Genesis 48:28 - 50:26
Parashah vaYechi

Finish Well

Bless the next generation, speak truth without fear,
and leave a legacy of faithfulness

A Brief Insight

This portion, closes the book of Genesis with Jacob’s final days in Egypt. Knowing his end is near, Ya’akov calls his sons and speaks prophetic words over each, revealing character, consequence, and future destiny. He blesses Yosef’s sons, Efrayim and M’nasheh, crossing his hands to affirm that Yehovah’s purposes are not bound by human expectations. Ya’akov charges his family to bury him in the Land promised to Avraham, Yitz’chak, and Ya’akov, anchoring their hope beyond Egypt. After Ya’akov’s death, Yosef reassures his brothers, choosing forgiveness over revenge and trusting Yehovah’s sovereignty. Vayechi teaches how to finish life faithfully: bless the next generation, speak truth clearly, forgive deeply, and trust that Yehovah is faithfully bringing His promises to completion—even in exile.

Read the Story as Told in Scripture

TORAH | Genesis 47:28 - 50:26

27And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen; and they gat them possessions therein, and were fruitful, and multiplied exceedingly. 28And Ya’akov lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years: so the days of Ya’akov, the years of his life, were a hundred forty and seven years. 29And the time drew near that Israel must die: and he called his son Yosef, and said unto him, If now I have found favor 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; 30but 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. 31And he said, Swear unto me: and he sware unto him. And Israel bowed himself upon the bed’s head. 

48 And it came to pass after these things, that one said to Yosef, Behold, thy father is sick: and he took with him his two sons, M’nasheh and Efrayim. 2And one told Ya’akov, and said, Behold, thy son Joseph cometh unto thee: and Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed. 3And Ya’akov said unto Yosef, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Kena’an, and blessed me, 4and 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. 5And now thy two sons, who were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine; Efrayim and M’nasheh, even as Reuben and Shim’on, shall be mine. 6And thy issue, that thou begettest after them, shall be thine; they shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance. 7And as for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way, when there was still some distance to come unto Ephrath: and I buried her there in the way to Efrat (the same is Beit-Lechem). 

8And Israel beheld Joseph’s sons, and said, Who are these? 9And Yosef 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. 10Now 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. 11And Israel said unto Yosef, I had not thought to see thy face: and, lo, God hath let me see thy seed also. 12And Yosef brought them out from between his knees; and he bowed himself with his face to the earth. 13And Yosef took them both, Efrayim in his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and M’nasheh in his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them near unto him. 14And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Efrayim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon M’nasheh’s head, guiding his hands wittingly; for M’nasheh was the first-born. 15And he blessed Yosef, and said, The God before whom my fathers Avraham and Yitz’chak did walk, the God who hath fed me all my life long unto this day, 16the angel who hath redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Avraham and Yitz’chak; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth. 17And when Yosef saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Efrayim, it displeased him: and he held up his father’s hand, to remove it from Efrayim’s head unto M’nasheh’s head. 18And Yosef said unto his father, Not so, my father; for this is the first-born; put thy right hand upon his head. 19And 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. 20And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee will Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Efrayim and as M’nasheh: and he set Efrayim before M’nasheh. 21And Israel said unto Yosef, Behold, I die: but God will be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers. 22Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Emori with my sword and with my bow. 

49 And Ya’akov called unto his sons, and said: Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the latter days. 

2Assemble yourselves, and hear, ye sons of Ya’akov; 

And hearken unto Israel your father. 

3Reuben, thou art my first-born, my might, and the beginning of my strength; 

The pre-eminence of dignity, and the pre-eminence of power. 

4Boiling over as water, thou shalt not have the pre-eminence; 

Because thou wentest up to thy father’s bed; 

Then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch. 

5Shim’on and Levi are brethren; 

Weapons of violence are their swords. 

6O my soul, come not thou into their council; 

Unto their assembly, my glory, be not thou united; 

For in their anger they slew a man, 

And in their self-will they hocked an ox. 

7Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; 

And their wrath, for it was cruel: 

I will divide them in Ya’akov, 

And scatter them in Israel. 

