Famous Last Words

Some time afterward, Joseph was told, “Your father is ill.” So he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. ² When Jacob was told, “Your son Joseph has come to see you,” Israel summoned his strength and sat up in bed.

…

And Jacob called his sons and said, “Come together that I may tell you what is to befall you in days to come. ² Assemble and hearken, O sons of Jacob; Hearken to Israel your father…”

[Jacob offers a blessing to his children]

…

²⁸ All these were the tribes of Israel, twelve in number, and this is what their father said to them as he bade them farewell, addressing to each a parting word appropriate to him. ²⁹ Then he instructed them, saying to them, “I am about to be gathered to my kin. Bury me with my ancestors in the cave which is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, ³⁰ the cave which is in the field of Machpelah, facing Mamre, in the land of Canaan, the field that Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite for a burial site – ³¹ there Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried; there Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried; and there I buried Leah – ³² the field and the cave in it, bought from the Hittites.” ³³ When Jacob finished his instructions to his sons, he drew his feet into the bed and, breathing his last, he was gathered to his people.

Genesis 48:1-2; 49:1-2, 28-33

Moses went up from the steppes of Moab to Mount Nebo, to the summit of Pisgah, opposite Jericho, and God showed him the whole land: Gilead as far as Dan; ² all Naphtali; the land of Ephraim and Manasseh; the whole land of Judah as far as the Western Sea; ³ the Negev; and the Plain – the Valley of Jericho, the city of palm trees – as far as Zoar. ⁴ And God said to him, “This is the land of which I swore to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, ‘I will assign it to your offspring.’ I have let you see it with your own eyes, but you shall not cross there.” ⁵ So Moses the servant of God died there, in the land of Moab, at God's own command. ⁶ God buried him in the valley in the land of Moab, near Beth-peor; and no one knows his burial place to this day. ⁷ Moses was a hundred and twenty years old when he died; his eyes were undimmed and his vigor unabated. ⁸ And the Israelites bewailed Moses in the steppes of Moab for thirty days. The period of wailing and mourning for Moses came to an end. ⁹ Now Joshua son of Nun was filled with the spirit of wisdom because Moses had laid his hands upon him; and the Israelites heeded him, doing as God had commanded Moses. ¹⁰ Never again did there arise in Israel a prophet like Moses – whom God singled out, face to face, ¹¹ for the various signs and portents that God sent him to display in the land of Egypt, against Pharaoh and all his courtiers and his whole country, ¹² and for all the great might and awesome power that Moses displayed before all Israel.

Deuteronomy 34:1-12

When David’s life was drawing to a close, he instructed his son Solomon as follows: ² “I am going the way of all the earth; be strong and show yourself a man. ³ Keep the charge of Adonai your God, walking in God’s ways and following God’s laws, God’s commandments, God’s rules, and God’s admonitions as recorded in the Teaching of Moses, in order that you may succeed in whatever you undertake and wherever you turn. ⁴ Then Adonai will fulfill the promise that God made concerning me: ‘If your descendants are scrupulous in their conduct, and walk before Me faithfully, with all their heart and soul, your line on the throne of Israel shall never end!’ ⁵ Further, you know what Joab son of Zeruiah did to me, what he did to the two commanders of Israel’s forces, Abner son of Ner and Amasa son of Jether: he killed them, shedding blood of war in peacetime, staining the girdle of his loins and the sandals on his feet with blood of war. ⁶ So act in accordance with your wisdom, and see that his white hair does not go down to Sheol in peace. ⁷ But deal graciously with the sons of Barzillai the Gileadite, for they befriended me when I fled from your brother Absalom; let them be among those that eat at your table. ⁸ You must also deal with Shimei son of Gera, the Benjaminite from Bahurim. He insulted me outrageously when I was on my way to Mahanaim; but he came down to meet me at the Jordan, and I swore to him by the Eternal: ‘I will not put you to the sword.’ ⁹ So do not let him go unpunished; for you are a wise man and you will know how to deal with him and send his gray hair down to Sheol in blood.” ¹⁰ So David slept with his ancestors, and he was buried in the City of David. ¹¹ The length of David’s reign over Israel was forty years: he reigned seven years in Hebron, and he reigned thirty-three years in Jerusalem. ¹² And Solomon sat upon the throne of his father David, and his rule was firmly established.

I Kings 2:1-12

When Rabbi Eliezer fell ill, Rabbi Akiva and his colleagues entered to visit him. … He said to them: “Why did you come?” They replied: “We came to learn Torah.” He said to them: “And why did you not come until now?” … [Rabbi Eliezer] took his two arms and placed them upon his heart. He said: “Woe to you, my two arms, which are like two Torah scrolls being rolled up! I have learned much Torah, and I have taught much Torah. I learned much, but I did not diminish my teachers’ knowledge even as much as a dog laps up from the sea. I taught much, but my students diminished my own knowledge only as much as a brush dipped into a tube of eye-powder. Indeed, I have learned 300 laws about the color of leprosy-sores, and no one ever questioned me about them at all. I have learned 300 laws…about the planting of cucumbers, and no one ever questioned me about them at all – except for Rabbi Akiva the son of Yosef.” … [The disciples] asked him: “Tell us the laws about a completed shoe remaining on the cobbler’s shoe-mold. Is it susceptible to ritual impurity?” He replied: “It is pure…” And just then, in purity, Rabbi Eliezer’s soul departed.

Babylonian Talmud, Sanhedrin 68a