Genesis 49:2-27

2 Come together and listen, O sons of Jacob; listen to your father Israel.

3 Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power.

4 Uncontrolled as the waters, you will no longer excel, because you went up to your father’s bed, onto my couch, and defiled it.

5 Simeon and Levi are brothers; their swords ^[a] are weapons of violence.

6 May I never enter their council; may I never join their assembly. For they kill men in their anger, and hamstring oxen on a whim.

7 Cursed be their anger, for it is strong, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will disperse them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.

8 Judah, ^[b] your brothers shall praise you. Your hand shall be on the necks of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down to you.

9 Judah is a young lion— my son, you return from the prey. Like a lion he crouches and lies down; like a lioness, who dares to rouse him?

10 The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the staff from between his feet, ^[c] until Shiloh ^[d] comes and the allegiance of the nations is his.

11 He ties his donkey to the vine, his colt to the choicest branch. He washes his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes.

12 His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth are whiter than milk.

13 Zebulun shall dwell by the seashore and become a harbor for ships; his border shall extend to Sidon.

14 Issachar is a strong donkey, lying down between the sheepfolds. ^[e]

15 He saw that his resting place was good and that his land was pleasant, so he bent his shoulder to the burden and submitted to labor as a servant.

16 Dan shall provide justice for his people ^[f] as one of the tribes of Israel.

17 He will be a snake by the road, a viper in the path that bites the horse’s heels so that its rider tumbles backward.

18 I await Your salvation, O LORD.

19 Gad ^[g] will be attacked by raiders, but he will attack their heels.

20 Asher’s food will be rich; he shall provide royal delicacies.

21 Naphtali is a doe set free that bears beautiful fawns. ^[h]

22 Joseph is a fruitful vine— a fruitful vine by a spring, whose branches scale the wall. ^[i]

23 The archers attacked him with bitterness; they aimed at him in hostility.

24 Yet he steadied his bow, and his strong arms were tempered by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, in the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,

25 by the God of your father who helps you, and by the Almighty ^[j] who blesses you, with blessings of the heavens above, with blessings of the depths below, with blessings of the breasts and womb.

26 The blessings of your father have surpassed the blessings of the ancient mountains ^[k] and the bounty of the everlasting hills. May they rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the prince of his brothers.

27 Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning he devours the prey, in the evening he divides the plunder.”

Genesis 49:2-27 Meaning and Commentary

INTRODUCTION TO GENESIS 49

This chapter contains a prophecy of future things, relating to the twelve sons of Jacob, and to the twelve tribes, as descending from them, and which he delivered to his sons on his death bed, having called them together for that purpose, Ge 49:1,2, he begins with Reuben his firstborn, whose incest he takes notice of, on which account he should not excel, Ge 49:3,4, next Simeon and Levi have a curse denounced on them for their cruelty at Shechem, Ge 49:5,6, but Judah is praised, and good things prophesied of him; and particularly that Shiloh, or the Messiah, should spring from him, the time of whose coming is pointed at, Ge 49:7-12, the predictions concerning Zebulun, Issachar, and Dan, follow, at the close of which Jacob expresses his longing expectation of God's salvation, Ge 49:13-18 and after foretelling what should befall Gad, Asher, and Naphtali, Ge 49:19-21, a large account is given of Joseph, his troubles, his trials, and his blessings, Ge 49:22-26, and Benjamin the youngest son is taken notice of last of all, all the tribes being blessed in their order according to the nature of their blessing, Ge 49:27,28, and the chapter is closed with a charge of Jacob's to his sons to bury him in Canaan, which having delivered, he died, Ge 49:29-33.

Footnotes

• [a] Or dwelling places
• [b] Judah sounds like the Hebrew for praise.
• [c] Or from his descendants
• [d] Or until the one to whom tribute belongs
• [e] Or saddlebags or hearths
• [f] Or Dan shall judge his people; Dan means He has judged or He has vindicated.
• [g] Gad sounds like the Hebrew for raid and also for band of raiders.
• [h] Or gives beautiful words or bears fawns of the fold
• [i] Or Joseph is a wild donkey, a wild donkey by a spring, with his wild colts beside the wall
• [j] Hebrew Shaddai
• [k] Or of my ancestors