Free Daily Bible Study Podcast

Genesis 44 | Mark 14 | Job 10 | Romans 14

By Genesis 44, Joseph has spent considerable time with his brothers. He has interrogated them, imprisoned them, and feasted with them. It does not seem as though anything Joseph has done—even at the points when he treated them roughly—has happened out of malice but rather out of a sincere desire to reconcile with his brothers. But to reconcile well, Joseph needs to discover whether his brothers have changed at all since they sold him into slavery.

So, Joseph organizes a test. Like before, he puts all the money back into the grain sacks of his brothers as they begin their journey home. This time, however, Joseph also places his silver cup in the sack of Benjamin, Jacob’s beloved son.

When confronted with the accusation of having stolen Joseph’s silver cup, the brothers flatly deny that any of them had done such an outrageous thing, even saying that “Whichever of your servants is found with it shall die, and we also will be my lord’s servants” (Gen. 44:9). When the cup is discovered in Benjamin’s sack, they are devastated.

So it is no small surprise to see Judah step forward to fulfill the promise he had made to his father in Genesis 43 to protect Benjamin, even at the cost of his own life. Clearly, something significant has changed in Judah, since his willingness to sacrifice himself in place of his brother stands in marked contrast to his earlier suggestion to sell Joseph into slavery (Gen. 37:26–27) and his hiring his daughter-in-law Tamar as a prostitute (Gen. 38). Doing everything in his power, Judah pleads that Joseph would detain him, letting Benjamin return to their father, Jacob.

D. A. Carson writes this about Judah’s transformation:

This is the high point in what we know of Judah’s pilgrimage. He offers his life in substitution for another. Perhaps in part he was motivated by conscience; if so, the genuine heroism grew out of genuine shame. He could not know that in less than two millennia, his most illustrious descendent, in no way prompted by shame but only by obedience to his heavenly Father and by love for guilty rebels, would offer himself as a substitute for them (Mark 14).1

All of a sudden in the narrative of Joseph, the typology has changed. In Genesis 44, we do not see Joseph demonstrating what Jesus would be centuries later. Here, Joseph plays the role of God the Father, demanding justice.

Instead, it is Judah who foreshadows the Lord Jesus Christ, and it is fitting that he would do so. While Joseph is a righteous man, it is not for Joseph to become the human ancestor of Jesus Christ—that honor belongs to Judah, so it is necessary that at some point Judah begins to play the part.

And that’s exactly what we see happening in Genesis 44.

1 D. A. Carson, For the Love of God, vol. 1 (Wheaton, IL: Crossway Books, 1998), February 11. Today’s meditation is based significantly on Carson’s meditation on this text.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Genesis 43 | Mark 13 | Job 9 | Romans 13

When the first measure of grain runs out for Jacob and his sons, Jacob instructs his sons to return again to Egypt to buy more grain. Judah not only reminds Jacob that Joseph had told them not to appear before him without Jacob’s youngest son, Benjamin, but Judah also pledges Benjamin’s safety to Jacob. We will look more at Judah’s willingness to sacrifice himself to secure the safety of Benjamin in tomorrow’s meditation.

Although Jacob is not thrilled to send his beloved son Benjamin into jeopardy, he eventually relents, sending his sons with double their money and with gifts to bring to the Egyptian who was selling them the grain. Instead of needing a bribe, however, Joseph treats his brothers to a feast—a gesture of no small value during the middle of a famine.

Consider the magnitude of Joseph’s grace toward his brothers up to this point. Significantly, Joseph had not executed his brothers on the spot when he first met them. Even though Joseph now held all the power in their relationship—a reversal of the time when they stood over him in the pit—Joseph refused to seek direct revenge.

But Joseph also did not even allow himself to take indirect revenge, as would have been his right, by declining to sell grain to his brothers during the intense famine. In fact, Joseph had gone so far as to replace the money that they had paid in their bags before they had left in Genesis 42:25. When they confess that they somehow ended up with the money for the first installment of grain, Joseph dismisses their statement, insisting that he had received the money (Gen. 43:23).

