Genesis 49 (New American Standard)

Israel's Prophecy concerning His Sons

1 Then Jacob summoned his sons and said, "Assemble yourselves that I may tell you what will befall you ¹in the ^adays to come. 2 "Gather together and hear, O sons of Jacob ; And ²listen to Israel your father. 3 "Reuben, you are my firstborn ; My might and ³the beginning of my strength, ^bPreeminent in dignity and ^cpreeminent in power. 4 "^dUncontrolled as water, you shall not have preeminence, ⁴Because you went up to your father's bed ; Then you defiled it -he went up to my couch. 5 "⁵Simeon and Levi are brothers ; Their swords are implements of violence. 6 "⁶Let my soul not enter into their council ; Let not my glory be united with their assembly ; Because in their anger they slew ^emen, And in their self-will they lamed ^foxen. 7 "Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce ; And their wrath, for it is cruel. ⁷I will ^gdisperse 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 ; ⁸Your father's sons shall bow down to you. 9 "Judah is a ⁹lion's whelp ; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. ¹⁰He ^hcouches, he lies down as a lion, And as a ⁱlion, who ^jdares rouse him up? 10 "¹¹The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, ^kUntil Shiloh comes, And ¹²to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. 11 "^l13He ties his foal to the vine, And his donkey's colt to the choice vine ; ¹⁴He washes his garments in wine, And his robes in the blood of grapes. 12 "His eyes are ^mdull from wine, And his teeth ⁿwhite from milk. 13 "¹⁵Zebulun will dwell at the seashore ; And he shall be ^oa haven for ships, And his flank shall be toward Sidon. 14 "Issachar is ^pa strong donkey, ¹⁶Lying down between the ^qsheepfolds. 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 "¹⁷Dan shall ¹⁸judge 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 "¹⁹For Your salvation I wait, O LORD. 19 "²⁰As for Gad, ^rraiders shall raid him, But he will raid at their ^sheels. 20 "^t21As for ²²Asher, his ^ufood shall be ^vrich, And he will yield royal dainties. 21 "²³Naphtali is a doe let loose, He gives beautiful words. 22 "²⁴Joseph is a fruitful ^wbough, A fruitful ^xbough by a spring ; Its ^ybranches run over a wall. 23 "The archers bitterly attacked him, And shot at him and harassed him; 24 But his ²⁵bow remained ^zfirm, And ^aa26his arms were agile, From the hands of the ²⁷Mighty One of Jacob (From there is ²⁸the Shepherd, ²⁹the Stone of Israel ), 25 From ³⁰the God of your father who helps you, And ^bb31by the ^ccAlmighty who blesses you With ³²blessings 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 ^ddutmost bound of ³³the 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 ^eeravenous wolf ; In the morning he devours the prey, And in the evening he divides the spoil." 28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them ^ffwhen he blessed them. He blessed them, every one ^ggwith the blessing appropriate to him. 29 Then he charged them and said to them, "I am about to be ³⁴gathered to my people ; ³⁵bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in ³⁶the field of Ephron the Hittite, 30 in the ³⁷cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought along with the field from Ephron the Hittite for a ^hhburial site. 31 "There they buried ³⁸Abraham and his wife ³⁹Sarah, there they buried ⁴⁰Isaac and his wife Rebekah, and there I buried Leah - 32 the field and the cave that is in it, purchased from the sons of Heth." 33 When Jacob finished charging his sons, he drew his feet into the bed and ⁴¹breathed his last, and was ⁴²gathered to his people.