Then Israel said to Joseph, “I am about to die, but God will be with you ¹  and will bring you back to the land of your fathers.

These ¹  are the twelve tribes of Israel. This is what their father said to them when he blessed them. He gave each of them an appropriate blessing. ² 

Then he instructed them, ¹  “I am about to go ²  to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite.

all Joseph’s household, his brothers, and his father’s household. But they left their little children and their flocks and herds in the land of Goshen.

When they came to the threshing floor of Atad ¹  on the other side of the Jordan, they mourned there with very great and bitter sorrow. ²  There Joseph observed a seven day period of mourning for his father.

I ¹  have also heard ²  the groaning of the Israelites, whom the Egyptians are enslaving, ³  and I have remembered my covenant. ⁴ 

The Lord made an agreement ¹  with them ²  and instructed them, “You must not worship other gods. Do not bow down to them, serve them, or offer sacrifices to them.

when its waves ¹  crash ²  and foam, and the mountains shake ³  before the surging sea. ⁴  (Selah)

¹ Be careful what you do ²  when you go to the temple ³  of God; draw near to listen ⁴  rather than to offer a sacrifice ⁵  like fools, ⁶  for they do not realize that they are doing wrong.

they will say about me, “Yes, the Lord is a powerful deliverer.”’” ¹  All who are angry at him will cower before him. ² 

Your names will live on in the curse formulas of my chosen ones. ¹  The sovereign Lord will kill you, but he will give his servants another name.

“‘You have shown unrelenting hostility and poured the people of Israel onto the blades of a sword ¹  at the time of their calamity, at the time of their final punishment.

He struggled ¹  with an angel and prevailed; he wept and begged for his favor. He found God ²  at Bethel, ³  and there he spoke with him! ⁴ 

‘Don’t preach with such impassioned rhetoric,’ they say excitedly. ¹  ‘These prophets should not preach of such things; we will not be overtaken by humiliation.’ ² 

Jesus saw Nathanael coming toward him and exclaimed, ¹  “Look, a true Israelite in whom there is no deceit!” ² 

On their second visit Joseph made himself known to his brothers again, and Joseph’s family ¹  became known to Pharaoh.

and their bones ¹  were later moved to Shechem and placed in the tomb that Abraham had bought for a certain sum of money ²  from the sons of Hamor in Shechem.

It is not as though the word of God had failed. For not all those who are descended from Israel are truly Israel, ¹ 

In regard to the gospel they are enemies for your sake, but in regard to election they are dearly loved for the sake of the fathers.

But as it is, ¹  they aspire to a better land, that is, a heavenly one. Therefore, God is not ashamed to be called their God, for he has prepared a city for them.