American Standard Version of 1901
Versliste
Paul, an apostle of Christ Jesus through the will of God, according to the promise of the life which is in Christ Jesus,
to Timothy, my beloved child: Grace, mercy, peace, from God the Father and Christ Jesus our Lord.
But I am in a strait betwixt the two, having the desire to depart and be with Christ; for it is very far better:
yet to abide in the flesh is more needful for your sake.
And having this confidence, I know that I shall abide, yea, and abide with you all, for your progress and joy {Or, of faith}in the faith;
that your glorying may abound in Christ Jesus in me through my presence with you again.
But I hope in the Lord Jesus to send Timothy shortly unto you, that I also may be of good comfort, when I know your state.
For I have no man likeminded, who will care {Greek: genuinely.}truly for your state.
For they all seek their own, not the things of Jesus Christ.
But ye know the proof of him, that, as a child serveth a father, so he served with me in furtherance of the {Greek: good tidings. See marginal note on chapter 1:5.}gospel.
Him therefore I hope to send forthwith, so soon as I shall see how it will go with me:
but I trust in the Lord that I myself also shall come shortly.
But withal prepare me also a lodging: for I hope that through your prayers I shall be granted unto you.
And Jacob called unto his sons, and said: Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the latter days.
Assemble yourselves, and hear, ye sons of Jacob;And hearken unto Israel your father.
Reuben, thou art my first-born, my might, and the {Or, first-fruits}beginning of my strength;The pre-eminence of dignity, and the pre-eminence of power.
Boiling over as water, {Or, have not thou}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.
Simeon and Levi are brethren;Weapons of violence are their {Or, compacts}swords.
O my soul, come not thou into their {Or, secret}council;Unto their assembly, my glory, be not thou united;For in their anger they slew {Or, men}a man,And in their self-will they hocked {Or, oxen}an ox.
Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce;And their wrath, for it was cruel:I will divide them in Jacob,And scatter them in Israel.
Judah, thee shall thy brethren praise:Thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies;Thy father's sons shall bow down before thee.
Judah 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?
The sceptre shall not depart from Judah,Nor {Or, a lawgiver}the ruler's staff from between his feet, {Or, Til he come to Shiloh, having the obedience of the peoples Or, according to Syriac, Til he come whose it is &c.}Until Shiloh come:And unto him shall the obedience of the peoples be.
Binding 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:
His eyes shall be red with wine,And his teeth white with milk.
Zebulun shall dwell at the {Hebrew: beach.}haven of the sea;And he shall be for a {Hebrew: beach.}haven of ships;And his border shall be {Or, by}upon Sidon.
Issachar is a strong ass,Couching down between the sheepfolds:
And he saw {Or, rest}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.
Dan shall judge his people,As one of the tribes of Israel.
Dan shall be a serpent in the way,An {Or, horned snake}adder in the path,That biteth the horse's heels,So that his rider falleth backward.
I have waited for thy salvation, O Jehovah.
Gad, {Hebrew: gedud, a marauding band.}a troop {Hebrew: gad, to press.}shall press upon him;But he shall press upon their heel.
Out of Asher his bread shall be fat,And he shall yield royal dainties.
Naphtali is a hind let loose:He giveth goodly words.
Joseph is {Hebrew: the son of a fruitful tree.}a fruitful bough,A fruitful bough by a fountain;His {Hebrew: daughters.}branches run over the wall.
The archers have sorely grieved him,And shot at him, and persecuted him:
But his bow abode in strength,And the arms of his hands were made {Or, active}strong,By the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob( {Or, From hence from the shepherd Or, as otherwise read, By the name of the shepherd}From thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel),
Even 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.
The blessings of thy fatherHave prevailed above the blessings of my progenitorsUnto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills:They shall be on the head of Joseph,And on the crown of the head of him {Or, that is prince among}that was separate from his brethren.
Benjamin is a wolf that raveneth:In the morning she shall devour the prey,And at even he shall divide the spoil.
All 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.
And 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 Ephron the Hittite,
in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite for a possession of 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 therein, which was purchased from the children of Heth.
And when Jacob 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.
And this is the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death.
And he said,Jehovah came from Sinai,And rose from Seir unto them;He shined forth from mount Paran,And he came from the ten thousands of {Hebrew: holiness.}holy ones:At his right hand {Or, was fire, a law Or, as otherwise read, were streams for them}was a fiery law for them.
Yea, he loveth the {Or, tribes}people;All {Or, their holy ones}his saints are in thy hand:And they sat down at thy feet;Every one {Or, received}shall receive of thy words.
Moses commanded us a law,An inheritance for the assembly of Jacob.
And {Or, there was a king}he was king in Jeshurun,When the heads of the people were gathered,All the tribes of Israel together.
Let Reuben live, and not die; {Or, But}Nor let his men be few.
And this is the blessing of Judah: and he said,Hear, Jehovah, the voice of Judah,And bring him in unto his people. {Or, Let his hands be sufficient for them}With his hands he contended {Or, for them}for himself;And thou shalt be a help against his adversaries.