That is when Joseph sets the feast before his brothers. Although Joseph was not able to eat with his brothers because of cultural norms, Joseph fed them (to their astonishment) directly from his own table, giving Benjamin five times the portion of any other brother. And despite the fact that they had no idea why they were being treated so well (and despite their ignorance of what they actually deserved), they feasted with merriness before Joseph.

Do you see in this a glimpse into the magnificent grace that Jesus extends to us? Even though we have sinned against him in such a way that contributed to his brutal execution at the cross, he nevertheless takes it upon himself to supply all of our needs according to his riches in glory, and he provides out of his own treasury to set a table before us, even in the midst of our enemies.

The next time you come to the Lord’s Table to feast with him, remember Joseph and the feast he ate with his brothers. Just like Joseph’s brothers, we are no longer estranged betrayers of our Lord but honored guests whom he invites into his presence.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Genesis 42 | Mark 12 | Job 8 | Romans 12

In Genesis 42, we read the first installment of how Joseph reconciles with his brothers after many years since they had sold him into slavery. Although the brothers do not recognize Joseph—how could they possibly imagine that their brother had ascended to the right hand of Pharaoh himself?—Joseph recognizes them, and he decides to test them to see if they have matured and changed since he last saw their faces.

But even though Joseph’s brothers don’t recognize him, they clearly remember what they had done to Joseph. In fact, the memory of their treachery seems to hang over them, so that at the first sign of difficulty to purchase bread, they are convinced that their problems are arising as a direct consequence of their guilt toward Joseph (Gen. 42:21–22).

It is difficult to know exactly what is going through Joseph’s mind through all of this. Does part of him want to seek revenge, and is that why he speaks to them roughly and treats them like strangers (Gen. 42:7)? Is he laughing on the inside at the humor of his huge practical joke? Is he afraid, deep down, that his brothers will still reject him if he reveals his identity to them? Is he willing to forgive, but only on the condition that his brothers are able to demonstrate that they have made significant improvements? What does his weeping (Gen. 42:24) signify?

Most likely, the Bible doesn’t provide us much insight into Joseph’s psychology during this encounter because something more important is happening. Rather than isolating the full meaning and significance of this story in the person of Joseph himself, this story is much bigger than that, providing us a picture of what it might look like for us to be reconciled to God himself.

In this story, we see ten of the tribes of Israel standing before the righteous servant of God, who had suffered even though he was innocent but is now exalted to the right hand of the king. What’s worse is that this righteous servant of God had suffered innocently because of these Israelites, so that his suffering came directly because of their sin. The million dollar question, then, is this: How will the righteous servant of God react and respond to those whose sin had caused him such suffering?

The narrator of Genesis 42 doesn’t resolve the tension just yet, but once again, we are meant to see in this story a seed of the story of Jesus Christ himself. One day, Israel will stand along with all the nations of the earth before the exalted Lord who suffered innocently because of our sin. On that day, what will you do? What will you say?

And more importantly, how will Jesus respond?

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Genesis 41 | Mark 11 | Job 7 | Romans 11

Despite the fact that the cupbearer had promised Joseph he would remember him and work to free Joseph from prison, two entire years pass without anything happening to rescue Joseph. And once again, even though the cupbearer abandons Joseph (one more person in a long line of people who had mistreated him), God still does not abandon Joseph. By the hand of God, Pharaoh has a dream that deeply troubles him, forcing him to find someone–anyone—in his kingdom who has the ability to help with its interpretation.

It is only at this point that the cupbearer remembers that he does know someone who can interpret dreams. And with that, Joseph is raised up out of prison, shaven, given new clothes, and set before Pharaoh to interpret the dream (Gen. 41:14).

So, Joseph interprets the dream, explaining that God was telling Pharaoh about the next fourteen years: there would be seven years of plenty, followed by seven years of famine. Then, when Joseph displays his wisdom by offering to Pharaoh a blueprint of how to lead his people through that famine, Pharaoh exalts Joseph, giving him all authority over Egypt, only one step in authority below Pharaoh himself.

