Genesis 49:1–50:26
Israel’s Prophecy concerning His Sons
1 Then Jacob summoned his sons and said, “Assemble yourselves that I may tell you what will befall you ain the 1days to come.
2 “Gather together and hear, O sons of Jacob;
And alisten to Israel your father.
3 “Reuben, you are my firstborn;
My might and athe beginning of my strength,
1Preeminent in dignity and 1preeminent in power.
4 “1Uncontrolled as water, you shall not have preeminence,
aBecause you went up to your father’s bed;
Then you defiled it—he went up to my couch.
5 “aSimeon and Levi are brothers;
Their swords are implements of violence.
6 “aLet my soul not enter into their council;
Let not my glory be united with their assembly;
Because in their anger they slew 1men,
And in their self-will they lamed 2oxen.
7 “Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce;
And their wrath, for it is cruel.
aI will 1disperse them in Jacob,
And scatter them in Israel.
8 “Judah, your brothers shall praise you;
Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;
aYour father’s sons shall bow down to you.
9 “Judah is a alion’s whelp;
From the prey, my son, you have gone up.
bHe 1couches, he lies down as a lion,
And as a 2lion, who 3dares rouse him up?
10 “aThe scepter shall not depart from Judah,
Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
1Until Shiloh comes,
And bto him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
11 “1aHe ties his foal to the vine,
And his donkey’s colt to the choice vine;
bHe washes his garments in wine,
And his robes in the blood of grapes.
12 “His eyes are 1dull from wine,
And his teeth 2white from milk.
13 “aZebulun will dwell at the seashore;
And he shall be 1a haven for ships,
And his flank shall be toward Sidon.
14 “Issachar is 1a strong donkey,
aLying down between the 2sheepfolds.
15 “When he saw that a resting place was good
And that the land was pleasant,
He bowed his shoulder to bear burdens,
And became a slave at forced labor.
16 “aDan shall bjudge his people,
As one of the tribes of Israel.
17 “Dan shall be a serpent in the way,
A horned snake in the path,
That bites the horse’s heels,
So that his rider falls backward.
18 “aFor Your salvation I wait, O Lord.
19 “aAs for Gad, 1raiders shall raid him,
But he will raid at their 2heels.
20 “1aAs for bAsher, his 2food shall be 3rich,
And he will yield royal dainties.
21 “aNaphtali is a doe let loose,
He gives beautiful words.
22 “aJoseph is a fruitful 1bough,
A fruitful 1bough by a spring;
Its 2branches run over a wall.
23 “The archers bitterly attacked him,
And shot at him and harassed him;
24 But his abow remained 1firm,
From the hands of the cMighty One of Jacob
(From there is dthe Shepherd, ethe Stone of Israel),
25 From athe God of your father who helps you,
And 1bby the 2Almighty who blesses you
With cblessings of heaven above,
Blessings of the deep that lies beneath,
Blessings of the breasts and of the womb.
26 “The blessings of your father
Have surpassed the blessings of my ancestors
Up to the 1utmost bound of athe everlasting hills;
May they be on the head of Joseph,
And on the crown of the head of the one distinguished among his brothers.
27 “Benjamin is a 1ravenous wolf;
In the morning he devours the prey,
And in the evening he divides the spoil.”
28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them 1when he blessed them. He blessed them, every one 2with the blessing appropriate to him.
29 Then he charged them and said to them, “I am about to be agathered to my people; bbury me with my fathers in the cave that is in cthe field of Ephron the Hittite,
30 in the acave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought along with the field from Ephron the Hittite for a 1burial site.
31 “There they buried aAbraham and his wife bSarah, there they buried cIsaac and his wife Rebekah, and there I buried Leah—
32 the field and the cave that is in it, purchased from the sons of Heth.”
33 When Jacob finished charging his sons, he drew his feet into the bed and abreathed his last, and was bgathered to his people.
1 Then Joseph fell on his father’s face, and wept over him and kissed him.
2 Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians aembalmed Israel.
3 Now forty days were 1required for 2it, for 3such is the period required for embalming. And the Egyptians awept for him seventy days.
4 When the days of 1mourning for him were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, “If now I have found favor in your sight, please speak 2to Pharaoh, saying,
5 ‘aMy father made me swear, saying, “Behold, I am about to die; in my grave bwhich I dug for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me.” Now therefore, please let me go up and bury my father; then I will return.’ ”
6 Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear.”
7 So Joseph went up to bury his father, and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household and all the elders of the land of Egypt,
8 and all the household of Joseph and his brothers and his father’s household; they left only their little ones and their flocks and their herds in the land of Goshen.
9 There also went up with him both chariots and horsemen; and it was a very great company.
10 When they came to the 1threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they alamented there with a very great and 2sorrowful lamentation; and he 3observed seven days mourning for his father.
11 Now when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at 1the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a 2grievous 3mourning for the Egyptians.” Therefore it was named 4Abel-mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan.
12 Thus his sons did for him as he had charged them;
13 for his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in athe cave of the field of Machpelah before Mamre, which Abraham had bought along with the field for a 1burial site from Ephron the Hittite.
14 After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brothers, and all who had gone up with him to bury his father.
15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “aWhat if Joseph bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong which we did to him!”
16 So they 1sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father charged before he died, saying,
17 ‘Thus you shall say to Joseph, “Please forgive, I beg you, the transgression of your brothers and their sin, for they did you wrong.” ’ And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him.
18 Then his brothers also came and afell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.”
19 But Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in God’s place?
20 “As for you, ayou meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about 1this present result, to preserve many people alive.
21 “So therefore, do not be afraid; aI will provide for you and your little ones.” So he comforted them and spoke 1kindly to them.
22 Now Joseph stayed in Egypt, he and his father’s household, and Joseph lived one hundred and ten years.
23 Joseph saw the third generation of Ephraim’s sons; also the sons of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were aborn on Joseph’s knees.
24 Joseph said to his brothers, “aI am about to die, but God will surely 1take care of you and bring you up from this land to the land which He 2promised on oath to bAbraham, to cIsaac and to dJacob.”
25 Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “God will surely 1take care of you, and ayou shall carry my bones up from here.”
26 So Joseph died at the age of one hundred and ten years; and 1he was aembalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt.