Jacob’s Last Words to His Sons

49 Then Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather yourselves together so that I may tell you what will happen to you in the days to come. ² Gather together and hear, O sons of Jacob. Listen to your father Israel.

³ “Reuben, you are my first-born, my power and the beginning of my strength, first in pride and first in power. ⁴ But because you are as wild as water, the first place will not be yours. It is because you went to your father’s bed and made it unclean.

⁵ “Simeon and Levi are brothers. They hurt others with their swords. ⁶ May my soul not have a part in their secrets, nor my shining-greatness be joined to them. Because in their anger they killed men and for no reason they hurt cattle. ⁷ Their anger will be punished, for it is bad. Their bad temper will be punished, for it is bad. I will divide them in Jacob and spread them apart in Israel.

⁸ “Judah, your brothers will praise you. Your hand will be on the neck of those who hate you. Your father’s sons will bow down to you. ⁹ Judah is a young lion. Like a lion full of meat, you have become great, my son. He lies down and sleeps like a lion. And as a lion, who is willing to wake him? ¹⁰ The right of a ruler will not leave Judah. The ruler’s special stick will not go from between his feet, until Shiloh comes. Then the people will obey Him. ¹¹ He ties his young donkey to the vine, his donkey’s young one to the best vine. He washes his clothes in wine, his coats in the blood of grapes. ¹² His eyes are darker than wine. And his teeth are whiter than milk.

¹³ “Zebulun will live beside the sea and be a safe place for ships. His land will lie beside Sidon.

¹⁴ “Issachar is a strong donkey lying down between the loads. ¹⁵ He saw that a resting place was good and that the land was pleasing. So he made his shoulder ready to carry loads. He let himself be a servant.

¹⁶ “Dan will judge his people, as one of the families of Israel. ¹⁷ Dan will be a snake in the way, a snake in the road, that bites the horse’s heels so that the man falls off. ¹⁸ I wait for Your saving power, O Lord.

¹⁹ “A group of soldiers will go against Gad. But he will go against them at their heels.

²⁰ “Asher’s food will be rich. He will give pleasing food to kings.

²¹ “Naphtali is a female deer let loose who gives beautiful young ones.

²² “Joseph is a branch with much fruit, a branch with much fruit by a well. It grows over the wall. ²³ The men fought against him with their bows. They sent arrows toward him and made it hard for him. ²⁴ But his bow did not shake. His arms were made strong by the hands of the Powerful One of Jacob, by the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel, ²⁵ by the God of your father Who helps you, and by the All-powerful Who brings good to you. He brings good from heaven above, and from the deep that lies below, and from the body of a mother. ²⁶ More good has come to your father than to my fathers before me, as lasting as the hills that last forever. May this good be on the head of Joseph, on the crown of him who was divided from his brothers.

²⁷ “Benjamin is a hungry wolf. In the morning he eats the animals he has caught. And in the evening he divides what he has taken.”

²⁸ All these are the twelve family groups of Israel. This is what their father said to them when he prayed that good would come to them. He prayed for each of them to receive the good they should have.

The Death of Jacob

²⁹ Then he told them, “I will soon be with my people who have died before me. Bury me with my fathers in the grave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, ³⁰ in the grave that is in the field of Machpelah, east of Mamre, in the land of Canaan. Abraham bought this grave and the field from Ephron the Hittite for a burying place. ³¹ There they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah. There they buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah. And there I buried Leah. ³² The field and the grave that is in it were bought from the sons of Heth.”

³³ When Jacob finished telling his sons what to do, he lay back down on his bed and died.

50 Then Joseph threw himself upon his father, and cried over him and kissed him. ² Joseph told his servants the doctors to make his father ready to be buried. So the doctors made Israel ready. ³ Forty days were needed for this. For this is how much time it took for making the body ready to be buried. And the Egyptians cried for him seventy days.

⁴ When the days of sorrow for him were past, Joseph said to those of Pharaoh’s house, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, speak to Pharaoh, saying, ⁵ ‘My father had me make a promise to him. He said, “See, I am about to die. Bury me in my grave which I dug for myself in the land of Canaan.” So let me go and bury my father. Then I will return.’” ⁶ Pharaoh answered, “Go and bury your father as he made you promise.”

⁷ So Joseph went to bury his father. With him went all the servants of Pharaoh, the leaders of his house and all the important men of the land of Egypt, ⁸ and all those of the house of Joseph, and his brothers, and those of his father’s house. They left only their little ones and their flocks and cattle in the land of Goshen. ⁹ Wagons and men on horses went with him also. It was a very large group of people.

¹⁰ They came to the grain-floor of Atad on the other side of the Jordan. There they cried with much sorrow. Joseph cried in sorrow for his father for seven days. ¹¹ When those who lived in the land, the Canaanites, saw the people crying in sorrow at the grain-floor of Atad, they said, “This is a great sorrow for the Egyptians.” So the place was given the name Abel-mizraim. It is on the other side of the Jordan.

¹² Jacob’s sons did as he had told them. ¹³ They carried him to the land of Canaan. They buried him in the grave of the field of Machpelah, east of Mamre, which Abraham had bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite for a burying place. ¹⁴ After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone with him to bury his father.

Joseph Tells His Brothers Not to Be Afraid

¹⁵ When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be now that Joseph will hate us, and pay us in return for all the wrong that we did to him!” ¹⁶ So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Before he died, our father told us, ¹⁷ ‘You say to Joseph, “Forgive the wrong-doing of your brothers and their sin. For they did a bad thing to you.”’ Now we beg you, forgive the wrong-doing of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph cried when they spoke to him. ¹⁸ Then his brothers came and fell down in front of him and said, “See, we are your servants.”

¹⁹ But Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid. Am I in the place of God? ²⁰ You planned to do a bad thing to me. But God planned it for good, to make it happen that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. ²¹ So do not be afraid. I will take care of you and your little ones.” He gave them comfort and words of kindness.

The Death of Joseph

²² Joseph and his father’s family stayed in Egypt. And Joseph lived 110 years. ²³ He lived long enough to see Ephraim’s grandchildren. And the sons of Manasseh’s son Machir were held on Joseph’s knees. ²⁴ Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die. But God will take care of you. He will bring you from this land to the land that He promised to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob.” ²⁵ Then Joseph made the sons of Israel promise. He said, “God will take care of you. And you will carry my bones from here.” ²⁶ So Joseph died after living 110 years. They made his body ready, and he was put in a grave in Egypt.