And of Levi he said,Thy Thummim and thy Urim are with {Or, him whom thou lovest}thy godly one,Whom thou didst prove at Massah,With whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah;
Who said of his father, and of his mother, I have not seen him;Neither did he acknowledge his brethren,Nor knew he his own children:For they have observed thy word,And keep thy covenant.
They shall teach Jacob thine ordinances,And Israel thy law:They shall put incense {Hebrew: in thy nostrils.}before thee,And whole burnt-offering upon thine altar.
Bless, Jehovah, his substance,And accept the work of his hands:Smite through the loins of them that rise up against him,And of them that hate him, that they rise not again.
Of Benjamin he said,The beloved of Jehovah shall dwell in safety by him;He covereth him all the day long,And he dwelleth between his shoulders.
And of Joseph he said,Blessed of Jehovah be his land,For the precious things of heaven, for the dew,And for the deep that coucheth beneath,
And for the precious things of the fruits of the sun,And for the precious things of the growth of the {Or, months}moons,
And for the chief things of the ancient mountains,And for the precious things of the everlasting hills,
And for the precious things of the earth and the fulness thereof,And the good will of him that dwelt in the bush.Let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph,And upon the crown of the head of him {Or, that is prince among}that was separate from his brethren.
{Or, His firstling bullock}The firstling of his herd, majesty is his;And his horns are the horns of the wild-ox:With them he shall {Or, gore}push the peoples all of them, even the ends of the earth:And they are the ten thousands of Ephraim,And they are the thousands of Manasseh.
And of Zebulun he said,Rejoice, Zebulun, in thy going out;And, Issachar, in thy tents.
They shall call the peoples unto the mountain;There shall they offer sacrifices of righteousness:For they shall suck the abundance of the seas,And the hidden treasures of the sand.
And of Gad he said,Blessed be he that enlargeth Gad:He dwelleth as a lioness,And teareth the arm, yea, the crown of the head.
And he {Or, chose Hebrew: saw.}provided the first part for himself,For there was {Or, a ruler's portion}the lawgiver's portion reserved;And he came {Or, to}with the heads of the people;He executed the righteousness of Jehovah,And his ordinances with Israel.
And of Dan he said,Dan is a lion's whelp,That leapeth forth from Bashan.
And of Naphtali he said,O Naphtali, satisfied with favor,And full with the blessing of Jehovah,Possess thou the {Or, sea}west and the south.
And of Asher he said,Blessed be Asher {Or, above sons}with children;Let him be acceptable unto his brethren,And let him dip his foot in oil.
Thy {Or, shoes}bars shall be iron and brass;And as thy days, so shall thy {Or, rest Or, security}strength be.
There is none like unto God, O Jeshurun,Who rideth upon the heavens for thy help,And in his excellency on the skies.
The eternal God is thy dwelling-place,And underneath are the everlasting arms.And he thrust out the enemy from before thee,And said, Destroy.
And Israel dwelleth in safety,The fountain of Jacob alone,In a land of grain and new wine;Yea, his heavens drop down dew.
Happy art thou, O Israel:Who is like unto thee, a people saved by Jehovah,The shield of thy help,And the sword of thy excellency!And thine enemies shall {Or, yield feigned obedience}submit themselves unto thee;And thou shalt tread upon their high places.
And Samuel said unto all Israel, Behold, I have hearkened unto your voice in all that ye said unto me, and have made a king over you.
And now, behold, the king walketh before you; and I am old and grayheaded; and, behold, my sons are with you: and I have walked before you from my youth unto this day.
Here I am: witness against me before Jehovah, and before his anointed: whose ox have I taken? or whose ass have I taken? or whom have I defrauded? whom have I oppressed? or of whose hand have I taken a {Or, bribe}ransom {Or, that I should hide mine eyes at him}to blind mine eyes therewith? and I will restore it you.
And they said, Thou hast not defrauded us, nor oppressed us, neither hast thou taken aught of any man's hand.
And he said unto them, Jehovah is witness against you, and his anointed is witness this day, that ye have not found aught in my hand. And they said, He is witness.
And Samuel said unto the people, It is Jehovah that {Or, made}appointed Moses and Aaron, and that brought your fathers up out of the land of Egypt.
Now therefore stand still, that I may plead with you before Jehovah concerning all the righteous acts of Jehovah, which he did to you and to your fathers.
When Jacob was come into Egypt, and your fathers cried unto Jehovah, then Jehovah sent Moses and Aaron, who brought forth your fathers out of Egypt, and made them to dwell in this place.
But they forgat Jehovah their God; and he sold them into the hand of Sisera, captain of the host of Hazor, and into the hand of the Philistines, and into the hand of the king of Moab; and they fought against them.
And they cried unto Jehovah, and said, We have sinned, because we have forsaken Jehovah, and have served the Baalim and the Ashtaroth: but now deliver us out of the hand of our enemies, and we will serve thee.
