Genesis 48-50 (Amplified Bible)

Genesis 48

 ¹SOME TIME after these things occurred, someone told Joseph, Behold, your father is sick. And he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim [and went to Goshen].

    ²When Jacob was told, Your son Joseph has come to you, Israel collected his strength and sat up on the bed.

    ³And Jacob said to Joseph, God Almighty appeared to me at Luz [Bethel] in the land of Canaan and blessed me

    ⁴And said to me, Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make you a multitude of people and will give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.^(A)

    ⁵And now your two sons, [Ephraim and Manasseh], who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine. [I am adopting them, and now] as Reuben and Simeon, [they] shall be mine.

    ⁶But other sons who may be born after them shall be your own; and they shall be called after the names of these [two] brothers and reckoned as belonging to them [when they come] into their inheritance.

    ⁷And as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died at my side in the land of Canaan on the way, when yet there was but a little way to come to Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem.

    ⁸When Israel [almost blind] saw Joseph's sons, he said, Who are these?

    ⁹And Joseph said to his father, They are my sons, whom God has given me in this place. And he said, Bring them to me, I pray you, that I may bless them.

    ¹⁰Now Israel's eyes were dim from age, so that he could not see. And Joseph brought them near to him, and he kissed and embraced them.

    ¹¹Israel said to Joseph, I had not thought that I would see your face, but see, God has shown me your offspring also.

    ¹²Then Joseph took [the boys] from [his father's embrace] and he bowed [before him] with his face to the earth.

    ¹³Then Joseph took both [boys], Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel's left, and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel's right, and brought them close to him.

    ¹⁴And Israel reached out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh's head, ^[a]crossing his hands intentionally, for Manasseh was the firstborn.

    ¹⁵Then [Jacob] blessed Joseph and said, God [Himself ], before Whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac lived and walked habitually, God [Himself ], Who has [been my Shepherd and has led and] fed me from the time I came into being until this day,

    ¹⁶The ^[b]redeeming Angel [that is, the Angel the Redeemer--not a created being but the Lord Himself] Who has redeemed me continually from every evil, bless the lads! And let my name be perpetuated in them [may they be worthy of having their names coupled with mine], and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them become a multitude in the midst of the earth.

    ¹⁷When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on Ephraim's head, it displeased him; and he held up his father's hand to move it to Manasseh's head.

    ¹⁸And Joseph said, Not so, my father, for this is the firstborn; put your right hand upon his head.

    ¹⁹But his father refused and said, I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people and shall be great; but his younger brother shall be ^[c]greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations.

    ²⁰And he blessed them that day, saying, By you shall Israel bless [one another], saying, May God make you like Ephraim and like Manasseh. And he set Ephraim before Manasseh.

    ²¹And Israel said to Joseph, Behold, I [am about to] die, but God will be with you and bring you again to the land of your fathers.

    ²²Moreover, I have given to you [Joseph] one portion [Shechem, one mountain slope] more than any of your brethren, which I took [reclaiming it] out of the hand of the Amorites with my sword and with my bow.^(B)

   

Genesis 49

 ¹AND JACOB called for his sons and said, Gather yourselves together [around me], that I may tell you what shall befall you ^[d]in the latter or last days.

    ²Gather yourselves together and hear, you sons of Jacob; and hearken to Israel your father.

    ³Reuben, you are my ^[e]firstborn, my might, the beginning (the firstfruits) of my manly strength and vigor; [your birthright gave you] the preeminence in dignity and the preeminence in power.

    ⁴But unstable and boiling over like water, you shall ^[f]not excel and have the preeminence [of the firstborn], because you went to your father's bed; you defiled it--he went to my couch!^(C)

    ⁵Simeon and Levi are brothers [equally headstrong, deceitful, vindictive, and cruel]; their swords are weapons of violence.^(D)

    ⁶O my soul, come not into their secret council; unto their assembly let not my honor be united [for I knew nothing of their plot], because in their anger they slew men [an honored man, Shechem, and the Shechemites], and in their self-will they disabled oxen.

    ⁷Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their wrath, for it was cruel. I will divide them in Jacob and ^[g]scatter them in Israel.

    ⁸Judah, you are the one whom your brothers shall praise; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father's sons shall bow down to you.

    ⁹Judah, a lion's cub! With the prey, my son, you have gone high up [the mountain]. He stooped down, he crouched like a lion, and like a lioness--who dares provoke and rouse him?^(E)

    ¹⁰The scepter or leadership shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until Shiloh [the Messiah, the Peaceful One] comes to Whom it belongs, and to Him shall be the obedience of the people.^(F)

    ¹¹Binding His foal to the vine and His donkey's colt to the choice vine, He washes His garments in wine and His clothes in the blood of grapes.^(G)

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

    ¹³Zebulun shall live toward the seashore, and he shall be a haven and a landing place for ships; and his border shall be toward Sidon.

    ¹⁴Issachar is a strong-boned donkey crouching down between the sheepfolds.

    ¹⁵And he saw that rest was good and that the land was pleasant; and he bowed his shoulder to bear [his burdens] and became a servant to tribute [subjected to forced labor].

