Ecclesiastes 7:2 Cross References - MSB

² It is better to enter a house of mourning than a house of feasting, since death is the end of every man, and the living should take this to heart.

¹ Some time later Joseph was told, “Your father is ill.” So he set out with his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. ² When Jacob was told, “Your son Joseph has come to you,” Israel rallied his strength and sat up in bed. ³ Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and there He blessed me ⁴ and told me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you; I will make you a multitude of peoples, and will give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.’ ⁵ And now your two sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you here shall be reckoned as mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are mine. ⁶ Any children born to you after them shall be yours, and they shall be called by the names of their brothers in the territory they inherit. ⁷ Now as for me, when I was returning from Paddan, to my sorrow Rachel died along the way in the land of Canaan, some distance from Ephrath. So I buried her there beside the road to Ephrath” (that is, Bethlehem). ⁸ When Israel saw the sons of Joseph, he asked, “Who are these?” ⁹ Joseph said to his father, “They are the sons God has given me in this place.” So Jacob said, “Please bring them to me, that I may bless them.” ¹⁰ Now Israel’s eyesight was poor because of old age; he could hardly see. Joseph brought his sons to him, and his father kissed them and embraced them. ¹¹ “I never expected to see your face again,” Israel said to Joseph, “but now God has let me see your children as well.” ¹² Then Joseph removed his sons from his father’s knees and bowed facedown. ¹³ And Joseph took both of them—with Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel’s right hand—and brought them close to him. ¹⁴ But Israel stretched out his right hand and put it on the head of Ephraim, the younger; and crossing his hands, he put his left on Manasseh’s head, although Manasseh was the firstborn. ¹⁵ Then he blessed Joseph and said: “May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day, ¹⁶ the angel who has redeemed me from all harm—may He bless these boys. And may they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they grow into a multitude upon the earth.” ¹⁷ When Joseph saw that his father had placed his right hand on Ephraim’s head, he was displeased and took his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s. ¹⁸ “Not so, my father!” Joseph said. “This one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.” ¹⁹ But his father refused. “I know, my son, I know!” he said. “He too shall become a people, and he too shall be great; nevertheless, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations.” ²⁰ So that day Jacob blessed them and said: “By you shall Israel pronounce this blessing: ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’” So he put Ephraim before Manasseh. ²¹ Then Israel said to Joseph, “Look, I am about to die, but God will be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers. ²² And to you, as one who is above your brothers, I give the ridge of land that I took from the Amorites with my sword and bow.”

² Come together and listen, O sons of Jacob; listen to your father Israel. ³ Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power. ⁴ Uncontrolled as the waters, you will no longer excel, because you went up to your father’s bed, onto my couch, and defiled it. ⁵ Simeon and Levi are brothers; their swords are weapons of violence. ⁶ May I never enter their council; may I never join their assembly. For they kill men in their anger, and hamstring oxen on a whim. ⁷ Cursed be their anger, for it is strong, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will disperse them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel. ⁸ Judah, your brothers shall praise you. Your hand shall be on the necks of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down to you. ⁹ Judah is a young lion—my son, you return from the prey. Like a lion he crouches and lies down; like a lioness, who dares to rouse him? ¹⁰ The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes and the allegiance of the nations is his. ¹¹ He ties his donkey to the vine, his colt to the choicest branch. He washes his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. ¹² His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth are whiter than milk. ¹³ Zebulun shall dwell by the seashore and become a harbor for ships; his border shall extend to Sidon. ¹⁴ Issachar is a strong donkey, lying down between the sheepfolds. ¹⁵ He saw that his resting place was good and that his land was pleasant, so he bent his shoulder to the burden and submitted to labor as a servant. ¹⁶ Dan shall provide justice for his people as one of the tribes of Israel. ¹⁷ He will be a snake by the road, a viper in the path that bites the horse’s heels so that its rider tumbles backward. ¹⁸ I await Your salvation, O LORD. ¹⁹ Gad will be attacked by raiders, but he will attack their heels. ²⁰ Asher’s food will be rich; he shall provide royal delicacies. ²¹ Naphtali is a doe set free that bears beautiful fawns. ²² Joseph is a fruitful vine—a fruitful vine by a spring, whose branches scale the wall. ²³ The archers attacked him with bitterness; they aimed at him in hostility. ²⁴ Yet he steadied his bow, and his strong arms were tempered by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, in the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel, ²⁵ by the God of your father who helps you, and by the Almighty who blesses you, with blessings of the heavens above, with blessings of the depths below, with blessings of the breasts and womb. ²⁶ The blessings of your father have surpassed the blessings of the ancient mountains and the bounty of the everlasting hills. May they rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the prince of his brothers. ²⁷ Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning he devours the prey, in the evening he divides the plunder.” ²⁸ These are the tribes of Israel, twelve in all, and this was what their father said to them. He blessed them, and he blessed each one with a suitable blessing. ²⁹ Then Jacob instructed them, “I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite. ³⁰ The cave is in the field of Machpelah near Mamre, in the land of Canaan. This is the field Abraham purchased from Ephron the Hittite as a burial site. ³¹ There Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah are buried, and there I buried Leah. ³² The field and the cave that is in it were purchased from the Hittites.” ³³ When Jacob had finished instructing his sons, he pulled his feet into the bed and breathed his last, and he was gathered to his people.

