[1] Then Jacob called his sons, and said, "Gather yourselves together, that
I may tell you what shall befall you in days to come. [2] Assemble and
hear, O sons of Jacob, and hearken to Israel your father. [3] Reuben, you
are my first-born, my might, and the first fruits of my strength,
pre-eminent in pride and pre-eminent in power. [4] Unstable as water, you
shall not have pre-eminence because you went up to your father's bed; then
you defiled it--you went up to my couch! [5] Simeon and Levi are brothers;
weapons of violence are their swords. [6] O my soul, come not into their
council; O my spirit, be not joined to their company; for in their anger
they slay men, and in their wantonness they hamstring oxen. [7] Cursed be
their anger, for it is fierce; and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will
divide 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; your
father's sons shall bow down before you. [9] Judah is a lion's whelp; from
the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down, he couched as a lion,
and as a lioness; who dares rouse him up? [10] The scepter shall not depart
from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to
whom it belongs; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. [11]
Binding his foal to the vine and his ass's colt to the choice vine, he
washes his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes; [12]
his eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk. [13]
Zeb'ulun shall dwell at the shore of the sea; he shall become a haven for
ships, and his border shall be at Sidon. [14] Is'sachar is a strong ass,
crouching between the sheepfolds; [15] he saw that a resting place was
good, and that the land was pleasant; so he bowed his shoulder to bear, and
became a slave at forced labor. [16] Dan shall judge his people as one of
the tribes of Israel. [17] Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a viper by
the path, that bites the horse's heels so that his rider falls backward.
[18] I wait for thy salvation, O LORD. [19] Raiders shall raid Gad, but he
shall raid at their heels. [20] Asher's food shall be rich, and he shall
yield royal dainties. [21] Naph'tali is a hind let loose, that bears comely
fawns. [22] Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a spring; his
branches run over the wall. [23] The archers fiercely attacked him, shot at
him, and harassed him sorely; [24] yet his bow remained unmoved, his arms
were made agile by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob (by the name of the
Shepherd, the Rock of Israel), [25] by the God of your father who will help
you, by God Almighty who will bless you with blessings of heaven above,
blessings of the deep that couches beneath, blessings of the breasts and of
the womb. [26] The blessings of your father are mighty beyond the blessings
of the eternal mountains, the bounties of the everlasting hills; may they
be on the head of Joseph, and on the brow of him who was separate from his
brothers. [27] Benjamin is a ravenous wolf, in the morning devouring the
prey, and at even dividing the spoil." [28] All these are the twelve tribes
of Israel; and this is what their father said to them as he blessed them,
blessing each with the blessing suitable to him. [29] Then he charged them,
and said to them, "I am to be gathered to my people; bury me with my
fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, [30] in the
cave that is in the field at Mach-pe'lah, to the east of Mamre, in the land
of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to
possess as a burying place. [31] There they buried Abraham and Sarah his
wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried
Leah-- [32] the field and the cave that is in it were purchased from the
Hittites." [33] When Jacob finished charging his sons, he drew up his feet
into the bed, and breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.