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

    ¹⁷Dan shall be a serpent by the way, a horned snake in the path, that bites at the horse's heels, so that his rider falls backward.

    ¹⁸I wait for Your salvation, O Lord.

    ¹⁹Gad--a raiding troop shall raid him, but he shall raid at their heels and assault them [victoriously].

    ²⁰Asher's food [supply] shall be rich and fat, and he shall yield and deliver royal delights.

    ²¹Naphtali is a hind let loose which yields lovely fawns.

    ²²Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a well (spring or fountain), whose branches run over the wall.

    ²³Skilled archers have bitterly attacked and sorely worried him; they have shot at him and persecuted him.

    ²⁴But his bow remained strong and steady and rested in the Strength that does not fail him, for the arms of his hands were made strong and active by the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob, by the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,^(H)

    ²⁵By the God of your father, Who will help you, and by the Almighty, Who will bless you with blessings of the heavens above, blessings lying in the deep beneath, blessings of the breasts and of the womb.

    ²⁶The blessings of your father [on you] are greater than the blessings of my forefathers [Abraham and Isaac on me] and are as lasting as the bounties of the eternal hills; they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him who was the consecrated one and the one separated from his brethren and [the one who] is prince among them.

    ²⁷Benjamin is a ^[h]ravenous wolf, in the morning devouring the prey and at night dividing the spoil.

    ²⁸All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them as he blessed them, blessing each one according to the blessing suited to him.

    ²⁹He charged them and said to them, I am to be gathered to my [departed] people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,

    ³⁰In the cave in the field at Machpelah, east of Mamre in the land of Canaan, that Abraham bought, along with the field of Ephron the Hittite, to possess as a cemetery.^(I)

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

    ³²The purchase of the field and the cave that is in it was from the sons of Heth.

    ³³When Jacob had finished commanding his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed and breathed his last and was gathered to his [departed] people.

   

Genesis 50

 ¹THEN JOSEPH fell upon his father's face and wept over him and kissed him.

    ²And Joseph ordered his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel.

    ³Then forty days were devoted [to this purpose] for him, for that is the customary number of days required for those who are embalmed. And the Egyptians wept and bemoaned him [as they would for royalty] for seventy days.

    ⁴And when the days of his weeping and deep grief were past, Joseph said to [the nobles of] the house of Pharaoh, If now I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, to Pharaoh [for Joseph was dressed in mourning and could not do so himself], saying,

    ⁵My father made me swear, saying, I am about to die; in my tomb which I hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me. So now let me go up, I pray you, and bury my father, and I will come again.

    ⁶And Pharaoh said, Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear.

    ⁷And Joseph went up [to Canaan] to bury his father; and with him went all the officials of Pharaoh--the nobles of his court, and the elders of his house and all the nobles and elders of the land of Egypt--

    ⁸And all the household of Joseph and his brethren and his father's household. Only their little ones and their flocks and herds they left in the land of Goshen.

    ⁹And there went with [Joseph] both chariots and horsemen; and it was a very great company.

    ¹⁰And they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond [west of] the Jordan, and there they mourned with a great lamentation and extreme demonstrations of sorrow [according to Egyptian custom]; and [Joseph] made a mourning for his father seven days.

    ¹¹When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at the floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning for the Egyptians. Therefore the place was called Abel-mizraim [mourning of Egypt]; it is west of the Jordan.

    ¹²Thus [Jacob's] sons did for him as he had commanded them.

    ¹³For his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, east of Mamre, which Abraham bought, along with the field, for a possession as a burying place from Ephron the Hittite.

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

    ¹⁵When Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Perhaps now Joseph will hate us and will pay us back for all the evil we did to him.

    ¹⁶And they sent a messenger to Joseph, saying, Your father commanded before he died, saying,

    ¹⁷So shall you say to Joseph: Forgive (take up and away all resentment and all claim to requital concerning), I pray you now, the trespass of your brothers and their sin, for they did evil to you. Now, we pray you, forgive the trespass of the servants of your father's God. And Joseph wept when they spoke thus to him.

    ¹⁸Then his brothers went and fell down before him, saying, See, we are your servants (your slaves)!

    ¹⁹And Joseph said to them, Fear not; for am I in the place of God? [Vengeance is His, not mine.]

    ²⁰As for you, you thought evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring about that many people should be kept alive, as they are this day.

    ²¹Now therefore, do not be afraid. I will provide for and support you and your little ones. And he comforted them [imparting cheer, hope, strength] and spoke to their hearts [kindly].

    ²²Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he and his father's household. And Joseph lived 110 years.

    ²³And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation; the children also of Machir son of Manasseh were brought up on Joseph's knees.

    ²⁴And Joseph said to his brethren, I am going to die. But God will surely visit you and bring you out of this land to the land He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob [to give you].

    ²⁵And Joseph took an oath from the sons of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and you will carry up my bones from here.

    ²⁶So Joseph died, being 110 years old; and they embalmed him, and he was put ^[i]in a coffin in Egypt.