One Year Pray for America Bible - Flipbook - Page 101
91
January 24
Lord, Jacob’s sons knew what their futures held—
it was spelled out. We’re less certain. Help us place
our confidence in you, not just in our earthly leaders.
Give us hearts tuned to your truth, not just to the
day’s headlines. Amen.
GENESIS 48:1–49:33
One day not long after this, word
came to Joseph, “Your father is failing
rapidly.” So Joseph went to visit his
father, and he took with him his two
sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.
2 When Jo
seph arrived, Jacob was
told, “Your son Joseph has come to see
you.” So Jacob* gathered his strength
and sat up in his bed.
3 Jacob said to Jo
seph, “God Almighty* appeared to me at Luz in the
land of Canaan and blessed me. 4 He
said to me, ‘I will make you fruitful,
and I will multiply your descendants.
I will make you a multitude of nations.
And I will give this land of Canaan to
your descendants* after you as an
everlasting possession.’
5 “Now I am claiming as my own
sons these two boys of yours, Ephraim
and Manasseh, who were born here in
the land of Egypt before I arrived. They
will be my sons, just as Reuben and
Simeon are. 6 But any children born to
you in the future will be your own, and
they will inherit land within the territories of their brothers Ephraim and
Manasseh.
7 “Long ago, as I was returning from
Paddan-aram,* Rachel died in the
land of Canaan. We were still on the
way, some distance from Ephrath (that
is, Bethlehem). So with great sorrow
I buried her there beside the road to
Ephrath.”
8 Then Jacob looked over at the two
boys. “Are these your sons?” he asked.
9 “Yes,” Joseph told him, “these are
the sons God has given me here in
Egypt.”
And Jacob said, “Bring them closer
to me, so I can bless them.”
10 Jacob was half blind because
of his age and could hardly see. So
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JANUARY
Joseph brought the boys close to him,
and Jacob kissed and embraced them.
11 Then Jacob said to Joseph, “I never
thought I would see your face again,
but now God has let me see your children, too!”
12 Joseph moved the boys, who were
at their grandfather’s knees, and he
bowed with his face to the ground.
13 Then he positioned the boys in
front of Jacob. With his right hand
he directed Ephraim toward Jacob’s
left hand, and with his left hand he
put Manasseh at Jacob’s right hand.
14 But Jacob crossed his arms as he
reached out to lay his hands on the
boys’ heads. He put his right hand on
the head of Ephraim, though he was
the younger boy, and his left hand
on the head of Manasseh, though he
was the firstborn. 15 Then he blessed
Joseph and said,
16
“May the God before whom my
grandfather Abraham
and my father, Isaac, walked—
the God who has been my
shepherd
all my life, to this very day,
the Angel who has redeemed me
from all harm—
may he bless these boys.
May they preserve my name
and the names of Abraham and
Isaac.
And may their descendants
multiply greatly
throughout the earth.”
17 But Joseph was upset when he saw
that his father placed his right hand
on Ephraim’s head. So Joseph lifted
it to move it from Ephraim’s head to
Manasseh’s head. 18 “No, my father,”
he said. “This one is the firstborn. Put
your right hand on his head.”
