Israel’s Last Days

48 Now it came about after these things that ^[a]Joseph was told, “Behold, your father is sick.” So he took his two sons ^(A)Manasseh and Ephraim with him. ² When ^[b]it was told to Jacob, “Behold, your son Joseph has come to you,” Israel ^[c]collected his strength and sat ^[d]up in the bed. ³ Then Jacob said to Joseph, “^[e](B)God Almighty appeared to me at ^(C)Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me, ⁴ and He said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and numerous, and I will make you a multitude of peoples, and will give this land to your ^[f]descendants after you as ^(D)an everlasting possession.’ ⁵ Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; ^(E)Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as ^(F)Reuben and Simeon are. ⁶ But your children that you have fathered after them shall be yours; they shall be called by the ^[g]names of their brothers in their inheritance. ⁷ Now as for me, when I came from ^(G)Paddan, ^(H)Rachel died, ^[h]to my sorrow, in the land of Canaan on the journey, when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath. I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).”

⁸ When Israel ^(I)saw Joseph’s sons, he said, “Who are these?” ⁹ And Joseph said to his father, “^(J)They are my sons, whom God has given me here.” So he said, “Bring them to me, please, so that ^(K)I may bless them.” ¹⁰ Now ^(L)the eyes of Israel were so ^[i]dim from age that he could not see. And ^[j]Joseph brought them close to him, and he ^(M)kissed them and embraced them. ¹¹ And Israel said to Joseph, “I never ^[k]expected to see your face, and behold, God has let me see your ^[l]children as well!” ¹² Then Joseph ^[m]took them from his knees, and ^(N)bowed with his face to the ground. ¹³ And Joseph took them both, 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. ¹⁴ But Israel reached out his right hand and placed it on the head of Ephraim, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, crossing his hands, although ^(O)Manasseh was the firstborn. ¹⁵ And he blessed Joseph, and said,

¹⁷ When Joseph saw that his father ^(U)placed his right hand on Ephraim’s head, it displeased him; and he grasped his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. ¹⁸ And Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn. Place your right hand on his head.” ¹⁹ But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know; he also will become a people and he also will be great. However, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and ^(V)his ^[q]descendants shall become ^[r]a multitude of nations.” ²⁰ So ^(W)he blessed them that day, saying,

And so he put Ephraim before Manasseh. ²¹ Then Israel said to Joseph, “Behold, I am about to die, but ^(X)God will be with you, and ^(Y)bring you back to the land of your fathers. ²² And I give you one ^[s]portion more than your brothers, ^(Z)which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow.”

Discipline and Prayer

¹⁵ “Now ^(A)if your brother sins^[a], go and ^[b]show him his fault ^[c]in private; if he listens to you, you have gained your brother. ¹⁶ But if he does not listen to you, take one or two more with you, so that ^(B)on the ^[d]testimony of two or three witnesses every ^[e]matter may be confirmed. ¹⁷ And if he refuses to listen to them, ^(C)tell it to the church; and if he refuses to listen even to the church, ^(D)he is to be to you as ^[f]a Gentile and ^[g]a tax collector. ¹⁸ Truly I say to you, ^(E)whatever you ^[h]bind on earth ^[i]shall have been bound in heaven; and whatever you ^[j]loose on earth ^[k]shall have been loosed in heaven.

¹⁹ “Again I say to you, that if two of you agree on earth about anything that they may ask, ^(F)it shall be done for them ^[l]by My Father who is in heaven. ²⁰ For where two or three have gathered together in My name, ^(G)I am there in their midst.”

Forgiveness

²¹ Then Peter came up and said to Him, “Lord, ^(H)how many times shall my brother sin against me and I still forgive him? Up to ^(I)seven times?” ²² Jesus *said to him, “I do not say to you, up to seven times, but up to ^[m](J)seventy-seven times.

²³ “For this reason ^(K)the kingdom of heaven ^[n]is like a king who wanted to ^(L)settle accounts with his slaves. ²⁴ And when he had begun to settle them, one who owed him ^[o]ten thousand talents was brought to him. ²⁵ But since he ^[p](M)did not have the means to repay, his master commanded that he ^(N)be sold, along with his wife and children and all that he had, and repayment be made. ²⁶ So the slave fell to the ground and ^(O)prostrated himself before him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you everything.’ ²⁷ And the master of that slave felt compassion, and he released him and ^(P)forgave him the ^[q]debt. ²⁸ But that slave went out and found one of his fellow slaves who owed him a hundred ^[r]denarii; and he seized him and began to choke him, saying, ‘Pay back what you owe!’ ²⁹ So his fellow slave fell to the ground and began to plead with him, saying, ‘Have patience with me and I will repay you.’ ³⁰ But he was unwilling, ^[s]and went and threw him in prison until he would pay back what was owed. ³¹ So when his fellow slaves saw what had happened, they were deeply grieved and came and reported to their master all that had happened. ³² Then summoning him, his master *said to him, ‘You wicked slave, I forgave you all that debt because you pleaded with me. ^33 (Q)Should you not also have had mercy on your fellow slave, in the same way that I had mercy on you?’ ³⁴ And his master, moved with anger, handed him over to the ^[t]torturers until he would repay all that was owed him. ^35 (R)My heavenly Father will also do the same to you, if each of you does not forgive his brother from your ^[u]heart.”