From: ngninja@baptist.email   
      
   Bible Reading for January 17   
      
   Genesis Chapter 48   
      
   1 And it came to pass after these things, that one told Joseph, Behold,   
   thy father is sick: and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.   
      
   2 And one told Jacob, and said, Behold, thy son Joseph cometh unto thee:   
   and Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed.   
      
   3 And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in   
   the land of Canaan, and blessed me,   
      
   4 And said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply   
   thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people; and will give this   
   land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession.   
      
   5 And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee   
   in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine; as   
   Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine.   
      
   6 And thy issue, which thou begettest after them, shall be thine, and   
   shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance.   
      
   7 And as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died by me in the land   
   of Canaan in the way, when yet there was but a little way to come unto   
   Ephrath: and I buried her there in the way of Ephrath; the same is   
   Bethlehem.   
      
   8 And Israel beheld Joseph's sons, and said, Who are these?   
      
   9 And Joseph said unto his father, They are my sons, whom God hath given   
   me in this place. And he said, Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I   
   will bless them.   
      
   10 Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he could not see.   
   And he brought them near unto him; and he kissed them, and embraced them.   
      
   11 And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face: and,   
   lo, God hath shewed me also thy seed.   
      
   12 And Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed   
   himself with his face to the earth.   
      
   13 And 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 unto him.   
      
   14 And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim's   
   head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's head,   
   guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn.   
      
   15 And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham   
   and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day,   
      
   16 The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my   
   name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and   
   let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.   
      
   17 And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head   
   of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father's hand, to   
   remove it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's head.   
      
   18 And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the   
   firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head.   
      
   19 And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he   
   also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his   
   younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a   
   multitude of nations.   
      
   20 And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless,   
   saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim   
   before Manasseh.   
      
   21 And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die: but God shall be with   
   you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers.   
      
   22 Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I   
   took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.   
      
   Genesis Chapter 49   
      
   1 And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together,   
   that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.   
      
   2 Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken   
   unto Israel your father.   
      
   3 Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my   
   strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:   
      
   4 Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to   
   thy father's bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.   
      
   5 Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their   
   habitations.   
      
   6 O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine   
   honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in   
   their selfwill they digged down a wall.   
      
   7 Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was   
   cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.   
      
   8 Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be   
   in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down   
   before thee.   
      
   9 Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he   
   stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse   
   him up?   
      
   10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between   
   his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the   
   people be.   
      
   11 Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice   
   vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of   
   grapes:   
      
   12 His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.   
      
   13 Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be for an   
   haven of ships; and his border shall be unto Zidon.   
      
   14 Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens:   
      
   15 And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and   
   bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute.   
      
   16 Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.   
      
   17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth   
   the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.   
      
   18 I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD.   
      
   19 Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last.   
      
   20 Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties.   
      
   21 Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words.   
      
   22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose   
   branches run over the wall:   
      
   23 The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:   
      
   24 But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made   
   strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the   
   shepherd, the stone of Israel:)   
      
   25 Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the   
   Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings   
   of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:   
      
   26 The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my   
   progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall   
   be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was   
   separate from his brethren.   
      
   27 Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the   
   prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.   
      
   28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it that their   
      
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    * Origin: you cannot sedate... all the things you hate (1:229/2)