The Last Words of Jacob

¹Jacob called for his sons and said, “Gather around, and I will tell you what will happen to you in the future:

²“Come together and listen, sons of Jacob. Listen to your father Israel.

³“Reuben, my first-born, you are my strength And the first child of my manhood, The proudest and strongest of all my sons.

⁴You are like a raging flood, But you will not be the most important, For you slept with my concubine And dishonored your father's bed.

⁵“Simeon and Levi are brothers. They use their weapons to commit violence.

⁶I will not join in their secret talks, Nor will I take part in their meetings, For they killed people in anger And they crippled bulls for sport.

⁷A curse be on their anger, because it is so fierce, And on their fury, because it is so cruel. I will scatter them throughout the land of Israel. I will disperse them among its people.

⁸“Judah, your brothers will praise you. You hold your enemies by the neck. Your brothers will bow down before you.

⁹Judah is like a lion, Killing his victim and returning to his den, Stretching out and lying down. No one dares disturb him.

¹⁰Judah will hold the royal scepter, And his descendants will always rule. Nations will bring him tribute And bow in obedience before him.

¹¹He ties his young donkey to a grapevine, To the very best of the vines. He washes his clothes in blood-red wine.

¹²His eyes are bloodshot from drinking wine, His teeth white from drinking milk.

¹³“Zebulun will live beside the sea. His shore will be a haven for ships. His territory will reach as far as Sidon.

¹⁴“Issachar is no better than a donkey That lies stretched out between its saddlebags.

¹⁵But he sees that the resting place is good And that the land is delightful. So he bends his back to carry the load And is forced to work as a slave.

¹⁶“Dan will be a ruler for his people. They will be like the other tribes of Israel.

¹⁷Dan will be a snake at the side of the road, A poisonous snake beside the path, That strikes at the horse's heel, So that the rider is thrown off backward.

¹⁸“I wait for your deliverance, Lord.

¹⁹“Gad will be attacked by a band of robbers, But he will turn and pursue them.

²⁰“Asher's land will produce rich food. He will provide food fit for a king.

²¹“Naphtali is a deer that runs free, Who bears lovely fawns.

²²“Joseph is like a wild donkey by a spring, A wild colt on a hillside.

²³His enemies attack him fiercely And pursue him with their bows and arrows.

²⁴But his bow remains steady, And his arms are made strong By the power of the Mighty God of Jacob, By the Shepherd, the Protector of Israel.

²⁵It is your father's God who helps you, The Almighty God who blesses you With blessings of rain from above And of deep waters from beneath the ground, Blessings of many cattle and children,

²⁶Blessings of grain and flowers, Blessings of ancient mountains, Delightful things from everlasting hills. May these blessings rest on the head of Joseph, On the brow of the one set apart from his brothers.

²⁷“Benjamin is like a vicious wolf. Morning and evening he kills and devours.”

²⁸These are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said as he spoke a suitable word of farewell to each son.

The Death and Burial of Jacob

²⁹Then Jacob commanded his sons, “Now that I am going to join my people in death, bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,

³⁰at Machpelah east of Mamre in the land of Canaan. Abraham bought this cave and field from Ephron for a burial ground.

³¹That is where they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah; that is where they buried Isaac and his wife Rebecca; and that is where I buried Leah.

³²The field and the cave in it were bought from the Hittites. Bury me there.”

³³When Jacob had finished giving instructions to his sons, he lay back down and died.

¹Joseph threw himself on his father, crying and kissing his face.

²Then Joseph gave orders to embalm his father's body.

³It took forty days, the normal time for embalming. The Egyptians mourned for him seventy days.

⁴When the time of mourning was over, Joseph said to the king's officials, “Please take this message to the king:

⁵‘When my father was about to die, he made me promise him that I would bury him in the tomb which he had prepared in the land of Canaan. So please let me go and bury my father, and then I will come back.’”

⁶The king answered, “Go and bury your father, as you promised you would.”

