Genesis 49:1–27

Jacob’s Last Words to His Sons

49And 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.

⁴Unstable 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.

^6eLet 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.

⁷Cursed 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.

⁹Judah 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?

¹⁰ⁿThe 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.

¹¹Binding 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.

¹²His eyes are darker than wine,

And his teeth whiter than milk.

¹³“Zebulun ^rshall dwell by the haven of the sea;

He shall become a haven for ships,

And his border shall ^sadjoin Sidon.

¹⁴“Issachar ^tis a strong donkey,

Lying down between two burdens;

¹⁵He saw that rest was good,

And that the land was pleasant;

He bowed ^uhis shoulder to bear a burden,

And became a band of slaves.

¹⁶“Dan ^vshall judge his people

As one of the tribes of Israel.

^17wDan shall be a serpent by the way,

A viper by the path,

That bites the horse’s heels

So that its rider shall fall backward.

^18xI have waited for your salvation, O Lord!

¹⁹“Gad, ^y5a troop shall ⁶tramp upon him,

But he shall triumph at last.

²⁰“Bread from ^zAsher shall be rich,

And he shall yield royal dainties.

²¹“Naphtali ^ais a deer let loose;

He uses beautiful words.

²²“Joseph is a fruitful bough,

A fruitful bough by a well;

His branches run over the wall.

²³The archers have ^bbitterly grieved him,

Shot at him and hated him.

²⁴But his ^cbow remained in strength,

And the arms of his hands were ⁷made strong

By the hands of ^dthe Mighty God of Jacob

^e(From there ^fis the Shepherd, ^gthe Stone of Israel),

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

ⁱAnd by the Almighty ^jwho will bless you

With blessings of heaven above,

Blessings of the deep that lies beneath,

Blessings of the breasts and of the womb.

²⁶The blessings of your father

Have excelled the blessings of my ancestors,

^kUp to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills.

^lThey shall be on the head of Joseph,

And on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brothers.

²⁷“Benjamin is a ^mravenous wolf;

In the morning he shall devour the prey,

ⁿAnd at night he shall divide the spoil.”