Genesis 47–48; Psalm 25; Galatians 3

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Genesis 47–48

Jacob’s Family Settles in Goshen

So Joseph qwent in and told Pharaoh, My father and my brothers, with their flocks and herds and all that they possess, have come from the land of Canaan. They are now in rthe land of Goshen. And from among his brothers he took five men and spresented them to Pharaoh. Pharaoh said to his brothers, tWhat is your occupation? And they said to Pharaoh, uYour servants are shepherds, as our fathers were. They said to Pharaoh, vWe 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. And now, please let your servants dwell win the land of Goshen. Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, Your father and your brothers have come to you. The land of Egypt is before you. Settle your father and your brothers xin the best of the land. yLet them settle in the land of Goshen, and if you know any zable men among them, put them in charge of my livestock.

Then Joseph brought in Jacob his father and stood him before Pharaoh, aand Jacob blessed Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said to Jacob, How many are the days of the years of your life? And Jacob said to Pharaoh, The days of the years of my bsojourning are 130 years. cFew and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and dthey have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their bsojourning. 10 And Jacob eblessed Pharaoh and went out from the presence of Pharaoh. 11 Then 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 fRameses, gas Pharaoh had commanded. 12 And Joseph hprovided his father, his brothers, and all his father’s household with food, according to the number of their dependents.

Joseph and the Famine

13 Now there was no food in all the land, for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished by reason of the famine. 14 iAnd Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, in exchange for the grain that they bought. And Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house. 15 And 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. jWhy should we die before your eyes? For our money is gone. 16 And Joseph answered, Give your livestock, and I will give you food in exchange for your livestock, if your money is gone. 17 So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them food in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the herds, and the donkeys. He supplied them with food in exchange for all their livestock that year. 18 And when that year was ended, they came to him the following year and said to him, We will not hide from my lord that our money is all spent. The herds of livestock are my lord’s. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our land. 19 Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? kBuy us and our land for food, and we with our land will be servants to Pharaoh. And give us seed that we may live and not die, and that the land may not be desolate.

20 So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for all the Egyptians sold their fields, because the famine was severe on them. The land became Pharaoh’s. 21 As for the people, he made servants of them1 from one end of Egypt to the other. 22 lOnly the land of the priests he did not buy, for the priests had a fixed allowance from Pharaoh and lived on the allowance that Pharaoh gave them; therefore they did not sell their land.

23 Then Joseph said to the people, Behold, I have this day bought you and your land for Pharaoh. Now here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land. 24 And at the harvests you shall give a mfifth to Pharaoh, and four fifths shall be your own, as seed for the field and as food for yourselves and your households, and as food for your little ones. 25 And they said, You have saved our lives; nmay it please my lord, we will be servants to Pharaoh. 26 So Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt, and it stands to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth; othe land of the priests alone did not become Pharaoh’s.

27 Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, pin the land of Goshen. qAnd they gained possessions in it, and were fruitful and multiplied greatly. 28 And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. rSo the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were 147 years.

29 And swhen the time drew near that Israel must die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, If now tI have found favor in your sight, uput your hand under my thigh and vpromise to deal kindly and truly with me. wDo not bury me in Egypt, 30 but let me lie with my fathers. Carry me out of Egypt and xbury me in their burying place. He answered, I will do as you have said. 31 And he said, Swear to me; and he swore to him. Then yIsrael bowed himself upon the head of his bed.2

Jacob Blesses Ephraim and Manasseh

After this, Joseph was told, Behold, your father is ill. So he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. And it was told to Jacob, Your son Joseph has come to you. Then Israel summoned his strength and sat up in bed. And Jacob said to Joseph, zGod Almighty3 appeared to me at aLuz in the land of Canaan and blessed me, and said to me, Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make of you a company of peoples and will give this land to your offspring after you bfor an everlasting possession. And now your ctwo sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, dare mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are. And the children that you fathered after them shall be yours. They shall be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance. As for me, when I came from Paddan, to my sorrow eRachel died in the land of Canaan on the way, when there was still some distance4 to go to Ephrath, and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).

When Israel saw Joseph’s sons, he said, Who are these? Joseph said to his father, fThey are my sons, whom God has given me here. And he said, Bring them to me, please, that gI may bless them. 10 Now hthe eyes of Israel were dim with age, so that he could not see. So Joseph brought them near him, iand he kissed them and embraced them. 11 And Israel said to Joseph, jI never expected to see your face; and behold, God has let me see your offspring also. 12 Then Joseph removed them from his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth. 13 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 brought them near him. 14 kAnd Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim, who was the younger, and his left hand on the head of Manasseh, lcrossing his hands (for Manasseh was the firstborn). 15 And he blessed Joseph and said,

The God mbefore whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked,

the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day,

16  nthe angel who has oredeemed me from all evil, bless the boys;

and in them let pmy name be carried on, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac;

and let them qgrow into a multitude5 in the midst of the earth.

17 When Joseph saw that his father rlaid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him, and he took his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. 18 And Joseph said to his father, Not this way, my father; since this one is the firstborn, put your right hand on his head. 19 But his father refused and said, rI know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great. Nevertheless, shis younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude6 of nations. 20 So he blessed them that day, saying,

By you Israel will pronounce blessings, saying,

tGod make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh.

