Genesis 48; Genesis 49; Genesis 50

1 Later Joseph was told, "Your father is ill." So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim [to see Jacob].

2 When Jacob was told, "Your son Joseph is here to see you," Israel gathered his strength and sat up in bed.

3 Jacob said to Joseph, "God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in Canaan and blessed me.

4 He said to me, 'I will make you fertile and increase the number of your descendants so that you will become a community of people. I will give this land to your descendants as a permanent possession.'

5 "So your two sons, who were born in Egypt before I came here, are my sons. Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine just as Reuben and Simeon are.

6 Any other children you have after them will be yours. They will inherit the land listed under their brothers' names.

7 As I was coming back from Paddan, Rachel died in Canaan when we were still some distance from Ephrath. So I buried her there on the way to Ephrath" (that is, Bethlehem).

8 When Israel saw Joseph's sons, he asked, "Who are they?"

9 "They are my sons, whom God has given me here in Egypt," Joseph answered his father. Then Israel said, "Please bring them to me so that I may bless them."

10 Israel's eyesight was failing because of old age, and he could hardly see. So Joseph brought his sons close to his father, and Israel hugged them and kissed them.

11 Israel said to Joseph, "I never expected to see you again, and now God has even let me see your sons."

12 Joseph took them off his father's lap and bowed with his face touching the ground.

13 Then Joseph took both of them, Ephraim on his right, facing Israel's left, and Manasseh on his left, facing Israel's right, and brought them close to him.

14 But Israel crossed his hands and reached out. He put his right hand on Ephraim's head, although Ephraim was the younger son. He put his left hand on Manasseh's head, although Manasseh was older.

15 Then Jacob blessed Joseph, "May God, in whose presence my grandfather Abraham and my father Isaac walked, may God, who has been my shepherd all my life to this very day,

16 may the Messenger, who has rescued me from all evil, bless these boys. May they be called by my name and by the names of my grandfather Abraham and my father Isaac. May they have many children on the earth."

17 When Joseph saw that his father had put his right hand on Ephraim's head, he didn't like it. So he took his father's hand in order to move it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's.

18 Then he said to his father, "That's not right, Father! This is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head."

19 His father refused and said, "I know, Son, I know! Manasseh, too, will become a nation, and he, too, will be important. Nevertheless, his younger brother will be more important than he, and his descendants will become many nations."

20 That day he blessed them. He said, "Because of you, Israel will speak this blessing, 'May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh!'" In this way Israel put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh.

21 Then Israel said to Joseph, "Now I'm about to die, but God will be with you. He will bring you back to the land of your fathers.

22 I'm giving you one more mountain ridge than your brothers. I took it from the Amorites with my own sword and bow."

1 Jacob called for his sons and said, "Come here, and let me tell you what will happen to you in the days to come.

2 "Gather around and listen, sons of Jacob. Listen to your father Israel.

3 "Reuben, you are my firstborn, my strength, the very first son I had, first in majesty and first in power.

4 You will no longer be first because you were out of control like a flood and you climbed into your father's bed. Then you dishonored it. He climbed up on my couch.

5 "Simeon and Levi are brothers. Their swords are weapons of violence.

6 Do not let me attend their secret meetings. Do not let me join their assembly. In their anger they murdered men. At their whim they crippled cattle.

7 May their anger be cursed because it's so fierce. May their fury be cursed because it's so cruel. I will divide them among [the sons of] Jacob and scatter them among [the tribes of] Israel.

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

9 Judah, you are a lion cub. You have come back from the kill, my son. He lies down and rests like a lion. He is like a lioness. Who dares to disturb him?

10 A scepter will never depart from Judah nor a ruler's staff from between his feet until Shiloh comes and the people obey him.

11 He will tie his donkey to a grapevine, his colt to the best vine. He will wash his clothes in wine, his garments in the blood of grapes.

12 His eyes are darker than wine. His teeth are whiter than milk.

13 "Zebulun will live by the coast. He will have ships by the coast. His border will go as far as Sidon.

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

15 When he sees that his resting place is good and that the land is pleasant, he will bend his back to the burden and will become a slave laborer.

16 "Dan will hand down decisions for his people as one of the tribes of Israel.

17 Dan will be a snake on a road, a viper on a path, that bites a horse's heels so that its rider falls off backwards.

18 "I wait with hope for you to rescue me, O LORD.

