rsv Genesis:49-50 SEEK
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Then Jacob called his sons ,
and said , "
Gather yourselves together ,
that I may tell you what shall befall you in days to come .
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Assemble and hear ,
O sons of Jacob ,
and hearken to Israel your father .
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Reuben ,
you are my first-born ,
my might ,
and the first fruits of my strength ,
pre-eminent in pride and pre-eminent in power .
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Unstable as water ,
you shall not have pre-eminence because you went up to your father '
s bed ;
then you defiled it--you went up to my couch !
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Simeon and Levi are brothers ;
weapons of violence are their swords .
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O my soul ,
come not into their council ;
O my spirit ,
be not joined to their company ;
for in their anger they slay men ,
and in their wantonness they hamstring oxen .
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Cursed be their anger ,
for it is fierce ;
and their wrath ,
for it is cruel !
I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel .
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Judah ,
your brothers shall praise you ;
your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies ;
your father '
s sons shall bow down before you .
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Judah is a lion '
s whelp ;
from the prey ,
my son ,
you have gone up .
He stooped down ,
he couched as a lion ,
and as a lioness ;
who dares rouse him up ?
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The scepter shall not depart from Judah ,
nor the ruler '
s staff from between his feet ,
until he comes to whom it belongs ;
and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples .
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Binding his foal to the vine and his ass '
s colt to the choice vine ,
he washes his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes ;
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his eyes shall be red with wine ,
and his teeth white with milk .
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Zeb '
ulun shall dwell at the shore of the sea ;
he shall become a haven for ships ,
and his border shall be at Sidon .
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Is '
sachar is a strong ass ,
crouching between the sheepfolds ;
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he saw that a resting place was good ,
and that the land was pleasant ;
so he bowed his shoulder to bear ,
and became a slave at forced labor .
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Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel .
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Dan shall be a serpent in the way ,
a viper by the path ,
that bites the horse '
s heels so that his rider falls backward .
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I wait for thy salvation ,
O LORD .
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Raiders shall raid Gad ,
but he shall raid at their heels .
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Asher '
s food shall be rich ,
and he shall yield royal dainties .
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Naph '
tali is a hind let loose ,
that bears comely fawns .
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Joseph is a fruitful bough ,
a fruitful bough by a spring ;
his branches run over the wall .
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The archers fiercely attacked him ,
shot at him ,
and harassed him sorely ;
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yet his bow remained unmoved ,
his arms were made agile by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob (
by the name of the Shepherd ,
the Rock of Israel ),
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by the God of your father who will help you ,
by God Almighty who will bless you with blessings of heaven above ,
blessings of the deep that couches beneath ,
blessings of the breasts and of the womb .
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The blessings of your father are mighty beyond the blessings of the eternal mountains ,
the bounties of the everlasting hills ;
may they be on the head of Joseph ,
and on the brow of him who was separate from his brothers .
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Benjamin is a ravenous wolf ,
in the morning devouring the prey ,
and at even dividing the spoil ."
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All these are the twelve tribes of Israel ;
and this is what their father said to them as he blessed them ,
blessing each with the blessing suitable to him .
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Then he charged 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 ,
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in the cave that is in the field at Mach-pe '
lah ,
to the east of Mamre ,
in the land of Canaan ,
which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place .
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There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife ;
there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife ;
and there I buried Leah --
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the field and the cave that is in it were purchased from the Hittites ."
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When Jacob finished charging his sons ,
he drew up his feet into the bed ,
and breathed his last ,
and was gathered to his people .
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Then Joseph fell on his father '
s face ,
and wept over him ,
and kissed him .
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And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father .
So the physicians embalmed Israel ;
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forty days were required for it ,
for so many are required for embalming .
And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days .
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And when the days of weeping for him were past ,
Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh ,
saying , "
If now I have found favor in your eyes ,
speak ,
I pray you ,
in the ears of Pharaoh ,
saying ,
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My father made me swear ,
saying , `
I am about to die :
in my tomb which I hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan ,
there shall you bury me .'
Now therefore let me go up ,
I pray you ,
and bury my father ;
then I will return ."
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And Pharaoh answered , "
Go up ,
and bury your father ,
as he made you swear ."
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So Joseph went up to bury his father ;
and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh ,
the elders of his household ,
and all the elders of the land of Egypt ,
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as well as all the household of Joseph ,
his brothers ,
and his father '
s household ;
only their children ,
their flocks ,
and their herds were left in the land of Goshen .
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And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen ;
it was a very great company .
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When they came to the threshing floor of Atad ,
which is beyond the Jordan ,
they lamented there with a very great and sorrowful lamentation ;
and he made a mourning for his father seven days .
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When the inhabitants of the land ,
the Canaanites ,
saw the mourning on the threshing floor of Atad ,
they said , "
This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians ."
Therefore the place was named A '
bel-mizraim ;
it is beyond the Jordan .
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Thus his sons did for him as he had commanded them ;
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for his sons carried him to the land of Canaan ,
and buried him in the cave of the field at Mach-pe '
lah ,
to the east of Mamre ,
which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite ,
to possess as a burying place .
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After he had buried his father ,
Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone up with him to bury his father .
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When Joseph '
s brothers saw that their father was dead ,
they said , "
It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil which we did to him ."
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So they sent a message to Joseph ,
saying , "
Your father gave this command before he died ,
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Say to Joseph ,
Forgive ,
I pray you ,
the transgression of your brothers and their sin ,
because they did evil to you .'
And now ,
we pray you ,
forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father ."
Joseph wept when they spoke to him .
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His brothers also came and fell down before him ,
and said , "
Behold ,
we are your servants ."
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But Joseph said to them , "
Fear not ,
for am I in the place of God ?
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As for you ,
you meant evil against me ;
but God meant it for good ,
to bring it about that many people should be kept alive ,
as they are today .
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So do not fear ;
I will provide for you and your little ones ."
Thus he reassured them and comforted them .
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So Joseph dwelt in Egypt ,
he and his father '
s house ;
and Joseph lived a hundred and ten years .
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And Joseph saw E '
phraim '
s children of the third generation ;
the children also of Machir the son of Manas '
seh were born upon Joseph '
s knees .
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And Joseph said to his brothers , "
I am about to die ;
but God will visit you ,
and bring you up out of this land to the land which he swore to Abraham ,
to Isaac ,
and to Jacob ."
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Then Joseph took an oath of the sons of Israel ,
saying , "
God will visit you ,
and you shall carry up my bones from here ."
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So Joseph died ,
being a hundred and ten years old ;
and they embalmed him ,
and he was put in a coffin in Egypt .