Genesis to Revelation
Bible Reading Plan
January 15
Genesis 47-50
Chapter 47
Jacob’s Family Settles in Goshen
1 Then Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, and said, “My father and my brothers
and their flocks and their herds and all that they have, have come out of the
land of Canaan; and behold, they are in the land of Goshen.”
2 He took five men from among his brothers and presented them to Pharaoh.
3 Then Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What is your occupation?” So
they said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, both we and our fathers.”
4 They said to Pharaoh, “We have come to sojourn 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 live in the
land of Goshen.”
5 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come
to you.
6 “The land of Egypt is at your disposal; settle your father and your
brothers in the best of the land, let them live in the land of Goshen; and
if you know any capable men among them, then put them in charge of my livestock.”
7 Then Joseph brought his father Jacob and presented him to Pharaoh; and Jacob
blessed Pharaoh.
8 Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How many years have you lived?”
9 So Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The years of my sojourning are one hundred
and thirty; few and unpleasant have been the years of my life, nor have
they attained the years that my fathers lived during the days of their
sojourning.”
10 And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from his presence.
11 So Joseph settled 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 ordered.
12 Joseph provided his father and his brothers and all his father’s household
with food, according to their little ones.
13 Now there was no food in all the land, because the famine was very severe,
so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the
famine.
14 Joseph gathered 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.
15 When 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 food, for why
should we die in your presence? For our money is gone.”
16 Then Joseph said, “Give up your livestock, and I will give you food
for your livestock, since your money is gone.”
17 So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them food in
exchange for the horses and the flocks and the herds and the donkeys; and he
fed them with food in exchange for all their livestock that year.
18 When that year was ended, they came to him the next year and said to him, “We
will not hide from my lord that our money is all spent, and the cattle are
my lord’s. There is nothing left for my lord except our bodies and our
lands.
19 “Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and
our land for food, and we and our land will be slaves to Pharaoh. So give us
seed, that we may live and not die, and that the land may not be desolate.”
Result of the Famine
20 So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for every Egyptian sold
his field, because the famine was severe upon them. Thus the land became Pharaoh’s.
21 As for the people, he removed them to the cities from one end of Egypt’s
border to the other.
22 Only the land of the priests he did not buy, for the priests had an allotment
from Pharaoh, and they lived off the allotment which Pharaoh gave them. Therefore,
they did not sell their land.
23 Then Joseph said to the people, “Behold, I have today bought you and
your land for Pharaoh; now, here is seed for you, and you may sow the land.
24 “At the harvest you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four-fifths
shall be your own for seed of the field and for your food and for those of your
households and as food for your little ones.”
25 So they said, “You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the sight
of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s slaves.”
26 Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt valid to this day, that
Pharaoh should have the fifth; only the land of the priests did not become
Pharaoh’s.
27 Now Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in Goshen, and they acquired
property in it and were fruitful and became very numerous.
28 Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years; so the length of Jacob’s
life was one hundred and forty-seven years.
29 When the time for Israel to die drew near, he called his son Joseph and
said to him, “Please, if I have found favor in your sight, place now
your hand under my thigh and deal with me in kindness and faithfulness. Please
do not bury me in Egypt,
30 but when I lie down with my fathers, you shall carry me out of Egypt and
bury me in their burial place.” And he said, “I will do as you
have said.”
31 He said, “Swear to me.” So he swore to him. Then Israel bowed
in worship at the head of the bed.
Chapter 48
Israel’s Last Days
1 Now it came about after these things that Joseph was told, “Behold,
your father is sick.” So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim with
him.
2 When it was told to Jacob, “Behold, your son Joseph has come to you,” Israel
collected his strength and sat up in the bed.
3 Then Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz
in the land of Canaan and blessed me,
4 and He said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and numerous, and
I will make you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your descendants
after you for an everlasting possession.’
5 “Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before
I came to you in Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as Reuben
and Simeon are.
6 “But your offspring that have been born after them shall be yours;
they shall be called by the names of their brothers in their inheritance.
7 “Now as for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died, to my sorrow,
in the land of Canaan on the journey, when there was still some distance to go
to Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).”
8 When Israel saw Joseph’s sons, he said, “Who are these?”
9 Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons, whom God has given me
here.” So he said, “Bring them to me, please, that I may bless
them.”
10 Now the eyes of Israel were so dim from age that he could not see. Then
Joseph brought them close to him, and he kissed them and embraced them.
11 Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected to see your face, and behold,
God has let me see your children as well.”
12 Then Joseph took them from his knees, and bowed with his face to the
ground.
13 Joseph took them both, Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel’s left,
and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel’s right, and brought them
close to him.
14 But Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim,
who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, crossing his
hands, although Manasseh was the firstborn.
15 He blessed Joseph, and said,
“
The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked,
The God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day,
16 The angel who has redeemed me from all evil,
Bless the lads;
And may my name live on in them,
And the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac;
And may they grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.”
17 When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on Ephraim’s head,
it displeased him; and he grasped his father’s hand to remove it from Ephraim’s
head to Manasseh’s head.
18 Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn.
Place your right hand on his head.”
19 But his 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 shall
be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.”
20 He blessed them that day, saying,
“
By you Israel will pronounce blessing, saying,
‘
May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh!’ ”
Thus he put Ephraim before Manasseh.
21 Then Israel said to Joseph, “Behold, I am about to die, but God will
be with you, and bring you back to the land of your fathers.
22 “I give you one portion more than your brothers, which I took
from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow.”
Chapter 49
Israel’s Prophecy concerning His Sons
1 Then Jacob summoned his sons and said, “Assemble yourselves that I may
tell you what will befall you in the days to come.