⁷So Joseph went to bury his father. All the king's officials, the senior men of his court, and all the leading men of Egypt went with Joseph.

⁸His family, his brothers, and the rest of his father's family all went with him. Only their small children and their sheep, goats, and cattle stayed in the region of Goshen.

⁹Men in chariots and men on horseback also went with him; it was a huge group.

¹⁰When they came to the threshing place at Atad east of the Jordan, they mourned loudly for a long time, and Joseph performed mourning ceremonies for seven days.

¹¹When the citizens of Canaan saw those people mourning at Atad, they said, “What a solemn ceremony of mourning the Egyptians are holding!” That is why the place was named Abel Mizraim.

¹²So Jacob's sons did as he had commanded them;

¹³they carried his body to Canaan and buried it in the cave at Machpelah east of Mamre in the field which Abraham had bought from Ephron the Hittite for a burial ground.

¹⁴After Joseph had buried his father, he returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone with him for the funeral.

Joseph Reassures His Brothers

¹⁵After the death of their father, Joseph's brothers said, “What if Joseph still hates us and plans to pay us back for all the harm we did to him?”

¹⁶So they sent a message to Joseph: “Before our father died,

¹⁷he told us to ask you, ‘Please forgive the crime your brothers committed when they wronged you.’ Now please forgive us the wrong that we, the servants of your father's God, have done.” Joseph cried when he received this message.

¹⁸Then his brothers themselves came and bowed down before him. “Here we are before you as your slaves,” they said.

¹⁹But Joseph said to them, “Don't be afraid; I can't put myself in the place of God.

²⁰You plotted evil against me, but God turned it into good, in order to preserve the lives of many people who are alive today because of what happened.

²¹You have nothing to fear. I will take care of you and your children.” So he reassured them with kind words that touched their hearts.

The Death of Joseph

²²Joseph continued to live in Egypt with his father's family; he was a hundred and ten years old when he died.

²³He lived to see Ephraim's children and grandchildren. He also lived to receive the children of Machir son of Manasseh into the family.

²⁴He said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will certainly take care of you and lead you out of this land to the land he solemnly promised to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

²⁵Then Joseph asked his people to make a vow. “Promise me,” he said, “that when God leads you to that land, you will take my body with you.”

²⁶So Joseph died in Egypt at the age of a hundred and ten. They embalmed his body and put it in a coffin.

¹Can you catch Leviathan with a fishhook or tie his tongue down with a rope?

²Can you put a rope through his snout or put a hook through his jaws?

³Will he beg you to let him go? Will he plead with you for mercy?

⁴Will he make an agreement with you and promise to serve you forever?

⁵Will you tie him like a pet bird, like something to amuse your servant women?

⁶Will fishermen bargain over him? Will merchants cut him up to sell?

⁷Can you fill his hide with fishing spears or pierce his head with a harpoon?

⁸Touch him once and you'll never try it again; you'll never forget the fight!

⁹Anyone who sees Leviathan loses courage and falls to the ground.

¹⁰When he is aroused, he is fierce; no one would dare to stand before him.

¹¹Who can attack him and still be safe? No one in all the world can do it.

¹²Let me tell you about Leviathan's legs and describe how great and strong he is.

¹³No one can tear off his outer coat or pierce the armor he wears.

¹⁴Who can make him open his jaws, ringed with those terrifying teeth?

¹⁵His back is made of rows of shields, fastened together and hard as stone.

¹⁶Each one is joined so tight to the next, not even a breath can come between.

¹⁷They all are fastened so firmly together that nothing can ever pull them apart.

¹⁸Light flashes when he sneezes, and his eyes glow like the rising sun.

¹⁹Flames blaze from his mouth, and streams of sparks fly out.

²⁰Smoke comes pouring out of his nose, like smoke from weeds burning under a pot.

²¹His breath starts fires burning; flames leap out of his mouth.

²²His neck is so powerful that all who meet him are terrified.

²³There is not a weak spot in his skin; it is as hard and unyielding as iron.

