Revised Common Lectionary (Complementary)

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.”

³⁰ Those who had been sent out rejoined Yeshua and reported to him all they had done and taught. ³¹ There were so many people coming and going that they couldn’t even take time to eat, so he said to them, “Come with me by yourselves to a place where we can be alone, and you can get some rest.” ³² They went off by themselves to an isolated spot; ³³ but many people, seeing them leave and recognizing them, ran ahead on foot from all the towns and got there first. ³⁴ When Yeshua came ashore, he saw a huge crowd. Filled with compassion for them, because they were like sheep without a shepherd, he began teaching them many things.