I hope that you are beginning to see a pattern here. With every piece of the unfolding story of Joseph, we see more of the overall picture of the Lord Jesus Christ. Like Joseph, Jesus suffered, he was raised up, and he was glorified, receiving all authority in heaven and on earth. Again, Joseph is a real, historical person whose story is important on its own, but God also tells us this story to foreshadow who Jesus would be.

In fact, the story of Joseph is such powerful evidence that the Messiah would have to suffer, die, and rise again that the ancient Jewish rabbis believed there would actually be two Messiahs—a conquering warrior-king whom they referred to as the Son of David and a suffering servant whom they referred to as the Son of Joseph.1 They simply couldn’t imagine that one Messiah could fulfill both roles.

So, imagine for a moment that you were one of the Jews on the road to Emmaus, trying to figure out what exactly had happened with the crucifixion of Jesus and the quickly spreading rumors of his resurrection, and suddenly Jesus himself had met you on the road. As he began to unfold to you the whole story of the Scriptures, your heart would have burned within you as Jesus asked, “Was it not necessary that the Christ should suffer these things and enter into his glory?” (Luke 24:26), and as you realized that the stories you had heard all your life—including the story of Joseph—all pointed forward to Jesus.

But the picture isn’t quite yet complete. We’ll continue on with the story of Joseph to read about his reconciliation with his brothers in tomorrow’s reading.

1 Arnold G. Fruchtenbaum, Jesus Was a Jew, rev. ed. (San Antonio, TX: Ariel Ministries, 2014), 37, 43, 57.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Genesis 40 | Mark 10 | Job 6 | Romans 10

In yesterday’s reading, Joseph ended up in prison through no fault of his own. After being ambushed by his brothers and sold into foreign slavery, Joseph had gained the respect and admiration of his Egyptian master. But when Potiphar’s wife falsely accused Joseph of trying to rape her (despite the fact that he had repeatedly turned down her advances), Joseph once again finds himself in a situation he did not deserve: Egyptian prison.

But when the entire world had turned against Joseph, God did not forget his servant. So, while Joseph was in prison, God blessed Joseph by continuing to give him prophetic insight into the dreams of his fellow prisoners. When Pharaoh’s cupbearer dreams about again putting Pharaoh’s cup in his hand, Joseph interprets the dream as signifying that the cupbearer would be restored to his office in a matter of only three days.

Sadly, though, Pharaoh’s chief baker does not receive the same good news. When he dreams of birds eating from the bread in a basket on his head, Joseph interprets his dream to mean the baker would be hanged in the same time frame of three days, so that the birds would eat his flesh.

And over the course of three days, everything goes exactly as Joseph had predicted. On the third day, the cupbearer is raised up from death to life and the baker is sent to his death by execution. Indeed, all interpretations belong to God (Gen. 40:8), and God blesses Joseph by granting him the ability to interpret the dreams of others.

Once again, we see in Joseph a shadow of who Jesus would eventually become. Yes, the story of Joseph is historical, and yes, we should read it to learn about Joseph and what he can teach us about how to follow God through difficult situations. But this story also drops clues about the identity, character, and nature of the ultimate innocent, suffering servant of God: the Lord Jesus Christ.

So in Genesis 40, we see a foreshadowing of the mission of Jesus. Through his own death and resurrection on the third day (the same day the cupbearer was restored to his position!), Jesus came to set captives free from their prison. He didn’t come to set people free merely from the prison of Egypt but from the prison of the curse of sin and death. Just as in the dreams that Joseph interpreted, Jesus stands with a promise and a warning: Jesus will raise up to walk in newness of life (Rom. 6:4) all those who believe on him, but those who do not believe on Jesus will be cursed to death.

And in tomorrow’s reading, we will read about the vindication and glorification of Joseph—as well as what that teaches us about the vindication and glorification of Jesus in the process.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Genesis 39 | Mark 9 | Job 5 | Romans 9

After the brief interlude in yesterday’s reading when we read about Judah and Tamar, Genesis 39 returns us to the story of Joseph. In this chapter, the narrator picks up where he left us at the end of Genesis 37, where we learned that Joseph had been sold to an Egyptian named Potiphar, a high-ranking captain of Pharaoh’s guard (Gen. 37:36).

