Genesis 49; Genesis 50; Matthew 13:31-58

Genesis 49

1 Then Jacob called his sons and said, "Gather around, and I will tell you what will happen to you in the days to come.

2 Come together and listen, sons of Jacob; listen to your father Israel:

3 Reuben, you are my firstborn, my strength and the firstfruits of my virility, excelling in prominence, excelling in power.

4 Turbulent as water, you will no longer excel, because you got into your father's bed and you defiled it-he got into my bed.

5 Simeon and Levi are brothers; their knives are vicious weapons.

6 May I never enter their council; may I never join their assembly. For in their anger they kill men, and on a whim they hamstring oxen.

7 Their anger is cursed, for it is strong, and their fury, for it is cruel! I will disperse them throughout Jacob and scatter them throughout Israel.

8 Judah, your brothers will praise you. Your hand will be on the necks of your enemies; your father's sons will bow down to you.

9 Judah is a young lion- my son, you return from the kill- he crouches; he lies down like a lion and like a lioness-who wants to rouse him?

10 The scepter will not depart from Judah, or the staff from between his feet, until He whose right it is comes and the obedience of the peoples belongs to Him.

11 He ties his donkey to a vine, and the colt of his donkey to the choice vine. He washes his clothes in wine, and his robes in the blood of grapes.

12 His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth are whiter than milk.

13 Zebulun will live by the seashore and will be a harbor for ships, and his territory will be next to Sidon.

14 Issachar is a strong donkey lying down between the saddlebags.

15 He saw that his resting place was good and that the land was pleasant, so he leaned his shoulder to bear a load and became a forced laborer.

16 Dan will judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel.

17 He will be a snake by the road, a viper beside the path, that bites the horses' heels so that its rider falls backwards.

18 I wait for Your salvation, Lord.

19 Gad will be attacked by [marauding] bands, but he will attack their heels.

20 Asher's food will be rich, and he will produce royal delicacies.

21 Naphtali is a doe set free that bears beautiful fawns.

22 Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine beside a spring; its branches climb over the wall.

23 The archers attacked him, shot at him, and were hostile toward him.

24 Yet his bow remained steady, and his strong arms were made agile by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, by the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,

25 by the God of your father who helps you, and by the Almighty who blesses you with blessings of the heavens above, blessings of the deep that lies below, and blessings of the breasts and the womb.

26 The blessings of your father excel the blessings of my ancestors and the bounty of the eternal hills. May they rest on the head of Joseph, on the crown of the prince of his brothers.

27 Benjamin is a wolf; he tears [his prey]. In the morning he devours the prey, and in the evening he divides the plunder."

28 These are the tribes of Israel, 12 in all, and this was what their father said to them. He blessed them, and he blessed each one with a suitable blessing.

29 Then he commanded them: "I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite.

30 The cave is in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre, in the land of Canaan. This is the field Abraham purchased from Ephron the Hittite as a burial site.

31 Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried there, Isaac and his wife Rebekah are buried there, and I buried Leah there.

32 The field and the cave in it [were purchased] from the Hittites."

33 When Jacob had finished instructing his sons, he drew his feet into the bed and died. He was gathered to his people.

Genesis 50

1 Then Joseph, leaning over his father's face, wept and kissed him.

2 He commanded his servants who were physicians to embalm his father. So they embalmed Israel.

3 They took 40 days to complete this, for embalming takes that long, and the Egyptians mourned for him 70 days.

4 When the days of mourning were over, Joseph said to Pharaoh's household, "If I have found favor with you, please tell Pharaoh that

5 my father made me take an oath, saying, 'I am about to die. You must bury me there in the tomb that I hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan.' Now let me go and bury my father. Then I will return."

6 So Pharaoh said, "Go and bury your father in keeping with your oath."

7 Then Joseph went to bury his father, and all Pharaoh's servants, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt went with him,

8 along with all Joseph's household, his brothers, and his father's household. Only their children, their sheep, and their cattle were left in the land of Goshen.

