Psalm 115; Genesis 49

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Psalm 115

To Your Name Give Glory

aNot to us, O Lord, not to us, but to your name give glory,

bfor the sake of your steadfast love and your faithfulness!

Why should the nations say,

cWhere is their God?

dOur God is in the heavens;

ehe does all that he pleases.

fTheir idols are silver and gold,

gthe work of human hands.

They have mouths, hbut do not speak;

eyes, but do not see.

They have ears, but do not hear;

noses, but do not smell.

They have hands, but do not feel;

feet, but do not walk;

and they do not make a sound in their throat.

iThose who make them become like them;

so do all who trust in them.

O jIsrael,1 ktrust in the Lord!

He is their lhelp and their shield.

10  O jhouse of Aaron, trust in the Lord!

He is their help and mtheir shield.

11  You nwho fear the Lord, trust in the Lord!

He is their help and their shield.

12  The Lord has remembered us; he will bless us;

he will bless othe house of Israel;

he will bless othe house of Aaron;

13  he will pbless those who fear the Lord,

qboth the small and the great.

14  May the Lord rgive you increase,

you and your children!

15  May syou be blessed by the Lord,

twho made heaven and earth!

16  The heavens are the Lord’s heavens,

but the earth he has given to the children of man.

17  uThe dead do not praise the Lord,

nor do any who go down into vsilence.

18  But wwe will bless the Lord

from this time forth and forevermore.

xPraise the Lord!


Genesis 49

Jacob Blesses His Sons

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

Assemble and listen, O sons of Jacob,

listen to Israel your father.

Reuben, you are ymy firstborn,

my might, and the zfirstfruits of my strength,

preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power.

Unstable as water, you shall not have preeminence,

because you awent up to your father’s bed;

then you defiled ithe went up to my couch!

bSimeon and Levi are brothers;

weapons cof violence are their swords.

Let my soul come not into their council;

dO my glory, ebe not joined to their company.

For in their anger they killed men,

and in their willfulness they fhamstrung oxen.

Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce,

and their wrath, for it is cruel!

I will gdivide them in Jacob

and scatter them in Israel.

Judah, hyour brothers shall praise you;

iyour hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;

jyour father’s sons shall bow down before you.

Judah is ka lion’s cub;

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

lHe stooped down; he crouched as a lion

and as a lioness; who dares rouse him?

10  The mscepter shall not depart from Judah,

nor the ruler’s staff nfrom between his feet,

until tribute comes to him;1

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 oeyes are darker than wine,

and his teeth whiter than milk.

13  pZebulun shall dwell at the qshore of the sea;

he shall become a haven for ships,

and his border shall be at Sidon.

14  rIssachar is a strong donkey,

crouching between the sheepfolds.2

15  He saw that a resting place was good,

and that the land was pleasant,

so he bowed his shoulder to bear,

and sbecame a servant at forced labor.

16  tDan shall ujudge his people

as one of the tribes of Israel.

17  Dan vshall 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 wwait for your salvation, O Lord.

19  xRaiders shall raid yGad,3

but he shall raid at their heels.

20  zAsher’s food shall be rich,

and he shall yield royal delicacies.

21  aNaphtali is a doe let loose

that bears beautiful fawns.4

22  Joseph is ba fruitful bough,

a fruitful bough by a spring;

his branches run over the wall.5

23  The archers cbitterly attacked him,

shot at him, and harassed him severely,

24  yet dhis bow remained unmoved;

his arms6 were made agile

by the hands of the eMighty One of Jacob

(from there is fthe Shepherd,7 gthe Stone of Israel),

25  hby the God of your father who will help you,

by ithe Almighty8 jwho 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 kof the everlasting hills.9

May they be lon the head of Joseph,

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

27  mBenjamin is a ravenous wolf,

in the morning devouring the prey

and at evening ndividing the spoil.

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.