22 “Joseph is (A)a fruitful bough,
    a fruitful bough by a spring;
    his branches run over the wall.[a]

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Footnotes

  1. Genesis 49:22 Or Joseph is a wild donkey, a wild donkey beside a spring, his wild colts beside the wall

52 The name of the second he called Ephraim, “For God has (A)made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”[a]

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Footnotes

  1. Genesis 41:52 Ephraim sounds like the Hebrew for making fruitful

Your wife will be like (A)a fruitful vine
    within your house;
your children will be like (B)olive shoots
    around your table.

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Book One

The Way of the Righteous and the Wicked

Blessed is the man[a]
    who (A)walks not in (B)the counsel of the wicked,
nor stands in (C)the way of sinners,
    nor (D)sits in (E)the seat of (F)scoffers;
but his (G)delight is in the law[b] of the Lord,
    and on his (H)law he meditates day and night.

He is like (I)a tree
    planted by (J)streams of water
that yields its fruit in its season,
    and its (K)leaf does not wither.
(L)In all that he does, he prospers.

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Footnotes

  1. Psalm 1:1 The singular Hebrew word for man (ish) is used here to portray a representative example of a godly person; see Preface
  2. Psalm 1:2 Or instruction

The Allotment for Ephraim and Manasseh

16 The allotment of the people of Joseph went from the Jordan by Jericho, east of the waters of Jericho, (A)into the wilderness, going up from Jericho into the hill country to Bethel. Then (B)going from Bethel to Luz, it passes along to Ataroth, the territory of the Archites. Then it goes down westward to the territory of the Japhletites, as far as the territory of Lower (C)Beth-horon, then to (D)Gezer, and it ends at the sea.

(E)The people of Joseph, Manasseh and Ephraim, received their inheritance.

The territory of the people of Ephraim by their clans was as follows: the boundary of their inheritance on the east was (F)Ataroth-addar as far as Upper Beth-horon, and the boundary goes from there to the sea. On the north is (G)Michmethath. Then on the east the boundary turns around toward Taanath-shiloh and passes along beyond it on the east to Janoah, then it goes down from Janoah to Ataroth and (H)to Naarah, and touches Jericho, ending at the Jordan. From (I)Tappuah the boundary goes westward to the brook Kanah and ends at the sea. Such is the inheritance of the tribe of the people of Ephraim by their clans, together with (J)the towns that were set apart for the people of Ephraim within the inheritance of the Manassites, all those towns with their villages. 10 However, (K)they did not drive out the Canaanites who lived in Gezer, so the Canaanites have lived in the midst of Ephraim to this day but have been made (L)to do forced labor.

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27 And the sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt, were two. (A)All the persons of the house of Jacob who came into Egypt were seventy.

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22 Then God (A)remembered Rachel, and God listened to her and (B)opened her womb. 23 She conceived and bore a son and said, “God has taken away (C)my reproach.” 24 And she called his name Joseph,[a] saying, (D)“May the Lord add to me another son!”

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Footnotes

  1. Genesis 30:24 Joseph means May he add, and sounds like the Hebrew for taken away

11 Its strong stems became
    rulers' scepters;
it towered aloft
    among the thick boughs;[a]
it was seen in its height
    with the mass of its branches.

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Footnotes

  1. Ezekiel 19:11 Or the clouds

Blessed Is Everyone Who Fears the Lord

A Song of (A)Ascents.

128 (B)Blessed is everyone who fears the Lord,
    who (C)walks in his ways!

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14 Then (A)the people of Joseph spoke to Joshua, saying, “Why have you given me but (B)one lot and one portion as an inheritance, although I am (C)a numerous people, since all along the Lord has blessed me?” 15 And Joshua said to them, “If you are a numerous people, go up by yourselves to the forest, and there clear ground for yourselves in the land of the Perizzites and (D)the Rephaim, since (E)the hill country of Ephraim is too narrow for you.” 16 The people of Joseph said, “The hill country is not enough for us. Yet all the Canaanites who dwell in the plain have (F)chariots of iron, both those in Beth-shean and its villages and those in (G)the Valley of Jezreel.” 17 Then Joshua said to the house of Joseph, to Ephraim and Manasseh, “You are a numerous people and have great power. You shall not have one allotment only,

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13 And (A)of Joseph he said,

(B)“Blessed by the Lord be his land,
    with the choicest gifts of heaven (C)above,[a]
    and of the deep that crouches beneath,
14 with the choicest fruits of the sun
    and the rich yield of the months,
15 with the finest produce of the ancient mountains
    and the abundance of (D)the everlasting hills,
16 with the best gifts of the earth and (E)its fullness
    and the favor of (F)him who dwells in the bush.
May these rest on the head of Joseph,
    on the pate of him who is prince among his brothers.
17 (G)A firstborn bull[b]—he has majesty,
    and his horns are the horns of a (H)wild ox;
with them (I)he shall gore the peoples,
    all of them, to the ends of the earth;
(J)they are the ten thousands of Ephraim,
    and they are the thousands of Manasseh.”

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Footnotes

  1. Deuteronomy 33:13 Two Hebrew manuscripts and Targum; Hebrew with the dew
  2. Deuteronomy 33:17 Dead Sea Scroll, Septuagint, Samaritan; Masoretic Text His firstborn bull

Reuben and Gad Settle in Gilead

32 Now the people of Reuben and the people of Gad had a very great number of livestock. And they saw the land of (A)Jazer and the land of Gilead, and behold, the place was a place for livestock. So the people of Gad and the people of Reuben came and said to Moses and to Eleazar the priest and to the chiefs of the congregation, (B)“Ataroth, (C)Dibon, Jazer, Nimrah, Heshbon, Elealeh, Sebam, (D)Nebo, and Beon, the land (E)that the Lord struck down before the congregation of Israel, is a land for livestock, and your servants have livestock.” And they said, “If we have found favor in your sight, let this land be given to your servants for a possession. Do not take us across the Jordan.”

