the bed. And Jacob said unto Jo- | seph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me, 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. 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. And thy issue, which thon begettest after them, shall be thine, and shall be called after the Bame of their brethren in their inheritance. 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 Beth-lehem. And Israel beheld Joseph's sons, and said, Who are these? 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. 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. And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face: and, lo, God hath shewed me also thy seed. And Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth. 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 JANUARY 26. ND brought them near unto him. 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. 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, 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. 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. And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head. 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. 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. And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die: but God shall be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers. 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. Evening, GENESIS XLIX. JANUARY 26. Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power: unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then defiledst thou it : Alan Jacob called unto his sons, together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days. Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father. he went up to my couch. Simeon | words. Joseph is a fruitful bough, and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations. 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. 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. 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. 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? 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. 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: his eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk. 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. Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens 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. Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. 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. I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD. Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last. Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties. Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly 52 even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall: the archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him: 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:) even z 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: the blessings of thy father have prevail: ed 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. Ben jamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil. 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. And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my peo ple: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 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. There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah. The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth. 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. JANUARY 27. GENESIS L. Morning, JANUARY 27. ND Joseph fell upon his father's a possession of a buryingplace of face, and wept upon him, and Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre. kissed him. And Joseph commanded And Joseph returned into Egypt, his servants the physicians to em- he, and his brethren, and all that balm his father: and the physicians went up with him to bury his fabalmed Israel. And forty days ther, after he had buried his father. were fulfilled for him; for so are ful- And when Joseph's brethren saw filed the days of those which are emthat their father was dead, they balmed: and the Egyptians mourn said, Joseph will peradventure hate ed for him threescore and ten days. us, and will certainly requite us all And when the days of his mourning the evil which we did unto him. were past, Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh, saying, If now Joseph, saying, Thy father did comAnd they sent a messenger unto I have found grace in your eyes, mand before he died, saying, So peak, I pray you, in the ears of shall ye say unto Joseph, Forgive, Pharaoh, saying, My father made I pray thee now, the trespass of swear, saying, Lo, I die: in my thy brethren, and their sin; for they gave which I have digged for me in did unto thee evil: and now, we the land of Canaan, there shalt thou pray thee, forgive the trespass of bury me. Now therefore let me go the servants of the God of thy faher, and I will come again. And spake unto him. And his brethren I pray thee, and bury my father. And Joseph wept when they Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy also went and fell down before his Pwear. And Joseph went up to bury thy servants. And Joseph said unfather, according as he made thee face; and they said, Behold, we be his father: and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders place of God? But as for you, ye of his house, and all the elders of the thought evil against me; but God hand of Egypt, and all the house of meant it unto good, to bring to pass, Joseph, and his brethren, and his father's house: only their little ones, ple alive. Now therefore fear ye as it is this day, to save much peoleft in the land of Goshen. And there little ones. And he comforted them, and their flocks, and their herds, they not: I will nourish you, and your went up with him both chariots and and spake kindly unto them. And horsemen: and it was a very great Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his Company. And they came to the father's house: and Joseph lived threshingfloor of Atad, which is be to them, Fear not: for am I in the an hundred and ten years. And Jo yond Jordan, and there they mourn-seph saw Ephraim's children of the ed with a