One Year Pray for the Persecuted Bible - Flipbook - Page 95
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January 24
ancestors. 22 And beyond what I have given
your brothers, I am giving you an extra portion of the land* that I took from the Amor ites
with my sword and bow.”
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.
49:1 Then Jacob called together all his sons and
16
“Dan will govern his people,
like any other tribe in Israel.
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.
I trust in you for salvation, O Lord!
said, “Gather around me, and I will tell you
what will happen to each of you in the days
to come.
2
“Come and listen, you sons of Jacob;
listen to Israel, your father.
3
“Reuben, you are my firstborn, my
strength,
the child of my vigorous youth.
You are first in rank and first in power.
But you are as unruly as a flood,
and you will be first no longer.
For you went to bed with my wife;
you defiled my marriage couch.
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5
6
7
8
9
10
11
12
“Simeon and Levi are two of a kind;
their weapons are instruments of
violence.
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.
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.
“Judah, your brothers will praise you.
You will grasp your enemies by the neck.
All your relatives will bow before you.
Judah, my son, is a young lion
that has finished eating its prey.
Like a lion he crouches and lies down;
like a l ioness—who dares to rouse him?
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.
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.
His eyes are darker than wine,
and his teeth are whiter than milk.
13
“Zebulun will settle by the seashore
and will be a harbor for ships;
his borders will extend to Sidon.
14
“Issachar is a sturdy donkey,
resting between two saddlepacks.*
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18
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“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.
22
“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.*
Archers attacked him savagely;
they shot at him and harassed him.
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.
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.
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.
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26
27
“Benjamin is a ravenous wolf,
devouring his enemies in the morning
and dividing his plunder in the evening.”
28 These are the twelve tribes of Israel, and
this is what their father said as he told his sons
good-bye. He blessed each one with an appropriate message.
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. 30 This 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
