Hands-On Bible Sampler - Flipbook - Page 84
Genesis 50 ... page 54
For you went to bed with my wife;
you defiled my marriage couch.
“Simeon and Levi are two of a kind;
their weapons are instruments of
violence.
6 May I never join in their meetings;
may I never be a party to their plans.
For in their anger they murdered men,
and they crippled oxen just for sport.
7 A curse on their anger, for it is fierce;
a curse on their wrath, for it is cruel.
I will scatter them among the descendants
of Jacob;
I will disperse them throughout Israel.
5
“Judah, your brothers will praise you.
You will grasp your enemies by the neck.
All your relatives will bow before you.
9 Judah, my son, is a young lion
that has finished eating its prey.
Like a lion he crouches and lies down;
like a lioness—who dares to rouse him?
10 The scepter will not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler’s staff from his
descendants,
until the coming of the one to whom it
belongs,
the one whom all nations will honor.
11 He ties his foal to a grapevine,
the colt of his donkey to a choice vine.
He washes his clothes in wine,
his robes in the blood of grapes.
12 His eyes are darker than wine,
and his teeth are whiter than milk.
8
13
“Zebulun will settle by the seashore
and will be a harbor for ships;
his borders will extend to Sidon.
“Issachar is a sturdy donkey,
resting between two saddlepacks.
15 When he sees how good the countryside
is and how pleasant the land,
he will bend his shoulder to the load
and submit himself to hard labor.
14
“Dan will govern his people,
like any other tribe in Israel.
17 Dan will be a snake beside the road,
a poisonous viper along the path
that bites the horse’s hooves
so its rider is thrown off.
18 I trust in you for salvation, O Lord!
16
19
“Gad will be attacked by marauding bands,
but he will attack them when they
retreat.
20
“Asher will dine on rich foods
and produce food fit for kings.
21
“Naphtali is a doe set free
that bears beautiful fawns.
“Joseph is the foal of a wild donkey,
the foal of a wild donkey at a spring—
one of the wild donkeys on the ridge.
23 Archers attacked him savagely;
they shot at him and harassed him.
24 But his bow remained taut,
and his arms were strengthened
by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob,
by the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel.
25 May the God of your father help you;
may the Almighty bless you
with the blessings of the heavens above,
and blessings of the watery depths
below,
and blessings of the breasts and womb.
26 May my fatherly blessings on you
surpass the blessings of my ancestors,
reaching to the heights of the eternal hills.
May these blessings rest on the head of
Joseph,
who is a prince among his brothers.
22
27
“Benjamin is a ravenous wolf,
devouring his enemies in the morning
and dividing his plunder in the evening.”
28These are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this
is what their father said as he told his sons goodbye. He blessed each one with an appropriate
message.
Jacob’s Death and Burial
29 Then
Jacob instructed them, “Soon I will die
and join my ancestors. Bury me with my father
and grandfather in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite. 30This is the cave in the field of
Machpelah, near Mamre in Canaan, that Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite as a permanent burial site. 31 There Abraham and his wife
Sarah are buried. There Isaac and his wife, Rebekah, are buried. And there I buried Leah. 32It is
the plot of land and the cave that my grandfather
Abraham bought from the Hittites.”
33 When Jacob had finished this charge to his
sons, he drew his feet into the bed, breathed his
last, and joined his ancestors in death.
CHAPTER
50
Joseph threw himself on his father and wept over
him and kissed him. 2 Then Joseph told the physicians who served him to embalm his father’s
