Genesis

49 Then called Jacob unto his sons,—and said—Gather yourselves together and let me tell you, that which shall befall you in the afterpart of the days.

2 Assemble yourselves and hear, ye sons of Jacob,—And hearken unto Israel your father!

3 Reuben, my first-born, thou, My vigour and the first-fruit of my strength,—Pre-eminence of elevation and pre-eminence of power:

4 Boiling over like water, thou mayest not have pre-eminence, Because thou didst mount the bed of thy father,—Then wast thou profane—My marriage-bed he mounted!

5 Simeon and Levi are brethren,—Instruments of violence are their agreements:

6 Into their circle do not thou enter, my soul! In their convocation do not thou join mine honour! For in their anger they slew brave men, And in their wantonness they hamstrung oxen.

7 Accursed be their anger, because fierce, And their wrath, because cruel,—I divide them in Jacob, And I disperse them in Israel.

8 Judah, as for thee, thy brethren shall praise thee [when] thy hand is on the neck of thy foes,—The sons of thy father shall bow themselves down to thee:

9 A lion’s whelp is Judah, From the prey, my son, hast thou come up! He hath stooped—hath crouched, As a lion—or as a lioness, Who shall rouse him?

10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, Nor the commander’s staff from between his feet,—Until that he come in as a Shiloh, And his be the obedience of the peoples:

11 Binding to the vine his ass, And to the choice vine his ass’s colt, He hath washed in wine his raiment, And in the blood of grapes his mantle:

12 Darker—his eyes than wine,—Whiter—his teeth than milk!

13 Zebulon, by a haven of seas, shall he settle down,—Even he by a haven of ships, With his utmost part upon Zidon.

14 Issachar, an ass of strength,—couching between the pens;

15 Then beholdeth he rest, that it is good, And the ground that it is pleasant,—So he bendeth his shoulder to bear, And becometh a tributary servant.

16 Dan shall vindicate his people,—as one of the tribes of Israel;

17 It cometh to pass that Dan is a serpent upon the way, A horned viper upon the path,—That biteth the heels of the horse, And his rider falleth backwards:—

18 For thy salvation have I waited, O Yahweh!

19 Gad, a troop shall troop on him,—But he shall troop on the rear.

20 Out of Asher fatness is his food,—So he setteth forth dainties for a king.

21 Naphtali is a slender hind,—That putteth forth antlers of beauty.

22 A fruitful bough is Joseph, A fruitful bough over a fountain,—Branches creeping over a wall.

23 So they attack him and have shot,—So they enclose him, do the masters of arrows.

24 But abideth, as an enduring one, his bow, And supple are the arms of his hands,—From the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, From thence is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel:

25 From the God of thy father, who doth help thee, And God Almighty, who doth bless thee, Blessings of the heavens above, Blessings of the abyss couching beneath,—Blessings of breasts and womb:

26 The blessings of thy father have prevailed Over the blessings of the perpetual mountains, The charm of the age-abiding hills,—They turn out to be for the head of Joseph, And for the crown of the head of him who was set apart from his brethren.

27 Benjamin, a wolf that teareth in pieces, In the morning he eateth prey, And at eventide he divideth spoil.

28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel,—And this is that which their father spake to them, when he blessed them, Each man severally according to the blessing wherewith he blessed them.

29 Then commanded he them, and said unto them—I am about to be gathered unto my people, Bury me among my fathers,—within the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite:

30 in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is over against Mamre, in the land of Canaan,—which Abraham bought along with the field from Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a buryingplace:—

31 There buried they Abraham and Sarah his wife, There buried they Isaac and Rebekah his wife,—And there buried I Leah:—

32 buying the field and the cave that is therein from the sons of Heth.

33 So Jacob made an end of commanding his sons, and gathered up his feet into the couch,—and ceased to breathe and was gathered unto his people.