Thus he put Ephraim before Manasseh. 21 Then Israel said to Joseph, Behold, I am about to die, but uGod will be with you and will bring you again to the land of your fathers. 22 Moreover, I have given to vyou rather than to your brothers one mountain slope7 that I took from the hand of the Amorites with my sword and with my bow.


Psalm 25

Teach Me Your Paths

1 Of David.

To you, O Lord, I olift up my soul.

O my God, in you I ptrust;

qlet me not be put to shame;

rlet not my enemies exult over me.

Indeed, snone who wait for you shall be put to shame;

they shall be ashamed who are twantonly utreacherous.

vMake me to know your ways, O Lord;

teach me your paths.

Lead me in your wtruth and teach me,

for you are the God of my salvation;

for you I wait all the day long.

Remember your xmercy, O Lord, and your steadfast love,

yfor they have been from of old.

Remember not zthe sins of my youth or my transgressions;

according to your asteadfast love remember me,

for the sake of your goodness, O Lord!

bGood and upright is the Lord;

therefore he cinstructs sinners in the way.

He leads the humble in what is right,

and teaches the humble his way.

10  All the paths of the Lord are dsteadfast love and faithfulness,

for those who keep his covenant and his testimonies.

11  For your ename’s sake, O Lord,

pardon my guilt, for it is fgreat.

12  Who is the man who fears the Lord?

Him cwill he instruct in the way that he should choose.

13  His soul shall gabide in well-being,

and his hoffspring ishall inherit the land.

14  jThe friendship2 of the Lord is for those who fear him,

and he makes known to them his covenant.

15  My keyes are ever toward the Lord,

for he will lpluck my feet out of the net.

16  mTurn to me and be gracious to me,

for I am lonely and afflicted.

17  The troubles of my heart are enlarged;

bring me out of my distresses.

18  nConsider my affliction and my trouble,

and forgive all my sins.

19  Consider how many are my foes,

and with what violent hatred they hate me.

20  Oh, guard my soul, and deliver me!

oLet me not be put to shame, for I take refuge in you.

21  May integrity and uprightness preserve me,

for I wait for you.

22  pRedeem Israel, O God,

out of all his troubles.


Galatians 3

By Faith, or by Works of the Law?

O foolish Galatians! Who has bewitched you? zIt was before your eyes that Jesus Christ was publicly aportrayed as crucified. Let me ask you only this: bDid you receive the Spirit by works of the law or by chearing with faith? Are you so foolish? dHaving begun by the Spirit, are you now being perfected by1 the flesh? eDid you suffer2 so many things in vainif indeed it was in vain? Does he who supplies the Spirit to you and fworks miracles among you do so gby works of the law, or by hearing with faith just as hAbraham believed God, and it was counted to him as righteousness?

Know then that it is ithose of faith who are jthe sons of Abraham. And the Scripture, foreseeing that kGod would justify3 the Gentiles by faith, preached the gospel beforehand to Abraham, saying, lIn you shall all the nations be blessed. So then, those who are of faith are blessed along with Abraham, the man of faith.

The Righteous Shall Live by Faith

10 For all who rely on works of the law are munder a curse; for it is written, nCursed be everyone who does not oabide by all things written in the Book of the Law, and do them. 11 Now it is evident that pno one is justified before God by the law, for qThe righteous shall live by faith.4 12 But the law is not of faith, rather rThe one who does them shall live by them. 13 Christ sredeemed us from the curse of the law by becoming a curse for usfor it is written, tCursed is everyone who is hanged uon a tree 14 so that in Christ Jesus the blessing of Abraham might vcome to the Gentiles, so that wwe might receive xthe promised Spirit5 through faith.

The Law and the Promise

15 yTo give a human example, brothers:6 zeven with a man-made covenant, no one annuls it or adds to it once it has been ratified. 16 Now athe promises were made bto Abraham and to his offspring. It does not say, And to offsprings, referring to many, but referring to one, cAnd to your offspring, who is Christ. 17 This is what I mean: the law, which came d430 years afterward, does not annul a covenant previously ratified by God, so as eto make the promise void. 18 For if the inheritance comes by the law, it no longer comes by promise; but fGod gave it to Abraham by a promise.

19 Why then the law? gIt was added because of transgressions, huntil the offspring should come to whom the promise had been made, and it was iput in place through angels jby an intermediary. 20 Now kan intermediary implies more than one, but lGod is one.

21 Is the law then contrary to the promises of God? Certainly not! For mif a law had been given that could give life, then righteousness would indeed be by the law. 22 But the Scripture nimprisoned everything under sin, so that othe promise by faith in Jesus Christ might be given pto those who believe.

23 Now before faith came, we were held captive under the law, qimprisoned until the coming faith would be revealed. 24 So then, rthe law was our sguardian until Christ came, tin order that we might be justified by faith. 25 But now that faith has come, we are no longer under a guardian, 26 for in Christ Jesus uyou are all sons of God, through faith. 27 For as many of you as vwere baptized winto Christ have xput on Christ. 28 yThere is neither Jew nor Greek, there is neither slave7 nor free, zthere is no male and female, for you are all one in Christ Jesus. 29 And aif you are Christ’s, then you are Abraham’s offspring, bheirs according to promise.