In today’s reading, we find that Joseph has quickly gained favor with Potiphar, just as Joseph had enjoyed the favor of his father, Jacob. When Potiphar sees how much Yahweh blessed Joseph, Potiphar puts Joseph in charge of all that he had in his entire household, and Yahweh blesses Potiphar’s house for Joseph’s sake (Gen. 39:3–6).

We should not too quickly pass over these descriptions of Joseph’s labor, for we see here a clear pattern for how we ought to conduct ourselves in the world. Just as God commanded the exiled Israelites to seek the welfare of Babylon in their captivity in Jeremiah 29:7, so here we see Joseph seeking the welfare of his Egyptian owner.

Wherever God calls us to serve—even and especially if our service is in less-than-ideal circumstances—God calls us to serve our employers as though we were serving God and not man (Eph. 6:5–8; Col. 3:22–23). We are to seek their welfare, because by working for their welfare we will find our welfare (Jer. 29:7). More than that, we honor God by serving our employers well. Joseph certainly honored God in the way he served Potiphar.

But the main focus of this story falls on the one thing that Potiphar held back from Joseph: his wife. Time and time again, Potiphar’s wife sought to seduce Joseph, and when Joseph refused, she eventually went to her husband falsely claiming that Joseph had tried to rape her. This false accusation enrages Potiphar, and Potiphar puts Joseph in prison. What are we to learn from this?

Well, in the meditation from Genesis 37, we talked about how Joseph offers us such beautiful typology of who Jesus would eventually be, and this story is no exception. Just as Joseph was falsely accused and punished for the sin of another even though he himself was righteous, so also would the Lord Jesus be falsely accused, suffering the punishment for the sins of others—your sins and my sins. Even though he was righteous, Jesus was made to be sin for us at the cross.

And just as Joseph could not be conquered by prison but rather gained favor with the prison keeper, so also Jesus could not be held prisoner by the grave. In tomorrow’s reading, we will begin to see how Joseph emerges victorious over prison, just as Jesus rose up victorious over the grave.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Genesis 38 | Mark 8 | Job 4 | Romans 8

Because Jacob was renamed Israel after wrestling with God in Genesis 32:28, the sons of Israel then served as the heads of the tribes of Israel. And of all the tribes in Israel, the tribe of Judah (named after the man whom we read about in Genesis 38) will end up playing an unusually important role in the history of God’s redemptive plan in this world.

For example, by the end of Genesis, we will learn that Judah is the tribe from whom kings will come, since Jacob will prophesy on his deathbed that “The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples” (Gen. 49:10). That prophecy will come to pass when the prophet Samuel anoints a new king over Israel named David, a young boy from the tribe of Judah (1 Sam. 16). After David reigns for awhile, God will swear that the kingdom of David would never pass away, saying this to David: “And your house and your kingdom shall be made sure forever before me. Your throne shall be established forever” (2 Sam. 7:16).

But ultimately, the Lord Jesus Christ is born into the tribe of Judah as a direct descendent to King David himself. When God promised that David’s kingdom would stand forever, he fulfilled that promise by establishing the son of David, Jesus Christ, as the King of kings who will reign forever. In fact, one of the special titles Jesus holds is the Lion of the Tribe of Judah (Rev. 5:5).

With this in mind, however, it is strange to read the account of Judah that we are given in Genesis 38. While we might think that Judah would be an upstanding, strong, righteous man in the sight of the Lord, we instead read about a scoundrel. After both of Judah’s sons die because of their wickedness, Judah ends up hiring his widowed daughter-in-law Tamar as a prostitute. Then, when Judah finds out that Tamar is pregnant, he demands that she be burned alive as punishment for her immorality until Tamar proves that Judah is the father of her child.

So this is the man from whom God would one day raise up King David, and eventually Jesus himself? This is the man who would be pivotal in the salvation of the human race according to God’s plan of redemption?