19 "Gad will be attacked by a band of raiders, but he will strike back at their heels.

20 "Asher's food will be rich. He will provide delicacies fit for a king.

21 "Naphtali is a doe set free that has beautiful fawns.

22 "Joseph is a fruitful tree, a fruitful tree by a spring, with branches climbing over a wall.

23 Archers provoked him, shot at him, and attacked him.

24 But his bow stayed steady, and his arms remained limber because of the help of the Mighty One of Jacob, because of the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,

25 because of the God of your father who helps you, because of the Almighty who gives you blessings from the heavens above, blessings from the deep springs below the ground, blessings from breasts and womb.

26 The blessings of your father are greater than the blessings of the oldest mountains and the riches of the ancient hills. May these blessings rest on the head of Joseph, on the crown of the prince among his brothers.

27 "Benjamin is a ravenous wolf. In the morning he devours his prey. In the evening he divides the plunder."

28 These are the 12 tribes of Israel and what their father said to them when he gave each of them his special blessing.

29 Then he gave them these instructions, "I am about to join my ancestors in death. Bury me with my ancestors in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite.

30 Abraham bought the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, east of Mamre in Canaan, from Ephron the Hittite to use as a tomb.

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

32 The field and the cave in it were bought from the Hittites."

33 When Jacob finished giving these instructions to his sons, he pulled his feet into his bed. He took his last breath and joined his ancestors in death.

1 Joseph threw himself on his father, cried over him, and kissed him.

2 Then Joseph ordered the doctors in his service to embalm his father. So the doctors embalmed Israel.

3 The embalming was completed in the usual time--40 days. The Egyptians mourned for him 70 days.

4 When the time of mourning for Jacob was over, Joseph spoke to the Pharaoh's palace staff. He said, "Please speak directly to Pharaoh. Tell him,

5 'My father made me swear an oath. He said, "I'm about to die. Bury me in the tomb I bought for myself in Canaan." Please let me go there and bury my father; then I'll come back.'"

6 Pharaoh replied, "Go and bury your father, as you have promised him."

7 So Joseph left to bury his father. All Pharaoh's officials, the leaders in his palace staff, and all the leaders of Egypt went with him.

8 Joseph's household, his brothers, and his father's household also went with him. (Only their children, their flocks, and their cattle were left in Goshen.)

9 Chariots and horsemen went with him. It was a very large group.

10 When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is on the east side of the Jordan River, they began a great and solemn ceremony to mourn Jacob's death. Joseph took seven days to mourn his father's death.

11 When the Canaanites living there saw the funeral ceremonies at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, "These funeral ceremonies are taken very seriously by the Egyptians." That's why that place on the east side of the Jordan was named Abel Mizraim [Egyptian Funeral Ceremonies].

12 Jacob's sons did for him what he had told them to do.

13 They carried him back to Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah, east of Mamre. Abraham had bought this tomb from Ephron the Hittite.

14 After Joseph had buried his father, he went back to Egypt along with his brothers and everyone who had gone there with him to bury his father.

15 Joseph's brothers realized what their father's death could mean. So they thought, "What if Joseph holds a grudge against us? What if he decides to pay us back for all the evil we did to him?"

16 They sent a messenger to Joseph to say, "Before your father died, he commanded us,

17 'This is what you should say to Joseph, "I'm begging you to forgive the crime and the sin your brothers committed against you. What they did to you was very evil."' So now, please forgive our crime, because we are servants of your father's God." Joseph cried when he got their message.

18 Then his brothers also came and immediately bowed down in front of him. "We are your slaves!" they said.

19 Joseph said to them, "Don't be afraid! I can't take God's place.

20 Even though you planned evil against me, God planned good to come out of it. This was to keep many people alive, as he is doing now.

21 Don't be afraid! I will provide for you and your children." In this way he reassured them, setting their minds at ease.

22 Joseph and his father's family stayed in Egypt. Joseph lived to be 110 years old.

23 He saw his grandchildren, Ephraim's children. Even the children of Machir, son of Manasseh, were adopted by Joseph at birth.

24 At last Joseph said to his brothers, "I'm about to die. God will definitely take care of you and take you out of this land to the land he swore with an oath to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."

25 Joseph made Israel's sons swear an oath. He said, "God will definitely take care of you. So be sure to carry my bones back with you."

26 Joseph died when he was 110 years old. His body was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt.