Jacob's Last Request (GEN 47:27-31)

[47:27] The Israelites lived in Egypt in the region of Goshen, where they became rich and had many children.

[47:28] Jacob lived in Egypt seventeen years, until he was a hundred and forty-seven years old.

[47:29] When the time drew near for him to die, he called for his son Joseph and said to him, “Place your hand between my thighs and make a solemn vow that you will not bury me in Egypt.

[47:30] I want to be buried where my fathers are; carry me out of Egypt and bury me where they are buried.” Joseph answered, “I will do as you say.”

[47:31] Jacob said, “Make a vow that you will.” Joseph made the vow, and Jacob gave thanks there on his bed.

Jacob Blesses Ephraim and Manasseh (GEN 48:1-22)

[48:1] Some time later Joseph was told that his father was ill. So he took his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, and went to see Jacob.

[48:2] When Jacob was told that his son Joseph had come to see him, he gathered his strength and sat up in bed.

[48:3] Jacob said to Joseph, “Almighty God appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me.

[48:4] He said to me, ‘I will give you many children, so that your descendants will become many nations; I will give this land to your descendants as their possession forever.’”

[48:5] Jacob continued, “Joseph, your two sons, who were born to you in Egypt before I came here, belong to me; Ephraim and Manasseh are just as much my sons as Reuben and Simeon.

[48:6] If you have any more sons, they will not be considered mine; the inheritance they get will come through Ephraim and Manasseh.

[48:7] I am doing this because of your mother Rachel. To my great sorrow she died in the land of Canaan, not far from Ephrath, as I was returning from Mesopotamia. I buried her there beside the road to Ephrath.” (Ephrath is now known as Bethlehem.)

[48:8] When Jacob saw Joseph's sons, he asked, “Who are these boys?”

[48:9] Joseph answered, “These are my sons, whom God has given me here in Egypt.” Jacob said, “Bring them to me so that I may bless them.”

[48:10] Jacob's eyesight was failing because of his age, and he could not see very well. Joseph brought the boys to him, and he hugged them and kissed them.

[48:11] Jacob said to Joseph, “I never expected to see you again, and now God has even let me see your children.”

[48:12] Then Joseph took them from Jacob's lap and bowed down before him with his face to the ground.

[48:13] Joseph put Ephraim at Jacob's left and Manasseh at his right.

[48:14] But Jacob crossed his hands, and put his right hand on the head of Ephraim, even though he was the younger, and his left hand on the head of Manasseh, who was the older.

[48:15] Then he blessed Joseph: “May God, whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac served, bless these boys! May God, who has led me to this very day, bless them!

[48:16] May the angel, who has rescued me from all harm, bless them! May my name and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac live on through these boys! May they have many children, many descendants!”

[48:17] Joseph was upset when he saw that his father had put his right hand on Ephraim's head; so he took his father's hand to move it from Ephraim's head to the head of Manasseh.

[48:18] He said to his father, “Not that way, father. This is the older boy; put your right hand on his head.”

[48:19] His father refused, saying, “I know, son, I know. Manasseh's descendants will also become a great people. But his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become great nations.”

[48:20] So he blessed them that day, saying, “The Israelites will use your names when they pronounce blessings. They will say, ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’” In this way Jacob put Ephraim before Manasseh.

[48:21] Then Jacob said to Joseph, “As you see, I am about to die, but God will be with you and will take you back to the land of your ancestors.

[48:22] It is to you and not to your brothers that I am giving Shechem, that fertile region which I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow.”

The Last Words of Jacob (GEN 49:1-28)

[49:1] Jacob called for his sons and said, “Gather around, and I will tell you what will happen to you in the future:

[49:2] “Come together and listen, sons of Jacob. Listen to your father Israel.

[49:3] “Reuben, my first-born, you are my strength And the first child of my manhood, The proudest and strongest of all my sons.

[49:4] You are like a raging flood, But you will not be the most important, For you slept with my concubine And dishonored your father's bed.

[49:5] “Simeon and Levi are brothers. They use their weapons to commit violence.

[49:6] I will not join in their secret talks, Nor will I take part in their meetings, For they killed people in anger And they crippled bulls for sport.

[49:7] A curse be on their anger, because it is so fierce, And on their fury, because it is so cruel. I will scatter them throughout the land of Israel. I will disperse them among its people.

[49:8] “Judah, your brothers will praise you. You hold your enemies by the neck. Your brothers will bow down before you.

