Bible Browser

Psalm 56

1  Have mercy on me, O God, for they trample over me; ♦︎
   all day long they assault and oppress me.
2  My adversaries trample over me all the day long; ♦︎
   many are they that make proud war against me.
3  In the day of my fear I put my trust in you, ♦︎
   in God whose word I praise.
4  In God I trust, and will not fear, ♦︎
   for what can flesh do to me?
5  All day long they wound me with words; ♦︎
   their every thought is to do me evil.
6  They stir up trouble; they lie in wait; ♦︎
   marking my steps, they seek my life.
7  Shall they escape for all their wickedness? ♦︎
   In anger, O God, cast the peoples down.
8  You have counted up my groaning;
      put my tears into your bottle; ♦︎
   are they not written in your book?
9  Then shall my enemies turn back
      on the day when I call upon you; ♦︎
   this I know, for God is on my side.
10  In God whose word I praise,
      in the Lord whose word I praise, ♦︎
   in God I trust and will not fear:
      what can flesh do to me?
11  To you, O God, will I fulfil my vows; ♦︎
   to you will I present my offerings of thanks,
12  For you will deliver my soul from death
      and my feet from falling, ♦︎
   that I may walk before God in the light of the living.

Jacob Blesses Joseph’s Sons

48After this Joseph was told, ‘Your father is ill.’ So he took with him his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim. ²When Jacob was told, ‘Your son Joseph has come to you’, he^* summoned his strength and sat up in bed. ³And Jacob said to Joseph, ‘God Almighty^* appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and he blessed me, ⁴and said to me, “I am going to make you fruitful and increase your numbers; I will make of you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your offspring after you for a perpetual holding.” ⁵Therefore your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are now mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are. ⁶As for the offspring born to you after them, they shall be yours. They shall be recorded under the names of their brothers with regard to their inheritance. ⁷For when I came from Paddan, Rachel, alas, died in the land of Canaan on the way, while there was still some distance to go to Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath’ (that is, Bethlehem).

8 When Israel saw Joseph’s sons, he said, ‘Who are these?’ ⁹Joseph said to his father, ‘They are my sons, whom God has given me here.’ And he said, ‘Bring them to me, please, that I may bless them.’ ¹⁰Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age, and he could not see well. So Joseph brought them near him; and he kissed them and embraced them. ¹¹Israel said to Joseph, ‘I did not expect to see your face; and here God has let me see your children also.’ ¹²Then Joseph removed them from his father’s knees,^* and he bowed himself with his face to the earth. ¹³Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand towards Israel’s left, and Manasseh in his left hand towards Israel’s right, and brought them near him. ¹⁴But 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, crossing his hands, for Manasseh was the firstborn. ¹⁵He blessed Joseph, and said,
‘The God before whom my ancestors Abraham and Isaac walked,
the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day,
¹⁶ the angel who has redeemed me from all harm, bless the boys;
and in them let my name be perpetuated, and the name of my ancestors Abraham and Isaac;
and let them grow into a multitude on the earth.’

17 When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him; so he took his father’s hand, to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. ¹⁸Joseph said to his father, ‘Not so, my father! Since this one is the firstborn, put your right hand on his head.’ ¹⁹But his father refused, and said, ‘I know, my son, I know; he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great. Nevertheless, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations.’ ²⁰So he blessed them that day, saying,
‘By you^* Israel will invoke blessings, saying,
“God make you^* like Ephraim and like Manasseh.” ’
So he put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh. ²¹Then Israel said to Joseph, ‘I am about to die, but God will be with you and will bring you again to the land of your ancestors. ²²I now give to you one portion^* more than to your brothers, the portion^* that I took from the hand of the Amorites with my sword and with my bow.’

Warnings from Israel’s History

10I do not want you to be unaware, brothers and sisters,^* that our ancestors were all under the cloud, and all passed through the sea, ²and all were baptized into Moses in the cloud and in the sea, ³and all ate the same spiritual food, ⁴and all drank the same spiritual drink. For they drank from the spiritual rock that followed them, and the rock was Christ. ⁵Nevertheless, God was not pleased with most of them, and they were struck down in the wilderness.

6 Now these things occurred as examples for us, so that we might not desire evil as they did. ⁷Do not become idolaters as some of them did; as it is written, ‘The people sat down to eat and drink, and they rose up to play.’ ⁸We must not indulge in sexual immorality as some of them did, and twenty-three thousand fell in a single day. ⁹We must not put Christ^* to the test, as some of them did, and were destroyed by serpents. ¹⁰And do not complain as some of them did, and were destroyed by the destroyer. ¹¹These things happened to them to serve as an example, and they were written down to instruct us, on whom the ends of the ages have come. ¹²So if you think you are standing, watch out that you do not fall. ¹³No testing has overtaken you that is not common to everyone. God is faithful, and he will not let you be tested beyond your strength, but with the testing he will also provide the way out so that you may be able to endure it.