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² Assemble and hear, O sons of Jacob;
   listen to Israel your father.

³ ‘Reuben, you are my firstborn,
   my might and the first fruits of my vigour,
   excelling in rank and excelling in power.
⁴ Unstable as water, you shall no longer excel
   because you went up on to your father’s bed;
   then you defiled it—you^* went up on to my couch!

⁵ ‘Simeon and Levi are brothers;
   weapons of violence are their swords.
⁶ May I never come into their council;
   may I not be joined to their company—
for in their anger they killed men,
   and at their whim they hamstrung oxen.
⁷ Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce,
   and their wrath, for it is cruel!
I will divide them in Jacob,
   and scatter them in Israel.

⁸ ‘Judah, your brothers shall praise you;
   your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;
   your father’s sons shall bow down before you.
⁹ Judah is a lion’s whelp;
   from the prey, my son, you have gone up.
He crouches down, he stretches out like a lion,
   like a lioness—who dares rouse him up?
¹⁰ The sceptre shall not depart from Judah,
   nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
until tribute comes to him;^*
   and the obedience of the peoples is his.

Psalm 72

Prayer for Guidance and Support for the King

Of Solomon.
¹ Give the king your justice, O God,
   and your righteousness to a king’s son.
² May he judge your people with righteousness,
   and your poor with justice.
³ May the mountains yield prosperity for the people,
   and the hills, in righteousness.
⁴ May he defend the cause of the poor of the people,
   give deliverance to the needy,
   and crush the oppressor.

⁵ May he live^* while the sun endures,
   and as long as the moon, throughout all generations.
⁶ May he be like rain that falls on the mown grass,
   like showers that water the earth.
⁷ In his days may righteousness flourish
   and peace abound, until the moon is no more.

⁸ May he have dominion from sea to sea,
   and from the River to the ends of the earth.
⁹ May his foes^* bow down before him,
   and his enemies lick the dust.
¹⁰ May the kings of Tarshish and of the isles
   render him tribute,
may the kings of Sheba and Seba
   bring gifts.
¹¹ May all kings fall down before him,
   all nations give him service.

¹² For he delivers the needy when they call,
   the poor and those who have no helper.
¹³ He has pity on the weak and the needy,
   and saves the lives of the needy.
¹⁴ From oppression and violence he redeems their life;
   and precious is their blood in his sight.

¹⁵ Long may he live!
   May gold of Sheba be given to him.
May prayer be made for him continually,
   and blessings invoked for him all day long.
¹⁶ May there be abundance of grain in the land;
   may it wave on the tops of the mountains;
   may its fruit be like Lebanon;
and may people blossom in the cities
   like the grass of the field.
¹⁷ May his name endure for ever,
   his fame continue as long as the sun.
May all nations be blessed in him;^*
   may they pronounce him happy.

¹⁸ Blessed be the Lord, the God of Israel,
   who alone does wondrous things.
¹⁹ Blessed be his glorious name for ever;
   may his glory fill the whole earth.Amen and Amen.

²⁰ The prayers of David son of Jesse are ended.

The Gospel According to

Matthew

The Genealogy of Jesus the Messiah

1An account of the genealogy^* of Jesus the Messiah,^* the son of David, the son of Abraham.

2 Abraham was the father of Isaac, and Isaac the father of Jacob, and Jacob the father of Judah and his brothers, ³and Judah the father of Perez and Zerah by Tamar, and Perez the father of Hezron, and Hezron the father of Aram, ⁴and Aram the father of Aminadab, and Aminadab the father of Nahshon, and Nahshon the father of Salmon, ⁵and Salmon the father of Boaz by Rahab, and Boaz the father of Obed by Ruth, and Obed the father of Jesse, ⁶and Jesse the father of King David.

And David was the father of Solomon by the wife of Uriah, ⁷and Solomon the father of Rehoboam, and Rehoboam the father of Abijah, and Abijah the father of Asaph,^{* 8}and Asaph^* the father of Jehoshaphat, and Jehoshaphat the father of Joram, and Joram the father of Uzziah, ⁹and Uzziah the father of Jotham, and Jotham the father of Ahaz, and Ahaz the father of Hezekiah, ¹⁰and Hezekiah the father of Manasseh, and Manasseh the father of Amos,^* and Amos^* the father of Josiah, ¹¹and Josiah the father of Jechoniah and his brothers, at the time of the deportation to Babylon.

12 And after the deportation to Babylon: Jechoniah was the father of Salathiel, and Salathiel the father of Zerubbabel, ¹³and Zerubbabel the father of Abiud, and Abiud the father of Eliakim, and Eliakim the father of Azor, ¹⁴and Azor the father of Zadok, and Zadok the father of Achim, and Achim the father of Eliud, ¹⁵and Eliud the father of Eleazar, and Eleazar the father of Matthan, and Matthan the father of Jacob, ¹⁶and Jacob the father of Joseph the husband of Mary, of whom Jesus was born, who is called the Messiah.^*

17 So all the generations from Abraham to David are fourteen generations; and from David to the deportation to Babylon, fourteen generations; and from the deportation to Babylon to the Messiah,^* fourteen generations.