²⁴His stony heart is without fear, as unyielding and hard as a millstone.

²⁵When he rises up, even the strongest are frightened; they are helpless with fear.

²⁶There is no sword that can wound him; no spear or arrow or lance that can harm him.

²⁷For him iron is as flimsy as straw, and bronze as soft as rotten wood.

²⁸There is no arrow that can make him run; rocks thrown at him are like bits of straw.

²⁹To him a club is a piece of straw, and he laughs when men throw spears.

³⁰The scales on his belly are like jagged pieces of pottery; they tear up the muddy ground like a threshing sledge.

³¹He churns up the sea like boiling water and makes it bubble like a pot of oil.

³²He leaves a shining path behind him and turns the sea to white foam.

³³There is nothing on earth to compare with him; he is a creature that has no fear.

³⁴He looks down on even the proudest animals; he is king of all wild beasts.

¹Then Job answered the Lord.

Job

²I know, Lord, that you are all-powerful; that you can do everything you want.

³You ask how I dare question your wisdom when I am so very ignorant. I talked about things I did not understand, about marvels too great for me to know.

⁴You told me to listen while you spoke and to try to answer your questions.

⁵In the past I knew only what others had told me, but now I have seen you with my own eyes.

⁶So I am ashamed of all I have said and repent in dust and ashes.

Conclusion

⁷After the Lord had finished speaking to Job, he said to Eliphaz, “I am angry with you and your two friends, because you did not speak the truth about me, the way my servant Job did.

⁸Now take seven bulls and seven rams to Job and offer them as a sacrifice for yourselves. Job will pray for you, and I will answer his prayer and not disgrace you the way you deserve. You did not speak the truth about me as he did.”

⁹Eliphaz, Bildad, and Zophar did what the Lord had told them to do, and the Lord answered Job's prayer.

¹⁰Then, after Job had prayed for his three friends, the Lord made him prosperous again and gave him twice as much as he had had before.

¹¹All Job's brothers and sisters and former friends came to visit him and feasted with him in his house. They expressed their sympathy and comforted him for all the troubles the Lord had brought on him. Each of them gave him some money and a gold ring.

¹²The Lord blessed the last part of Job's life even more than he had blessed the first. Job owned fourteen thousand sheep, six thousand camels, two thousand head of cattle, and one thousand donkeys.

¹³He was the father of seven sons and three daughters.

¹⁴He called the oldest daughter Jemimah, the second Keziah, and the youngest Keren Happuch.

¹⁵There were no other women in the whole world as beautiful as Job's daughters. Their father gave them a share of the inheritance along with their brothers.

¹⁶Job lived a hundred and forty years after this, long enough to see his grandchildren and great-grandchildren.

¹⁷And then he died at a very great age.

The Prayer of an Innocent Person

¹Listen, O Lord, to my plea for justice; pay attention to my cry for help! Listen to my honest prayer.

²You will judge in my favor, because you know what is right.

³You know my heart. You have come to me at night; you have examined me completely and found no evil desire in me. I speak no evil,

⁴as others do; I have obeyed your command and have not followed paths of violence.

⁵I have always walked in your way and have never strayed from it.

⁶I pray to you, O God, because you answer me; so turn to me and listen to my words.

⁷Reveal your wonderful love and save me; at your side I am safe from my enemies.

⁸Protect me as you would your very eyes; hide me in the shadow of your wings

⁹from the attacks of the wicked. Deadly enemies surround me;

¹⁰they have no pity and speak proudly.

¹¹They are around me now, wherever I turn, watching for a chance to pull me down.

¹²They are like lions, waiting for me, wanting to tear me to pieces.

¹³Come, Lord! Oppose my enemies and defeat them! Save me from the wicked by your sword;

¹⁴save me from those who in this life have all they want. Punish them with the sufferings you have stored up for them; may there be enough for their children and some left over for their children's children!

¹⁵But I will see you, because I have done no wrong; and when I awake, your presence will fill me with joy.