XLIX. 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 a haven of ships;

And his border shall be unto Zidon.

14  Issachar is a strong ass

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.

28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it that their father spake unto them, and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them. 29 And he charged them, and said unto them, I tam to be gathered unto my people: ubury me with my fathers xin the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 30 in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, ywhich Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a buryingplace. 31 zThere they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; athere they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah. 32 The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth. 33 And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and bwas gathered unto his people.