Genesis 49:2–27

²“Gather 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 strength,

¹Preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power.

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 slew ¹men,

And in their self-will they lamed ²oxen.

⁷“Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce;

And their wrath, for it is cruel.

^aI will ¹disperse them in Jacob,

And scatter them in Israel.

⁸“Judah, 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 ¹couches, he lies down as a lion,

And as a ²lion, who ³dares 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“^1aHe 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 ¹dull from wine,

And his teeth ²white from milk.

¹³“^aZebulun will dwell at the seashore;

And he shall be ¹a haven for ships,

And his flank shall be toward Sidon.

¹⁴“Issachar is ¹a strong donkey,

^aLying down between the ²sheepfolds.

¹⁵“When he saw that a resting place was good

And that the land was pleasant,

He bowed his shoulder to bear burdens,

And became a slave at forced labor.

¹⁶“^aDan shall ^bjudge 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 wait, O Lord.

¹⁹“^aAs for Gad, ¹raiders shall raid him,

But he will raid at their ²heels.

²⁰“^1aAs 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 bough by a spring;

Its ²branches run over a wall.

²³“The archers bitterly attacked him,

And shot at him and harassed him;

²⁴But his ^abow remained ¹firm,

And ^2bhis 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 ^1bby the ²Almighty who blesses you

With ^cblessings of heaven above,

Blessings of the deep that lies beneath,

Blessings of the breasts and of the womb.

²⁶“The blessings of your father

Have surpassed the blessings of my ancestors

Up to the ¹utmost bound of ^athe everlasting hills;

May they be on the head of Joseph,

And on the crown 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.”