Parashat Vayechi
Torah Portion: Genesis 47:28 - 50:26

 

1: 47:28-48:9 (13 Verses)
2: 48:10-16 (7 Verses)
3: 48:17-22 (6 Verses)
4: 49:1-18 (18 Verses)
5: 49:19-26 (8 Verses)
6: 49:27-50:20 (27 Verses)
7: 50:21-26 (6 Verses)

Haftarah: I Kings 2:1 - 2:12

 

1stReader: 47:28-48:9 (13 Verses)

 

28      Supplanter (translated Jacob in most English versions and Ya’acov in Hebrew renderings) lived in Double Straits (or Egypt , Mitsrayim in Hebrew) seventeen years, and the years of his life were a hundred and forty-seven.

29      When the time drew near for Persevere as Mighty (or [Israel] Yisrael) to die, he called for his son Eternal Has Added (Joseph or Yowceph) and said to him, "If I have found favor in your eyes, put your hand under my thigh and promise that you will show me kindness and faithfulness. Do not bury me in Double Straits,

30      but when I rest with my ancestors carry me out of Double Straits and bury me where they are buried." In response he said "I will do as you say."

31      "Swear tome," he said. Then Eternal Has Added openly vowed this to him, and Persevere as Mighty bent to worshiped at the head of his bed.

 

CHAPTER 48

 

1        Some time later Eternal Has Added was told, "Your father is ill." So he took his two sons Amnesia (or Manasseh) and Doubly Fruitful (or Ephraim) along with him.

2        When Supplanter was told, "Your son Eternal Has Added has come to you,"Persevere as Mighty rallied his strength and sat up on the bed.

3        Supplante said to Eternal Has Added, "Mighty Almighty appeared to me at Almond Tree in the Lowlands (or Canaan or Kena’aniy in Hebrew), and there He blessed me

4        and said tome, 'I am going to make you fruitful and will increase your numbers. I will make you a community of people, and I will give this land as an everlasting possession to your descendants after you.'

5        "Now then, your two sons born to you in Double Straits before I came to you here will be reckoned as mine; Doubly Fruitful and Amnesia will be mine, just as Behold a Son and Heard [with awareness] (or Shim’own) are mine.

6        Any children born to you after them will be yours; in the territory they inherit they will be reckoned under the names of their brothers.

7        As I was returning from High Field, to my sorrow Ewe died in the Lowlands, while we were still on the way, a little distance from Fruitfulness. So I buried her there beside the road to Fruitfulness" (this is called the House of Bread or Bethlehem ).

8        When Persevere as Mighty saw the sons of Eternal Has Added, he asked, "Who are these?"

9        "They are the sons Mighty has given me here," Eternal Has Added replied to his father. Then Persevere as Mighty said, "Bring them to me so I may bless them."

 

2nd Reader: 48:10-16 (7 Verses)

10      Now Persevere as Mighty's eyes were failing because of old age, and he could hardly see. So Eternal Has Added brought his sons close to him, and his father kissed them and embraced them.

11      Persevere as Mighty said to Eternal Has Added, "I never expected to see your face again, and now Mighty has allowed me to see your children as well."

12      Then Eternal Has Added removed them from Persevere as Mighty's knees and bowed down with his face to the ground.

13      And Eternal Has Added took both of them, Doubly Fruitful on his right toward Persevere as Mighty's left hand and Amnesia on his left toward Persevere as Mighty's right hand, and brought them close to him.

14      But Persevere as Mighty reached out his right hand and put it on the head of Doubly Fruitful, although he was the younger, and crossing his arms, he put his left hand on Amnesia's head, even though Amnesia was the firstborn.

15      Then he blessed Eternal Has Added and said, "May the Mighty before whom my fathers, Father of Nations (Father of Nations) and Laughter (Laughter) walked, the Mighty who has been my shepherd all my life to this day,

16      the Messenger who has delivered me from all harm may he bless these boys. May they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Father of Nations and Laughter, and may they increase greatly upon the surface of the ground."

 

3rd Reader:48:17-22 (6 Verses)

 

17      When Eternal Has Added saw his father placing his right hand on the head of Doubly Fruitful he was displeased; so he took hold of his father's hand to move it from the head of Doubly Fruitful to the head of Amnesia.

18      Eternal Has Added or Yowceph said to him, "No, my father, this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head."

19      But his father refused and said, "I know, my son, I know. He too will become a people, and he too will become great. Nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become a group of nations."

20      He blessed them that day and said, "In Your name will Persevere as Mighty pronounce this blessing: 'May Mighty make you like Doubly Fruitful and Amnesia.'" So he put Doubly Fruitful ahead of Amnesia.

