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49 Then Jacob called together all his sons and 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.

^4 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.

^5 “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.

^8 “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.

^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.

^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.

^16 “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!

^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.

^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.

^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 the blessings of your father

surpass the blessings of the ancient mountains,

reaching to the heights of the eternal hills.

May these blessings rest on the head of Joseph,

who is a prince among his brothers.

^27 “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf,

devouring his enemies in the morning

and dividing his plunder in the evening.â€

^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 and his wife Sarah are buried. There Isaac and his wife, Rebekah, are buried. And there I buried Leah. ^32 It is the plot of land and the cave that my grandfather Abraham bought from the Hittites.â€

^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.

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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 body; so Jacob was embalmed. ^3 The embalming process took the usual forty days. And the Egyptians mourned his death for seventy days.

^4 When the period of mourning was over, Joseph approached Pharaoh’s advisers and said, “Please do me this favor and speak to Pharaoh on my behalf. ^5 Tell him that my father made me swear an oath. He said to me, ‘Listen, I am about to die. Take my body back to the land of Canaan, and bury me in the tomb I prepared for myself.’ So please allow me to go and bury my father. After his burial, I will return without delay.â€

^6 Pharaoh agreed to Joseph’s request. “Go and bury your father, as he made you promise,†he said. ^7 So Joseph went up to bury his father. He was accompanied by all of Pharaoh’s officials, all the senior members of Pharaoh’s household, and all the senior officers of Egypt. ^8 Joseph also took his entire household and his brothers and their households. But they left their little children and flocks and herds in the land of Goshen. ^9 A great number of chariots and charioteers accompanied Joseph.

^10 When they arrived at the threshing floor of Atad, near the Jordan River, they held a very great and solemn memorial service, with a seven-day period of mourning for Joseph’s father. ^11 The local residents, the Canaanites, watched them mourning at the threshing floor of Atad. Then they renamed that place (which is near the Jordan) Abel-mizraim, for they said, “This is a place of deep mourning for these Egyptians.â€

^12 So Jacob’s sons did as he had commanded them. ^13 They carried his body to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre. This is the cave that Abraham had bought as a permanent burial site from Ephron the Hittite.

^14 After burying Jacob, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had accompanied him to his father’s burial.^15 But now that their father was dead, Joseph’s brothers became fearful. “Now Joseph will show his anger and pay us back for all the wrong we did to him,†they said.

^16 So they sent this message to Joseph: “Before your father died, he instructed us ^17 to say to you: ‘Please forgive your brothers for the great wrong they did to you—for their sin in treating you so cruelly.’ So we, the servants of the God of your father, beg you to forgive our sin.†When Joseph received the message, he broke down and wept. ^18 Then his brothers came and threw themselves down before Joseph. “Look, we are your slaves!†they said.

^19 But Joseph replied, “Don’t be afraid of me. Am I God, that I can punish you? ^20 You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people. ^21 No, don’t be afraid. I will continue to take care of you and your children.†So he reassured them by speaking kindly to them.

^22 So Joseph and his brothers and their families continued to live in Egypt. Joseph lived to the age of 110. ^23 He lived to see three generations of descendants of his son Ephraim, and he lived to see the birth of the children of Manasseh’s son Makir, whom he claimed as his own.

^24 “Soon I will die,†Joseph told his brothers, “but God will surely come to help you and lead you out of this land of Egypt. He will bring you back to the land he solemnly promised to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.â€

^25 Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath, and he said, “When God comes to help you and lead you back, you must take my bones with you.â€Â ^26 So Joseph died at the age of 110. The Egyptians embalmed him, and his body was placed in a coffin in Egypt.

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13 Later that same day Jesus left the house and sat beside the lake. ^2 A large crowd soon gathered around him, so he got into a boat. Then he sat there and taught as the people stood on the shore. ^3 He told many stories in the form of parables, such as this one:

“Listen! A farmer went out to plant some seeds. ^4 As he scattered them across his field, some seeds fell on a footpath, and the birds came and ate them. ^5 Other seeds fell on shallow soil with underlying rock. The seeds sprouted quickly because the soil was shallow. ^6 But the plants soon wilted under the hot sun, and since they didn’t have deep roots, they died. ^7 Other seeds fell among thorns that grew up and choked out the tender plants. ^8 Still other seeds fell on fertile soil, and they produced a crop that was thirty, sixty, and even a hundred times as much as had been planted! ^9 Anyone with ears to hear should listen and understand.â€

^10 His disciples came and asked him, “Why do you use parables when you talk to the people?â€

^11 He replied, “You are permitted to understand the secrets of the Kingdom of Heaven, but others are not. ^12 To those who listen to my teaching, more understanding will be given, and they will have an abundance of knowledge. But for those who are not listening, even what little understanding they have will be taken away from them. ^13 That is why I use these parables,

For they look, but they don’t really see.

They hear, but they don’t really listen or understand.

^14 This fulfills the prophecy of Isaiah that says,

‘When you hear what I say,

you will not understand.

When you see what I do,

you will not comprehend.

^15 For the hearts of these people are hardened,

and their ears cannot hear,

and they have closed their eyes—

so their eyes cannot see,

and their ears cannot hear,

and their hearts cannot understand,

and they cannot turn to me

and let me heal them.’

^16 “But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. ^17 I tell you the truth, many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, but they didn’t see it. And they longed to hear what you hear, but they didn’t hear it.

^18 “Now listen to the explanation of the parable about the farmer planting seeds: ^19 The seed that fell on the footpath represents those who hear the message about the Kingdom and don’t understand it. Then the evil one comes and snatches away the seed that was planted in their hearts. ^20 The seed on the rocky soil represents those who hear the message and immediately receive it with joy. ^21 But since they don’t have deep roots, they don’t last long. They fall away as soon as they have problems or are persecuted for believing God’s word. ^22 The seed that fell among the thorns represents those who hear God’s word, but all too quickly the message is crowded out by the worries of this life and the lure of wealth, so no fruit is produced. ^23 The seed that fell on good soil represents those who truly hear and understand God’s word and produce a harvest of thirty, sixty, or even a hundred times as much as had been planted!â€