A reading from the book of Genesis. Then Jacob called his sons and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you what shall happen to you in days to come. Assemble and listen, O sons of Jacob, listen to Israel your Father. Ruben, you are my firstborn, my might and the firstfruits of my strength, preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power. And stable as water, you shall not have preeminence, because you went up to your Father's bed, then you defiled it, he went up to my couch. Simeon and Levi are brothers, weapons of violence are their swords, let my soul come not into their counsel. O my glory, be not joined to their company, for in their anger they killed men, and in their willfulness they hamstrung oxen. Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, in their wrath for it is cruel. I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel. Judah, your brother shall praise you, your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies, your Father's sons shall bow down before you. Judah is a lion's cub, from the prey my son you have gone up. He stooped down, he crouched as a lion and as a lioness, who dares rouse him. The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him, and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. Binding his foil to the vine. In his donkey's colt to the choice vine, he has washed his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes. His eyes are darker than wine and his teeth wider than milk. Zebulun shall dwell at the shore of the sea, he shall become a haven for ships, and his border shall be at Sidon. Issachar is a strong donkey, crouching between the sheepfolds. He saw that a resting place was good, and that the land was pleasant, so he bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant at forced labor. Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a viper by the path that bites the horse's heels, so that his rider falls backward. I wait for your salvation, O Lord. Raider shall raid Gad, but he shall raid at their heels. Asher's food shall be rich, and he shall yield royal delicacies. Naftali is a dough let loose that bears beautiful fawns. Joseph is a fruitful bull, a fruitful bull by a spring. His branches run over the wall. The archers bitterly attacked him, shodded him, and harassed him severely. Yet his bow remained unmoved, his arms were made agile. By the hands of the mighty one of Jacob, from there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel. By the God of your Father who will help you, by the Almighty who will bless you, with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that crouches beneath, blessings of the breast and of the womb, the blessings of your Father are mighty beyond the blessings of my parents, up to the bounties of their everlasting heels, may they be on the head of Joseph, and on the brow of him who was set apart from his brothers. Benjamin is a ravenous wolf, in the morning, devouring the prey, and at evening dividing the spoil. All these are the twelve tribes of Israel. This is what their Father said to them as he blessed them, blessing each with the blessings suitable to him. Then he commanded them and said to them, I am to be gathered to 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 at Machpila, to the east of Mamre, and the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as 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 in it were brought from the Hittites. When Jacob finished commanding his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed, and breathed his last, and was gathered to his people. Then Joseph fell on his father's face and wept over him, and kissed him, and Joseph commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father, so the physicians embalmed Israel, forty days were required for it, for that is how many are required for embalming, and the Egyptians wept for him seventy days. And when the days of weeping for him were passed, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, My father made me swear, saying, I am about to die, in my tomb that I hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan, there shall you bury me. Now therefore let me please go up and bury my father, then I will return. And Pharaoh answered, Go up and bury your father as he made you swear. So Joseph went up to bury his father, with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt, as well as all the household of Joseph, his brothers and his father's household, only their children, their flocks, and their herds were left in the land of Goshen. And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen. It was a very great company. When they came to the threshing floor of Etad, which is beyond the Jordan, they lamented there with a very great and grievous lamentation, and he made a mourning for his father seven days. From the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites saw the mourning on the threshing floor of Etad. They said, This is a grieving mourning by the Egyptians. Therefore the place was named Abel Miserium. It is beyond the Jordan. Thus his sons did for him as he had commanded them, for his sons carried him to the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field at Makpila, to the east of Mamre, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephraim the Hittite to possess as a burying place. After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers, and all who had gone up with him to bury his father. When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, It