But Moses said to the people of Gad and to the people of Reuben, “Shall your brothers go to the war while you sit here? Why will you discourage the heart of the people of Israel from going over into the land that the Lord has given them? Your fathers did this, (F)when I sent them from Kadesh-barnea to see the land. For when they went up to the Valley of Eshcol and saw the land, they discouraged the heart of the people of Israel from going into the land that the Lord had given them. 10 (G)And the Lord's anger was kindled on that day, and he swore, saying, 11 ‘Surely none of the men who came up out of Egypt, (H)from twenty years old and upward, shall see the land that I swore to give (I)to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, because they have not wholly followed me, 12 none except Caleb the son of Jephunneh the (J)Kenizzite and Joshua the son of Nun, for (K)they have wholly followed the Lord.’ 13 And the Lord's anger was kindled against Israel, and he made them (L)wander in the wilderness forty years, until (M)all the generation that had done evil in the sight of the Lord was gone. 14 And behold, you have risen in your fathers' place, a brood of sinful men, to increase still more the fierce anger of the Lord against Israel! 15 For if you (N)turn away from following him, he will again abandon them in the wilderness, and you will destroy all this people.”

16 Then they came near to him and said, (O)“We will build sheepfolds here for our livestock, and cities for our little ones, 17 but (P)we will take up arms, ready to go before the people of Israel, until we have brought them to their place. And our little ones shall live in the fortified cities because of the inhabitants of the land. 18 (Q)We will not return to our homes until each of the people of Israel has gained his inheritance. 19 For we will not inherit with them on the other side of the Jordan and beyond, (R)because our inheritance has come to us on this side of the Jordan to the east.” 20 So (S)Moses said to them, “If you will do this, if you will take up arms to go before the Lord for the war, 21 and every armed man of you will pass over the Jordan before the Lord, until he has (T)driven out his enemies from before him 22 and the land is subdued before the Lord; then after that you shall return and be free of obligation to the Lord and to Israel, and (U)this land shall be your possession before the Lord. 23 But if you will not do so, behold, you have sinned against the Lord, and (V)be sure your sin will find you out. 24 (W)Build cities for your little ones and folds for your sheep, and do what you have promised.” 25 And the people of Gad and the people of Reuben said to Moses, “Your servants will do as my lord commands. 26 (X)Our little ones, our wives, our livestock, and all our cattle shall remain there in the cities of Gilead, 27 (Y)but your servants will pass over, every man who is (Z)armed for war, before the Lord to battle, as my lord orders.”

28 So (AA)Moses gave command concerning them to Eleazar the priest and to (AB)Joshua the son of Nun and to the heads of the fathers' houses of the tribes of the people of Israel. 29 And Moses said to them, “If the people of Gad and the people of Reuben, every man who is armed to battle before the Lord, will pass with you over the Jordan and the land shall be subdued before you, then you shall give them the land of Gilead for a possession. 30 However, if they will not pass over with you armed, they shall have possessions among you in the land of Canaan.” 31 And the people of Gad and the people of Reuben answered, “What the Lord has said to your servants, we will do. 32 We will pass over armed before the Lord into the land of Canaan, and the possession of our inheritance shall remain with us beyond the Jordan.”

33 And (AC)Moses gave to them, to the people of Gad and to the people of Reuben and to the half-tribe of Manasseh the son of Joseph, the kingdom of Sihon king of the Amorites and the kingdom of Og king of Bashan, the land and its cities with their territories, the cities of the land throughout the country. 34 And the people of Gad built (AD)Dibon, (AE)Ataroth, (AF)Aroer, 35 Atroth-shophan, (AG)Jazer, Jogbehah, 36 (AH)Beth-nimrah and Beth-haran, (AI)fortified cities, and folds for sheep. 37 And the people of Reuben built (AJ)Heshbon, (AK)Elealeh, Kiriathaim, 38 (AL)Nebo, and (AM)Baal-meon ((AN)their names were changed), and (AO)Sibmah. And they gave other names to the cities that they built. 39 And the sons of (AP)Machir the son of Manasseh went to Gilead and captured it, and dispossessed the Amorites who were in it. 40 And Moses (AQ)gave Gilead to Machir the son of Manasseh, and he settled in it. 41 And (AR)Jair the son of Manasseh went and captured their villages, and called them Havvoth-jair.[a] 42 And Nobah went and captured Kenath and its villages, and called it Nobah, after his own name.

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Footnotes

  1. Numbers 32:41 Havvoth-jair means the villages of Jair

19 But his father refused and said, (A)“I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great. Nevertheless, (B)his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude[a] of nations.” 20 So he blessed them that day, saying,

“By you Israel will pronounce blessings, saying,
(C)‘God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh.’”

Thus he put Ephraim before Manasseh.

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Footnotes

  1. Genesis 48:19 Hebrew fullness

16 (A)the angel who has (B)redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys;
    and in them let (C)my name be carried on, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac;
    and let them (D)grow into a multitude[a] in the midst of the earth.”

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Footnotes

  1. Genesis 48:16 Or let them be like fish for multitude

And now your (A)two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, (B)are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are.

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Jacob Blesses Ephraim and Manasseh

48 After this, Joseph was told, “Behold, your father is ill.” So he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.

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