Israel

Then he added this blessing on them that day: "Isra'el will speak of you in their own blessings by saying, 'May God make you like Efrayim and M'nasheh.'"Thus he put Efrayim ahead of M'nasheh.

Isra'el then said to Yosef, "You see that I am dying, but God will be with you and will bring you back to the land of your ancestors.

Then Ya'akov called for his sons and said, "Gather yourselves together, and I will tell you what will happen to you in the acharit-hayamim.

Assemble yourselves and listen, sons of Ya'akov; pay attention to Isra'el your father.

Cursed be their anger, for it has been fierce; their fury, for it has been cruel. I will divide them in Ya'akov and scatter them in Isra'el.

"Dan will judge his people as one of the tribes of Isra'el.

but his bow remained taut; and his arms were made nimble by the hands of the Mighty One of Ya'akov, from there, from the Shepherd, the Stone of Isra'el,

All these are the twelve tribes of Isra'el, and this is how their father spoke to them and blessed them, giving each his own individual blessing.

When Ya'akov had finished charging his sons, he drew his legs up into the bed, breathed his last and was gathered to his people.

Then Yosef ordered the physicians in his service to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Isra'el.

Yosef said to his brothers, "I am dying. But God will surely remember you and bring you up out of this land to the land which he swore to Avraham, Yitz'chak and Ya'akov."

Then Yosef took an oath from the sons of Isra'el: "God will surely remember you, and you are to carry my bones up from here."

These are the names of the sons of Isra'el who came into Egypt with Ya'akov; each man came with his household:

All told, there were seventy descendants of Ya'akov; Yosef was already in Egypt.

The descendants of Isra'el were fruitful, increased abundantly, multiplied and grew very powerful; the land became filled with them.

but said to his people, "Look, the descendants of Isra'el have become a people too numerous and powerful for us.

But the more the Egyptians oppressed them, the more they multiplied and expanded, until the Egyptians came to dread the people of Isra'el

and worked them relentlessly,

Sometime during those many years the king of Egypt died, but the people of Isra'el still groaned under the yoke of slavery, and they cried out, and their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God.

God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Avraham, Yitz'chak and Ya'akov.

God saw the people of Isra'el, and God acknowledged them.

I am the God of your father," he continued, "the God of Avraham, the God of Yitz'chak and the God of Ya'akov." Moshe covered his face, because he was afraid to look at God.

Yes, the cry of the people of Isra'el has come to me, and I have seen how terribly the Egyptians oppress them.

Therefore, now, come; and I will send you to Pharaoh; so that you can lead my people, the descendants of Isra'el, out of Egypt."

Moshe said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh and lead the people of Isra'el out of Egypt?"