• Gen 47:28-50:26
• 1Ki 2:1-12
• 1Pe 1:1-9

Vay’chi means “and he lived.”

Berĕshith (Genesis) 47:28-50:26

Berĕshith (Genesis) Chapter 47

²⁹ When the time drew near for Yasharal to die, he called his son Yosěph and said to him, “If I have found favor in your eyes, put your hand under my thigh and promise to show me kindness and faithfulness. Do not bury me in Mitsrayim, ³⁰ but when I lie down with my fathers, carry me out of Mitsrayim and bury me with them.”

Yosěph answered, “I will do as you have requested.”

³¹“Swear to me,” Ya‛aqoḇ said.

So Yosěph swore to him, and Yasharal bowed in worship at the head of his bed. 

Ya‛aqoḇ Blesses Ephraim and Menashsheh

Berĕshith (Genesis) Chapter 48

¹Some time later Yosěph was told, “Your father is ill.” So he set out with his two sons, Menashsheh and Ephrayim. ² When Ya‛aqoḇ was told, “Your son Yosěph has come to you,” Yasharal rallied his strength and sat up in bed.

³ Ya‛aqoḇ said to Yosěph, “Al Shadday appeared to me at Luz in the land of Kena‛an, and there He blessed me ⁴ and told me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you; I will make you a multitude of peoples, and will give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.’

⁵ And now your two sons born to you in Mitsrayim before I came to you here shall be reckoned as mine; Ephrayim and Menashsheh shall be mine, just as Re’uḇěn and Shim‛on are mine. ⁶ Any children born to you after them shall be yours, and they shall be called by the names of their brothers in the territory they inherit.

⁷ Now as for me, when I was returning from Paddan,  to my sorrow Raḥěl died along the way in the land of Kena‛an, some distance from Ephrath. So I buried her there beside the road to Ephrath” (that is, Běyth Leḥem).

⁸ When Yasharal saw the sons of Yosěph, he asked, “Who are these?”

⁹ Yosěph said to his father, “They are the sons Alahym has given me in this place.”

So Ya‛aqoḇ said, “Please bring them to me, that I may bless them.”

¹⁰ Now Yasharal’s eyesight was poor because of old age; he could hardly see. Yosěph brought his sons to him, and his father kissed them and embraced them.

¹¹ “I never expected to see your face again,” Yasharal said to Yosěph, “but now Alahym has let me see your children as well.”

¹² Then Yosěph removed his sons from his father’s knees and bowed facedown.

¹³ And Yosěph took both of them—with Ephrayim in his right hand toward Yasharal’s left hand, and Menashsheh in his left hand toward Yasharal’s right hand—and brought them close to him. ¹⁴ But Yasharal stretched out his right hand and put it on the head of Ephrayim, the younger; and crossing his hands, he put his left on Menashsheh’s head, although Menashsheh was the firstborn. ¹⁵ Then he blessed Yosěph and said:

“May the Alahym before whom my fathers Abraham and Yitsḥaq walked, the Alahym who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, ¹⁶ the Messenger who has redeemed me from all harm—may He bless these boys.

And may they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Yitsḥaq, and may they grow into a multitude upon the earth.”

¹⁷When Yosěph saw that his father had placed his right hand on Ephrayim’s head, he was displeased and took his father’s hand to move it from Ephrayim’s head to Menashsheh’s. ¹⁸ “Not so, my father!” Yosěph said. “This one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.”

¹⁹ But his father refused. “I know, my son, I know!” he said. “He too shall become a people, and he too shall be great; nevertheless, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations.”

²⁰ So that day Ya‛aqoḇ blessed them and said:

“By you shall Yasharal pronounce this blessing:

‘May Alahym make you like Ephrayim and Menashsheh.’ ”

So he put Ephrayim before Menashsheh.

²¹ Then Yasharal said to Yosěph, “Look, I am about to die, but Alahym will be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers. ²² And to you, as one who is above your brothers, I give the ridge of land  that I took from the Amorites with my sword and bow.”

Ya‛aqoḇ Blesses His Sons

Berĕshith (Genesis) Chapter 49

¹Then Ya‛aqoḇ called for his sons and said, “Gather around so that I can tell you what will happen to you in the days to come:

² Come together and listen, O sons of Ya‛aqoḇ; listen to your father Yasharal.

³ Re’uḇěn, you are my firstborn, my might,

and the beginning of my strength,

excelling in honor,

excelling in power.

⁴ Uncontrolled as the waters,

you do not excel,

because you went up to your father’s bed,

onto my couch and defiled it.

⁵ Shim‛on and Luiy are brothers;

their swords are weapons of violence.

⁶May I never enter their council;

may I never join their assembly.

