The Daily Audio Bible

48 Awhile later someone told Yosef that his father was ill. He took with him his two sons, M’nasheh and Efrayim. ² Ya‘akov was told, “Here comes your son Yosef.” Isra’el gathered his strength and sat up in bed. ³ Ya‘akov said to Yosef, “El Shaddai appeared to me at Luz in the land of Kena‘an and blessed me, ⁴ saying to me, ‘I will make you fruitful and numerous. I will make of you a group of peoples; and I will give this land to your descendants to possess forever.’ ⁵ Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; Efrayim and M’nasheh will be as much mine as Re’uven and Shim‘on are. ⁶ The children born to you after them will be yours, but for purposes of inheritance they are to be counted with their older brothers.

⁷ “Now as for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died suddenly, as we were traveling through the land of Kena‘an, while we were still some distance from Efrat; so I buried her there on the way to Efrat (also known as Beit-Lechem).”

⁸ Then Isra’el noticed Yosef’s sons and asked, “Whose are these?” ⁹ Yosef answered his father, “They are my sons, whom God has given me here.” Ya‘akov replied, “I want you to bring them here to me, so that I can bless them.” (ii) ¹⁰ Now Isra’el’s eyes were dim with age, so that he could not see. Yosef brought his sons near to him, and he kissed them and embraced them. ¹¹ Isra’el said to Yosef, “I never expected to see even you again, but God has allowed me to see your children too!” ¹² Yosef brought them out from between his legs and prostrated himself on the ground. ¹³ Then Yosef took them both, Efrayim in his right hand toward Isra’el’s left hand and M’nasheh in his left hand toward Isra’el’s right hand, and brought them near to him. ¹⁴ But Isra’el put out his right hand and laid it on the head of the younger one, Efrayim, and put his left hand on the head of M’nasheh — he intentionally crossed his hands, even though M’nasheh was the firstborn. ¹⁵ Then he blessed Yosef: “The God in whose presence my fathers Avraham and Yitz’chak lived, the God who has been my own shepherd all my life long to this day, ¹⁶ the angel who has rescued me from all harm, bless these boys. May they remember who I am and what I stand for, and likewise my fathers Avraham and Yitz’chak, who they were and what they stood for. And may they grow into teeming multitudes on the earth.”

(iii) ¹⁷ When Yosef saw that his father was laying his right hand on Efrayim’s head, it displeased him, and he lifted up his father’s hand to remove it from Efrayim’s head and place it instead on M’nasheh’s head. ¹⁸ Yosef said to his father, “Don’t do it that way, my father; for this one is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head.” ¹⁹ But his father refused and said, “I know that, my son, I know it. He too will become a people, and he too will be great; nevertheless his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will grow into many nations.” ²⁰ Then he added this blessing on them that day: “Isra’el will speak of you in their own blessings by saying, ‘May God make you like Efrayim and M’nasheh.’” Thus he put Efrayim ahead of M’nasheh.

²¹ Isra’el then said to Yosef, “You see that I am dying, but God will be with you and will bring you back to the land of your ancestors. ²² Moreover, I am giving to you a sh’khem [shoulder, ridge, share, city of Sh’khem] more than to your brothers; I captured it from the Emori with my sword and bow.”

49 (iv) Then Ya‘akov called for his sons and said,

²⁸ All these are the twelve tribes of Isra’el, and this is how their father spoke to them and blessed them, giving each his own individual blessing.

²⁹ Then he charged them as follows: “I am to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my ancestors in the cave that is in the field of ‘Efron the Hitti, ³⁰ the cave in the field of Makhpelah, by Mamre, in the land of Kena‘an, which Avraham bought together with the field from ‘Efron the Hitti as a burial-place belonging to him — ³¹ there they buried Avraham and his wife Sarah, there they buried Yitz’chak and his wife Rivkah, and there I buried Le’ah — ³² the field and the cave in it, which was purchased from the sons of Het.”

³³ When Ya‘akov had finished charging his sons, he drew his legs up into the bed, breathed his last and was gathered to his people.

²⁹ Yeshua left there and went along the shore of Lake Kinneret. He climbed a hill and sat down; ³⁰ and large crowds came to him, bringing with them the lame, the blind, the crippled, the mute and many others. They laid them at his feet, and he healed them. ³¹ The people were amazed as they saw mute people speaking, crippled people cured, lame people walking and blind people seeing; and they said a b’rakhah to the God of Isra’el.

³² Yeshua called his talmidim to him and said, “I feel sorry for these people, because they have been with me three days, and now they have nothing to eat. I don’t want to send them away hungry, because they might collapse on the way home.” ³³ The talmidim said to him, “Where will we find enough loaves of bread in this remote place to satisfy so big a crowd?” ³⁴ Yeshua asked them, “How many loaves do you have?” They said, “Seven, and a few fish.” ³⁵ After telling the crowd to sit down on the ground, ³⁶ he took the seven loaves and the fish, made a b’rakhah, broke the loaves and gave them to the talmidim, who gave them to the people. ³⁷ Everyone ate his fill, and they took seven large baskets full of the leftover pieces. ³⁸ Those eating numbered four thousand men, plus women and children. ³⁹ After sending the crowd away, he got in the boat and went off to the region of Magadan.

16 Then some P’rushim and Tz’dukim came to trap Yeshua by asking him to show them a miraculous sign from Heaven. ² But his response was, “When it is evening, you say, ‘Fair weather ahead,’ because the sky is red; ³ and in the morning you say, ‘Storm today!’ because the sky is red and overcast. You know how to read the appearance of the sky, but you can’t read the signs of the times! ⁴ A wicked and adulterous generation is asking for a sign? It will certainly not be given a sign — except the sign of Yonah!” With that he left them and went off.

⁵ The talmidim, in crossing to the other side of the lake, had forgotten to bring any bread. ⁶ So when Yeshua said to them, “Watch out! Guard yourselves against the hametz of the P’rushim and Tz’dukim,” ⁷ they thought he said it because they hadn’t brought bread. ⁸ But Yeshua, aware of this, said, “Such little trust you have! Why are you talking with each other about not having bread? ⁹ Don’t you understand yet? Don’t you remember the five loaves of the five thousand and how many baskets you filled? ¹⁰ Or the seven loaves of the four thousand and how many baskets you filled? ¹¹ How can you possibly think I was talking to you about bread? Guard yourselves from the hametz of the P’rushim and Tz’dukim!” ¹² Then they understood — they were to guard themselves not from yeast for bread but from the teaching of the P’rushim and Tz’dukim.