Old/New Testament
Jacob Blesses His Twelve Sons
49 Then Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather together so that I can tell you what will happen with you in days to come.[a]
2 Assemble and hear, O sons of Jacob!
Listen to Israel your father!
3 Reuben, you are my firstborn,
my strength, and the firstfruit of my vigor,
excelling in rank and excelling in power.
4 Unstable[b] as water, you shall not excel any longer,
for you went up upon the bed of your father,
then defiled it. You went up upon my couch!
5 Simeon and Levi are brothers;
weapons of violence are their swords.
Let me[c] not come into their council.
6 Let not my person[d] be joined to their company.
For in their anger they killed men,
and at their pleasure they hamstrung cattle.
7 Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce,
and their wrath, for it is cruel.
I will divide them in Jacob,
and I will scatter them in Israel.
8 Judah, as for you, your brothers shall praise you.
Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies.
The sons of your father shall bow down to you.
9 Judah is a lion’s cub.
From the prey, my son, you have gone up.
He bowed down; he crouched like a lion and as a lioness.
Who shall rouse him?
10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler’s staff between his feet,
until Shiloh comes.
And to him shall be the obedience of nations.
11 Binding his donkey to the vine
and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine,
he washes his clothing in the wine
and his garment in the blood of grapes.
12 The eyes are darker than wine,
and the teeth whiter than milk.
13 Zebulun shall settle by the shore of the sea.
He shall become a haven for ships,
and his border shall be at Sidon.
14 Issachar is a strong donkey,
crouching between the sheepfolds.
15 He saw a resting place that was good,
and land that was pleasant.
So he bowed his shoulder to the burden
and became a servant of forced labor.
16 Dan shall judge his people
as one of the tribes of Israel.
17 Dan shall be a serpent on the way,
a viper on the road
that bites the heels of a horse,
so that its rider falls backward.
18 I wait for your salvation, O Yahweh.
19 Bandits shall attack Gad,
but he shall attack their heels.
20 Asher’s food is delicious,
and he shall provide from the king’s delicacies.
21 Naphtali is a doe running free
that puts forth beautiful words.
22 Joseph is the bough[e] of a fruitful vine,
a fruitful bough[f] by a spring.
His branches climb over the wall.
23 The archers[g] fiercely attacked him.
They shot arrows at him and were hostile to him.
24 But his bow remained in a steady position;
his arms[h] were made agile
by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob.
From there is the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel.
25 Because of the God of your father he will help you
and by Shaddai[i] he will bless you
with the blessings of heaven above,
blessings of the deep that crouches beneath,
blessings of the breasts and the womb.
26 The blessings of your father
are superior to the blessings of my ancestors,
to the bounty of the everlasting hills.
May they be on the head of Joseph,
and on the forehead of the prince of his brothers.
27 Benjamin is a devouring wolf,
devouring the prey in the morning,
and dividing the plunder in the evening.
The Death and Burial of Jacob
28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them, each according to their blessing. 29 Then he instructed them and said to them, “I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me among my ancestors[j] in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 30 in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah that is before[k] Mamre in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite as a burial site. 31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife. There they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife. And there I buried Leah— 32 the purchase of the field and the cave which was in it from the Hittites.” 33 When Jacob finished instructing his sons he drew his feet up to the bed. Then he took his last breath and was gathered to his people.
Jacob’s Funeral and Joseph’s Remaining Time in Egypt
50 Then Joseph fell on the face of his father and wept upon him and kissed him. 2 And Joseph instructed his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel. 3 Forty days were required for it,[l] for thus are the days required for[m] embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days. 4 When the days of his weeping had passed, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the hearing of Pharaoh, saying, 5 ‘My father made me swear, saying, “Behold, I am about to die. In the tomb that I have hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan—there you must bury me.” So then, please let me go up and let me bury my father; then I will return.’” 6 Then Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father as he made you swear.” 7 So Joseph went up to bury his father. And all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, went up with him, 8 with all the household of Joseph, his brothers, and the household of his father. They left only their little children and their flocks and their herds in the land of Goshen. 9 And there also went up with him chariots and horsemen. The company was very great. 10 When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which was beyond the Jordan, they lamented there with a very great and sorrowful wailing. And he made a mourning ceremony for his father seven days. 11 And when the Canaanites, the inhabitants of the land, saw the mourning ceremony at the threshing floor of Atad they said, “This is a severe mourning for the Egyptians.” Therefore its name was called Abel-Mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan. 12 Thus his sons did to him just as he had instructed them. 13 And his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which field Abraham had bought as a burial site from Ephron the Hittite before[n] Mamre. 14 And after burying his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brothers and all who had gone up with him to bury his father.
