take them down to Egypt.
26 Judah said to his brothers, “What will we gain if we kill our brother and cover up his blood?
27 Come, let’s sell him to the Ishmaelites and not lay our hands on him; after all, he is our
brother, our own flesh and blood.” His brothers agreed.
28 So when the Midianite merchants came by, his brothers pulled Joseph up out of the
cistern and sold him for twenty shekels of silver to the Ishmaelites, who took him to Egypt.
29 When Reuben returned to the cistern and saw that Joseph was not there, he tore his
clothes. 30 He went back to his brothers and said, “The boy isn’t there! Where can I turn
now?”
31 Then they got Joseph’s robe, slaughtered a goat and dipped the robe in the blood. 32 They
took the ornate robe back to their father and said, “We found this. Examine it to see whether
it is your son’s robe.”
33 He recognized it and said, “It is my son’s robe! Some ferocious animal has devoured him.
Joseph has surely been torn to pieces.”
34 Then Jacob tore his clothes, put on sackcloth and mourned for his son many days. 35 All
his sons and daughters came to comfort him, but he refused to be comforted. “No,” he said, “I
will continue to mourn until I join my son in the grave.” So his father wept for him.
36 Meanwhile, the Midianites sold Joseph in Egypt to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh’s officials, the
captain of the guard.
Evening Reading
Matthew 12:1-21
Jesus Is Lord of the Sabbath
1 At that time Jesus went through the grainfields on the Sabbath. His disciples were hungry
and began to pick some heads of grain and eat them. 2 When the Pharisees saw this, they
said to him, “Look! Your disciples are doing what is unlawful on the Sabbath.”
3 He answered, “Haven’t you read what David did when he and his companions were hungry?
4 He entered the house of God, and he and his companions ate the consecrated bread—which
was not lawful for them to do, but only for the priests. 5 Or haven’t you read in the Law that
the priests on Sabbath duty in the temple desecrate the Sabbath and yet are innocent? 6 I tell
you that something greater than the temple is here. 7 If you had known what these words
mean, ‘I desire mercy, not sacrifice,’ you would not have condemned the innocent. 8 For the
Son of Man is Lord of the Sabbath.”
9 Going on from that place, he went into their synagogue, 10 and a man with a shriveled
hand was there. Looking for a reason to bring charges against Jesus, they asked him, “Is it
lawful to heal on the Sabbath?”
11 He said to them, “If any of you has a sheep and it falls into a pit on the Sabbath, will you
not take hold of it and lift it out? 12 How much more valuable is a person than a sheep!
Therefore it is lawful to do good on the Sabbath.”
13 Then he said to the man, “Stretch out your hand.” So he stretched it out and it was
completely restored, just as sound as the other. 14 But the Pharisees went out and plotted
how they might kill Jesus.
God’s Chosen Servant
15 Aware of this, Jesus withdrew from that place. A large crowd followed him, and he healed
all who were ill. 16 He warned them not to tell others about him. 17 This was to fulfill what
was spoken through the prophet Isaiah:
18 “Here is my servant whom I have chosen, the one I love, in whom I delight; I will put my
Spirit on him, and he will proclaim justice to the nations. 19 He will not quarrel or cry out;
no one will hear his voice in the streets. 20 A bruised reed he will not break, and a
smoldering wick he will not snuff out, till he has brought justice through to victory. 21 In
his name the nations will put their hope.”