[49:9] Judah is like a lion, Killing his victim and returning to his den, Stretching out and lying down. No one dares disturb him.

[49:10] Judah will hold the royal scepter, And his descendants will always rule. Nations will bring him tribute And bow in obedience before him.

[49:11] He ties his young donkey to a grapevine, To the very best of the vines. He washes his clothes in blood-red wine.

[49:12] His eyes are bloodshot from drinking wine, His teeth white from drinking milk.

[49:13] “Zebulun will live beside the sea. His shore will be a haven for ships. His territory will reach as far as Sidon.

[49:14] “Issachar is no better than a donkey That lies stretched out between its saddlebags.

[49:15] But he sees that the resting place is good And that the land is delightful. So he bends his back to carry the load And is forced to work as a slave.

[49:16] “Dan will be a ruler for his people. They will be like the other tribes of Israel.

[49:17] Dan will be a snake at the side of the road, A poisonous snake beside the path, That strikes at the horse's heel, So that the rider is thrown off backward.

[49:18] “I wait for your deliverance, Lord.

[49:19] “Gad will be attacked by a band of robbers, But he will turn and pursue them.

[49:20] “Asher's land will produce rich food. He will provide food fit for a king.

[49:21] “Naphtali is a deer that runs free, Who bears lovely fawns.

[49:22] “Joseph is like a wild donkey by a spring, A wild colt on a hillside.

[49:23] His enemies attack him fiercely And pursue him with their bows and arrows.

[49:24] But his bow remains steady, And his arms are made strong By the power of the Mighty God of Jacob, By the Shepherd, the Protector of Israel.

[49:25] It is your father's God who helps you, The Almighty God who blesses you With blessings of rain from above And of deep waters from beneath the ground, Blessings of many cattle and children,

[49:26] Blessings of grain and flowers, Blessings of ancient mountains, Delightful things from everlasting hills. May these blessings rest on the head of Joseph, On the brow of the one set apart from his brothers.

[49:27] “Benjamin is like a vicious wolf. Morning and evening he kills and devours.”

[49:28] These are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said as he spoke a suitable word of farewell to each son.

The Death and Burial of Jacob (GEN 49:29-50:14)

[49:29] Then Jacob commanded his sons, “Now that I am going to join my people in death, bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,

[49:30] at Machpelah east of Mamre in the land of Canaan. Abraham bought this cave and field from Ephron for a burial ground.

[49:31] That is where they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah; that is where they buried Isaac and his wife Rebecca; and that is where I buried Leah.

[49:32] The field and the cave in it were bought from the Hittites. Bury me there.”

[49:33] When Jacob had finished giving instructions to his sons, he lay back down and died.

[50:1] Joseph threw himself on his father, crying and kissing his face.

[50:2] Then Joseph gave orders to embalm his father's body.

[50:3] It took forty days, the normal time for embalming. The Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.

[50:4] When the time of mourning was over, Joseph said to the king's officials, “Please take this message to the king:

[50:5] ‘When my father was about to die, he made me promise him that I would bury him in the tomb which he had prepared in the land of Canaan. So please let me go and bury my father, and then I will come back.’”

[50:6] The king answered, “Go and bury your father, as you promised you would.”

[50:7] So Joseph went to bury his father. All the king's officials, the senior men of his court, and all the leading men of Egypt went with Joseph.

[50:8] His family, his brothers, and the rest of his father's family all went with him. Only their small children and their sheep, goats, and cattle stayed in the region of Goshen.

[50:9] Men in chariots and men on horseback also went with him; it was a huge group.

[50:10] When they came to the threshing place at Atad east of the Jordan, they mourned loudly for a long time, and Joseph performed mourning ceremonies for seven days.

[50:11] When the citizens of Canaan saw those people mourning at Atad, they said, “What a solemn ceremony of mourning the Egyptians are holding!” That is why the place was named Abel Mizraim.

[50:12] So Jacob's sons did as he had commanded them;

[50:13] they carried his body to Canaan and buried it in the cave at Machpelah east of Mamre in the field which Abraham had bought from Ephron the Hittite for a burial ground.

[50:14] After Joseph had buried his father, he returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone with him for the funeral.

Joseph Reassures His Brothers (GEN 50:15-21)

[50:15] After the death of their father, Joseph's brothers said, “What if Joseph still hates us and plans to pay us back for all the harm we did to him?”