21      Then Persevere as Mighty said to Eternal Has Added, "I am about to die, but Mighty will be with you and take you back to the land of your ancestors.

22      And to you, as one who is over your brothers, I give the ridge of land I took from the Braggarts (or Amorites) with my sword and my bow."

 

CHAPTER 49

4thReader: 49:1-18 (18 Verses)

 

1        Then Supplanter called for his sons and said: "Gather around so I can tell you what will happen to you in the latter days.

2        "Now gather and hear with discernment, sons of Supplanter; hear well your father, Persevere as Mighty.

3        "Behold a Son (called Reuben), you are my firstborn, my might, the first sign of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power.

4        Turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel, for you went up onto your father's bed, onto my couch and defiled it.

5        "Hearing with awareness (or Shim’own) and Attached (or Levi) are brothers-- their swords are weapons of violence.

6        Let me not enter their council, let me not join their assembly, for they have killed men in their anger and uproot the barriers.

7        Cursed be their anger, so fierce, and their fury, so cruel! I will assign them in Supplanter and disperse them in Persevere as Mighty.

8        "Praised (Judah or Yahudah), your brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; your father's sons will bow down to you.

9        You are a lion's cub, O Praised; you return from the prey, my son. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, and likened to a lioness-- who dares to rouse him?

10      His authority will not depart from Praised, nor governance from beneath his feet, except there come tranquility, for the cleansing of the nations.

11      He will bind his burden to the choice vine, his stability treads the wine; he will tread his garments in the rich blood of the choice fruit, his coverings in the blood of intoxication.

12      His eyes will be darker than wine, his teeth whiter than milk.

13      "Exalted (or Zebulun) will live by the seashore and become a haven for ships; his border will extend toward Sidon (that stronghold of the Phoenician masters of the sea).

14      "Recompense( called Issachar or Yissaskar) is a rawboned ass lying down in the midst of two stalls.

15      When he sees how good is his resting place and how pleasant is his land, he will bend his shoulder to the burden and submit to forced labor.

16      "Judge (or Dan) will provide justice for his people as one of the tribes of Persevere as Mighty (Yisrael).

17      Judge will be a serpent by the roadside, a viper along the path that bites the horse's heels so that its rider tumbles backward.

18      "I look for Your deliverance, ETERNAL.

 

5th Reader: 49:19-26 (8 Verses)

19      "Troop will be attacked by a band of raiders, but he will attack them at their heels.

20      "Happy's (Asher’s) food will be rich; he will provide delicacies fit for a king.

21      " Anxious (Naphtali) is a doe set free that bears beautiful fawns.

22      "Eternal Has Added is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine near a spring, whose branches climb over a wall.

23      With bitterness archers attacked him; they shot at him with hostility.

24      But his bow remained steady, his strong arms stayed limber, because of the hand of the Mighty One of Supplanter, because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Persevere as Mighty,

25      because of your father's Mighty, who helps you, because of the Almighty, who blesses you with blessings of the heavens above, blessings of the deep that lies below,blessings of the breast and womb.

26      Your father's blessings are greater than the blessings of the ancient mountains, than the bounty of the age-old hills. Let all these rest on the head of Eternal Has Added, on the brow of the prince among his brothers.

 

6th  Reader: 49:27-50:20(27 Verses)

27      " Son of the Right (Binyamiyn), a wolf; in the morning he feeds on the prey, in the evening he distribute the spoils."

28      All these are the twelve tribes of Persevere as Mighty, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them, giving each the blessing appropriate to him.

29      Then he gave them these instructions: "I am about to be removed to my peoples. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Fawn-like the Terrorist,

30      the cave in the field of the fold, near The Oak in Lowlands, which Father of Nations bought as a burial place from Fawn-like the Terrorist, along with the field.

31      There Father of Nations and Noblewoman, his woman, were buried, there Laughter and his Woman, Dazes were buried, and there I buried Weary.

32      The field and the cave in it were bought from the Terrorists."

33      When Supplanter had finished giving instructions to his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed, breathed his last and was gathered to his people.

 

CHAPTER 50

1        Eternal Has Added threw himself upon his father and wept over him and kissed him.

2        Then Eternal Has Added directed the physicians in his service to embalm his father Persevere as Mighty. So the physicians embalmed him,

3        taking a full forty days, for that was the time required for embalming. And the people of Double Straits mourned for him seventy days.

4        When the days of mourning had passed, Eternal Has Added said to the court of Big House, If I have found favor in your eyes, go and speak to Big House for me. Tell him,

5        'My father made me swear an oath and said, "I am about to die; bury me in the tomb I dug for myself in the Lowlands ." Now let me go up and bury my father; then I will return.'"

