Jacob’s Last Words

49 Then Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather around, and I will tell you what will happen to you in the days to come.[a](A)

Come together and listen, sons of Jacob;
listen to your father Israel:

Reuben, you are my firstborn,(B)
my strength and the firstfruits of my virility,(C)
excelling in prominence, excelling in power.
Turbulent as water, you will not excel,
because you got into your father’s bed(D)
and you defiled it—he[b] got into my bed.

Simeon and Levi are brothers;
their knives are vicious weapons.(E)
May I never enter their council;
may I never join their assembly.
For in their anger they kill men,
and on a whim they hamstring oxen.
Their anger is cursed, for it is strong,
and their fury, for it is cruel!
I will disperse them throughout Jacob
and scatter them throughout Israel.(F)

Judah, your brothers will praise you.(G)
Your hand will be on the necks of your enemies;
your father’s sons will bow down to you.(H)
Judah is a young lion(I)
my son, you return from the kill.
He crouches; he lies down like a lion
or a lioness—who dares to rouse him?
10 The scepter will not depart from Judah
or the staff from between his feet
until he whose right it is comes[c](J)
and the obedience of the peoples belongs to him.(K)
11 He ties his donkey to a vine,
and the colt of his donkey to the choice vine.
He washes his clothes in wine
and his robes in the blood of grapes.
12 His eyes are darker than wine,
and his teeth are whiter than milk.

13 Zebulun will live by the seashore
and will be a harbor for ships,
and his territory will be next to Sidon.(L)

14 Issachar is a strong donkey
lying down between the saddlebags.[d]
15 He saw that his resting place was good
and that the land was pleasant,
so he leaned his shoulder to bear a load
and became a forced laborer.(M)

16 Dan will judge his people(N)
as one of the tribes of Israel.
17 Dan will be a snake by the road,
a viper beside the path,
that bites the horse’s heels
so that its rider falls backward.

18 I wait for your salvation, Lord.

19 Gad will be attacked by raiders,
but he will attack their heels.(O)

20 Asher’s[e] food will be rich,
and he will produce royal delicacies.(P)

21 Naphtali is a doe set free
that bears beautiful fawns.(Q)

22 Joseph is a fruitful vine,
a fruitful vine beside a spring;
its branches[f] climb over the wall.[g]
23 The archers attacked him,
shot at him, and were hostile toward him.
24 Yet his bow remained steady,
and his strong arms were made agile
by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob,(R)
by the name of[h] the Shepherd,(S) the Rock of Israel,(T)
25 by the God of your father who helps you,
and by the Almighty who blesses you
with blessings of the heavens above,
blessings of the deep that lies below,
and blessings of the breasts and the womb.
26 The blessings of your father excel
the blessings of my ancestors[i]
and[j] the bounty of the ancient hills.[k](U)
May they rest on the head of Joseph,
on the brow of the prince of his brothers.

27 Benjamin is a wolf; he tears his prey.
In the morning he devours the prey,
and in the evening he divides the plunder.”(V)

28 These are the tribes of Israel, twelve in all, and this is what their father said to them. He blessed them, and he blessed each one with a suitable blessing.

Jacob’s Burial Instructions

29 Then he commanded them, “I am about to be gathered to my people.(W) Bury me with my ancestors(X) in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hethite.(Y) 30 The cave is in the field of Machpelah near Mamre, in the land of Canaan. This is the field Abraham purchased from Ephron the Hethite as burial property.(Z) 31 Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried there,(AA) Isaac and his wife Rebekah are buried there,(AB) and I buried Leah there.(AC) 32 The field and the cave in it were purchased from the Hethites.” 33 When Jacob had finished giving charges to his sons, he drew his feet into the bed, took his last breath, and was gathered to his people.

Jacob’s Burial

50 Then Joseph, leaning over his father’s face, wept and kissed him. He commanded his servants who were physicians to embalm his father. So they embalmed Israel. They took forty days to complete this, for embalming takes that long, and the Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.(AD)

When the days of mourning were over, Joseph said to Pharaoh’s household, “If I have found favor with you, please tell Pharaoh that my father made me take an oath,(AE) saying, ‘I am about to die. You must bury me there in the tomb that I made for myself in the land of Canaan.’(AF) Now let me go and bury my father. Then I will return.”

So Pharaoh said, “Go and bury your father in keeping with your oath.”

Then Joseph went to bury his father, and all Pharaoh’s servants, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt went with him, along with all Joseph’s family, his brothers, and his father’s family. Only their dependents, their flocks, and their herds were left in the land of Goshen. Horses and chariots went up with him; it was a very impressive procession. 10 When they reached the threshing floor of Atad, which is across the Jordan, they lamented and wept loudly, and Joseph mourned seven days for his father. 11 When the Canaanite inhabitants of the land saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a solemn mourning on the part of the Egyptians.” Therefore the place is named Abel-mizraim.[l] It is across the Jordan.

12 So Jacob’s sons did for him what he had commanded them. 13 They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave at Machpelah in the field near Mamre, which Abraham had purchased as burial property from Ephron the Hethite.(AG) 14 After Joseph buried his father, he returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone with him to bury his father.

Joseph’s Kindness

15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said to one another, “If Joseph is holding a grudge against us, he will certainly repay us for all the suffering we caused him.”(AH)

16 So they sent this message to Joseph, “Before he died your father gave a command: 17 ‘Say this to Joseph: Please forgive your brothers’ transgression and their sin—the suffering they caused you.’ Therefore, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept(AI) when their message came to him. 18 His brothers also came to him, bowed down before him, and said, “We are your slaves!”

