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Genesis 49

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

    ³Reuben, you are my ^[b]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 ^[c]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!^(A)

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

    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 ^[d]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?^(C)

    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.^(D)

    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.^(E)

    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,^(F)

    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 ^[e]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.^(G)

    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

    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 ^[f]in a coffin in Egypt.

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³¹Another story by way of comparison He set forth before them, saying, The kingdom of heaven is like a grain of mustard seed, which a man took and sowed in his field.

    ³²Of all the seeds it is the smallest, but when it has grown it is the largest of the garden herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the air come and find shelter in its branches.

    ³³He told them another parable: The kingdom of heaven is like leaven (^[a]sour dough) which a woman took and covered over in three measures of meal or flour till all of it was leavened.^(A)

    ³⁴These things ^[b]all taken together Jesus said to the crowds in parables; indeed, without a parable He said nothing to them.

    ³⁵This was in fulfillment of what was spoken by the prophet: I will open My mouth in parables; I will utter things that have been hidden since the foundation of the world.^(B)

    ³⁶Then He left the throngs and went into the house. And His disciples came to Him saying, Explain to us the parable of the darnel in the field.

    ³⁷He answered, He Who sows the good seed is the Son of Man.

    ³⁸The field is the world, and the good seed means the children of the kingdom; the darnel is the children of the evil one,

    ³⁹And the enemy who sowed it is the devil. The harvest is the close and consummation of the age, and the reapers are angels.

    ⁴⁰Just as the darnel (weeds resembling wheat) is gathered and burned with fire, so it will be at the close of the age.

    ⁴¹The Son of Man will send forth His angels, and they will gather out of His kingdom all causes of offense [^[c]persons by whom others are drawn into error or sin] and all who do iniquity and act wickedly,

    ⁴²And will cast them into the furnace of fire; there will be weeping and wailing and grinding of teeth.

    ⁴³Then will the righteous (those who are upright and in right standing with God) shine forth like the sun in the kingdom of their Father. Let him who has ears [to hear] be listening, and let him ^[d]consider and perceive and understand by hearing.^(C)

    ⁴⁴The kingdom of heaven is like ^[e]something precious buried in a field, which a man found and hid again; then in his joy he goes and sells all he has and buys that field.

    ⁴⁵Again the kingdom of heaven is like a man who is a dealer in search of fine and ^[f]precious pearls,

    ⁴⁶Who, on finding a single pearl of great price, went and sold all he had and bought it.

    ⁴⁷Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a ^[g]dragnet which was cast into the sea and gathered in fish of every sort.

    ⁴⁸When it was full, men dragged it up on the beach, and sat down and sorted out the good fish into baskets, but the worthless ones they threw away.

    ⁴⁹So it will be at the close and consummation of the age. The angels will go forth and separate the wicked from the righteous (those who are upright and in right standing with God)

    ⁵⁰And cast them [the wicked] into the furnace of fire; there will be weeping and wailing and grinding of teeth.

    ⁵¹Have you understood ^[h]all these things [parables] taken together? They said to Him, Yes, Lord.

    ⁵²He said to them, Therefore every ^[i]teacher and interpreter of the Sacred Writings who has been instructed about and trained for the kingdom of heaven and has ^[j]become a disciple is like a householder who brings forth out of his storehouse treasure that is new and [treasure that is] old [the fresh as well as the familiar].

    ⁵³When Jesus had finished these parables (these comparisons), He left there.

    ⁵⁴And coming to His own country [Nazareth], He taught in their synagogue so that they were amazed with bewildered wonder, and said, Where did this ^[k]Man get this wisdom and these miraculous powers?

    ⁵⁵Is not this the carpenter's Son? Is not His mother called Mary? And are not His brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas?

    ⁵⁶And do not all His sisters live here among us? Where then did this Man get all this?

    ⁵⁷And they took offense at Him [they were repelled and hindered from acknowledging His authority, and caused to stumble]. But Jesus said to them, A prophet is not without honor except in his own country and in his own house.

    ⁵⁸And He did not do many works of power there, because of their unbelief (their lack of faith ^[l]in the divine mission of Jesus).