As we will see later in the book of Genesis, Judah’s story doesn’t end here—he will mature in significant, surprising ways. But even so, the purpose of Genesis 38 is to demonstrate that God would not save the world through pristine people but through broken, miserable sinners.

And if God could save the world through the offspring of a man like Judah, then God can save men and women like you and me.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Genesis 37 | Mark 7 | Job 3 | Romans 7

In Genesis 37, we meet Joseph, the final main figure of Genesis. Although Joseph will be misunderstood and hated and rejected by his brothers, he nevertheless plays a key role in bringing the chosen family to Egypt (which sets up the story of Moses and God’s redemption of Israel out of Egypt in Exodus), and it is through Joseph that God will preserve the entire world through one of the worst famines in all of history.

Our first impression of Joseph is somewhat startling, because Joseph sounds a bit like an entitled, bratty kid who tattles on his brothers (Gen. 37:2) and who foolishly makes bragging claims about his own superiority over his brothers. Compounded with the fact that Jacob clearly favored Joseph over all his brothers by giving him a beautiful coat (Gen. 37:4), we think to ourselves, “It’s no wonder that the rest of Israel’s sons hate Joseph!”

But in fact, that isn’t a very accurate evaluation of what we read in Genesis 37. Allen Ross carefully weighs this text, demonstrating how the “bad report” Joseph brings about his brothers is, in fact, a demonstration of Joseph’s faithfulness to his father, no matter what consequences it might bring for him. Furthermore, Joseph’s dreams weren’t opportunities for Joseph to boast to his brothers; rather, they were prophetic revelation from Almighty God himself, and Joseph would have been obligated to share the contents of those dreams.1 Jacob certainly should have considered the way that his favoritism would have negatively affected his other sons since he too was nearly the victim of his father Isaac’s favoritism toward Esau, but Joseph wasn’t to blame for that.

The picture we get from this opening story of Joseph, then, isn’t one of a foolish, arrogant child who gets what he deserves when he is sold into slavery. Rather, we see that Joseph is a faithful, innocent son and that Joseph’s brothers act wickedly in rejecting him and shedding his blood (figuratively speaking). Things will get worse for Joseph before they get better, but this initial presentation of Joseph is important for establishing his own character as well as the baseline for his brothers’ character.

This story is primarily important, however, because we see in Joseph a glimpse into who Jesus will ultimately be. Despite the fact that God had chosen to exalt Joseph above his brothers here in Genesis, his fellow Israelites nevertheless reject him and try to kill him. Ultimately, through Joseph’s faithfulness in spite of his persecution and mistreatment, God will save the whole world.

As we read over the next couple of weeks, pay attention to the way that, in Joseph, a picture of Jesus Christ will slowly unfold and develop. We are meant to see throughout the whole Old Testament a growing picture of what God’s Messiah will eventually look like in this world, and Joseph is a huge clue toward establishing that picture.

1 Allen P. Ross, Creation and Blessing: A Guide to the Study and Exposition of Genesis (Grand Rapids, MI: Baker Academic, 1996), 597–601.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Genesis 35–36 | Mark 6 | Job 2 | Romans 6

In everything we have read so far, Jacob has been in perpetual distress. From the beginning of his life, when he deceived his brother, Esau, and tricked his father, Isaac, Jacob has been on the run, the subject of mistreatment by his uncle, and living under the hanging cloud of uncertainty because of the Hivites. It seems like a long time ago that God had blessed Jacob in Genesis 32, changing his name to Israel. Indeed, we do not find Jacob being called Israel in Genesis 33 or 34.

But in Genesis 35, we see God renewing and re-establishing his covenant promises to Jacob. God comes to Jacob, commanding him to go to Bethel and to make an altar—just as Jacob had done while he was fleeing from Esau. Jacob tells his household to put away the foreign gods—perhaps the foreign gods that Rachel had stolen from Laban in Genesis 31—and to purify themselves.

