Jacob Blesses Ephraim and Manasseh

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

⁸When Israel saw Joseph's sons, he said, “Who are these?” ⁹Joseph 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.” ¹⁰Now 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. ¹¹And Israel said to Joseph, j“I never expected to see your face; and behold, God has let me see your offspring also.” ¹²Then Joseph removed them from his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth. ¹³And 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. ¹⁴kAnd 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). ¹⁵And he blessed Joseph and said,

“The God mbefore whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked,

the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day,

¹⁶nthe angel who has oredeemed me from all evil, bless the boys;

and in them let pmy name be carried on, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac;

and let them qgrow into a multitude3 in the midst of the earth.”

¹⁷When 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. ¹⁸And Joseph said to his father, “Not this way, my father; since this one is the firstborn, put your right hand on his head.” ¹⁹But 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.” ²⁰So he blessed them that day, saying,

“By you Israel will pronounce blessings, saying,

t‘God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh.’”

Thus he put Ephraim before Manasseh. ²¹Then 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. ²²Moreover, 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.”

Mary Visits Elizabeth

³⁹In those days Mary arose and went with haste into rthe hill country, to a town in Judah, ⁴⁰and she entered the house of Zechariah and greeted Elizabeth. ⁴¹And when Elizabeth heard the greeting of Mary, the baby leaped in her womb. And Elizabeth swas filled with the Holy Spirit, ⁴²and she exclaimed with a loud cry, t“Blessed are you among women, and ublessed is vthe fruit of your womb! ⁴³And why is this granted to me that the mother of wmy Lord should come to me? ⁴⁴For behold, when the sound of your greeting came to my ears, the baby in my womb leaped for joy. ⁴⁵And xblessed is she who believed that there would be7 a fulfillment of what was spoken to her from the Lord.”

Mary's Song of Praise: The Magnificat

⁴⁶And Mary said,

y“My zsoul amagnifies the Lord,

⁴⁷band my zspirit rejoices in cGod my Savior,

⁴⁸for dhe has looked on the humble estate of his servant.

For behold, from now on all generations ewill call me blessed;

⁴⁹for fhe who is mighty ghas done great things for me,

and hholy is his name.

⁵⁰And ihis mercy is for those who fear him

from generation to generation.

⁵¹jHe has shown strength with his arm;

khe has scattered the proud in the thoughts of their hearts;

⁵²jhe has brought down the mighty from their thrones

land exalted those of humble estate;

⁵³he has filled mthe hungry with good things,

and the rich nhe has sent away empty.

⁵⁴He has ohelped phis servant Israel,

qin remembrance of his mercy,

⁵⁵ras he spoke to our fathers,

qto Abraham and to his offspring forever.”

⁵⁶And Mary remained with her about three months and returned to her home.

The Birth of John the Baptist

⁵⁷Now the time came for Elizabeth to give birth, and she bore a son. ⁵⁸And her neighbors and relatives heard that the Lord shad shown great mercy to her, and they rejoiced with her. ⁵⁹And ton the eighth day they came to circumcise the child. And they would have called him Zechariah after his father, ⁶⁰but his mother answered, “No; uhe shall be called John.” ⁶¹And they said to her, “None of your relatives is called by this name.” ⁶²And vthey made signs to his father, inquiring what he wanted him to be called. ⁶³And he asked for wa writing tablet and wrote, u“His name is John.” And they all wondered. ⁶⁴xAnd immediately his mouth was opened and his tongue yloosed, and he spoke, zblessing God. ⁶⁵And afear came on all their neighbors. And all these things were talked about through all bthe hill country of Judea, ⁶⁶and all who heard them claid them up in their hearts, saying, “What then will this child be?” For dthe hand of the Lord was with him.

Zechariah's Prophecy

⁶⁷And his father Zechariah ewas filled with the Holy Spirit and fprophesied, saying,

⁶⁸g“Blessed be the Lord hGod of Israel,

for he has ivisited and jredeemed his people

⁶⁹and khas raised up la horn of salvation for us

min the house of his servant David,

⁷⁰nas ohe spoke by the mouth of his holy prophets from of old,

⁷¹pthat we should be saved from our enemies

and from the hand of all who hate us;

⁷²qto show the mercy promised to our fathers

and rto remember his holy scovenant,

⁷³tthe oath that he swore to our father Abraham, to grant us

⁷⁴that we, being delivered from the hand of our enemies,

might serve him uwithout fear,

⁷⁵vin holiness and righteousness before him wall our days.