8Y’hudah, thee shall thy brethren praise: 

Thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies; 

Thy father’s sons shall bow down before thee. 

9Y’hudah 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? 

10The sceptre shall not depart from Y’hudah, 

Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, 

Until Shiloh come: 

And unto him shall the obedience of the peoples be. 

11Binding his foal unto the vine, 

And his ass’s colt unto the choice vine; 

He hath washed his garments in wine, 

And his vesture in the blood of grapes: 

12His eyes shall be red with wine, 

And his teeth white with milk. 

13Z’vulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; 

And he shall be for a haven of ships; 

And his border shall be upon Tzidon. 

14Yissakhar is a strong ass, 

Couching down between the sheepfolds: 

15And 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 taskwork. 

16Dan shall judge his people, 

As one of the tribes of Israel. 

17Dan shall be a serpent in the way, 

An adder in the path, 

That biteth the horse’s heels, 

So that his rider falleth backward. 

18I have waited for thy salvation, O Yehovah. 

19Gad, a troop shall press upon him; 

But he shall press upon their heel. 

20Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, 

And he shall yield royal dainties. 

21Naftali is a hind let loose: 

He giveth goodly words. 

22Yosef is a fruitful bough, 

A fruitful bough by a fountain; 

His branches run over the wall. 

23The archers have sorely grieved him, 

And shot at him, and persecuted him: 

24But his bow abode in strength, 

And the arms of his hands were made strong, 

By the hands of the Mighty One of Ya’akov 

(From thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel), 

25Even 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. 

26The blessings of thy father 

Have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors 

Unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: 

They shall be on the head of Yosef, 

And on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren. 

27Binyamin is a wolf that raveneth: 

In the morning he shall devour the prey, 

And at even he shall divide the spoil. 

28All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it that their father spake unto them and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them. 29And 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 ‘Efron the Hitti, 30in the cave that is in the field of Makhpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Kena’an, which Avraham bought with the field from ‘Efron the Hittit for a possession of a burying-place. 31There they buried Avraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Yitz’chak and Rivkah his wife; and there I buried Leah— 32the field and the cave that is therein, which was purchased from the children of Heth. 33And when Ya’akov made an end of charging his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people. 

50 And Yosef fell upon his father’s face, and wept upon him, and kissed him. 2And Yosef commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father: and the physicians embalmed Israel. 3And forty days were fulfilled for him; for so are fulfilled the days of embalming: and the Egyptians wept for him three-score and ten days. 

4And when the days of weeping for him were past, Yosef spake unto the house of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found favor in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, 5My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die: in my grave which I have digged for me in the land of Kena’an, there shalt thou bury me. Now therefore let me go up, I pray thee, and bury my father, and I will come again. 6And Pharaoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear. 7And Yosef 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, 8and all the house of Yosef, 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. 9And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen: and it was a very great company. 10And they came to the threshing-floor of Atad, which is beyond the Yarden, and there they lamented with a very great and sore lamentation: and he made a mourning for his father seven days. 11And when the inhabitants of the land, the Kena’ani, 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 Avel-Mitzrayim, which is beyond the Yarden. 12And his sons did unto him according as he commanded them: 13for his sons carried him into the land of Kena’an, and buried him in the cave of the field of Makhpelah, which Avraham bought with the field, for a possession of a burying-place, of ‘Efron the Hittit, before Mamre. 14And Yosef returned into Egypt, he, and his brethren, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father. 

15And 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. 16And they sent a message unto Joseph, saying, Thy father did command before he died, saying, 17So shall ye say unto Yosef, 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 Yosef wept when they spake unto him. 18And his brethren also went and fell down before his face; and they said, Behold, we are thy servants. 19And Yosef said unto them, Fear not: for am I in the place of God? 20And 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. 21Now therefore fear ye not: I will nourish you, and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake kindly unto them. 

22And Yosef dwelt in Egypt, he, and his father’s house: and Yosef lived a hundred and ten years. 23And Yosef saw Efrayim’s children of the third generation: the children also of Makhir the son of M’nasheh were born upon Yosef’s knees. 24And Yosef said unto his brethren, I die; but God will surely visit you, and bring you up out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham, to Yitz’chak, and to Ya’akov. 25And Yosef took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and ye shall carry up my bones from hence. 26So Yosef died, being a hundred and ten years old: and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt. 