6        Big House said, "Then go up and bury your father, as he made you swear to do."

7        So Eternal Has Added went up to bury his father. All Big House's officials accompanied him--the dignitaries of his court and all the dignitaries of Double Straits--

8        besides all the members of Eternal Has Added's household and his brothers and those belonging to his father's household. Only their children and their flocks and herds were left in Seer.

9        Chariots and horsemen also went up with him. It was a very large company.

10      When they reached the threshing floor of Thorn, near the Descender, they lamented loudly and bitterly; and there Eternal Has Added observed a seven-day period of mourning for his father.

11      When the Canaanites who lived there saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Thorn Brier, they said, "The people of Double Straits are holding a solemn ceremony of mourning." That is why that place near the Descender is called The Meadows of Double Straits.

12      So Supplanter's sons did as he had commanded them:

13      They carried him to the Lowlands and buried him in the cave in the field of Portion, near great Oak, which Father of Nations had bought as a burial place from Fawn-like, the Terrorist, along with the field.

14      After burying his father, Eternal Has Added returned to Double Straits, together with his brothers and all the others who had gone with him to bury his father.

15      When Eternal Has Added's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, "What if Eternal Has Added holds a grudge against us and pays us back for all the wrongs we did to him?"

16      So they sent word to Eternal Has Added, saying, "Your father left these instructions before he died:

17      'This is what you are to say to Eternal Has Added: I ask you to forgive your brothers the sins and the wrongs they committed in treating you so badly.' So please now forgive the sins of the servants of the Mighty of your father." When their message came before him, Eternal Has Added, wept.

18      His brothers then came and threw themselves down before him. "We are your slaves," they said.

19      But Eternal Has Added said to them, "Don't be afraid. Am I a replacement for Mighty?

20      You intended to harm me, but Mighty intended it for good to accomplish what is now being done, the saving of many lives.

 

7: 50:21-26 (6 Verses)

 

21      So then, do not be fearful. I will provide for you and your children." And he reassured them and spoke kindly to them.

22      Eternal Has Added stayed in Double Straits, along with all of his father's family. He lived a hundred and ten years

23      and saw the third generation of the children of Doubly Fruitful. Also the children of Seller son of Amnesia were placed at birth on Eternal Has Added's knees.

24      Then Eternal Has Added said to his brothers, "I am about to die. But Mighty will surely come to your aid and take you up out of this land to the land he promised on oath to Father of Nations, Laughter and Supplanter."

25      And Eternal Has Added made the sons of Persevere as Mighty swear an oath and said, "Mighty will surely come to your aid, and then you must carry my bones up from this place."

26      So Eternal Has Added died at the age of a hundred and ten. And after they embalmed him, he was placed in an Ark in Double Straits.

Haftarah: I Kings 2:1 - 2:12

CHAPTER 2

 

1        When the time drew near for David to die, he gave a charge to Solomon his son.

2        "I am about to go the way of all earthlings," he said. "So be strong, show yourself a man,

3        and observe what the ETERNAL your Mighty requires: Walk in his ways, and keep His decrees and commands, His laws and requirements, as written in the Law of Moshe, so that you may prosper in all you do and wherever you go,

4        and that the ETERNAL may keep His promise to me: 'If your descendants watch how they live, and if they walk faithfully before me with all their heart and soul, you will never fail to have a man on the throne of Persevere as Mighty (Yisrael).'

5        "Now you yourself know what Fathered by Eternal, son of Balm did to me-- what he did to the two commanders of Persevere as Mighty's armies, Father of Light and son of Burden and son of Abundance. He killed them, shedding their blood in peace time as if in battle, and with that blood stained the belt around his waist and the sandals on his feet.

6        Deal with him according to your wisdom, but do not let his gray head go down to the grave in peace.

7        "But show kindness to the sons of Iron heart of Rocky Mound and let them be among those who eat at your table. They stood by me when I fled from your brother Father Is Peace.

8        "And remember, you have with you Renowned  son of Kernel, (of the tribe) of the Son of the Right from The Village of Select, who called down bitter curses on me the day I went to Double Camp. When he came down to meet me at the Descender, I swore to him by ETERNAL: 'I will not put you to death by the sword.'

9        But do not consider him innocent now. You are a man of wisdom; you will know what to do to him. Bring his gray head down to the grave in blood."

10      Then Beloved (Daviyd) rested with his fathers and was concealed in the protection of Beloved.

11      He had reigned forty years over Persevere as Mighty-- seven years in Hebron and thirty-three in the Teachings of Peace.

12      So Solomon sat on the throne of his father, Beloved, and his rule was firmly established.

 

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