GENESIS 49

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Jacob Blesses His Sons  49:1 Then Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you what shall happen to you in days to come.
2

“Assemble and listen, O sons of Jacob,

listen to Israel your father.
3

“Reuben, you are my firstborn,

my might, and the firstfruits of my strength,

preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power. 4

Unstable 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;

weapons of violence are their swords. 6

Let my soul come not into their council;

O my glory, be not joined to their company.

For in their anger they killed men,

and in their willfulness they hamstrung oxen. 7

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.
8

“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. 9

Judah is a lion’s cub;

from the prey, my son, you have gone up.

He stooped down; he crouched as a lion

and as a lioness; who dares rouse him? 10

The scepter shall not depart from Judah,

nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,

until tribute comes to him;

and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. 11

Binding his foal to the vine

and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine,

he has washed his garments in wine

and his vesture in the blood of grapes. 12

His eyes are darker than wine,

and his teeth whiter than milk.
13

“Zebulun shall dwell at the shore of the sea;

he shall become a haven for ships,

and his border shall be at Sidon.
14

“Issachar is a strong donkey,

crouching between the sheepfolds. 15

He saw that a resting place was good,

and that the land was pleasant,

so he bowed his shoulder to bear,

and became a servant 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 viper by the path,

that bites the horse’s heels

so that his rider falls backward. 18

I wait for your salvation, O Lord.
19

“Raiders shall raid Gad,

but he shall raid at their heels.
20

“Asher’s food shall be rich,

and he shall yield royal delicacies.
21

“Naphtali is a doe let loose

that bears beautiful fawns.
22

“Joseph is a fruitful bough,

a fruitful bough by a spring;

his branches run over the wall. 23

The archers bitterly attacked him,

shot at him, and harassed him severely, 24

yet his bow remained unmoved;

his arms were made agile

by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob

(from there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel), 25

by the God of your father who will help you,

by the Almighty who will bless you

with blessings of heaven above,

blessings of the deep that crouches beneath,

blessings of the breasts and of the womb. 26

The blessings of your father

are mighty beyond the blessings of my parents,

up to the bounties of the everlasting hills.

May they be on the head of Joseph,

and on the brow of him who was set apart from his brothers.
27

“Benjamin is a ravenous wolf,

in the morning devouring the prey

and at evening dividing the spoil.” Jacob’s Death and Burial28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel. This is what their father said to them as he blessed them, blessing each with the blessing suitable to him. 29 Then he commanded 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, 30 in the cave that is in the field at Machpelah, 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. 31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife. There they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah— 32 the field and the cave that is in it were bought from the Hittites.” 33 When Jacob finished commanding his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed and breathed his last and was gathered to his people.

PSALM 20

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Trust in the Name of the Lord Our GodTo the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
20:1

May the Lord answer you in the day of trouble!

May the name of the God of Jacob protect you! 2

May he send you help from the sanctuary

and give you support from Zion! 3

May he remember all your offerings

and regard with favor your burnt sacrifices! Selah
4

May he grant you your heart’s desire

and fulfill all your plans! 5

May we shout for joy over your salvation,

and in the name of our God set up our banners!

May the Lord fulfill all your petitions!
6

Now I know that the Lord saves his anointed;

he will answer him from his holy heaven

with the saving might of his right hand. 7

Some trust in chariots and some in horses,

but we trust in the name of the Lord our God. 8

They collapse and fall,

but we rise and stand upright.
9

O Lord, save the king!

May he answer us when we call.

PSALM 21

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The King Rejoices in the Lord’s StrengthTo the choirmaster. A Psalm of David.
21:1

O Lord, in your strength the king rejoices,

and in your salvation how greatly he exults! 2

You have given him his heart’s desire

and have not withheld the request of his lips. Selah 3

For you meet him with rich blessings;

you set a crown of fine gold upon his head. 4

He asked life of you; you gave it to him,

length of days forever and ever. 5

His glory is great through your salvation;

splendor and majesty you bestow on him. 6

For you make him most blessed forever;

you make him glad with the joy of your presence. 7

For the king trusts in the Lord,

and through the steadfast love of the Most High he shall not be moved.
8

Your hand will find out all your enemies;

your right hand will find out those who hate you. 9

You will make them as a blazing oven

when you appear.

The Lord will swallow them up in his wrath,

and fire will consume them. 10

You will destroy their descendants from the earth,

and their offspring from among the children of man. 11

Though they plan evil against you,

though they devise mischief, they will not succeed. 12

For you will put them to flight;

you will aim at their faces with your bows.
13

Be exalted, O Lord, in your strength!

We will sing and praise your power.

PROVERBS 20

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20:1

Wine is a mocker, strong drink a brawler,

and whoever is led astray by it is not wise. 2

The terror of a king is like the growling of a lion;

whoever provokes him to anger forfeits his life. 3

It is an honor for a man to keep aloof from strife,

but every fool will be quarreling. 4

The sluggard does not plow in the autumn;

he will seek at harvest and have nothing. 5

The purpose in a man’s heart is like deep water,

but a man of understanding will draw it out. 6

Many a man proclaims his own steadfast love,

but a faithful man who can find? 7

The righteous who walks in his integrity—

blessed are his children after him! 8

A king who sits on the throne of judgment

winnows all evil with his eyes. 9

Who can say, “I have made my heart pure;

I am clean from my sin”? 10

Unequal weights and unequal measures

are both alike an abomination to the Lord. 11

Even a child makes himself known by his acts,

by whether his conduct is pure and upright. 12

The hearing ear and the seeing eye,

the Lord has made them both. 13

Love not sleep, lest you come to poverty;

open your eyes, and you will have plenty of bread. 14

“Bad, bad,” says the buyer,

but when he goes away, then he boasts. 15

There is gold and abundance of costly stones,

but the lips of knowledge are a precious jewel. 16

Take a man’s garment when he has put up security for a stranger,

and hold it in pledge when he puts up security for foreigners. 17

Bread gained by deceit is sweet to a man,

but afterward his mouth will be full of gravel. 18

Plans are established by counsel;

by wise guidance wage war. 19

Whoever goes about slandering reveals secrets;

therefore do not associate with a simple babbler. 20

If one curses his father or his mother,

his lamp will be put out in utter darkness. 21

An inheritance gained hastily in the beginning

will not be blessed in the end. 22

Do not say, “I will repay evil”;

wait for the Lord, and he will deliver you. 23

Unequal weights are an abomination to the Lord,

and false scales are not good. 24

A man’s steps are from the Lord;

how then can man understand his way? 25

It is a snare to say rashly, “It is holy,”

and to reflect only after making vows. 26

A wise king winnows the wicked

and drives the wheel over them. 27

The spirit of man is the lamp of the Lord,

searching all his innermost parts. 28

Steadfast love and faithfulness preserve the king,

and by steadfast love his throne is upheld. 29

The glory of young men is their strength,

but the splendor of old men is their gray hair. 30

Blows that wound cleanse away evil;

strokes make clean the innermost parts.