Day 103 of 365

¹Then Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, and said, "My father and my brothers, with their flocks, their herds, and all that they own, have come out of the land of Canaan; and behold, they are in the land of Goshen."

²From among his brothers he took five men, and presented them to Pharaoh.

³Pharaoh said to his brothers, "What is your occupation?" They said to Pharaoh, "Your servants are shepherds, both we, and our fathers."

⁴They said to Pharaoh, "We have come to live as foreigners in the land, for there is no pasture for your servants' flocks. For the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now therefore, please let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen."

⁵Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, saying, "Your father and your brothers have come to you.

⁶The land of Egypt is before you. Make your father and your brothers dwell in the best of the land. Let them dwell in the land of Goshen. If you know any able men among them, then put them in charge of my livestock."

⁷Joseph brought in Jacob, his father, and set him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.

⁸Pharaoh said to Jacob, "How many are the days of the years of your life?"

⁹Jacob said to Pharaoh, "The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred thirty years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage."

¹⁰Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from the presence of Pharaoh.

¹¹Joseph placed his father and his brothers, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.

¹²Joseph nourished his father, his brothers, and all of his father's household, with bread, according to their families.

¹³There was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine.

¹⁴Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the grain which they bought: and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house.

¹⁵When the money was all spent in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph, and said, "Give us bread, for why should we die in your presence? For our money fails."

¹⁶Joseph said, "Give me your livestock; and I will give you food for your livestock, if your money is gone."

¹⁷They brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, and for the flocks, and for the herds, and for the donkeys: and he fed them with bread in exchange for all their livestock for that year.

¹⁸When that year was ended, they came to him the second year, and said to him, "We will not hide from my lord how our money is all spent, and the herds of livestock are my lord's. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands.

¹⁹Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants to Pharaoh. Give us seed, that we may live, and not die, and that the land won't be desolate."

²⁰So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine was severe on them, and the land became Pharaoh's.

²¹As for the people, he moved them to the cities from one end of the border of Egypt even to the other end of it.

²²Only he did not buy the land of the priests, for the priests had a portion from Pharaoh, and ate their portion which Pharaoh gave them. That is why they did not sell their land.

²³Then Joseph said to the people, "Behold, I have bought you and your land today for Pharaoh. Behold, here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land.

²⁴It will happen at the harvests, that you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four parts will be your own, for seed of the field, for your food, for them of your households, and for food for your little ones."

²⁵They said, "You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants."

²⁶Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth. Only the land of the priests alone did not become Pharaoh's.

²⁷Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen; and they got themselves possessions therein, and were fruitful, and multiplied exceedingly.

²⁸Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were one hundred forty-seven years.

²⁹The time drew near that Israel must die, and he called his son Joseph, and said to him, "If now I have found favor in your sight, please put your hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me. Please do not bury me in Egypt,

³⁰but when I sleep with my fathers, you shall carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying place." He said, "I will do as you have said."

³¹He said, "Swear to me," and he swore to him. Israel bowed himself on the bed's head.

¹It happened after these things, that someone said to Joseph, "Behold, your father is sick." He took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.

²Someone told Jacob, and said, "Behold, your son Joseph comes to you," and Israel strengthened himself, and sat on the bed.

³Jacob said to Joseph, "God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me,

⁴and said to me, 'Behold, I will make you fruitful, and multiply you, and I will make of you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your seed after you for an everlasting possession.'

⁵Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you into Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh, even as Reuben and Simeon, will be mine.

⁶Your issue, whom you become the father of after them, will be yours. They will be called after the name of their brothers in their inheritance.

⁷As for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way, when there was still some distance to come to Ephrath, and I buried her there in the way to Ephrath (the same is Bethlehem)."

⁸Israel saw Joseph's sons, and said, "Who are these?"

⁹Joseph said to his father, "They are my sons, whom God has given me here." He said, "Please bring them to me, and I will bless them."

¹⁰Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he couldn't see. He brought them near to him; and he kissed them, and embraced them.

¹¹Israel said to Joseph, "I did not think I would see your face, and behold, God has let me see your seed also."

