Study Desk

But Joseph was upset when he saw that his father placed his right hand on Ephraim's head. So Joseph lifted it to move it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head.

So Jacob blessed the boys that day with this blessing: "The people of Israel will use your names when they give a blessing. They will say, ‘May God make you as prosperous as Ephraim and Manasseh.'" In this way, Jacob put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh.

Dan will be a snake beside the road, a poisonous viper along the path that bites the horse's hooves so its rider is thrown off.

Then Joseph told the physicians who served him to embalm his father's body; so Jacob was embalmed.

Tell him that my father made me swear an oath. He said to me, ‘Listen, I am about to die. Take my body back to the land of Canaan, and bury me in the tomb I prepared for myself.' So please allow me to go and bury my father. After his burial, I will return without delay."

So Joseph went up to bury his father. He was accompanied by all of Pharaoh's officials, all the senior members of Pharaoh's household, and all the senior officers of Egypt.

So Jacob's sons did as he had commanded them.

So they sent this message to Joseph: "Before your father died, he instructed us

to say to you: ‘Please forgive your brothers for the great wrong they did to you—for their sin in treating you so cruelly.' So we, the servants of the God of your father, beg you to forgive our sin." When Joseph received the message, he broke down and wept.

You intended to harm me, but God intended it all for good. He brought me to this position so I could save the lives of many people.

No, don't be afraid. I will continue to take care of you and your children." So he reassured them by speaking kindly to them.

So Joseph and his brothers and their families continued to live in Egypt. Joseph lived to the age of 110.

So Joseph died at the age of 110. The Egyptians embalmed him, and his body was placed in a coffin in Egypt.

But their descendants, the Israelites, had many children and grandchildren. In fact, they multiplied so greatly that they became extremely powerful and filled the land.

So the Egyptians made the Israelites their slaves. They appointed brutal slave drivers over them, hoping to wear them down with crushing labor. They forced them to build the cities of Pithom and Rameses as supply centers for the king.

So the Egyptians worked the people of Israel without mercy.

So the king of Egypt called for the midwives. "Why have you done this?" he demanded. "Why have you allowed the boys to live?"

"The Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women," the midwives replied. "They are more vigorous and have their babies so quickly that we cannot get there in time."

So God was good to the midwives, and the Israelites continued to multiply, growing more and more powerful.

"Yes, do!" the princess replied. So the girl went and called the baby's mother.