Genesis 49:1–27

Jacob Blesses His Sons

49^wThen Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you what shall happen to you ^xin days to come.

²“Assemble and listen, O sons of Jacob,

listen to Israel your father.

³“Reuben, you are ^ymy firstborn,

my might, and the ^zfirstfruits of my strength,

preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power.

⁴Unstable as water, you shall not have preeminence,

because you ^awent up to your father’s bed;

then you defiled it—he went up to my couch!

^5b“Simeon and Levi are brothers;

weapons ^cof violence are their swords.

⁶Let my soul come not into their council;

^dO my glory, ^ebe not joined to their company.

For in their anger they killed men,

and in their willfulness they ^fhamstrung oxen.

⁷Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce,

and their wrath, for it is cruel!

I will ^gdivide them in Jacob

and scatter them in Israel.

⁸“Judah, ^hyour brothers shall praise you;

ⁱyour hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;

^jyour father’s sons shall bow down before you.

⁹Judah is ^ka lion’s cub;

from the prey, my son, you have gone up.

^lHe stooped down; he crouched as a lion

and as a lioness; who dares rouse him?

¹⁰The ^mscepter shall not depart from Judah,

nor the ruler’s staff ⁿfrom between his feet,

until tribute comes to him;¹

and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.

¹¹Binding his foal to the vine

and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine,

he has washed his garments in wine

and his vesture in the blood of grapes.

¹²His ^oeyes are darker than wine,

and his teeth whiter than milk.

^13p“Zebulun shall dwell at the ^qshore of the sea;

he shall become a haven for ships,

and his border shall be at Sidon.

^14r“Issachar is a strong donkey,

crouching between the sheepfolds.²

¹⁵He saw that a resting place was good,

and that the land was pleasant,

so he bowed his shoulder to bear,

and ^sbecame a servant at forced labor.

^16t“Dan shall ^ujudge his people

as one of the tribes of Israel.

¹⁷Dan ^vshall be a serpent in the way,

a viper by the path,

that bites the horse’s heels

so that his rider falls backward.

¹⁸I ^wwait for your salvation, O Lord.

^19x“Raiders shall raid ^yGad,³

but he shall raid at their heels.

^20z“Asher’s food shall be rich,

and he shall yield royal delicacies.

^21a“Naphtali is a doe let loose

that bears beautiful fawns.⁴

²²“Joseph is ^ba fruitful bough,

a fruitful bough by a spring;

his branches run over the wall.⁵

²³The archers ^cbitterly attacked him,

shot at him, and harassed him severely,

²⁴yet ^dhis bow remained unmoved;

his arms⁶ were made agile

by the hands of the ^eMighty One of Jacob

(from there is ^fthe Shepherd,^{7 g}the Stone of Israel),

^25hby the God of your father who will help you,

by ⁱthe Almighty^{8 j}who will bless you

with blessings of heaven above,

blessings of the deep that crouches beneath,

blessings of the breasts and of the womb.

²⁶The blessings of your father

are mighty beyond the blessings of my parents,

up to the bounties ^kof the everlasting hills.⁹

May they be ^lon the head of Joseph,

and on the brow of him who was set apart from his brothers.

^27m“Benjamin is a ravenous wolf,

in the morning devouring the prey

and at evening ⁿdividing the spoil.”