For they kill men in their anger,

and hamstring oxen on a whim.

⁷ Cursed be their anger, for it is strong,

and their wrath, for it is cruel!

I will disperse them in Ya‛aqoḇ

and scatter them in Yasharal.

⁸ Yahuḏah, your brothers shall praise you.

Your hand shall be on the necks of your enemies;

your father’s sons shall bow down to you.

⁹ Yahuḏah 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?

¹⁰ The scepter will not depart from Yahuḏah,

nor the staff from between his feet, 

until Shiloh comes

and the allegiance of the nations is his.

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.

¹² His eyes are darker than wine,

and his teeth are whiter than milk.

¹³Zeḇulun shall dwell by the seashore

and become a harbor for ships;

his border shall extend to Tsiḏon.

¹⁴Yissasḵar is a strong donkey,

lying down between the sheepfolds. 

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.

¹⁶ Dan shall provide justice for his people

as one of the tribes of Yasharal.

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.

¹⁸ I await Your salvation, O 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 .

¹⁹Gaḏ will be attacked by raiders,

but he will attack their heels.

²⁰Ashěr’s food will be rich;

he shall provide royal delicacies.

²¹Naphtali is a doe set free

that bears beautiful fawns. 

²²Yosěph is a fruitful vine—

a fruitful vine by a spring,

whose branches scale the wall. 

²³The archers attacked him with bitterness;

they aimed at him in hostility.

²⁴Yet he steadied his bow,

and his strong arms were tempered

by the hands of the Mighty One of Ya‛aqoḇ,

in the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Yasharal,

²⁵by the Alahym 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.

²⁶The 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 Yosěph,

on the brow of the prince of his brothers.

²⁷Binyamin is a ravenous wolf;

in the morning he devours the prey,

in the evening he divides the plunder.”

²⁸These are the tribes of Yasharal, twelve in all, and this was what their father said to them. He blessed them, and he blessed each one with a suitable blessing.

The Death of Ya‛aqoḇ

²⁹Then Ya‛aqoḇ 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 Ḥittite. ³⁰The cave is in the field of Maḵpělah near Mamrě, in the land of Kena‛an. This is the field Aḇraham purchased from Ephron the Ḥittite as a burial site. ³¹ There Aḇraham and his wife Sarah are buried, there Yitsḥaq and his wife Riḇqah are buried, and there I buried Lě’ah. ³² The field and the cave that is in it were purchased from the Hittites.”

³³ When Ya‛aqoḇ had finished instructing his sons, he pulled his feet into the bed and breathed his last, and he was gathered to his people.

Mourning and Burial for Ya‛aqoḇ

Berĕshith (Genesis) Chapter 50

¹Then Yosěph fell upon his father’s face, wept over him, and kissed him.

² And Yosěph directed the physicians in his service to embalm his father Yasharal. So they embalmed him, ³ taking the forty days required to complete the embalming. And the Mitsrites mourned for him seventy days.

⁴ When the days of mourning had passed, Yosěph said to Pharaoh’s court, “If I have found favor in your eyes, please tell Pharaoh that ⁵ my father made me swear an oath when he said, ‘I am about to die. You must bury me in the tomb that I dug for myself in the land of Kena‛an.’ Now let me go and bury my father and then return.”

⁶ Pharaoh replied, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear to do.”

⁷ Then Yosěph went to bury his father, and all the servants of Pharaoh accompanied him—the elders of Pharaoh’s household and all the elders of the land of Mitsrayim— ⁸ along with all of Yosěph’s household, and his brothers, and his father’s household. Only their children and flocks and herds were left in Goshen.

⁹ Chariots and horsemen alike went up with him, and it was an exceedingly large procession. ¹⁰ When they reached the threshing floor of Ataḏ, which is across the Yarděn, they lamented and wailed loudly, and Yosěph mourned for his father seven days.

¹¹ When the Kena‛anites of the land saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Yarděn, they said, “This is a solemn ceremony of mourning by the Mitsrites.” Thus, the place across the Yarděn is called Aḇěl Mitsrayim.

¹² So Ya‛aqoḇ’s sons did as he had charged them. ¹³ They carried him to the land of Kena‛an and buried him in the cave at Maḵpělah in the field near Mamrě, which Aḇraham had purchased from Ephron the Ḥittite as a burial site.

¹⁴After Yosěph had buried his father, he returned to Mitsrayim with his brothers and all who had gone with him to bury his father.

Alahym’s Good Purposes

¹⁵When Yosěph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Yosěph bears a grudge? Then he will surely repay us for all the evil that we did to him.”

¹⁶ So they sent word to Yosěph, saying, “Before he died, your father commanded, ¹⁷ ‘This is what you are to say to Yosěph: I beg you, please forgive the transgression and sin of your brothers, for they did you wrong.’ So now, Yosěph, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the Alahym of your father.”