19 But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I in the place of God?(AJ) 20 You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result—the survival of many people.(AK) 21 Therefore don’t be afraid. I will take care of you and your children.”(AL) And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.[m]

Joseph’s Death

22 Joseph and his father’s family remained in Egypt. Joseph lived 110 years. 23 He saw Ephraim’s sons to the third generation;(AM) the sons of Manasseh’s son Machir were recognized by[n][o] Joseph.(AN)

24 Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die,(AO) but God will certainly come to your aid and bring you up from this land to the land he swore to give to Abraham,(AP) Isaac,(AQ) and Jacob.”(AR) 25 So Joseph made the sons of Israel take an oath: “When God comes to your aid, you are to carry my bones up from here.”(AS)

26 Joseph died at the age of 110. They embalmed him and placed him in a coffin in Egypt.

Footnotes

  1. 49:1 Or in the last days
  2. 49:4 LXX, Syr, Tg read you
  3. 49:10 Or until tribute comes to him, or until Shiloh comes, or until he comes to Shiloh
  4. 49:14 Or sheep pens
  5. 49:19–20 LXX, Syr, Vg; MT reads their heel. 20 From Asher
  6. 49:22 Lit daughters
  7. 49:22 Hb obscure
  8. 49:24 Syr, Tg; MT reads Jacob, from there
  9. 49:26 Or of the mountains
  10. 49:26 Lit to
  11. 49:26 Hb obscure
  12. 50:11 = Mourning of Egypt
  13. 50:21 Lit spoke to their hearts
  14. 50:23 Lit were born on the knees of
  15. 50:23 Referring to a ritual of adoption or of legitimation; Gn 30:3

Defilement Is from Within

10 Summoning the crowd, he told them, “Listen and understand: 11 It’s not what goes into the mouth that defiles(A) a person, but what comes out of the mouth—this defiles a person.”(B)

12 Then the disciples came up and told him, “Do you know that the Pharisees took offense when they heard what you said?”

13 He replied, “Every plant that my heavenly Father didn’t plant will be uprooted.(C) 14 Leave them alone! They are blind guides.[a] And if the blind guide the blind, both will fall into a pit.”(D)

15 Then Peter said, “Explain this parable to us.”(E)

16 “Do you still lack understanding?” he[b] asked. 17 “Don’t you realize[c] that whatever goes into the mouth passes into the stomach and is eliminated?[d] 18 But what comes out of the mouth comes from the heart, and this defiles a person.(F) 19 For from the heart come evil thoughts, murders, adulteries, sexual immoralities, thefts, false testimonies,(G) slander.(H) 20 These are the things that defile a person; but eating with unwashed hands does not defile a person.”(I)

A Gentile Mother’s Faith

21 When Jesus left there,(J) he withdrew to the area of Tyre and Sidon.(K) 22 Just then a Canaanite woman from that region came and kept crying out,[e] “Have mercy on me, Lord, Son of David! My daughter is severely tormented by a demon.”(L)

23 Jesus did not say a word to her. His disciples(M) approached him and urged him, “Send her away because she’s crying out after us.”

24 He replied, “I was sent only to the lost sheep of the house of Israel.”(N)

25 But she came, knelt before him, and said, “Lord, help me!”

26 He answered, “It isn’t right to take the children’s bread and throw it to the dogs.”(O)

27 “Yes, Lord,” she said, “yet even the dogs eat the crumbs that fall from their masters’ table.”

28 Then Jesus replied to her, “Woman, your faith is great. Let it be done for you as you want.” And from that moment[f] her daughter was healed.(P)

Healing Many People

29 Moving on from there,(Q) Jesus passed along the Sea of Galilee.(R) He went up on a mountain and sat there, 30 and large crowds came to him, including the lame, the blind, the crippled, those unable to speak, and many others. They put them at his feet, and he healed them. 31 So the crowd was amazed when they saw those unable to speak talking, the crippled restored, the lame walking, and the blind seeing,(S) and they gave glory to the God of Israel.

Feeding of the Four Thousand

32 Jesus called his disciples and said,(T) “I have compassion on the crowd, because they’ve already stayed with me three days and have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry, otherwise they might collapse on the way.”

33 The disciples said to him, “Where could we get enough bread in this desolate place(U) to feed such a crowd?”

34 “How many loaves do you have?” Jesus asked them.

“Seven,” they said, “and a few small fish.”

35 After commanding the crowd to sit down on the ground, 36 he took the seven loaves and the fish, gave thanks, broke them, and gave them to the disciples, and the disciples gave them to the crowds.(V) 37 They all ate and were satisfied. They collected the leftover pieces—seven large baskets full. 38 Now there were four thousand men who had eaten, besides women and children. 39 After dismissing the crowds, he got into the boat and went to the region of Magadan.[g](W)

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Footnotes

  1. 15:14 Other mss add for the blind
  2. 15:16 Other mss read Jesus
  3. 15:17 Other mss add yet
  4. 15:17 Lit and goes out into the toilet
  5. 15:22 Other mss read and cried out to him
  6. 15:28 Lit hour
  7. 15:39 Other mss read Magdala

Psalm 15

A Description of the Godly

A psalm of David.

Lord, who can dwell in your tent?(A)
Who can live on your holy mountain?(B)

The one who lives blamelessly, practices righteousness,
and acknowledges the truth in his heart(C)
who does not slander with his tongue,(D)
who does not harm his friend
or discredit his neighbor,(E)
who despises the one rejected by the Lord[a]
but honors those who fear the Lord,(F)
who keeps his word whatever the cost,(G)
who does not lend his silver at interest(H)
or take a bribe against the innocent(I)
the one who does these things will never be shaken.(J)

Footnotes

  1. 15:4 Lit in his eyes the rejected is despised

19 The Lord founded the earth by wisdom(A)
and established the heavens by understanding.
20 By his knowledge the watery depths broke open,(B)
and the clouds dripped with dew.(C)

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