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JANUARY 22
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it to her mother. Then his disciples came and
took away the body and buried it, and went
and told Jesus.
14:3 Herodias, his brother Philip’s wife. 13 When Jesus heard it, He departed from
Herodias was the daughter of Aristobulus, there by boat to a deserted place by Himself.
another son of Herod the Great; so when she But when the multitudes heard it, they fol-
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married Philip, she was marrying her own lowed Him on foot from the cities. And when
father’s brother. What precipitated the arrest Jesus went out He saw a great multitude; and
of John the Baptist was that Herod Antipas He was moved with compassion for them, and
(another of Herodias’s uncles) talked Herodias healed their sick. When it was evening, His
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into leaving her husband (his brother) in order disciples came to Him, saying, “This is a
to marry him (Mark 6:17)—thus compound- deserted place, and the hour is already late.
ing the incest, as well as violating Leviticus Send the multitudes away, that they may go
18:16. John was outraged that a ruler in Israel into the villages and buy themselves food.”
would commit such a sin openly, so he 16
rebuked Herod severely (v. 4). For this, he was But Jesus said to them, “They do not need
imprisoned and later killed (Mark 6:14–29). to go away. You give them something to eat.”
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And they said to Him, “We have here only
five loaves and two fish.”
He said, “Bring them here to Me.” Then He
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8 So she, having been prompted by her commanded the multitudes to sit down on the
mother, said, “Give me John the Baptist’s head grass. And He took the five loaves and the two
here on a platter.” fish, and looking up to heaven, He blessed and
9 And the king was sorry; nevertheless, broke and gave the loaves to the disciples; and
because of the oaths and because of those the disciples gave to the multitudes. So they
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who sat with him, he commanded it to be all ate and were filled, and they took up twelve
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given to her. So he sent and had John behead- baskets full of the fragments that remained.
ed in prison. And his head was brought on a 21 Now those who had eaten were about five
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platter and given to the girl, and she brought thousand men, besides women and children.
DAY 21: How did Joseph’s faithfulness lead to personal advancement?
Pharaoh’s disturbing dreams in Genesis 41 were such that there was “no one who could inter-
pret them”(v. 8).The combined expertise of a full council of Pharaoh’s advisers and dream experts
failed to provide an interpretation. Without knowing it, they had just set the stage for Joseph’s
entrance on the scene of Egyptian history.The chief butler spoke up and apprised Pharaoh of the
Hebrew prisoner and his accurate interpretation of dreams two years earlier (vv. 10–13).
In the presence of Pharaoh, Joseph made his faith known: “It is not in me; God will give
Pharaoh an answer of peace” (v.16).Deprecating any innate ability,Joseph advised at the very out-
set that the answer Pharaoh desired could only come from God. And after hearing the dream
described, Joseph’s interpretation of what “God has shown Pharaoh” (v. 25) kept the focus fixed
upon what God had determined for Egypt (vv. 28,32).
After interpreting the dream, Joseph told Pharaoh how to survive the next 14 years.
Incongruously, Joseph, a slave and a prisoner, appended to the interpretation a long-term strategy
for establishing reserves to meet the future need and included advice on the quality of the man to
head up the project. Famines had ravaged Egypt before, but this time divine warning permitted
serious and sustained advance planning.To Pharaoh and his royal retinue, no other candidate but
Joseph qualified for the task of working out this good plan,because they recognized that he spoke
God-given revelation and insight (v. 39).

January 22 brought from Egypt, that their father said to
them, “Go back, buy us a little food.”
3 But Judah spoke to him, saying, “The man
Genesis 43:1–44:34
solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see
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Now the famine was severe in the my face unless your brother is with you.’ If
43 land. And it came to pass, when they you send our brother with us, we will go down
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had eaten up the grain which they had and buy you food. But if you will not send
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