Genesis 49–50

The Last Words of Jacob

49Jacob called for his sons and said, “Gather round, and I will tell you what will happen to you in the future:

²“Come together and listen, sons of Jacob.

Listen to your father Israel.

³“Reuben, my firstborn, you are my strength

And the first child of my manhood,

The proudest and strongest of all my sons.

⁴You are like a raging flood,

But you will not be the most important,

For you slept with my concubine

And dishonoured your father’s bed.

⁵“Simeon and Levi are brothers.

They use their weapons to commit violence.

⁶I will not join in their secret talks,

Nor will I take part in their meetings,

For they killed men in anger

And they crippled bulls for sport.

⁷A curse be on their anger, because it is so fierce,

And on their fury, because it is so cruel.

I will scatter them throughout the land of Israel.

I will disperse them among its people.

⁸“Judah, your brothers will praise you.

You hold your enemies by the neck.

Your brothers will bow down before you.

^9*Judah is like a lion,

Killing his victim and returning to his den,

Stretching out and lying down.

No one dares disturb him.

¹⁰Judah will hold the royal sceptre,

And his descendants will always rule.

Nations will bring him tribute^d

And bow in obedience before him.

¹¹He ties his young donkey to a grapevine,

To the very best of the vines.

He washes his clothes in blood-red wine.

¹²His eyes are bloodshot from drinking wine,

His teeth white from drinking milk.^e

¹³“Zebulun will live beside the sea.

His shore will be a haven for ships.

His territory will reach as far as Sidon.

¹⁴“Issachar is no better than a donkey

That lies stretched out between its saddlebags.

¹⁵But he sees that the resting place is good

And that the land is delightful.

So he bends his back to carry the load

And is forced to work as a slave.

¹⁶“Dan will be a ruler for his people.

They will be like the other tribes of Israel.

¹⁷Dan will be a snake at the side of the road,

A poisonous snake beside the path,

That strikes at the horse’s heel,

So that the rider is thrown off backwards.

¹⁸“I wait for your deliverance, Lord.

¹⁹“Gad will be attacked by a band of robbers,

But he will turn and pursue them.

²⁰“Asher’s land will produce rich food.

He will provide food fit for a king.

²¹“Naphtali is a deer that runs free,

Who bears lovely fawns.^f

²²“Joseph is like a wild donkey by a spring,

A wild colt on a hillside.^g

²³His enemies attack him fiercely

And pursue him with their bows and arrows.

²⁴But his bow remains steady,

And his arms are made strong^h

By the power of the Mighty God of Jacob,

By the Shepherd, the Protector of Israel.

²⁵It is your father’s God who helps you,

The Almighty God who blesses you

With blessings of rain from above

And of deep waters from beneath the ground,

Blessings of many cattle and children,

²⁶Blessings of corn and flowers,ⁱ

Blessings of ancient

mountains,^j

Delightful things from everlasting hills.

May these blessings rest on the head of Joseph,

On the brow of the one set apart from his brothers.

²⁷“Benjamin is like a vicious wolf.

Morning and evening he kills and devours.”

²⁸These are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said as he spoke a suitable word of farewell to each son.

The Death and Burial of Jacob

²⁹Then Jacob commanded his sons, “Now that I am going to join my people in death, bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, ^30*at Machpelah, east of Mamre, in the land of Canaan. Abraham bought this cave and field from Ephron for a burial ground. ^31*That is where they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah; that is where they buried Isaac and his wife Rebecca; and that is where I buried Leah. ³²The field and the cave in it were bought from the Hittites. Bury me there.” ^33*When Jacob had finished giving instructions to his sons, he lay down again and died.

50Joseph threw himself on his father, crying and kissing his face. ²Then Joseph gave orders to embalm his father’s body. ³It took 40 days, the normal time for embalming. The Egyptians mourned for him 70 days.

⁴When the time of mourning was over, Joseph said to the king’s officials, “Please take this message to the king: ^5*‘When my father was about to die, he made me promise him that I would bury him in the tomb which he had prepared in the land of Canaan. So please let me go and bury my father, and then I will come back.’ ”

⁶The king answered, “Go and bury your father, as you promised you would.”

⁷So Joseph went to bury his father. All the king’s officials, the senior men of his court, and all the leading men of Egypt went with Joseph. ⁸His family, his brothers, and the rest of his father’s family all went with him. Only their small children and their sheep, goats, and cattle stayed in the region of Goshen. ⁹Men in chariots and men on horseback also went with him; it was a huge group.

¹⁰When they came to the threshing place at Atad east of the Jordan, they mourned loudly for a long time, and Joseph performed mourning ceremonies for seven days. ¹¹When the citizens of Canaan saw those people mourning at Atad, they said, “What a solemn ceremony of mourning the Egyptians are holding!” That is why the place was named Abel Mizraim.^k

¹²So Jacob’s sons did as he had commanded them; ^13*they carried his body to Canaan and buried it in the cave at Machpelah, east of Mamre, in the field which Abraham had bought from Ephron the Hittite for a burial ground. ¹⁴After Joseph had buried his father, he returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone with him for the funeral.

Joseph Reassures His Brothers

¹⁵After the death of their father, Joseph’s brothers said, “What if Joseph still hates us and plans to pay us back for all the harm we did to him?” ¹⁶So they sent a message to Joseph: “Before our father died, ¹⁷he told us to ask you, ‘Please forgive the crime your brothers committed when they wronged you.’ Now please forgive us the wrong that we, the servants of your father’s God, have done.” Joseph cried when he received this message.

¹⁸Then his brothers themselves came and bowed down before him. “Here we are before you as your slaves,” they said.

¹⁹But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid; I can’t put myself in the place of God. ²⁰You plotted evil against me, but God turned it into good, in order to preserve the lives of many people who are alive today because of what happened. ²¹You have nothing to fear. I will take care of you and your children.” So he reassured them with kind words that touched their hearts.

The Death of Joseph

²²Joseph continued to live in Egypt with his father’s family; he was 110 years old when he died. ²³He lived to see Ephraim’s children and grandchildren. He also lived to receive the children of Machir son of Manasseh into the family. ²⁴He said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will certainly take care of you and lead you out of this land to the land he solemnly promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” ^25*Then Joseph asked his people to make a vow. “Promise me,” he said, “that when God leads you to that land, you will take my body with you.” ²⁶So Joseph died in Egypt at the age of 110. They embalmed his body and put it in a coffin.