the Week of Proper 19 / Ordinary 24
Click here to learn more!
Bible Reading Plan
Daily Bible Reading
February 6 - Old & New Testament
csb
Genesis 49,50
Jacob's Last Words
1 Then Jacob called his sons and said, "Gather around, and I will tell you what will happen to you in the days to come.[a](a)
2 Come together and listen, sons of Jacob;
listen to your father Israel:
3 Reuben, you are my firstborn,(b)
my strength and the firstfruits of my virility,(c)
excelling in prominence, excelling in power.
4 Turbulent as water, you will no longer excel,
because you got into your father's bed(d)
and you defiled it—he[b] got into my bed.
5 Simeon and Levi are brothers;
their knives are vicious weapons.(e)
6 May I never enter their council;
may I never join their assembly.
For in their anger they kill men,
and on a whim they hamstring oxen.
7 Their anger is cursed, for it is strong,
and their fury, for it is cruel!
I will disperse them throughout Jacob
and scatter them throughout Israel.(f)
8 Judah, your brothers will praise you.(g)
Your hand will be on the necks of your enemies;
your father's sons will bow down to you.(h)
9 Judah is a young lion(i)—
my son, you return from the kill.
He crouches; he lies down like a lion
or a lioness—who dares to rouse him?
10 The scepter will not depart from Judah
or the staff from between his feet
until He whose right it is comes[c](j)
and the obedience of the peoples belongs to Him.(k)
11 He ties his donkey to a vine,
and the colt of his donkey to the choice vine.
He washes his clothes in wine
and his robes in the blood of grapes.
12 His eyes are darker than wine,
and his teeth are whiter than milk.
13 Zebulun will live by the seashore
and will be a harbor for ships,
and his territory will be next to Sidon.(l)
14 Issachar is a strong donkey
lying down between the saddlebags.[d]
15 He saw that his resting place was good
and that the land was pleasant,
so he leaned his shoulder to bear a load
and became a forced laborer.(m)
16 Dan will judge his people(n)
as one of the tribes of Israel.
17 He will be a snake by the road,
a viper beside the path,
that bites the horses' heels
so that its rider falls backward.
18 I wait for Your salvation, Lord .
19 Gad will be attacked by raiders,
but he will attack their heels.(o)
20 Asher's[e] food will be rich,
and he will produce royal delicacies.(p)
21 Naphtali is a doe set free
that bears beautiful fawns.(q)
22 Joseph is a fruitful vine,
a fruitful vine beside a spring;
its branches[f] climb over the wall.[g]
23 The archers attacked him,
shot at him, and were hostile toward him.
24 Yet his bow remained steady,
and his strong[h] arms were made agile
by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob,(r)
by the name of[i] the Shepherd,(s) the Rock of Israel,(t)
25 by the God of your father who helps you,
and by the Almighty who blesses you
with blessings of the heavens above,
blessings of the deep that lies below,
and blessings of the breasts and the womb.
26 The blessings of your father excel
the blessings of my ancestors[j]
and[k] the bounty of the eternal hills.[l](u)
May they rest on the head of Joseph,
on the crown of the prince of his brothers.
27 Benjamin is a wolf; he tears his prey.
In the morning he devours the prey,
and in the evening he divides the plunder."(v)
28 These are the tribes of Israel, 12 in all, and this was what their father said to them. He blessed them, and he blessed each one with a suitable blessing.
Jacob's Burial Instructions
29 Then he commanded them: "I am about to be gathered to my people.(w) Bury me with my fathers(x) in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite.(y) 30 The cave is in the field of Machpelah near Mamre, in the land of Canaan. This is the field Abraham purchased from Ephron the Hittite as a burial site.(z) 31 Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried there,(aa) Isaac and his wife Rebekah are buried there,(ab) and I buried Leah there.(ac) 32 The field and the cave in it were purchased from the Hittites." 33 When Jacob had finished instructing his sons, he drew his feet into the bed and died. He was gathered to his people.
Jacob's Burial
1 Then Joseph, leaning over his father's face, wept and kissed him. 2 He commanded his servants who were physicians to embalm his father. So they embalmed Israel. 3 They took 40 days to complete this, for embalming takes that long, and the Egyptians mourned for him 70 days.(a)
4 When the days of mourning were over, Joseph said to Pharaoh's household, "If I have found favor with you, please tell[a] Pharaoh that 5 my father made me take an oath,(b) saying, ‘I am about to die. You must bury me there in the tomb that I made for myself in the land of Canaan.'(c) Now let me go and bury my father. Then I will return."
