World English Bible · The patriarchs
Genesis 48
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After these things, someone said to , "Behold, your is sick." He took with him his two sons, and . Someone told , and said, "Behold, your son comes to you," and Israel strengthened himself, and sat on the bed. said to , " appeared to me at in the land of , and me, and said to me, 'Behold, I will make you fruitful, and multiply you, and I will make of you a company of peoples, and will give this land to after you for an possession.' Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of before I came to you into , are mine; and , even as and , will be mine. , whom you become of after them, will be yours. They will be called after the name of their brothers in their . As for me, when I came from , beside me in the land of on , when there was still some distance to come to , and I buried her there on to (also called )." 8Israel saw sons, and said, "Who are these?" said to his , "They are my sons, whom has given me here." He said, "Please bring them to me, and them." Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he couldn't see well. brought them near to him; and he kissed them, and embraced them. Israel said to , "I didn't think I would see your , and behold, has let me see also." brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with to the earth. 13 took them both, in his toward Israel's left hand, and in his left hand toward Israel's , and brought them near to him. Israel stretched out his , and laid it on head, who was the younger, and his left hand on head, guiding his hands knowingly, for was . He , and said, "The before whom my fathers and walked, the who has fed me all my life long to this day, who has me from all evil, the lads, and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers and . Let them grow into a multitude upon the earth." When saw that his laid his on the head of , it displeased him. He held up his hand, to remove it from head to head. said to his , "Not so, , for this is . Put your on his head." His refused, and said, "I know, my son, I know. He also will become a people, and he also will be great. However, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his will become a multitude of nations." He them that day, saying, "Israel will in your name, saying, ' make you as and as '" He set before . Israel said to , "Behold, I am dying, but will be with you, and bring you again to the land of your fathers. Moreover I have given to you one above your brothers, which I took out of the hand of the with my and with my bow."
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The world at this moment · The patriarchs, 2000 BC to 1600 BC ›
Abraham's family as herdsmen among settled Canaanite city-states, in a world where Egypt and Mesopotamia are the great powers and Canaan is the corridor between them.
- Mesopotamia
- Abraham's own century is Hammurabi's. The great empire of Ur has already fallen, and Babylon rises under a king who published a law code on a stone pillar for everyone to see. Reading Genesis alongside Hammurabi's laws is illuminating in both directions: some provisions are strikingly similar, and the places where Israel's later law diverges are the places worth stopping at.
- Egypt
- The Middle Kingdom, wealthy, bureaucratic, and organised around the Nile flood. Egyptian tomb paintings from this period show Semitic traders arriving with donkeys and striped cloaks, which is more or less the picture Genesis gives of a family going down to Egypt in a famine. Toward the end of the era the Hyksos, rulers of Semitic origin, take the delta.
- Anatolia and the Aegean
- Assyrian merchants run a long-distance trading colony at Kanesh in Anatolia, leaving thousands of clay letters about copper, tin, and debt. On Crete the Minoan palaces are at their height, with plumbing, frescoes, and a script nobody has yet read.
- Further afield
- The Indus Valley cities are in decline after centuries of grid-planned streets and drains. In China the Erlitou culture is building the first palace complexes. Stonehenge is standing and already old.
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