[50:16] So they sent a message to Joseph: “Before our father died,

[50:17] he told us to ask you, ‘Please forgive the crime your brothers committed when they wronged you.’ Now please forgive us the wrong that we, the servants of your father's God, have done.” Joseph cried when he received this message.

[50:18] Then his brothers themselves came and bowed down before him. “Here we are before you as your slaves,” they said.

[50:19] But Joseph said to them, “Don't be afraid; I can't put myself in the place of God.

[50:20] You plotted evil against me, but God turned it into good, in order to preserve the lives of many people who are alive today because of what happened.

[50:21] You have nothing to fear. I will take care of you and your children.” So he reassured them with kind words that touched their hearts.

The Death of Joseph (GEN 50:22-26)

[50:22] Joseph continued to live in Egypt with his father's family; he was a hundred and ten years old when he died.

[50:23] He lived to see Ephraim's children and grandchildren. He also lived to receive the children of Machir son of Manasseh into the family.

[50:24] He said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will certainly take care of you and lead you out of this land to the land he solemnly promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

[50:25] Then Joseph asked his people to make a vow. “Promise me,” he said, “that when God leads you to that land, you will take my body with you.”

[50:26] So Joseph died in Egypt at the age of a hundred and ten. They embalmed his body and put it in a coffin.

The Israelites Are Treated Cruelly in Egypt (EXO 1:1-22)

[1:1] The sons of Jacob who went to Egypt with him, each with his family, were

[1:2] Reuben, Simeon, Levi, Judah,

[1:3] Issachar, Zebulun, Benjamin,

[1:4] Dan, Naphtali, Gad, and Asher.

[1:5] The total number of these people directly descended from Jacob was seventy. His son Joseph was already in Egypt.

[1:6] In the course of time Joseph, his brothers, and all the rest of that generation died,

[1:7] but their descendants, the Israelites, had many children and became so numerous and strong that Egypt was filled with them.

[1:8] Then, a new king, who knew nothing about Joseph, came to power in Egypt.

[1:9] He said to his people, “These Israelites are so numerous and strong that they are a threat to us.

[1:10] In case of war they might join our enemies in order to fight against us, and might escape from the country. We must find some way to keep them from becoming even more numerous.”

[1:11] So the Egyptians put slave drivers over them to crush their spirits with hard labor. The Israelites built the cities of Pithom and Rameses to serve as supply centers for the king.

[1:12] But the more the Egyptians oppressed the Israelites, the more they increased in number and the farther they spread through the land. The Egyptians came to fear the Israelites

[1:15] Then the king of Egypt spoke to Shiphrah and Puah, the two midwives who helped the Hebrew women.

[1:16] “When you help the Hebrew women give birth,” he said to them, “kill the baby if it is a boy; but if it is a girl, let it live.”

[1:17] But the midwives were God-fearing and so did not obey the king; instead, they let the boys live.

[1:18] So the king sent for the midwives and asked them, “Why are you doing this? Why are you letting the boys live?”

[1:19] They answered, “The Hebrew women are not like Egyptian women; they give birth easily, and their babies are born before either of us gets there.”

[1:22] Finally the king issued a command to all his people: “Take every newborn Hebrew boy and throw him into the Nile, but let all the girls live.”

The Birth of Moses (EXO 2:1-10)

[2:1] During this time a man from the tribe of Levi married a woman of his own tribe,

[2:2] and she bore him a son. When she saw what a fine baby he was, she hid him for three months.

[2:3] But when she could not hide him any longer, she took a basket made of reeds and covered it with tar to make it watertight. She put the baby in it and then placed it in the tall grass at the edge of the river.

[2:4] The baby's sister stood some distance away to see what would happen to him.

[2:5] The king's daughter came down to the river to bathe, while her servants walked along the bank. Suddenly she noticed the basket in the tall grass and sent a slave woman to get it.

[2:6] The princess opened it and saw a baby boy. He was crying, and she felt sorry for him. “This is one of the Hebrew babies,” she said.

[2:7] Then his sister asked her, “Shall I go and call a Hebrew woman to nurse the baby for you?”

[2:8] “Please do,” she answered. So the girl went and brought the baby's own mother.

[2:9] The princess told the woman, “Take this baby and nurse him for me, and I will pay you.” So she took the baby and nursed him.

[2:10] Later, when the child was old enough, she took him to the king's daughter, who adopted him as her own son. She said to herself, “I pulled him out of the water, and so I name him Moses.”