¹²Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth.

¹³Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them near to him.

¹⁴Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it on Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh's head, guiding his hands knowingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn.

¹⁵He blessed Joseph, and said, "The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God who has fed me all my life long to this day,

¹⁶the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads, and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac. Let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth."

¹⁷When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him. He held up his father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head.

¹⁸Joseph said to his father, "Not so, my father; for this is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head."

¹⁹His father refused, and said, "I know, my son, I know. He also will become a people, and he also will be great. However, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his seed will become a multitude of nations."

²⁰He blessed them that day, saying, "In you will Israel bless, saying, 'God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh'" He set Ephraim before Manasseh.

²¹Israel said to Joseph, "Behold, I am dying, but God will be with you, and bring you again to the land of your fathers.

²²Moreover I have given to you one portion above your brothers, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow."

¹Jacob called to his sons, and said: "Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which will happen to you in the days to come.

²Assemble yourselves, and hear, you sons of Jacob. Listen to Israel, your father.

³"Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength; excelling in dignity, and excelling in power.

⁴Boiling over as water, you shall not excel; because you went up to your father's bed, then defiled it. He went up to my couch.

⁵"Simeon and Levi are brothers. Their swords are weapons of violence.

⁶My soul, do not come into their council. My glory, do not be united to their assembly; for in their anger they killed men. In their self-will they hamstrung cattle.

⁷Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel. I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.

⁸"Judah, your brothers will praise you. Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies. Your father's sons will bow down before you.

⁹Judah is a lion's cub. From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down, he crouched as a lion, as a lioness. Who will rouse him up?

¹⁰The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs. To him will the obedience of the peoples be.

¹¹Binding his foal to the vine, his donkey's colt to the choice vine; he has washed his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes.

¹²His eyes will be red with wine, his teeth white with milk.

¹³"Zebulun will dwell at the haven of the sea. He will be for a haven of ships. His border will be on Sidon.

¹⁴"Issachar is a strong donkey, lying down between the saddlebags.

¹⁵He saw a resting place, that it was good, the land, that it was pleasant. He bows his shoulder to the burden, and becomes a servant doing forced labor.

¹⁶"Dan will judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.

¹⁷Dan will be a serpent in the way, an adder in the path, That bites the horse's heels, so that his rider falls backward.

¹⁸I have waited for your salvation, Lord.

¹⁹"A troop will press on Gad, but he will press on their heel.

²⁰"Asher's food will be rich. He will yield royal dainties.

²¹"Naphtali is a doe set free, who bears beautiful fawns.

²²"Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine by a spring. His branches run over the wall.

²³The archers have sorely grieved him, shot at him, and persecute him:

²⁴But his bow remained strong. The arms of his hands were made strong, by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, (from there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel),

²⁵even by the God of your father, who will help you; by the Almighty, who will bless you, with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies below, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb.

²⁶The blessings of your father have prevailed above the blessings of your ancestors, above the boundaries of the ancient hills. They will be on the head of Joseph, on the crown of the head of him who is separated from his brothers.

²⁷"Benjamin is a ravenous wolf. In the morning he will devour the prey. At evening he will divide the spoil."

²⁸All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke to them and blessed them. He blessed everyone according to his blessing.

²⁹He instructed them, and said to them, "I am to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,

³⁰in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite as a burial place.

³¹There they buried Abraham and Sarah, his wife. There they buried Isaac and Rebekah, his wife, and there I buried Leah:

³²the field and the cave that is therein, which was purchased from the children of Heth."

³³When Jacob made an end of charging his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the spirit, and was gathered to his people.

¹Praise the Lord, my soul! All that is within me, praise his holy name!

²Praise the Lord, my soul, and do not forget all his benefits;

³who forgives all your sins; who heals all your diseases;

⁴who redeems your life from destruction; who crowns you with loving kindness and tender mercies;

⁵who satisfies your desire with good things, so that your youth is renewed like the eagle's.

⁶The Lord executes righteous acts, and justice for all who are oppressed.

