Genesis 49–50

Jacob Blesses His Sons

49^wThen Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you what shall happen to you ^xin days to come.

²“Assemble and listen, O sons of Jacob,

listen to Israel your father.

³“Reuben, you are ^ymy firstborn,

my might, and the ^zfirstfruits of my strength,

preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power.

⁴Unstable as water, you shall not have preeminence,

because you ^awent up to your father’s bed;

then you defiled it—he went up to my couch!

^5b“Simeon and Levi are brothers;

weapons ^cof violence are their swords.

⁶Let my soul come not into their council;

^dO my glory, ^ebe not joined to their company.

For in their anger they killed men,

and in their willfulness they ^fhamstrung oxen.

⁷Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce,

and their wrath, for it is cruel!

I will ^gdivide them in Jacob

and scatter them in Israel.

⁸“Judah, ^hyour brothers shall praise you;

ⁱyour hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;

^jyour father’s sons shall bow down before you.

⁹Judah is ^ka lion’s cub;

from the prey, my son, you have gone up.

^lHe stooped down; he crouched as a lion

and as a lioness; who dares rouse him?

¹⁰The ^mscepter shall not depart from Judah,

nor the ruler’s staff ⁿfrom between his feet,

until tribute comes to him;¹

and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.

¹¹Binding his foal to the vine

and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine,

he has washed his garments in wine

and his vesture in the blood of grapes.

¹²His ^oeyes are darker than wine,

and his teeth whiter than milk.

^13p“Zebulun shall dwell at the ^qshore of the sea;

he shall become a haven for ships,

and his border shall be at Sidon.

^14r“Issachar is a strong donkey,

crouching between the sheepfolds.²

¹⁵He saw that a resting place was good,

and that the land was pleasant,

so he bowed his shoulder to bear,

and ^sbecame a servant at forced labor.

^16t“Dan shall ^ujudge his people

as one of the tribes of Israel.

¹⁷Dan ^vshall be a serpent in the way,

a viper by the path,

that bites the horse’s heels

so that his rider falls backward.

¹⁸I ^wwait for your salvation, O Lord.

^19x“Raiders shall raid ^yGad,³

but he shall raid at their heels.

^20z“Asher’s food shall be rich,

and he shall yield royal delicacies.

^21a“Naphtali is a doe let loose

that bears beautiful fawns.⁴

²²“Joseph is ^ba fruitful bough,

a fruitful bough by a spring;

his branches run over the wall.⁵

²³The archers ^cbitterly attacked him,

shot at him, and harassed him severely,

²⁴yet ^dhis bow remained unmoved;

his arms⁶ were made agile

by the hands of the ^eMighty One of Jacob

(from there is ^fthe Shepherd,^{7 g}the Stone of Israel),

^25hby the God of your father who will help you,

by ⁱthe Almighty^{8 j}who will bless you

with blessings of heaven above,

blessings of the deep that crouches beneath,

blessings of the breasts and of the womb.

²⁶The blessings of your father

are mighty beyond the blessings of my parents,

up to the bounties ^kof the everlasting hills.⁹

May they be ^lon the head of Joseph,

and on the brow of him who was set apart from his brothers.

^27m“Benjamin is a ravenous wolf,

in the morning devouring the prey

and at evening ⁿdividing the spoil.”

Jacob’s Death and Burial

²⁸All these are the twelve tribes of Israel. This is what their father said to them as he blessed them, blessing each with the blessing suitable to him. ²⁹Then he commanded them and said to them, “I am to be ^ogathered to my people; ^pbury me with my fathers ^qin the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, ³⁰in the cave that is in the field at Machpelah, to the east of Mamre, in the land of Canaan, ^rwhich Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place. ^31sThere they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife. There ^tthey buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah— ³²the field and the cave that is in it were bought from the Hittites.” ³³When Jacob finished commanding his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed and breathed his last and ^uwas gathered to his people.

50Then Joseph ^vfell on his father’s face and wept over him and kissed him. ²And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to ^wembalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel. ³Forty days were required for it, for that is how many are required for embalming. And the Egyptians ^xwept for him seventy days.

⁴And when the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, ^y“If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, ⁵‘My father made me swear, saying, “I am about to die: in my tomb ^zthat I hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan, there shall you bury me.” Now therefore, let me please go up and bury my father. Then I will return.’ ” ⁶And Pharaoh answered, “Go up, and bury your father, as he made you swear.” ⁷So Joseph went up to bury his father. With him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, ⁸as well as all the household of Joseph, his brothers, and his father’s household. Only their children, their flocks, and their herds were left ^ain the land of Goshen. ⁹And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen. It was a very great company. ¹⁰When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, ^bthey lamented there with a very great and grievous lamentation, and he ^cmade a mourning for his father seven days. ¹¹When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning on the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous mourning by the Egyptians.” Therefore the place was named Abel-mizraim;¹ it is beyond the Jordan. ¹²Thus his sons did for him as he had commanded them, ¹³for ^dhis sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field at Machpelah, to the east of Mamre, which Abraham ^ebought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place. ¹⁴After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone up with him to bury his father.

God’s Good Purposes

¹⁵When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him.” ¹⁶So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this command before he died: ¹⁷‘Say to Joseph, “Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.” ’ And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of ^fthe God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him. ¹⁸His brothers also came and ^gfell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.” ¹⁹But Joseph said to them, “Do not fear, for ^ham I in the place of God? ²⁰As for you, you meant evil against me, but ⁱGod meant it for good, to bring it about that many people² should be kept alive, as they are today. ²¹So do not fear; ^jI will provide for you and your little ones.” Thus he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.

The Death of Joseph

²²So Joseph remained in Egypt, he and his father’s house. Joseph lived 110 years. ²³And Joseph saw Ephraim’s children ^kof the third generation. The ^lchildren also of Machir the son of Manasseh were ^mcounted as Joseph’s own.^{3 24}And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but ⁿGod will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land ^othat he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” ²⁵Then ^pJoseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.” ²⁶So Joseph died, being 110 years old. They ^qembalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.