Thursday in Season after Pentecost

1Verse 1. Then Jacob called for his sons and said, “Gather around so that I can tell you what will happen to you in the days to come: 2Verse 2. Come together and listen, O sons of Jacob; listen to your father Israel. 3Verse 3. Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power. 4Verse 4. Uncontrolled as the waters, you will no longer excel, because you went up to your father’s bed, onto my couch, and defiled it. 5Verse 5. Simeon and Levi are brothers; their swords are weapons of violence. 6Verse 6. May I never enter their council; may I never join their assembly. For they kill men in their anger, and hamstring oxen on a whim. 7Verse 7. Cursed be their anger, for it is strong, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will disperse them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel. 8Verse 8. Judah, your brothers shall praise you. Your hand shall be on the necks of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down to you. 9Verse 9. Judah is a young lion— my son, you return from the prey. Like a lion he crouches and lies down; like a lioness, who dares to rouse him? 10Verse 10. The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes and the allegiance of the nations is his. 11Verse 11. He ties his donkey to the vine, his colt to the choicest branch. He washes his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. 12Verse 12. His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth are whiter than milk. 13Verse 13. Zebulun shall dwell by the seashore and become a harbor for ships; his border shall extend to Sidon. 14Verse 14. Issachar is a strong donkey, lying down between the sheepfolds. 15Verse 15. He saw that his resting place was good and that his land was pleasant, so he bent his shoulder to the burden and submitted to labor as a servant. 16Verse 16. Dan shall provide justice for his people as one of the tribes of Israel. 17Verse 17. He will be a snake by the road, a viper in the path that bites the horse’s heels so that its rider tumbles backward. 18Verse 18. I await Your salvation, O LORD. 19Verse 19. Gad will be attacked by raiders, but he will attack their heels. 20Verse 20. Asher’s food will be rich; he shall provide royal delicacies. 21Verse 21. Naphtali is a doe set free that bears beautiful fawns. 22Verse 22. Joseph is a fruitful vine— a fruitful vine by a spring, whose branches scale the wall. 23Verse 23. The archers attacked him with bitterness; they aimed at him in hostility. 24Verse 24. Yet he steadied his bow, and his strong arms were tempered by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, in the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel, 25Verse 25. by the God of your father who helps you, and by the Almighty who blesses you, with blessings of the heavens above, with blessings of the depths below, with blessings of the breasts and womb. 26Verse 26. The blessings of your father have surpassed the blessings of the ancient mountains and the bounty of the everlasting hills. May they rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the prince of his brothers. 27Verse 27. Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning he devours the prey, in the evening he divides the plunder.” 28Verse 28. These are the tribes of Israel, twelve in all, and this was what their father said to them. He blessed them, and he blessed each one with a suitable blessing. 29Verse 29. Then Jacob instructed them, “I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite. 30Verse 30. The cave is in the field of Machpelah near Mamre, in the land of Canaan. This is the field Abraham purchased from Ephron the Hittite as a burial site. 31Verse 31. There Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah are buried, and there I buried Leah. 32Verse 32. The field and the cave that is in it were purchased from the Hittites.” 33Verse 33. When Jacob had finished instructing his sons, he pulled his feet into the bed and breathed his last, and he was gathered to his people.

11Verse 11. Again the word of the LORD came to me, saying, 12Verse 12. “Son of man, take up a lament for the king of Tyre and tell him that this is what the Lord GOD says: ‘You were the seal of perfection, full of wisdom and perfect in beauty. 13Verse 13. You were in Eden, the garden of God. Every kind of precious stone adorned you: ruby, topaz, and diamond, beryl, onyx, and jasper, sapphire, turquoise, and emerald. Your mountings and settings were crafted in gold, prepared on the day of your creation. 14Verse 14. You were anointed as a guardian cherub, for I had ordained you. You were on the holy mountain of God; you walked among the fiery stones. 15Verse 15. From the day you were created you were blameless in your ways— until wickedness was found in you. 16Verse 16. By the vastness of your trade, you were filled with violence, and you sinned. So I drove you in disgrace from the mountain of God, and I banished you, O guardian cherub, from among the fiery stones. 17Verse 17. Your heart grew proud of your beauty; you corrupted your wisdom because of your splendor; so I cast you to the earth; I made you a spectacle before kings. 18Verse 18. By the multitude of your iniquities and the dishonesty of your trading you have profaned your sanctuaries. So I made fire come from within you, and it consumed you. I reduced you to ashes on the ground in the eyes of all who saw you. 19Verse 19. All the nations who know you are appalled over you. You have come to a horrible end and will be no more.’”