29th January

¹ And it came to pass after these things, that one told Joseph, Behold, thy father is sick: and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.² And one told Jacob, and said, Behold, thy son Joseph cometh unto thee: and Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed.³ And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me,⁴ And said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people; and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession.⁵ And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine.⁶ And thy issue, which thou begettest after them, shall be thine, and shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance.⁷ And as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way, when yet there was but a little way to come unto Ephrath: and I buried her there in the way of Ephrath; the same is Bethlehem.⁸ And Israel beheld Joseph's sons, and said, Who are these?⁹ And Joseph said unto his father, They are my sons, whom God hath given me in this place. And he said, Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I will bless them.¹⁰ Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he could not see. And he brought them near unto him; and he kissed them, and embraced them.¹¹ And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face: and, lo, God hath shewed me also thy seed.¹² And Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth.¹³ And Joseph 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 unto him.¹⁴ And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn.¹⁵ And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day,¹⁶ The Angel which 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; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.¹⁷ And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's head.¹⁸ And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head.¹⁹ And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.²⁰ And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.²¹ And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die: but God shall be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers.²² Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.

¹ And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.² Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father.³ Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:⁴ Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.⁵ Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations.⁶ O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall.⁷ Cursed 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, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee.⁹ Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?¹⁰ The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.¹¹ Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes:¹² His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.¹³ Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be for an haven of ships; and his border shall be unto Zidon.¹⁴ Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens:¹⁵ And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute.¹⁶ Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.¹⁷ Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.¹⁸ I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD.¹⁹ Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last.²⁰ Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties.²¹ Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words.²² Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:²³ The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:²⁴ But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)²⁵ Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:²⁶ The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.²⁷ Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.²⁸ All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it that their father spake unto them, and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them.²⁹ And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,³⁰ In the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a buryingplace.³¹ There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah.³² The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth.³³ And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.

¹ And Joseph fell upon his father's face, and wept upon him, and kissed him.² And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father: and the physicians embalmed Israel.³ And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of those which are embalmed: and the Egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten days.⁴ And when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying,⁵ My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die: in my grave which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. Now therefore let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will come again.⁶ And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear.⁷ And Joseph went up to bury his father: and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt,⁸ And all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father's house: only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen.⁹ And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company.¹⁰ And they came to the threshingfloor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan, and there they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father seven days.¹¹ And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians: wherefore the name of it was called Abelmizraim, which is beyond Jordan.¹² And his sons did unto him according as he commanded them:¹³ For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field for a possession of a buryingplace of Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre.¹⁴ And Joseph returned into Egypt, he, and his brethren, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father.¹⁵ And when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Joseph will peradventure hate us, and will certainly requite us all the evil which we did unto him.¹⁶ And they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying,¹⁷ So shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of thy brethren, and their sin; for they did unto thee evil: and now, we pray thee, forgive the trespass of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him.¹⁸ And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we be thy servants.¹⁹ And Joseph said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God?²⁰ But as for you, ye thought evil against me; but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.²¹ Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them.²² And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father's house: and Joseph lived an hundred and ten years.²³ And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation: the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were brought up upon Joseph's knees.²⁴ And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die: and God will surely visit you, and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.²⁵ And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.²⁶ So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.

¹ Have mercy upon me, O God, according to thy lovingkindness: according unto the multitude of thy tender mercies blot out my transgressions.² Wash me throughly from mine iniquity, and cleanse me from my sin.³ For I acknowledge my transgressions: and my sin is ever before me.⁴ Against thee, thee only, have I sinned, and done this evil in thy sight: that thou mightest be justified when thou speakest, and be clear when thou judgest.⁵ Behold, I was shapen in iniquity; and in sin did my mother conceive me.⁶ Behold, thou desirest truth in the inward parts: and in the hidden part thou shalt make me to know wisdom.⁷ Purge me with hyssop, and I shall be clean: wash me, and I shall be whiter than snow.⁸ Make me to hear joy and gladness; that the bones which thou hast broken may rejoice.⁹ Hide thy face from my sins, and blot out all mine iniquities.¹⁰ Create in me a clean heart, O God; and renew a right spirit within me.¹¹ Cast me not away from thy presence; and take not thy holy spirit from me.¹² Restore unto me the joy of thy salvation; and uphold me with thy free spirit.¹³ Then will I teach transgressors thy ways; and sinners shall be converted unto thee.¹⁴ Deliver me from bloodguiltiness, O God, thou God of my salvation: and my tongue shall sing aloud of thy righteousness.¹⁵ O Lord, open thou my lips; and my mouth shall shew forth thy praise.¹⁶ For thou desirest not sacrifice; else would I give it: thou delightest not in burnt offering.¹⁷ The sacrifices of God are a broken spirit: a broken and a contrite heart, O God, thou wilt not despise.¹⁸ Do good in thy good pleasure unto Zion: build thou the walls of Jerusalem.¹⁹ Then shalt thou be pleased with the sacrifices of righteousness, with burnt offering and whole burnt offering: then shall they offer bullocks upon thine altar.