Moses Escapes to Midian (EXO 2:11-25)

[2:11] When Moses had grown up, he went out to visit his people, the Hebrews, and he saw how they were forced to do hard labor. He even saw an Egyptian kill a Hebrew, one of Moses' own people.

[2:12] Moses looked all around, and when he saw that no one was watching, he killed the Egyptian and hid his body in the sand.

[2:13] The next day he went back and saw two Hebrew men fighting. He said to the one who was in the wrong, “Why are you beating up a fellow Hebrew?”

[2:14] The man answered, “Who made you our ruler and judge? Are you going to kill me just as you killed that Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and said to himself, “People have found out what I have done.” One day, when Moses was sitting by a well, seven daughters of Jethro, the priest of Midian, came to draw water and fill the troughs for their father's sheep and goats.

[2:17] But some shepherds drove Jethro's daughters away. Then Moses went to their rescue and watered their animals for them.

[2:18] When they returned to their father, he asked, “Why have you come back so early today?”

[2:19] “An Egyptian rescued us from the shepherds,” they answered, “and he even drew water for us and watered our animals.”

[2:20] “Where is he?” he asked his daughters. “Why did you leave the man out there? Go and invite him to eat with us.”

[2:21] So Moses decided to live there, and Jethro gave him his daughter Zipporah in marriage,

[2:22] who bore him a son. Moses said to himself, “I am a foreigner in this land, and so I name him Gershom.”

[2:23] Years later the king of Egypt died, but the Israelites were still groaning under their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry went up to God,

[2:24] who heard their groaning and remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

[2:25] He saw the slavery of the Israelites and was concerned for them.

God Calls Moses (EXO 3:1-22)

[3:1] One day while Moses was taking care of the sheep and goats of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian, he led the flock across the desert and came to Sinai, the holy mountain.

[3:2] There the angel of the Lord appeared to him as a flame coming from the middle of a bush. Moses saw that the bush was on fire but that it was not burning up.

[3:3] “This is strange,” he thought. “Why isn't the bush burning up? I will go closer and see.”

[3:4] When the Lord saw that Moses was coming closer, he called to him from the middle of the bush and said, “Moses! Moses!” He answered, “Yes, here I am.”

[3:5] God said, “Do not come any closer. Take off your sandals, because you are standing on holy ground.

[3:6] I am the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.” So Moses covered his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

[3:7] Then the Lord said, “I have seen how cruelly my people are being treated in Egypt; I have heard them cry out to be rescued from their slave drivers. I know all about their sufferings,

[3:8] and so I have come down to rescue them from the Egyptians and to bring them out of Egypt to a spacious land, one which is rich and fertile and in which the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites now live.

[3:9] I have indeed heard the cry of my people, and I see how the Egyptians are oppressing them.

[3:10] Now I am sending you to the king of Egypt so that you can lead my people out of his country.”

[3:11] But Moses said to God, “I am nobody. How can I go to the king and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

[3:12] God answered, “I will be with you, and when you bring the people out of Egypt, you will worship me on this mountain. That will be the proof that I have sent you.”

[3:13] But Moses replied, “When I go to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors sent me to you,’ they will ask me, ‘What is his name?’ So what can I tell them?”

[3:14] God said, “I am who I am. You must tell them: ‘The one who is called I AM has sent me to you.’

[3:15] Tell the Israelites that I, the Lord, the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, have sent you to them. This is my name forever; this is what all future generations are to call me.

[3:16] Go and gather the leaders of Israel together and tell them that I, the Lord, the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, appeared to you. Tell them that I have come to them and have seen what the Egyptians are doing to them.

[3:17] I have decided that I will bring them out of Egypt, where they are being treated cruelly, and will take them to a rich and fertile land—the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

[3:18] “My people will listen to what you say to them. Then you must go with the leaders of Israel to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has revealed himself to us. Now allow us to travel three days into the desert to offer sacrifices to the Lord, our God.’

[3:19] I know that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless he is forced to do so.

[3:20] But I will use my power and will punish Egypt by doing terrifying things there. After that he will let you go.

[3:21] “I will make the Egyptians respect you so that when my people leave, they will not go empty-handed.

[3:22] Every Israelite woman will go to her Egyptian neighbors and to any Egyptian woman living in her house and will ask for clothing and for gold and silver jewelry. The Israelites will put these things on their sons and daughters and carry away the wealth of the Egyptians.”