Read Parshat Vayechi in English

And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years; so the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were a hundred forty and seven years.

And the time drew near that Israel must die; and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him: “If now I have found favour in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt.

But when I sleep with my fathers, thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying-place.’’ And he said: “I will do as thou hast said.’’

And he said: “Swear unto me.’’ And he swore unto him. And Israel bowed down upon the bed's head.

And it came to pass after these things, that one said to Joseph: “Behold, thy father is sick.’’ And he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.

And one told Jacob, and said: “Behold, thy son Joseph cometh unto thee.’’ And Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed.

And Jacob said unto Joseph: “God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me,

and said unto me: Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a company of peoples; and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession.

And now thy two sons, who were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh, even as Reuben and Simeon, shall be mine.

And thy issue, that thou begettest after them, shall be thine; they shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance.

And as for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died unto me in the land of Canaan in the way, when there was still some way to come unto Ephrath; and I buried her there in the way to Ephrath--the same is Beth-lehem.’’

And Israel beheld Joseph's sons, and said: “Who are these?'

And Joseph said unto his father: “They are my sons, whom God hath given me here.’’ And he said: “Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I will bless them.’’

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.

And Israel said unto Joseph: “I had not thought to see thy face; and, lo, God hath let me see thy seed also.’’

And Joseph brought them out from between his knees; and he fell down on his face to the earth.

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.

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 first-born.

And he blessed Joseph, and said: “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God who hath been my shepherd all my life long unto this day,

the angel who hath redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named in them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.’’

And when Joseph saw that his father was laying 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.

And Joseph said unto his father: “Not so, my father, for this is the first-born; put thy right hand upon his head.’’

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; howbeit his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.’’

And he blessed them that day, saying: “By thee shall Israel bless, saying: God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh.’’ And he set Ephraim before Manasseh.

And Israel said unto Joseph: “Behold, I die; but God will be with you, and bring you back unto the land of your fathers.

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.’’

And Jacob called unto his sons, and said: “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the end of days.

Assemble yourselves, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father.

Reuben, thou art my first-born, my might, and the first-fruits of my strength; the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power.

Unstable as water, have not thou the excellency; because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then defiledst thou it--he went up to my couch.

Simeon and Levi are brethren; weapons of violence their kinship.

Let my soul not come into their council; unto their assembly let my glory not be united; for in their anger they slew men, and in their self-will they houghed oxen.

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.

Judah, thee shall thy brethren praise; thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies; thy father's sons shall bow down before thee.

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 a lioness; who shall rouse him up?

The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, as long as men come to Shiloh; and unto him shall the obedience of the peoples be.

Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine; he washeth his garments in wine, and his vesture in the blood of grapes;

His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.

Zebulun shall dwell at the shore of the sea, and he shall be a shore for ships, and his flank shall be upon Zidon.

Issachar is a large-boned ass, couching down between the sheep-folds.

For he saw a resting-place that it was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and he bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant under task-work. {S}

Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.

Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a horned snake in the path, that biteth the horse's heels, so that his rider falleth backward.

I wait for Thy salvation, O Lord. {S}

Gad, a troop shall troop upon him; but he shall troop upon their heel. {S}

As for Asher, his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties. {S}

Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words. {S}

Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine by a fountain; its branches run over the wall.

The archers have dealt bitterly with him, and shot at him, and hated him;

But his bow abode firm, and the arms of his hands were made supple, by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, from thence, from the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel,

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 coucheth beneath, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb.

The blessings of thy father are mighty beyond 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 the prince among his brethren.

Benjamin is a wolf that raveneth; in the morning he devoureth the prey, and at even he divideth the spoil.’’

All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is it that their father spoke unto them and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them.

And he charged them, and said unto them: “I am to be gathered unto my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,

in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a burying-place.

There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah.

The field and the cave that is therein, which was purchased from the children of Heth.’’

And when Jacob made an end of charging his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and expired, and was gathered unto his people.

And Joseph fell upon his father's face, and wept upon him, and kissed him.

And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. And the physicians embalmed Israel.

And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him threescore and ten days.

And when the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke unto the house of Pharaoh, saying: “If now I have found favour in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying:

My father made me swear, saying: Lo, I die; in my grave which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. Now therefore let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will come back.’’

And Pharaoh said: “Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear.’’

And Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Egypt,

and all the house of Joseph, and his brethren, and his father's house; only their little ones, and their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen.

And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen; and it was a very great company.

And they came to the threshing-floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and there they wailed with a very great and sore wailing; and he made a mourning for his father seven days.

And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said: “This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians.’’ Wherefore the name of it was called Abel-mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan.

And his sons did unto him according as he commanded them.

For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field, for a possession of a burying-place, of Ephron the Hittite, in front of Mamre.

And Joseph returned into Egypt, he, and his brethren, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father.

And when Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, they said: “It may be that Joseph will hate us, and will fully requite us all the evil which we did unto him.’’

And they sent a message unto Joseph, saying: “Thy father did command before he died, saying:

So shall ye say unto Joseph: Forgive, I pray thee now, the transgression of thy brethren, and their sin, for that they did unto thee evil. And now, we pray thee, forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of thy father.’’ And Joseph wept when they spoke unto him.

And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said: “Behold, we are thy bondmen.’’

And Joseph said unto them: “Fear not; for am I in the place of God?

And as for you, ye meant evil against me; but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

Now therefore fear ye not; I will sustain you, and your little ones.’’ And he comforted them, and spoke kindly unto them.

And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father's house; and Joseph lived a hundred and ten years.

And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation; the children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were born upon Joseph's knees.

And Joseph said unto his brethren: “I die; but God will surely remember you, and bring you up out of this land unto the land which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.’’

And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying: “God will surely remember you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence.’’

So Joseph died, being a hundred and ten years old. And they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.