And Jehovah sent Jerubbaal, and {According to Septuagint Version and Syriac, Barak.}Bedan, and Jephthah, and Samuel, and delivered you out of the hand of your enemies on every side; and ye dwelt in safety.
And when ye saw that Nahash the king of the children of Ammon came against you, ye said unto me, Nay, but a king shall reign over us; when Jehovah your God was your king.
Now therefore behold the king whom ye have chosen, and whom ye have asked for: and, behold, Jehovah hath set a king over you.
If ye will fear Jehovah, and serve him, and hearken unto his voice, and not rebel against the commandment of Jehovah, {Or, then shall both ye…Jehovah your God: but &c.}and both ye and also the king that reigneth over you be followers of Jehovah your God, well:
but if ye will not hearken unto the voice of Jehovah, but rebel against the commandment of Jehovah, then will the hand of Jehovah be against you, as it was against your fathers.
Now therefore stand still and see this great thing, which Jehovah will do before your eyes.
Is it not wheat harvest to-day? I will call unto Jehovah, that he may send thunder and rain; and ye shall know and see that your wickedness is great, which ye have done in the sight of Jehovah, in asking you a king.
So Samuel called unto Jehovah; and Jehovah sent thunder and rain that day: and all the people greatly feared Jehovah and Samuel.
And all the people said unto Samuel, Pray for thy servants unto Jehovah thy God, that we die not; for we have added unto all our sins this evil, to ask us a king.
And Samuel said unto the people, Fear not; ye have indeed done all this evil; yet turn not aside from following Jehovah, but serve Jehovah with all your heart:
and turn ye not aside; for then would ye go after vain things which cannot profit nor deliver, for they are vain.
For Jehovah will not forsake his people for his great name's sake, because it hath pleased Jehovah to make you a people unto himself.
Moreover as for me, far be it from me that I should sin against Jehovah in ceasing to pray for you: but I will instruct you in the good and the right way.
Only fear Jehovah, and serve him in truth with all your heart; for consider how great things he hath done for you.
But if ye shall still do wickedly, ye shall be consumed, both ye and your king.
And from Miletus he sent to Ephesus, and called to him the {Or, presbyters}elders of the church.
And when they were come to him, he said unto them,Ye yourselves know, from the first day that I set foot in Asia, after what manner I was with you all the time,
serving the Lord with all lowliness of mind, and with tears, and with trials which befell me by the plots of the Jews;
how I shrank not from declaring unto you anything that was profitable, and teaching you publicly, and from house to house,
testifying both to Jews and to Greeks repentance toward God, and faith toward our Lord Jesus {Many ancient authorities omit Christ.}Christ.
And now, behold, I go bound in the spirit unto Jerusalem, not knowing the things that shall befall me there:
save that the Holy Spirit testifieth unto me in every city, saying that bonds and afflictions abide me.
But I hold not my life of any account as dear unto myself, {Or, in comparison of accomplishing my course }so that I may accomplish my course, and the ministry which I received from the Lord Jesus, to testify the {Or, good tidings}gospel of the grace of God.
And now, behold, I know that ye all, among whom I went about preaching the kingdom, shall see my face no more.
Wherefore I testify unto you this day, that I am pure from the blood of all men.
For I shrank not from declaring unto you the whole counsel of God.
Take heed unto yourselves, and to all the flock, in which the Holy Spirit hath made you {Or, overseers}bishops, to feed the church of {Some ancient authorities, including the two oldest manuscripts read God.}the Lord which he {Greek: acquired.}purchased with his own blood.
I know that after my departing grievous wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing the flock;
and from among your own selves shall men arise, speaking perverse things, to draw away the disciples after them.
Wherefore watch ye, remembering that by the space of three years I ceased not to admonish every one night and day with tears.
And now I commend you to {Some ancient authorities read the Lord.}God, and to the word of his grace, which is able to build you up, and to give you the inheritance among all them that are sanctified.
I coveted no man's silver, or gold, or apparel.
Ye yourselves know that these hands ministered unto my necessities, and to them that were with me.
In all things I gave you an example, that so laboring ye ought to help the weak, and to remember the words of the Lord Jesus, that he himself said, It is more blessed to give than to receive.
And when he had thus spoken, he kneeled down and prayed with them all.
And they all wept sore, and fell on Paul's neck and kissed him,
sorrowing most of all for the word which he had spoken, that they should behold his face no more. And they brought him on his way unto the ship.
I know that after my departing grievous wolves shall enter in among you, not sparing the flock;
in hope of eternal life, which God, who cannot lie, promised {Or, long ages ago}before times eternal;
He that believeth on the Son hath eternal life; but he that {Or, believeth not}obeyeth not the Son shall not see life, but the wrath of God abideth on him.
And the witness is this, that God gave unto us eternal life, and this life is in his Son.
He that hath the Son hath the life; he that hath not the Son of God hath not the life.