⁷He made known his ways to Moses, his deeds to the children of Israel.

⁸The Lord is merciful and gracious, slow to anger, and abundant in loving kindness.

⁹He will not always accuse; neither will he stay angry forever.

¹⁰He has not dealt with us according to our sins, nor repaid us for our iniquities.

¹¹For as the heavens are high above the earth, so great is his loving kindness toward those who fear him.

¹²As far as the east is from the west, so far has he removed our transgressions from us.

¹³Like a father has compassion on his children, so the Lord has compassion on those who fear him.

¹⁴For he knows how we are made. He remembers that we are dust.

¹⁵As for man, his days are like grass. As a flower of the field, so he flourishes.

¹⁶For the wind passes over it, and it is gone. Its place remembers it no more.

¹⁷But the Lord's loving kindness is from everlasting to everlasting with those who fear him, his righteousness to children's children;

¹⁸to those who keep his covenant, to those who remember to obey his precepts.

¹⁹The Lord has established his throne in the heavens. His kingdom rules over all.

²⁰Praise the Lord, you angels of his, who are mighty in strength, who fulfill his word, obeying the voice of his word.

²¹Praise the Lord, all you armies of his, you servants of his, who do his pleasure.

²²Praise the Lord, all you works of his, in all places of his dominion. Praise the Lord, my soul!

¹The proverbs of Solomon. A wise son makes a glad father; but a foolish son brings grief to his mother.

²Treasures of wickedness profit nothing, but righteousness delivers from death.

³The Lord will not allow the soul of the righteous to go hungry, but he thrusts away the desire of the wicked.

⁴He becomes poor who works with a lazy hand, but the hand of the diligent brings wealth.

⁵He who gathers in summer is a wise son, but he who sleeps during the harvest is a son who causes shame.

⁶Blessings are on the head of the righteous, but violence covers the mouth of the wicked.

⁷The memory of the righteous is blessed, but the name of the wicked will rot.

⁸The wise in heart accept commandments, but a chattering fool will fall.

⁹He who walks blamelessly walks surely, but he who perverts his ways will be found out.

¹⁰One winking with the eye causes sorrow, but a chattering fool will fall.

¹¹The mouth of the righteous is a spring of life, but violence covers the mouth of the wicked.

¹²Hatred stirs up strife, but love covers all wrongs.

¹³Wisdom is found on the lips of him who has discernment, but a rod is for the back of him who is void of understanding.

¹⁴Wise men lay up knowledge, but the mouth of the foolish is near ruin.

¹⁵The rich man's wealth is his strong city. The destruction of the poor is their poverty.

¹⁶The labor of the righteous leads to life. The increase of the wicked leads to sin.

¹⁷He is in the way of life who heeds correction, but he who forsakes reproof leads others astray.

¹⁸He who hides hatred has lying lips. He who utters a slander is a fool.

¹⁹In the multitude of words there is no lack of disobedience, but he who restrains his lips does wisely.

²⁰The tongue of the righteous is like choice silver. The heart of the wicked is of little worth.

²¹The lips of the righteous feed many, but the foolish die for lack of understanding.

²²The Lord's blessing brings wealth, and he adds no trouble to it.

²³It is a fool's pleasure to do wickedness, but wisdom is a man of understanding's pleasure.

²⁴What the wicked fear, will overtake them, but the desire of the righteous will be granted.

²⁵When the whirlwind passes, the wicked is no more; but the righteous stand firm forever.

²⁶As vinegar to the teeth, and as smoke to the eyes, so is the sluggard to those who send him.

²⁷The fear of the Lord prolongs days, but the years of the wicked shall be shortened.

²⁸The prospect of the righteous is joy, but the hope of the wicked will perish.

²⁹The way of the Lord is a stronghold to the upright, but it is a destruction to the workers of iniquity.

³⁰The righteous will never be removed, but the wicked will not dwell in the land.

³¹The mouth of the righteous brings forth wisdom, but the perverse tongue will be cut off.

³²The lips of the righteous know what is acceptable, but the mouth of the wicked is perverse.