Genesis 49
Jacob Assembles His Sons
49Then Jacob summoned his sons and said, “Gather together that I may tell you what will befall you ain the last days.
2“Assemble together and hear, O sons of Jacob;And alisten to Israel your father.3“Reuben, you are my firstborn;My might and athe beginning of my vigor,1Preeminent in dignity and 2preeminent in strength.4“1Uncontrolled as water, you shall not have preeminence,aBecause you went up to your father’s bed;Then you defiled it—he went up to my couch.5“aSimeon and Levi are brothers;Their swords are implements of violence.6“aLet my soul not enter into their council;Let not my glory be united with their assembly;Because in their anger they killed 1men,And in their self-will they hamstrung 2oxen.7“Cursed be their anger, for it is strong;And their wrath, for it is cruel.aI will divide them amongst Jacob,And scatter them in Israel.8“Judah, as for you, your brothers shall praise you;Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;aYour father’s sons shall bow down to you.9“Judah is a alion’s whelp;From the prey, my son, you have gone up.bHe 1crouches, he lies down as a lion,And as a lioness, who 2dares rouse him up?10“aThe scepter shall not depart from Judah,Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,1Until Shiloh comes,And bto him shall be the obedience of the peoples.11“1,aHe ties his foal to the vine,And his donkey’s colt to the choice vine;bHe washes his garments in wine,And his robes in the blood of grapes.12“His eyes are 1dark from wine,And his teeth 2white from milk.13“aZebulun will dwell at the seashore;And he shall be a shore for ships,And his flank shall be toward Sidon.14“Issachar is 1a strong donkey,aLying down between the 2sheepfolds.15“And he saw that a resting place was goodAnd that the land was pleasant,So he bowed his shoulder to bear burdens,And became a slave at forced labor.16“aDan shall brender justice to his people,As one of the tribes of Israel.17“Dan shall be a serpent in the way,A horned snake in the path,That bites the horse’s heels,So that his rider falls backward.18“aFor Your salvation I hope, O Yahweh.19“aAs for Gad, 1raiders shall raid him,But he will raid at their 2heels.20“1,aAs for bAsher, his 2food shall be 3rich,And he will yield royal dainties.21“aNaphtali is a doe let loose,He gives beautiful words.22“aJoseph is a fruitful 1bough,A fruitful 2bough by a spring;Its 3branches run over a wall.23“And the archers bitterly attacked him and shot at him,And they bore a grudge against him;24But his abow remained 1firm,And 2,bhis arms were agile,From the hands of the cMighty One of Jacob,From there is dthe Shepherd, ethe Stone of Israel,25From athe God of your father who helps you,And 1,bby the 2Almighty who blesses youWith cblessings of heaven above,Blessings of the deep that lies beneath,Blessings of the breasts and of the womb.26“The blessings of your fatherHave surpassed the blessings of my ancestorsUp to the 1utmost bound of athe everlasting hills;May they be on the head of Joseph,And on the top of the head of the one distinguished among his brothers.27“Benjamin is a 1ravenous wolf;In the morning he devours the prey,And in the evening he divides the spoil.”Jacob Breathes His Last
28All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke to them. So he blessed them. He blessed them, every one 1with the blessing appropriate to him. 29Then he commanded them and said to them, “I am about to be agathered to my people; bbury me with my fathers in the cave that is in cthe field of Ephron the Hittite, 30in the acave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought along with the field from Ephron the Hittite as a possession for a burial site. 31“There they buried aAbraham and his wife bSarah, there they buried cIsaac and his wife Rebekah, and there I buried Leah— 32the field and the cave that is in it, purchased from the sons of Heth.” 33So Jacob finished commanding his sons. And he drew his feet into the bed and abreathed his last and was bgathered to his people.