¹⁵ When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph bears a grudge? Then he will surely repay us for all the evil that we did to him.” ¹⁶ So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Before he died, your father commanded, ¹⁷ ‘This is what you are to say to Joseph: I beg you, please forgive the transgression and sin of your brothers, for they did you wrong.’ So now, Joseph, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” When their message came to him, Joseph wept.

¹⁰ Who can count the dust of Jacob or number even a fourth of Israel? Let me die the death of the righteous; let my end be like theirs!”

²⁹ If only they were wise, they would understand it; they would comprehend their fate.

⁴⁶ he said to them, “Take to heart all these words I testify among you today, so that you may command your children to carefully follow all the words of this law.

⁴ Job’s sons would take turns holding feasts in their homes, and they would invite their three sisters to eat and drink with them. ⁵ And when the days of feasting were over, Job would send for his children to purify them, rising early in the morning to offer burnt offerings for all of them. For Job thought, “Perhaps my children have sinned and cursed God in their hearts.” This was Job’s regular practice.

¹² So teach us to number our days, that we may present a heart of wisdom.

¹¹ Woe to those who rise early in the morning in pursuit of strong drink, who linger into the evening, to be inflamed by wine. ¹² At their feasts are the lyre and harp, tambourines and flutes and wine. They disregard the actions of the LORD and fail to see the work of His hands.

¹² On that day the Lord GOD of Hosts called for weeping and wailing, for shaven heads and the wearing of sackcloth. ¹³ But look, there is joy and gladness, butchering of cattle and slaughtering of sheep, eating of meat and drinking of wine: “Let us eat and drink, for tomorrow we die!” ¹⁴ The LORD of Hosts has revealed in my hearing: “Until your dying day, this sin of yours will never be atoned for,” says the Lord GOD of Hosts.

⁷ You said, ‘I will be queen forever.’ You did not take these things to heart or consider their outcome.

³ You dismiss the day of calamity and bring near a reign of violence. ⁴ You lie on beds inlaid with ivory, and lounge upon your couches. You dine on lambs from the flock and calves from the stall. ⁵ You improvise songs on the harp like David and invent your own musical instruments. ⁶ You drink wine by the bowlful and anoint yourselves with the finest oils, but you fail to grieve over the ruin of Joseph.

⁵ Now this is what the LORD of Hosts says: “Consider carefully your ways.

² If you do not listen, and if you do not take it to heart to honor My name,” says the LORD of Hosts, “I will send a curse among you, and I will curse your blessings. Yes, I have already begun to curse them, because you are not taking it to heart.

⁴ Blessed are those who mourn, for they will be comforted.

⁶ On Herod’s birthday, however, the daughter of Herodias danced before them and pleased Herod ⁷ so much that he promised with an oath to give to her whatever she asked. ⁸ Prompted by her mother, she said, “Give me here on a platter the head of John the Baptist.” ⁹ The king was grieved, but because of his oaths and his guests, he ordered that her wish be granted ¹⁰ and sent to have John beheaded in the prison. ¹¹ John’s head was brought in on a platter and presented to the girl, who carried it to her mother. ¹² Then John’s disciples came and took his body and buried it. And they went and informed Jesus.

²¹ What fruit did you reap at that time from the things of which you are now ashamed? The outcome of those things is death. ²² But now that you have been set free from sin and have become slaves to God, the fruit you reap leads to holiness, and the outcome is eternal life.

¹⁹ Their end is destruction, their god is their belly, and their glory is in their shame. Their minds are set on earthly things.

²⁷ Just as man is appointed to die once, and after that to face judgment,

³ For we have spent enough of our past lifetime carrying out the same desires as the Gentiles: living in debauchery, lust, drunkenness, orgies, carousing, and detestable idolatry. ⁴ Because of this, they consider it strange of you not to plunge with them into the same flood of reckless indiscretion, and they heap abuse on you.