⁷⁶And you, child, will be called xthe prophet of ythe Most High;

for zyou will go before the Lord to prepare his ways,

⁷⁷to give knowledge of salvation to his people

ain the forgiveness of their sins,

⁷⁸because of the btender mercy of our God,

whereby cthe sunrise shall dvisit us8 efrom on high

⁷⁹to fgive light to gthose who sit in darkness and in the shadow of death,

to guide our feet into hthe way of ipeace.”

⁸⁰jAnd the child grew and became strong in spirit, and he was kin the wilderness until the day of his public appearance to Israel.

Job Continues: Death Comes Soon to All

¹“Man who is kborn of a woman

is lfew of days and mfull of trouble.

²He comes out like na flower and owithers;

he flees like pa shadow and continues not.

³And do you qopen your eyes on such a one

and rbring me into judgment with you?

⁴Who can bring sa clean thing out of an unclean?

There is not one.

⁵Since his tdays are determined,

and uthe number of his months is with you,

and you have appointed his limits that he cannot pass,

⁶vlook away from him and leave him alone,1

that he may enjoy, like wa hired hand, his day.

⁷“For there is hope for a tree,

if it be cut down, that it will sprout again,

and that its shoots will not cease.

⁸Though its root grow old in the earth,

and xits stump die in the soil,

⁹yet at the scent of water it will bud

and put out ybranches like a young plant.

¹⁰But a man dies and is laid low;

man breathes his last, and zwhere is he?

¹¹aAs waters fail from a lake

and a river wastes away and dries up,

¹²so a man lies down and rises not again;

till bthe heavens are no more he will not awake

or be croused out of his sleep.

¹³Oh that you would dhide me in eSheol,

that you would dconceal me funtil your wrath be past,

that you would appoint me a set time, and remember me!

¹⁴If a man dies, shall he live again?

All the days of my gservice I would hwait,

till my renewal2 should come.

¹⁵You would icall, and I would answer you;

you would long for the jwork of your hands.

¹⁶For then you would knumber my steps;

you would not keep lwatch over my sin;

¹⁷my transgression would be msealed up in a bag,

and you would cover over my iniquity.

¹⁸“But the mountain falls and ncrumbles away,

and othe rock is removed from its place;

¹⁹the waters wear away the stones;

the torrents wash away the soil of the earth;

so you destroy the hope of man.

²⁰You prevail forever against him, and he passes;

you change his countenance, and send him away.

²¹His sons come to honor, and he pdoes not know it;

they are brought low, and he perceives it not.

²²He feels only the pain of his own body,

and he mourns only for himself.”

Proclaiming Christ Crucified

¹And I, when I came to you, brothers,1 xdid not come proclaiming to you ythe testimony2 of God with lofty speech or wisdom. ²For I decided to know nothing among you except zJesus Christ and him crucified. ³And aI was with you bin weakness and in fear and much trembling, ⁴and my speech and my message were not in plausible words of wisdom, but in demonstration of cthe Spirit and of power, ⁵so that your faith might not rest in the wisdom of men3 but din the power of God.

Wisdom from the Spirit

⁶Yet among ethe mature we do impart wisdom, although it is not fa wisdom of this age or of the rulers of this age, gwho are doomed to pass away. ⁷But we impart a secret and hidden wisdom of God, hwhich God decreed before the ages for our glory. ⁸None of ithe rulers of this age understood this, for jif they had, they would not have crucified kthe Lord of glory. ⁹But, as it is written,

l“What no eye has seen, nor ear heard,

nor the heart of man imagined,

what God has mprepared nfor those who love him”—

¹⁰these things oGod has revealed to us through the Spirit. For the Spirit searches everything, even pthe depths of God. ¹¹For who knows a person's thoughts qexcept the spirit of that person, which is in him? So also no one comprehends the thoughts of God except the Spirit of God. ¹²Now rwe have received not sthe spirit of the world, but the Spirit who is from God, that we might understand the things freely given us by God. ¹³And we impart this tin words not taught by human wisdom but taught by the Spirit, uinterpreting spiritual truths to those who are spiritual.4

¹⁴The natural person does not accept the things of the Spirit of God, for they are vfolly to him, and whe is not able to understand them because they are spiritually discerned. ¹⁵The xspiritual person judges all things, but is himself to be judged by no one. ¹⁶y“For who has understood the mind of the Lord so as to instruct him?” But zwe have the mind of Christ.