9 Horses and chariots went up with him; it was a very impressive procession.

10 When they reached the threshing floor of Atad, which is across the Jordan, they lamented and wept loudly, and Joseph mourned seven days for his father.

11 When the Canaanite inhabitants of the land saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, "This is a solemn mourning on the part of the Egyptians." Therefore the place is named Abel-mizraim. It is across the Jordan.

12 So Jacob's sons did for him what he had commanded them.

13 They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave at Machpelah in the field near Mamre, which Abraham had purchased as a burial site from Ephron the Hittite.

14 After Joseph buried his father, he returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone with him to bury his father.

15 When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said to one another, "If Joseph is holding a grudge against us, he will certainly repay us for all the wrong we caused him."

16 So they sent this message to Joseph, "Before he died your father gave a command:

17 'Say this to Joseph: Please forgive your brothers' transgression and their sin-the wrong they caused you.' Therefore, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father." Joseph wept when their message came to him.

18 Then his brothers also came to him, bowed down before him, and said, "We are your slaves!"

19 But Joseph said to them, "Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God?

20 You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result-the survival of many people.

21 Therefore don't be afraid. I will take care of you and your little ones." And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

22 Joseph and his father's household remained in Egypt. Joseph lived 110 years.

23 He saw Ephraim's sons to the third generation; the sons of Manasseh's son Machir were recognized by Joseph.

24 Joseph said to his brothers, "I am about to die, but God will certainly come to your aid and bring you up from this land to the land He promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."

25 So Joseph made the Israelites take an oath: "When God comes to your aid, you are to carry my bones up from here."

26 Joseph died at the age of 110. They embalmed him and placed him in a coffin in Egypt.

Matthew 13:31-58

31 He presented another parable to them: "The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man took and sowed in his field.

32 It's the smallest of all the seeds, but when grown, it's taller than the vegetables and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the sky come and nest in its branches."

33 He told them another parable: "The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and mixed into 50 pounds of flour until it spread through all of it."

34 Jesus told the crowds all these things in parables, and He would not speak anything to them without a parable,

35 so that what was spoken through the prophet might be fulfilled: I will open My mouth in parables; I will declare things kept secret from the foundation of the world.

36 Then He dismissed the crowds and went into the house. His disciples approached Him and said, "Explain the parable of the weeds in the field to us."

37 He replied: "The One who sows the good seed is the Son of Man;

38 the field is the world; and the good seed-these are the sons of the kingdom. The weeds are the sons of the evil one, and

39 the enemy who sowed them is the Devil. The harvest is the end of the age, and the harvesters are angels.

40 Therefore just as the weeds are gathered and burned in the fire, so it will be at the end of the age.

41 The Son of Man will send out His angels, and they will gather from His kingdom everything that causes sin and those guilty of lawlessness.

42 They will throw them into the blazing furnace where there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in their Father's kingdom. Anyone who has ears should listen!

44 "The kingdom of heaven is like treasure, buried in a field, that a man found and reburied. Then in his joy he goes and sells everything he has and buys that field.

45 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant in search of fine pearls.

46 When he found one priceless pearl, he went and sold everything he had, and bought it.

47 "Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a large net thrown into the sea. It collected every kind [of fish],

48 and when it was full, they dragged it ashore, sat down, and gathered the good [fish] into containers, but threw out the worthless ones.

49 So it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out, separate the evil people from the righteous,

50 and throw them into the blazing furnace. In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.

51 "Have you understood all these things?" "Yes," they told Him.

52 "Therefore," He said to them, "every student of Scripture instructed in the kingdom of heaven is like a landowner who brings out of his storeroom what is new and what is old."

53 When Jesus had finished these parables, He left there.

54 He went to His hometown and began to teach them in their synagogue, so that they were astonished and said, "How did this wisdom and these miracles come to Him?

55 Isn't this the carpenter's son? Isn't His mother called Mary, and His brothers James, Joseph, Simon, and Judas?

56 And His sisters, aren't they all with us? So where does He get all these things?"

57 And they were offended by Him. But Jesus said to them, "A prophet is not without honor except in his hometown and in his household."

58 And He did not do many miracles there because of their unbelief.