PROPHETS | 1 KGS 2:1-12

2 Now the days of David drew nigh that he should die; and he charged Shlomo his son, saying, 2I am going the way of all the earth: be thou strong therefore, and show thyself a man; 3and keep the charge of Yehovah thy God, to walk in his ways, to keep his statutes, and his commandments, and his ordinances, and his testimonies, according to that which is written in the law of Moses, that thou mayest prosper in all that thou doest, and whithersoever thou turnest thyself; 4that Yehovah may establish his word which he spake concerning me, saying, If thy children take heed to their way, to walk before me in truth with all their heart and with all their soul, there shall not fail thee (said he) a man on the throne of Israel. 5Moreover thou knowest also what Yo’av the son of Tz’eruyah did unto me, even what he did to the two captains of the hosts of Israel, unto Avner the son of Ner, and unto ‘Amasa the son of Yeter, whom he slew, and shed the blood of war in peace, and put the blood of war upon his girdle that was about his loins, and in his shoes that were on his feet. 6Do therefore according to thy wisdom, and let not his hoar head go down to Sheol in peace. 7But show kindness unto the sons of Barzillai the Gil’adi, and let them be of those that eat at thy table; for so they came to me when I fled from Avshalom thy brother. 8And, behold, there is with thee Shim’i the son of Gera, the Binyamini, of Bachurim, who cursed me with a grievous curse in the day when I went to Machanayim; but he came down to meet me at the Yarden, and I sware to him by Yehovah, saying, I will not put thee to death with the sword. 9Now therefore hold him not guiltless, for thou art a wise man; and thou wilt know what thou oughtest to do unto him, and thou shalt bring his hoar head down to Sheol with blood. 

10And David slept with his fathers, and was buried in the city of David. 11And the days that David reigned over Israel were forty years; seven years reigned he in Hevron, and thirty and three years reigned he in Yerushalayim. 12And Shlomo sat upon the throne of David his father; and his kingdom was established greatly. 

GOSPEL | JN 13:1-19

13 Now before the festival of the Pesach, Yeshua knowing that his hour was come that he should depart out of this world unto his Father, having loved his own that were in the world, he loved them unto the end. 2And during supper, the devil having already put into the heart of Y’hudah Ben-Shim’on from K’riot, to betray him, 3Yeshua, knowing that the Father had given all things into his hands, and that he came forth from God, and goeth unto God, 4riseth from supper, and layeth aside his garments; and he took a towel, and girded himself. 5Then he poureth water into the basin, and began to wash the disciples’ feet, and to wipe them with the towel wherewith he was girded. 6So he cometh to Shim’on kefa. He saith unto him, Lord, dost thou wash my feet? 7Yeshua answered and said unto him, What I do thou knowest not now; but thou shalt understand hereafter. 8Kefa saith unto him, Thou shalt never wash my feet. Yeshua answered him, If I wash thee not, thou hast no part with me. 9Shim’on Kefa saith unto him, Lord, not my feet only, but also my hands and my head. 10Yeshua saith to him, He that is bathed needeth not save to wash his feet, but is clean every whit: and ye are clean, but not all. 11For he knew him that should betray him; therefore said he, Ye are not all clean. 

12So when he had washed their feet, and taken his garments, and sat down again, he said unto them, Know ye what I have done to you? 13Ye call me, Teacher, and, Lord: and ye say well; for so I am. 14If I then, the Lord and the Teacher, have washed your feet, ye also ought to wash one another’s feet. 15For I have given you an example, that ye also should do as I have done to you. 16Verily, verily, I say unto you, a servant is not greater than his lord; neither one that is sent greater than he that sent him. 17If ye know these things, blessed are ye if ye do them. 18I speak not of you all: I know whom I have chosen: but that the scripture may be fulfilled: He that eateth my bread lifted up his heel against me. 19From henceforth I tell you before it come to pass, that, when it is come to pass, ye may believe that I am he.

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