2 “Gather together and hear, O sons of Jacob;
And listen to Israel your father.
3 “Reuben, you are my firstborn;
My might and the beginning of my strength,
Preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power.
4 “Uncontrolled as water, you shall not have preeminence,
Because you went up to your father’s bed;
Then you defiled it—he went up to my couch.
5 “Simeon and Levi are brothers;
Their swords are implements of violence.
6 “Let my soul not enter into their council;
Let not my glory be united with their assembly;
Because in their anger they slew men,
And in their self-will they lamed oxen.
7 “Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce;
And their wrath, for it is cruel.
I will disperse them in Jacob,
And scatter them in Israel.
8 “Judah, your brothers shall praise you;
Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;
Your father’s sons shall bow down to you.
9 “Judah is a lion’s whelp;
From the prey, my son, you have gone up.
He couches, he lies down as a lion,
And as a lion, who dares rouse him up?
10 “The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
Until Shiloh comes,
And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
11 “He ties his foal to the vine,
And his donkey’s colt to the choice vine;
He washes his garments in wine,
And his robes in the blood of grapes.
12 “His eyes are dull from wine,
And his teeth white from milk.
13 “Zebulun will dwell at the seashore;
And he shall be a haven for ships,
And his flank shall be toward Sidon.
14 “Issachar is a strong donkey,
Lying down between the sheepfolds.
15 “When he saw that a resting place was good
And that the land was pleasant,
He bowed his shoulder to bear burdens,
And became a slave at forced labor.
16 “Dan shall judge his people,
As one of the tribes of Israel.
17 “Dan shall be a serpent in the way,
A horned snake in the path,
That bites the horse’s heels,
So that his rider falls backward.
18 “For Your salvation I wait, O Lord.
19 “As for Gad, raiders shall raid him,
But he will raid at their heels.
20 “As for Asher, his food shall be rich,
And he will yield royal dainties.
21 “Naphtali is a doe let loose,
He gives beautiful words.
22 “Joseph is a fruitful bough,
A fruitful bough by a spring;
Its branches run over a wall.
23 “The archers bitterly attacked him,
And shot at him and harassed him;
24 But his bow remained firm,
And his arms were agile,
From the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob
(From there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel),
25 From the God of your father who helps you,
And by the Almighty who blesses you
With blessings of heaven above,
Blessings of the deep that lies beneath,
Blessings of the breasts and of the womb.
26 “The blessings of your father
Have surpassed the blessings of my ancestors
Up to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills;
May they be on the head of Joseph,
And on the crown of the head of the one distinguished among his brothers.
27 “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf;
In the morning he devours the prey,
And in the evening he divides the spoil.”
28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father
said to them when he blessed them. He blessed them, every one with the
blessing
appropriate to him.
29 Then he charged them and said to them, “I am about to be gathered
to 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 along with the field from Ephron
the
Hittite for a burial site.
31 “There they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah, there they buried
Isaac and his wife Rebekah, and there I buried Leah—
32 the field and the cave that is in it, purchased from the sons of Heth.”
33 When Jacob finished charging his sons, he drew his feet into the bed and
breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.
Chapter 50
The Death of Israel
1 Then Joseph fell on his father’s face, and wept over him and kissed him.
2 Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father.
So the physicians embalmed Israel.
3 Now forty days were required for it, for such is the period required
for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.
4 When the days of mourning for him were past, Joseph spoke to the household
of Pharaoh, saying, “If now I have found favor in your sight, please speak
to Pharaoh, saying,
5 ‘My father made me swear, saying, “Behold, I am about to die;
in my grave which I dug for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury
me.” Now therefore, please let me go up and bury my father; then I will
return.’ ”
6 Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear.”
7 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,
8 and all the household of Joseph and his brothers and his father’s household;
they left only their little ones and their flocks and their herds in the land
of Goshen.
9 There also went up with him both chariots and horsemen; and it was a very
great company.
10 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
observed seven days mourning for his father.
11 Now when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at
the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous mourning
for the Egyptians.” Therefore it was named Abel-mizraim, which is beyond
the Jordan.
Burial at Machpelah
12 Thus his sons did for him as he had charged them;
13 for his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave
of the field of Machpelah before Mamre, which Abraham had bought along with
the field for a burial site from Ephron the Hittite.
14 After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brothers,
and all who had gone up with him to bury his father.
15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What
if Joseph bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong
which we did to him!”
16 So they sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father charged before
he died, saying,
17 ‘Thus you shall say to Joseph, “Please forgive, I beg you, the
transgression of your brothers and their sin, for they did you wrong.” ’ And
now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” And
Joseph wept when they spoke to him.
18 Then his brothers also came and fell down before him and said, “Behold,
we are your servants.”
19 But Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in God’s
place?
20 “As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good
in order to bring about this present result, to preserve many people alive.
21 “So therefore, do not be afraid; I will provide for you and your little
ones.” So he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.
Death of Joseph
22 Now Joseph stayed in Egypt, he and his father’s household, and Joseph
lived one hundred and ten years.
23 Joseph saw the third generation of Ephraim’s sons; also the sons of
Machir, the son of Manasseh, were born on Joseph’s knees.
24 Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will surely
take care of you and bring you up from this land to the land which He promised
on oath to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob.”
25 Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “God will surely
take care of you, and you shall carry my bones up from here.”
26 So Joseph died at the age of one hundred and ten years; and he was embalmed
and placed in a coffin in Egypt.
"Scripture taken from the NEW AMERICAN STANDARD BIBLE®, © Copyright 1960, 1962, 1963, 1968, 1971, 1972, 1973, 1975, 1977, 1995 by The Lockman Foundation Used by permission." (www.Lockman.org)