¹ Why boastest thou thyself in mischief, O mighty man? the goodness of God endureth continually.² The tongue deviseth mischiefs; like a sharp razor, working deceitfully.³ Thou lovest evil more than good; and lying rather than to speak righteousness. Selah.⁴ Thou lovest all devouring words, O thou deceitful tongue.⁵ God shall likewise destroy thee for ever, he shall take thee away, and pluck thee out of thy dwelling place, and root thee out of the land of the living. Selah.⁶ The righteous also shall see, and fear, and shall laugh at him:⁷ Lo, this is the man that made not God his strength; but trusted in the abundance of his riches, and strengthened himself in his wickedness.⁸ But I am like a green olive tree in the house of God: I trust in the mercy of God for ever and ever.⁹ I will praise thee for ever, because thou hast done it: and I will wait on thy name; for it is good before thy saints.

¹ Therefore being justified by faith, we have peace with God through our Lord Jesus Christ:² By whom also we have access by faith into this grace wherein we stand, and rejoice in hope of the glory of God.³ And not only so, but we glory in tribulations also: knowing that tribulation worketh patience;⁴ And patience, experience; and experience, hope:⁵ And hope maketh not ashamed; because the love of God is shed abroad in our hearts by the Holy Ghost which is given unto us.⁶ For when we were yet without strength, in due time Christ died for the ungodly.⁷ For scarcely for a righteous man will one die: yet peradventure for a good man some would even dare to die.⁸ But God commendeth his love toward us, in that, while we were yet sinners, Christ died for us.⁹ Much more then, being now justified by his blood, we shall be saved from wrath through him.¹⁰ For if, when we were enemies, we were reconciled to God by the death of his Son, much more, being reconciled, we shall be saved by his life.¹¹ And not only so, but we also joy in God through our Lord Jesus Christ, by whom we have now received the atonement.¹² Wherefore, as by one man sin entered into the world, and death by sin; and so death passed upon all men, for that all have sinned:¹³ (For until the law sin was in the world: but sin is not imputed when there is no law.¹⁴ Nevertheless death reigned from Adam to Moses, even over them that had not sinned after the similitude of Adam's transgression, who is the figure of him that was to come.¹⁵ But not as the offence, so also is the free gift. For if through the offence of one many be dead, much more the grace of God, and the gift by grace, which is by one man, Jesus Christ, hath abounded unto many.¹⁶ And not as it was by one that sinned, so is the gift: for the judgment was by one to condemnation, but the free gift is of many offences unto justification.¹⁷ For if by one man's offence death reigned by one; much more they which receive abundance of grace and of the gift of righteousness shall reign in life by one, Jesus Christ.)¹⁸ Therefore as by the offence of one judgment came upon all men to condemnation; even so by the righteousness of one the free gift came upon all men unto justification of life.¹⁹ For as by one man's disobedience many were made sinners, so by the obedience of one shall many be made righteous.²⁰ Moreover the law entered, that the offence might abound. But where sin abounded, grace did much more abound:²¹ That as sin hath reigned unto death, even so might grace reign through righteousness unto eternal life by Jesus Christ our Lord.

¹ What shall we say then? Shall we continue in sin, that grace may abound?² God forbid. How shall we, that are dead to sin, live any longer therein?³ Know ye not, that so many of us as were baptized into Jesus Christ were baptized into his death?⁴ Therefore we are buried with him by baptism into death: that like as Christ was raised up from the dead by the glory of the Father, even so we also should walk in newness of life.⁵ For if we have been planted together in the likeness of his death, we shall be also in the likeness of his resurrection:⁶ Knowing this, that our old man is crucified with him, that the body of sin might be destroyed, that henceforth we should not serve sin.⁷ For he that is dead is freed from sin.⁸ Now if we be dead with Christ, we believe that we shall also live with him:⁹ Knowing that Christ being raised from the dead dieth no more; death hath no more dominion over him.¹⁰ For in that he died, he died unto sin once: but in that he liveth, he liveth unto God.¹¹ Likewise reckon ye also yourselves to be dead indeed unto sin, but alive unto God through Jesus Christ our Lord.¹² Let not sin therefore reign in your mortal body, that ye should obey it in the lusts thereof.¹³ Neither yield ye your members as instruments of unrighteousness unto sin: but yield yourselves unto God, as those that are alive from the dead, and your members as instruments of righteousness unto God.¹⁴ For sin shall not have dominion over you: for ye are not under the law, but under grace.¹⁵ What then? shall we sin, because we are not under the law, but under grace? God forbid.¹⁶ Know ye not, that to whom ye yield yourselves servants to obey, his servants ye are to whom ye obey; whether of sin unto death, or of obedience unto righteousness?¹⁷ But God be thanked, that ye were the servants of sin, but ye have obeyed from the heart that form of doctrine which was delivered you.¹⁸ Being then made free from sin, ye became the servants of righteousness.¹⁹ I speak after the manner of men because of the infirmity of your flesh: for as ye have yielded your members servants to uncleanness and to iniquity unto iniquity; even so now yield your members servants to righteousness unto holiness.²⁰ For when ye were the servants of sin, ye were free from righteousness.²¹ What fruit had ye then in those things whereof ye are now ashamed? for the end of those things is death.²² But now being made free from sin, and become servants to God, ye have your fruit unto holiness, and the end everlasting life.²³ For the wages of sin is death; but the gift of God is eternal life through Jesus Christ our Lord.