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²¹ Take courage, my children, cry to God,
   and he will deliver you from the power and hand of the enemy.
²² For I have put my hope in the Everlasting to save you,
   and joy has come to me from the Holy One,
because of the mercy that will soon come to you
   from your everlasting saviour.^*
23 For I sent you out with sorrow and weeping,
   but God will give you back to me with joy and gladness for ever.
²⁴ For as the neighbours of Zion have now seen your capture,
   so they soon will see your salvation by God,
which will come to you with great glory
   and with the splendour of the Everlasting.
²⁵ My children, endure with patience the wrath that has come upon you from God.
Your enemy has overtaken you,
   but you will soon see their destruction
   and will tread upon their necks.
²⁶ My pampered children have travelled rough roads;
   they were taken away like a flock carried off by the enemy.

²⁷ Take courage, my children, and cry to God,
   for you will be remembered by the one who brought this upon you.

¹³And Israel said to Joseph, ‘Are not your brothers pasturing the flock at Shechem? Come, I will send you to them.’ He answered, ‘Here I am.’ ¹⁴So he said to him, ‘Go now, see if it is well with your brothers and with the flock; and bring word back to me.’ So he sent him from the valley of Hebron.

He came to Shechem, ¹⁵and a man found him wandering in the fields; the man asked him, ‘What are you seeking?’ ¹⁶‘I am seeking my brothers,’ he said; ‘tell me, please, where they are pasturing the flock.’ ¹⁷The man said, ‘They have gone away, for I heard them say, “Let us go to Dothan.” ’ So Joseph went after his brothers, and found them at Dothan. ¹⁸They saw him from a distance, and before he came near to them, they conspired to kill him. ¹⁹They said to one another, ‘Here comes this dreamer. ²⁰Come now, let us kill him and throw him into one of the pits; then we shall say that a wild animal has devoured him, and we shall see what will become of his dreams.’