aAnd Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you bin the last days.

2  Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob;

And hearken unto Israel your father.

3  Reuben, thou art cmy firstborn,

My might, dand the beginning of my strength,

The excellency of edignity, and the excellency of power:

4  Unstable as water, †thou shalt not excel;

Because thou fwentest up to thy father’s bed;

Then defiledst thou it: ||he went up to my couch.

5  gSimeon and Levi are brethren;

||Instruments of cruelty are in their habitations.

6  O my soul, come not thou into htheir secret;

Unto their assembly, imine honour, be not thou united:

For in their anger they slew a man,

And in their selfwill they ||digged down a wall.

7  Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce;

And their wrath, for it was cruel:

I will kdivide them in Jacob,

And scatter them in Israel.

8  Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall lpraise:

Thy hand shall be in mthe neck of thine enemies;

nThy father’s children shall bow down before thee.

9  Judah is oa lion’s whelp:

From the prey, my son, thou art gone up:

pHe stooped down, he couched as a lion,

And as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?

10  qThe sceptre shall not depart from Judah,

Nor ra lawgiver from between his feet,

Until sShiloh come;

And unto him shall tthe gathering of the people be.

11  Binding his foal uunto the vine,

And his ass’s colt unto the choice vine;

He washed his garments in wine,

And his clothes in the blood of grapes:

12  His xeyes shall be red with wine,

And his teeth white with milk.

13  yZebulun shall dwell at the zhaven of the sea;

And he shall be for an haven of ships;

And his border shall be unto Zidon.

14  Issachar is a strong ass

Couching down between atwo burdens:

15  And he saw that rest was good,

And the land that it was pleasant;

And bowed bhis shoulder to bear,

And became a servant cunto tribute.

16  Dan shall djudge his people,

As one of the tribes of Israel.

17  Dan shall be a serpent by the way,

†An adder in the path,

That biteth the horse heels,

So that his rider shall fall backward.

18  I ehave waited for thy salvation, O Lord.

19  Gad, fa troop shall overcome him:

But he shall overcome at the last.

20  Out of Asher his bread shall be fat,

And he shall yield royal dainties.

21  Naphtali is a hind let loose:

He giveth goodly words.

22  Joseph is a fruitful bough,

Even a fruitful bough by a well;

Whose †branches run over the wall:

23  gThe archers have hsorely grieved him,

And ishot at him, and khated him:

24  But his lbow abode in strength,

And the arms of his hands were made strong

By the hands of mthe mighty God of Jacob;

(From thence is nthe shepherd, nthe stone of Israel:)

25  oEven 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 lieth under,

Blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:

26  The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors

Unto the utmost bound pof the everlasting hills:

They shall be qon the head of Joseph,

And on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.

27  Benjamin shall rravin as a wolf:

In the morning he shall devour the prey,

And at night she shall divide the spoil.