Genesis 49:1–27
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.
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.