may be that Joseph will hate us and pay us back for all the evil that we did to him. So they sent a message to Joseph saying, Your father gave this command before he died. Say to Joseph, Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin because they did evil to you. And now please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father. Joseph wept when they spoke to him. His brothers also came and fell down before him and said, Behold, we are your servants. But Joseph said to them, Do not fear, for am I in the place of God? As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive as they are today. So do not fear, I will provide for you and your little ones. Because he comforted them and spoke kindly to them. So Joseph remained in Egypt, he and his father's house. Joseph lived 110 years and Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation, the children also of Maker, the son of Manasseh were counted as Joseph's own. And Joseph said to his brothers, I am about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob. And Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, God will surely visit you and you shall carry up my bones from here. So Joseph died being 110 years old. They embalmed him and he was put in a coffin in Egypt. A reading from the book of Psalms. A Psalm of David. The earth is the Lord's and the fullness thereof, the world and those who dwell therein, for He has founded it upon the seas and established it upon the rivers. Who shall ascend the hill of the Lord and who shall stand in His holy place? He who has clean hands and a pure heart, who does not lift up his soul to what is false and does not swear deceitfully. He will receive blessing from the Lord and righteousness from the God of his salvation, such as the generation of those who seek Him, who seek the face of the God of Jacob. Say, La. Lift up your heads, O gates, and be lifted up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord, strong and mighty, the Lord, mighty in battle. Lift up your heads, O gates, and lift them up, O ancient doors, that the King of glory may come in. Who is this King of glory? The Lord of hosts. He is the King of glory. Say, La. A reading of the Gospel according to Mark. Again, he entered the synagogue and a man was there with a withered hand, and they watched Jesus to see whether he would heal him on the Sabbath so that they might accuse him. And he said to the man with a withered hand, Come here. And he said to them, Is it lawful on the Sabbath to do good or to do harm, to save life or to kill? But they were silent. And he looked around at them with anger, grieved at their hardness of heart, and said to the man, Stretch out your hand. He stretched it out and his hand was restored. The Pharisees went out and immediately held counsel with the Herodians against him, how to destroy him. Jesus withdrew with his disciples to the sea, and a great crowd followed from Galilee and Judea and Jerusalem and Edumea and from beyond the Jordan and from the round tire and Sidon. When the great crowd heard all that he was doing, they came to him and he told his disciples to have a boat ready for him because of the crowd, lest they crush him. For he had healed many so that all who had disease has pressed around him to touch him. And whenever the unclean spirit saw him, they fell down before him and cried out, You are the Son of God. And he strictly ordered them not to make him known. And he went up on the mountain and called to him those whom he desired. And they came to him. And he appointed twelve whom he also named apostles so that they might be with him. And he might send them out to preach and have authority to cast out demons. He appointed the twelve, Simon, to whom he gave the name Peter, James the son of Zebedee and John the brother of James, to whom he gave the name Boanergis, that is, sons of thunder, Andrew and Philip and Bartholomew and Matthew and Thomas and James the son of Alpheus and Thaddeus and Simon the zealot and Judas the scarier who betrayed him. Then he went home and the crowd gathered again so that they could not even eat. And when his family heard it, they went out to seize him, for they were saying he is out of his mind. And the scribes who came down from Jerusalem were saying he is possessed by Beelzebub. And by the Prince of Demons he cast out the demons and he called them to him and said to them in parables, How can Satan cast out Satan? If a kingdom is divided against itself, that kingdom cannot stand. And if a house is divided against itself, that house will not be able to stand. And if Satan has risen up against himself and is divided, he cannot stand but is coming to an end. But no one can enter a strong man's house and plunder his goods unless he first binds the strong man. Then indeed he may plunder his house. Truly, I say to you, all sins will be forgiven the children of man and whatever blasphemies they utter, but whoever blasphemes against the Holy Spirit never has forgiveness, but is guilty of an eternal sin. For they were saying he has an unclean spirit. And his mother and his brothers came and standing outside they sent to him and called him and a crowd was sitting around him and they said to him, Your mother and your brothers are outside seeking you. And he answered them, Who are my mother and my brothers? And looking about at those who sat around him, he said, Here are my mother and my brothers. For whoever does the will of God, he is my brother and sister and mother.