great and very sore lamen- third generation: the children also his father seven days. And when the brought up upon Joseph's knees. tation: and he made a mourning for of Machir the son of Manasseh were ites, saw the mourning in the floor of I die: and God will surely visit you, inhabitants of the land, the Canaan- And Joseph said unto his brethren, mourning to the Egyptians: where- the land which He sware to AbraAtad, they said, This is a grievous and bring you out of this land unto fere the name of it was called Abel- ham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And miraim, which is beyond Jordan. Joseph took an oath of the children And his sons did unto him accord- of Israel, saying, God will surely ing as he commanded them: for his visit you, and ye shall carry up my sons carried him into the land of bones from hence. So Joseph died, Canaan, and buried him in the cave being an hundred and ten years old: of the field of Machpelah, which and they embalmed him, and he Abraham bought with the field for was put in a coffin in Egypt. 53 Nthe children of Israel, which OW these are the names of came into Egypt; every man and his household came with Jacob. Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, Dan, and Naphtali, Gad, and Asher. And all the souls that came out of the loins of Jacob were seventy souls for Joseph was in Egypt already. And Joseph died, and all his brethren, and all that generation. And the children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and waxed exceeding mighty; and the land was filled with them. Now there arose up a new king over Egypt, which knew not Joseph. And he said unto his people, Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we come on, let us deal wisely with them; lest they multiply, and it come to pass, that, when there falleth out any war, they join also unto our enemies, and fight against us, and so get them up out of the land. Therefore they did set over them taskmasters to afflict them with their burdens. And they built for Pharaoh treasure cities, Pithom and Raamses. But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and grew. And they were grieved because of the children of Israel. And the Egyptians made the children of Israel to serve with bitter with hard bondage, in morrigour: and they made their lives ter, and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field: all their service, wherein they made them serve, was with rigour. And the king of Egypt spake to the Hebrew midwives, of which the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah: and he said, When ye do the office of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them upon the stools; if it be a son, then ye shall kill him: but if it be a daugh ter, then she shall live. But the midwives feared God, and did not as the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the men children alive. And the king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said unto them, Why have ye done this thing, and have saved the men children alive? And the midwives said unto Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not as the Egyptian wo men; for they are lively, and are delivered ere the midwives come in unto them. Therefore God dealt well with the midwives: and the people multiplied, and waxed very mighty. And it came to pass, be cause the midwives feared God, that He made them houses. And Pha raoh charged all his people, saying, Every son that is born ye shall cast into the river, and every daughter ye shall save alive. said his sister to Pharaoh's daugh- | ter, Shall I go and call to thee a urse of the Hebrew women, that abe may nurse the child for thee? And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the maid went and called the child's mother. And Pharaoh's daughter said unto her, Take this chid away, and nurse it for me, and I will give thee thy wages. And the woman took the child, and nursed it. And the child grew, and she brought him unto Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. And she called his name Moses: and she fled from the face of Pharaoh, and dwelt in the land of Midian: and he sat down by a well. Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock. And the shepherds came and drove them away: but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock. And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that ye are come so soon to day? And they said, An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and also drew waflock. And he said unto his daughter enough for us, and watered the ters, And where is he? why is it that ye have left the man? call him, id, Because I drew him out of the water. And it came to pass in those days, when Moses was grown, that looked on their burdens: and he that he may eat bread. And Moses went out unto his brethren, and spied an Egyptian smiting an Hebrew, one of his brethren. And he and he gave Moses Zipporah his locked this way and that way, and daughter. And she bare him a son, was content to dwell with the man: when he saw that there was no man, And he said, Who made thee a prince and a judge over us? intend est thou to kill me, as thou killedst their groaning, and God remember- their cry came up unto God by rea- JANUARY 28. Ebening, EXODUS III. JANUARY 28. WOW Moses kept the flock of called unto him out of the midst of Jethro his father in law, the the bush, and said, Moses, Moses. priest of Midian: and he led the And he said, Here am I. And He Bock to the backside of the desert, said, Draw not nigh hither: put off and came to the mountain of God, thy shoes from off thy feet, for the the LORD appeared unto him in a ground. Moreover He said, I am en to Horeb. And the angel of place whereon thou standest is holy fame of fire out of the midst of a bash: and he looked, and, behold, Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the the bush burned with fire, and the God of Jacob. And Moses hid his bash was not consumed. And Moses face; for he was afraid to look upon the God of thy father, the God of aid, I will now turn aside, and see this great sight, why the bush is not surely seen the affliction of My peoburnt. And when the LORD saw ple which are in Egypt, and have that he turned aside to see, God heard their cry by reason of their God. And the LORD said, I have 55 aj |