Genesis 49:1–12

Jacob’s Last Words to His Sons

49 And Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather together, that I may atell you what shall befall you bin the last days:

2 “Gather together and hear, you sons of Jacob,

And listen to Israel your father.

3 “Reuben, you are cmy firstborn,

My might and the beginning of my strength,

The excellency of dignity and the excellency of power.

4 Unstable as water, you shall not excel,

Because you dwent up to your father’s bed;

Then you defiled it—

He went up to my couch.

5 “Simeon and Levi are brothers;

Instruments of 1cruelty are in their dwelling place.

6 eLet not my soul enter their council;

Let not my honor be united fto their assembly;

gFor in their anger they slew a man,

And in their self-will they 2hamstrung an ox.

7 Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce;

And their wrath, for it is cruel!

hI will divide them in Jacob

And scatter them in Israel.

8 “Judah, iyou are he whom your brothers shall praise;

jYour hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;

kYour father’s children shall bow down before you.

9 Judah is la lion’s whelp;

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

mHe 3bows down, he lies down as a lion;

And as a lion, who shall rouse him?

10 nThe 4scepter shall not depart from Judah,

Nor oa lawgiver from between his feet,

pUntil Shiloh comes;

qAnd to Him shall be the obedience of the people.

11 Binding his donkey to the vine,

And his donkey’s colt to the choice vine,

He washed his garments in wine,

And his clothes in the blood of grapes.

12 His eyes are darker than wine,

And his teeth whiter than milk.