And once again, God, out of his pure grace, protects and preserves Jacob along the way: “as they journeyed, a terror from God fell upon the cities that were around them, so that they did not pursue the sons of Jacob” (Gen. 35:5). This would have perhaps been an opportunity to destroy Jacob’s family for what Simeon and Levi had done to the Hivites in Genesis 34, but God keeps Jacob and his household from any harm.

Still, God renews his covenant with Jacob at Bethel. He re-renames Jacob, so that “no longer shall your name be called Jacob, but Israel shall be your name” (Gen. 35:10). God promises that Jacob would be the ancestor of a great nation, but also a company of nations (including many kings), in addition to reaffirming his promise to give the land of Canaan to Jacob’s offspring after him.

It is difficult to read the story of Jacob without confusion about God’s purposes toward him. Why Jacob? What makes him so special that God has chosen this lying, scheming scoundrel to be the namesake of Israel, God’s special people whom he chose out of all the peoples of the earth? In spite of Jacob’s repeated failures, why does God renew his covenant with Jacob rather than canceling it?

But in fact, God delights in demonstrating his grace toward great sinners. He loves to save people out of brokenness and chaos so that he gets all the glory, so there can be no mistake in thinking that God accomplished what he did through putting together a dream team of human beings. God didn’t pick the most exemplary people to bring the promised offspring into the world—God chose people like Jacob.

And God still chooses people like Jacob—God chooses you and me so that he will gain all the glory in Jesus Christ. Like Jacob, we cannot boast anything in the presence of our gracious, sovereign God.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

Genesis 34 | Mark 5 | Job 1 | Romans 5

The chosen family does not come away from Genesis 34 looking very good. In the wake of a horrific tragedy—the rape of Dinah by Shechem the Hivite—Jacob and his sons respond poorly, but in different ways.

Simeon and Levi are rightfully outraged at the defiling of their sister, but they wrongly take matters into their own hands. Worse than simply bringing direct vengeance against Shechem, they extend their vengeance to the entire group of Hivites under Shechem’s father, Hamor, who had done nothing wrong. And still worse—they execute their vengeance through deceitfully using circumcision as their weapon to incapacitate the men in the city, making a mockery of God’s covenant sign in the process. They take up the scheming of their father, Jacob, and put it to a brutal use.1

Jacob’s response is woefully passive. Rather than taking action by demanding that justice be served through lawfully punishing Shechem, Jacob simply speaks with Hamor, apparently willing to give his daughter away in marriage to her rapist—and even willing to give her to a pagan Canaanite living in the land. When he discovers the treachery of his sons Simeon and Levi at the end of Genesis 34, he is furious with them, but he has no answer for their question: “Should he treat our sister like a prostitute?” (Gen. 34:31).

Although Simeon and Levi were wrong to deceive the Hivites and to execute them in cold blood while they were still in great pain from their circumcision, their words stop Jacob. We are not directly told why he doesn’t do or say anything, but it seems he is primarily controlled by fear, based on what he says against Simeon and Levi in Genesis 34:30: “You have brought trouble on me by making me stink to the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites and the Perizzites. My numbers are few, and if they gather themselves against me and attack me, I shall be destroyed, both I and my household.” That is the calculated cowardice of a man who has strategically acted for his entire lifetime to preserve his own best interests—and not what is right.

Jacob, however, is correct—Simeon and Levi have brought jeopardy against Jacob’s entire family in the land. Later on in the Bible, when Joshua leads the people of Israel back into the promised land of Canaan, there are still Hivites living in the land (Josh. 3:10). The tables are turned, however, because all Israel needs to be circumcised at once, having been uncircumcised the whole time the nation had been wandering in the wilderness under Moses (Josh. 5:1–9). Would the Hivites discover them and exact their revenge?

No—even in that situation, God again protects his people. And he does it not because their record is spotless but purely out of his free grace.

In what ways have you deserved much worse than you received?

1 John Sailhamer, The Pentateuch as Narrative: A Biblical-Theological Commentary (Grand Rapids, MI: Zondervan, 1992), 201.

Scripture quotations are from The Holy Bible, English Standard Version copyright © 2001 by Crossway Bibles, a division of Good News Publishers. Used by permission. All rights reserved.