Jacob Blesses Ephraim and Manasseh

1 After this, Joseph was told, “Behold, your father is ill.” So he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. 2 And it was told to Jacob, “Your son Joseph has come to you.” Then Israel summoned his strength and sat up in bed. 3 And Jacob said to Joseph, ^z“God Almighty¹ appeared to me at ^aLuz in the land of Canaan and blessed me, 4 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.’ 5 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. 6 And the children that you fathered after them shall be yours. They shall be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance. 7 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 distance² 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, ^f“They 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, ^j“I 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,

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, ^r“I 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 multitude⁴ of nations.” 20 So he blessed them that day, saying,

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 slope⁵ that I took from the hand of the Amorites with my sword and with my bow.”

Jacob Blesses His Sons

1 ^wThen Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you what shall happen to you ^xin days to come.

Jacob’s Death and Burial

28 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 ^ogathered to my people; ^pbury me with my fathers ^qin 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, ^rwhich Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place. 31 ^sThere they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife. There ^tthey 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 ^uwas gathered to his people.

The Parable of the Wedding Feast

1 And again Jesus ^ospoke to them in parables, saying, 2 ^p“The kingdom of heaven may be compared to a king who gave ^qa wedding feast for his son, 3 and ^rsent his servants¹ to call those who were invited to the wedding feast, but they would not come. 4 ^sAgain he sent other servants, saying, ‘Tell those who are invited, “See, I have prepared my ^tdinner, ^umy oxen and my fat calves have been slaughtered, and everything is ready. Come to the wedding feast.”’ 5 But ^vthey paid no attention and went off, one to his farm, another to his business, 6 while the rest seized his servants, ^wtreated them shamefully, and ^xkilled them. 7 The king was angry, and he sent his troops and ^ydestroyed those murderers and burned their city. 8 Then he said to his servants, ‘The wedding feast is ready, but those invited were not ^zworthy. 9 Go therefore to the main roads and invite to the wedding feast as many as you find.’ 10 And those servants went out into the roads and ^bgathered all whom they found, both bad and good. So the wedding hall was filled with guests.

11 “But when the king came in to look at the guests, he saw there ^ca man who had no wedding garment. 12 And he said to him, ^d‘Friend, how did you get in here without a wedding garment?’ And he was speechless. 13 Then the king said to the attendants, ‘Bind him hand and foot and ^ecast him into the outer darkness. In that place ^ethere will be weeping and gnashing of teeth.’ 14 For many are ^fcalled, but few are ^fchosen.”

Paying Taxes to Caesar

15 ^gThen the Pharisees went and plotted how ^hto entangle him in his words. 16 And they sent ⁱtheir disciples to him, along with ^jthe Herodians, saying, “Teacher, ^kwe know that you are true and teach ^lthe way of God truthfully, and you do not care about anyone’s opinion, for ^myou are not swayed by appearances.² 17 Tell us, then, what you think. Is it lawful to pay ⁿtaxes to ^oCaesar, or not?” 18 But Jesus, aware of their malice, said, “Why ^pput me to the test, you hypocrites? 19 Show me the coin for the tax.” And they brought him a denarius.³ 20 And Jesus said to them, “Whose likeness and inscription is this?” 21 They said, “Caesar’s.” Then he said to them, ^q“Therefore render to Caesar the things that are Caesar’s, and to God the things that are God’s.” 22 When they heard it, they marveled. And they ^rleft him and went away.

Sadducees Ask About the Resurrection

23 The same day ^sSadducees came to him, ^twho say that there is no resurrection, and they asked him a question, 24 saying, “Teacher, Moses said, ^u‘If a man dies having no children, his brother must marry the widow and raise up offspring for his brother.’ 25 Now there were seven brothers among us. The first married and died, and having no offspring left his wife to his brother. 26 So too the second and third, down to the seventh. 27 After them all, the woman died. 28 In the resurrection, therefore, of the seven, whose wife will she be? For they all had her.”

29 But Jesus answered them, “You are wrong, ^vbecause you know neither the Scriptures nor ^wthe power of God. 30 For in the resurrection they neither ^xmarry nor ^xare given in marriage, but are like angels in heaven. 31 And as for the resurrection of the dead, ^yhave you not read what was said to you by God: 32 ^z‘I am the God of Abraham, and the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob’? He is not God of the dead, but of the living.” 33 And when the crowd heard it, ^athey were astonished at his teaching.

The Great Commandment

34 ^bBut when the Pharisees heard that he had silenced ^cthe Sadducees, they gathered together. 35 ^dAnd one of them, ^ea lawyer, asked him a question ^fto test him. 36 “Teacher, which is the great commandment in the Law?” 37 And he said to him, ^g“You shall love the Lord your God with all your heart and with all your soul and with all your mind. 38 This is the great and first commandment. 39 And ^ha second is like it: ⁱYou shall love your neighbor as yourself. 40 ^jOn these two commandments depend ^kall the Law and the Prophets.”

Whose Son Is the Christ?

41 ^lNow while the Pharisees ^mwere gathered together, Jesus asked them a question, 42 saying, “What do you think about ⁿthe Christ? Whose son is he?” They said to him, ⁿ“The son of David.” 43 He said to them, “How is it then that David, ^oin the Spirit, calls him Lord, saying,

45 If then David calls him Lord, ^qhow is he his son?” 46 ^rAnd no one was able to answer him a word, ^snor from that day did anyone dare to ask him any more questions.