15 And when the brothers of Joseph saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hold a grudge against us and pay us back dearly for all the evil that we did to him.” 16 So they sent word to Joseph saying, “Your father commanded us before his death, saying, 17 “Thus you must say to Joseph, ‘O, please now forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, for they did evil to you.’ So now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him. 18 Then his brothers went also and fell before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.” 19 Then Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? 20 As for you, you planned evil against me, but God planned it for good, in order to do this—to keep many people alive—as it is today. 21 So then, do not be afraid. I myself will provide for you and your little ones. And he consoled them and spoke kindly[o] to them.
The Death of Joseph
22 So Joseph remained in Egypt, he and the house of his father. And Joseph lived one hundred and ten years. 23 And Joseph saw Ephraim’s children to the third generation. Moreover, the children of Makir, son of Manasseh, were born on the knees of Joseph. 24 And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will certainly visit you and bring you up from this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” 25 Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall bring up my bones from here.” 26 So Joseph died, being one hundred and ten years old. They embalmed him and he was placed in a coffin in Egypt.
The Parable of the Mustard Seed
31 He put before them another parable, saying, “The kingdom of heaven is like a mustard seed that a man took and[a] sowed in his field. 32 It[b] is the smallest of all the seeds, but when it is grown it is larger than the garden herbs and becomes a tree, so that the birds of the sky come and nest in its branches.”
The Parable of the Yeast
33 He told them another parable: “The kingdom of heaven is like yeast that a woman took and[c] put into three measures of wheat flour until the whole batch was leavened.”
Parables Fulfill Prophecy
34 Jesus spoke all these things to the crowds in parables, and he was saying nothing to them without a parable, 35 in order that what was spoken through the prophet would be fulfilled, who said,
The Parable of the Weeds Interpreted
36 Then he left the crowds and[f] came into the house, and his disciples came to him saying, “Explain the parable of the darnel in the field to us.” 37 So he answered and[g] said, “The one who sows the good seed is the Son of Man, 38 and the field is the world. And the good seed—these are the sons of the kingdom, but the darnel are the sons of the evil one. 39 And the enemy who sowed them is the devil, and the harvest is the end of the age, and the reapers are angels. 40 Thus just as the darnel is gathered and burned[h] with fire, so it will be at the end of the age. 41 The Son of Man will send out his angels and they will gather out of his kingdom all the causes of sin and those who do lawless deeds, 42 and throw them into the fiery furnace.[i] In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth! 43 Then the righteous will shine like the sun in the kingdom of their Father.[j] The one who has ears, let him hear!
The Parable of the Treasure Hidden in a Field
44 “The kingdom of heaven is like treasure hidden in a field, that a man found and[k] concealed, and in his joy he goes and sells everything that he has and buys that field.
The Parable of the Valuable Pearl
45 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a merchant searching for fine pearls. 46 And when he[l] found one very valuable pearl, he went and[m] sold everything that he possessed and purchased it.
The Parable of the Dragnet
47 “Again, the kingdom of heaven is like a dragnet that was thrown into the sea and gathered fish[n] of every kind, 48 which when it was filled they pulled to shore and sat down and[o] collected the good fish[p] into containers, but the bad they threw out. 49 Thus it will be at the end of the age. The angels will go out and separate the evil from among the righteous 50 and throw them into the fiery furnace.[q] In that place there will be weeping and gnashing of teeth!
51 “Have you understood all these things?” They said to him, “Yes.” 52 And he said to them, “For this reason every scribe who has been trained for the kingdom of heaven is like the master of the house who brings out of his storeroom new things and old things.”
Rejected at Nazareth
53 And it happened that when Jesus had finished these parables he went away from there. 54 And he came to his hometown and[r] began to teach[s] them in their synagogue, so that they were amazed and said, “From where did this man get this wisdom and these miracles? 55 Is not this one the son of the carpenter? Is not his mother called Mary and his brothers James and Joseph and Simon and Judas? 56 And are not all his sisters with us? From where then did this man get all these things?” 57 And they were offended by him. But Jesus said to them, “A prophet is not without honor except in his own hometown and in his own household.” 58 And he did not perform many miracles in that place because of their unbelief.
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