6 So Pharaoh said, "Go and bury your father in keeping with your oath."
7 Then Joseph went to bury his father, and all Pharaoh's servants, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt went with him, 8 along with all Joseph's household, his brothers, and his father's household. Only their children, their sheep, and their cattle were left in the land of Goshen. 9 Horses and chariots went up with him; it was a very impressive procession. 10 When they reached the threshing floor of Atad, which is across the Jordan, they lamented and wept loudly, and Joseph mourned seven days for his father. 11 When the Canaanite inhabitants of the land saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, "This is a solemn mourning on the part of the Egyptians." Therefore the place is named Abel-mizraim.[b] It is across the Jordan.
12 So Jacob's sons did for him what he had commanded them. 13 They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave at Machpelah in the field near Mamre, which Abraham had purchased as a burial site from Ephron the Hittite.(d) 14 After Joseph buried his father, he returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone with him to bury his father.
Joseph's Kindness
15 When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said to one another, "If Joseph is holding a grudge against us, he will certainly repay us for all the suffering we caused him."(e)
16 So they sent this message to Joseph, "Before he died your father gave a command: 17 ‘Say this to Joseph: Please forgive your brothers' transgression and their sin—the suffering they caused you.' Therefore, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father." Joseph wept(f) when their message came to him. 18 Then his brothers also came to him, bowed down before him, and said, "We are your slaves!"
19 But Joseph said to them, "Don't be afraid. Am I in the place of God?(g) 20 You planned evil against me; God planned it for good to bring about the present result—the survival of many people.(h) 21 Therefore don't be afraid. I will take care of you and your little ones."(i) And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.[c]
Joseph's Death
22 Joseph and his father's household remained in Egypt. Joseph lived 110 years. 23 He saw Ephraim's sons to the third generation;(j) the sons of Manasseh's son Machir were recognized by[d][e] Joseph.(k)
24 Joseph said to his brothers, "I am about to die,(l) but God will certainly come to your aid and bring you up from this land to the land He promised Abraham,(m) Isaac,(n) and Jacob."(o) 25 So Joseph made the sons of Israel take an oath: "When God comes to your aid, you are to carry my bones up from here."(p)
26 Joseph died at the age of 110. They embalmed him and placed him in a coffin in Egypt.
Matthew 23:23-39
Chapter 23
23 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You pay a tenth of[q] mint, dill, and cumin,[r] yet you have neglected the more important matters of the law—justice,(u) mercy, and faith. These things should have been done without neglecting the others. 24 Blind guides!(v) You strain out a gnat, yet gulp down a camel!
25 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You clean the outside of the cup and dish, but inside they are full of greed[s] and self-indulgence!(w) 26 Blind Pharisee! First clean the inside of the cup,[t] so the outside of it[u] may also become clean.
27 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You are like whitewashed tombs,(x) which appear beautiful on the outside, but inside are full of dead men's bones and every impurity. 28 In the same way, on the outside you seem righteous to people, but inside you are full of hypocrisy and lawlessness.
29 "Woe to you, scribes and Pharisees, hypocrites! You build the tombs of the prophets and decorate the monuments of the righteous, 30 and you say, ‘If we had lived in the days of our fathers, we wouldn't have taken part with them in shedding the prophets' blood.'[v] 31 You, therefore, testify against yourselves that you are sons of those who murdered the prophets. 32 Fill up, then, the measure of your fathers' sins! [w](y)
33 "Snakes! Brood of vipers! How can you escape being condemned to hell? [x](z) 34 This is why I am sending you prophets,(aa) sages, and scribes. Some of them you will kill and crucify, and some of them you will flog in your synagogues(ab) and hound from town to town. 35 So all the righteous blood shed on the earth will be charged to you,[y] from the blood of righteous Abel to the blood of Zechariah,(ac) son of Berechiah, whom you murdered between the sanctuary and the altar.(ad) 36 I assure you: All these things will come on this generation! (ae)
Jesus' Lamentation over Jerusalem
37 "Jerusalem, Jerusalem!(af) She who kills the prophets and stones those who are sent to her. How often I wanted to gather your children together, as a hen gathers her chicks[z] under her wings, yet you were not willing!(ag) 38 See, your house is left to you desolate.(ah) 39 For I tell you, you will never see Me again until you say, ‘He who comes in the name of the Lord is the blessed One' !" (ai)[aa]
Copyright © 1999, 2000, 2002, 2003, 2009 by Holman Bible Publishers, Nashville Tennessee. All rights reserved.