When their message came to him, Yosěph wept. ¹⁸ His brothers also came to him, bowed down before him, and said, “We are your slaves!”

¹⁹But Yosěph replied, “Do not be afraid. Am I in the place of Alahym? ²⁰ As for you, what you intended against me for evil, Alahym intended for good, in order to accomplish a day like this—to preserve the lives of many people. ²¹ Therefore do not be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones.” So Yosěph reassured his brothers and spoke kindly to them.

The Death of Yosěph

²² Now Yosěph and his father’s household remained in Mitsrayim, and Yosěph lived to the age of 110. ²³ He saw Ephrayim’s sons to the third generation, and indeed the sons of Maḵir, son of Menashsheh, were brought up on Yosěph’s knees.

²⁴Then Yosěph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but Alahym will surely visit you and bring you up from this land to the land He promised on oath to Aḇraham, Yitsḥaq, and Ya‛aqoḇ.” ²⁵ And Yosěph made the sons of Yasharal take an oath and said, “Alahym will surely attend to you, and then you must carry my bones up from this place.”

²⁶ So Yosěph died at the age of 110. And they embalmed his body and placed it in a coffin in Mitsrayim.

Melaḵim Aleph (1 Kings)  2:1-12

Melaḵim Aleph (1 Kings)  Chapter 2

Daud Instructs Shelomoh  (Psalm 37:1–40)

¹As the time drew near for Daud to die, he charged his son Shelomoh, ² “I am about to go the way of all the earth. So be strong and prove yourself a man. ³ And keep the charge of the 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 your Alahym to walk in His ways and to keep His statutes, commandments, ordinances, and decrees, as written in the Law of Moshe, so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you turn, ⁴ and so that 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄 may fulfill His promise to me: ‘If your descendants take heed to walk faithfully before Me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a man on the throne of Yasharal.’

⁵ Moreover, you know what Yo’aḇ son of Tseruyah did to me—what he did to Aḇněr son of Něr and Amasa son of Yether, the two commanders of the armies of Yasharal. He killed them in peacetime to avenge the blood of war. He stained with the blood of war the belt around his waist and the sandals on his feet. ⁶ So act according to your wisdom, and do not let his gray head go down to She’ol in peace.

⁷ But show loving devotion to the sons of Barzillai the Gil‛aḏite, and let them be among those who eat at your table, because they stood by me when I fled from your brother Absalom.

⁸ Keep an eye on Shim‛i son of Gěra, the Binyamite from Baḥurim who is with you. He called down bitter curses against me on the day I went to Maḥanayim, but when he came down to meet me at the Yarděn, I swore to him by 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤄: ‘I will never put you to the sword.’ ⁹ Now therefore, do not hold him guiltless, for you are a wise man. You know what you ought to do to him to bring his gray head down to She’ol in blood.”

Daud’s Reign and Death  (1 Chronicles 29:26–30)

¹⁰ Then Daud rested with his fathers and was buried in the City of Daud. ¹¹ The length of Daud’s reign over Yasharal was forty years—seven years in Hebron and thirty-three years in Yarushalayim.

¹² So Shelomoh sat on the throne of his father Daud, and his kingdom was firmly established.

Kĕpha Aleph (1 Peter) 1:1-9

Kĕpha Aleph (1 Peter) Chapter 1

Greeting

¹Kĕpha, an emissary of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤅𐤏 Messiah, to the elect who are exiles of the Dispersion throughout Pontos, Galatia, Kappadokia, Asia, and Bithunia, ²chosen, according to the foreknowledge of Alahym the Father and set apart by the Spirit for obedience to 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤅𐤏 Messiah and sprinkling by His blood:

Favor and shalum be yours in abundance.

Born Again to a Living Hope

³ Blessed be the Alahym and Father of our Master 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤅𐤏 Messiah! By His great favor He has given us new birth into a living hope through the resurrection of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤅𐤏 Messiah from the dead, ⁴ and into an inheritance that is imperishable, undefiled, and unfading, reserved in heaven for you, ⁵ who through faith are shielded by Alahym’s power for the deliverance that is ready to be revealed in the last time.

⁶ In this you greatly rejoice, though now for a little while you may have had to suffer grief in various trials, ⁷ so that the proven character of your faith—more precious than gold, which perishes even though refined by fire—may result in praise, esteem, and honor at the revelation of 𐤉𐤄𐤅𐤔𐤅𐤏 Messiah.

⁸ Though you have not seen Him, you love Him; and though you do not see Him now, you believe in Him and rejoice with an inexpressible and esteemed joy, ⁹ now that you are receiving the goal of your faith, the deliverance of your lives.