Genesis 49:1-28

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 days 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, Preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power.

4 "Uncontrolled 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 men, And in their self-will they lamed oxen.

7 "Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce; And their wrath, for it is cruel. ⁷I will disperse 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 couches, he lies down as a lion, And as a lion, who dares rouse him up?

10 "¹¹The scepter shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, Until * Shiloh comes, And ¹²to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.

11 "¹³He 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 dull from wine, And his teeth white from milk.

13 "¹⁵Zebulun will dwell at the seashore *; And he shall be a haven for ships, And his flank shall be toward Sidon.

14 "Issachar is a strong donkey, ¹⁶Lying down between the sheepfolds.

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, raiders shall raid him, But he will raid at their heels.

20 "²¹As for ²²Asher, his food shall be rich, And he will yield royal dainties.

21 "²³Naphtali is a doe let loose, He gives beautiful words.

22 "²⁴Joseph is a fruitful bough, A fruitful bough by a spring; Its branches run over a wall.

23 "The archers * bitterly attacked him, And shot at him and harassed him;

24 But his ²⁵bow remained firm, And ²⁶his 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 ³¹by the Almighty 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 utmost 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 ravenous 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 when he blessed them. He blessed them, every one with the blessing appropriate to him.

Genesis 49:1-28 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.

Cross References

• 1. Numbers 24:14
• 2. Psalms 34:11
• 3. Deuteronomy 21:17; Psalms 78:51; Psalms 105:36
• 4. Genesis 35:22; Deuteronomy 27:20; 1 Chronicles 5:1
• 5. Genesis 34:25-30
• 6. Psalms 64:2
• 7. Joshua 19:1, 9; Joshua 21:1-42
• 8. Genesis 27:29; 1 Chronicles 5:2
• 9. Ezekiel 19:5-7; Micah 5:8
• 10. Numbers 24:9
• 11. Numbers 24:17; Psalms 60:7; Psalms 108:8
• 12. Psalms 2:6-9; Psalms 72:8-11; Isaiah 42:1, 4; Isaiah 49:6
• 13. Deuteronomy 8:7, 8; 2 Kings 18:32
• 14. Isaiah 63:2
• 15. Deuteronomy 33:18, 19
• 16. Judges 5:16; Psalms 68:13
• 17. Deuteronomy 33:22; Judges 18:26, 27
• 18. Genesis 30:6
• 19. Exodus 15:2; Psalms 25:5; Psalms 40:1-3; Psalms 119:166, 174; Isaiah 25:9; Micah 7:7
• 20. Deuteronomy 33:20
• 21. Deuteronomy 33:24, 25
• 22. Genesis 30:13
• 23. Deuteronomy 33:23
• 24. Deuteronomy 33:13-17
• 25. Job 29:20
• 26. Psalms 18:34; Psalms 73:23; Isaiah 41:10
• 27. Psalms 132:2, 5; Isaiah 1:24; Isaiah 49:26
• 28. Psalms 23:1; Psalms 80:1
• 29. Psalms 118:22; Isaiah 28:16; 1 Peter 2:6-8
• 30. Genesis 28:13; Genesis 32:9
• 31. Genesis 28:3; Genesis 48:3
• 32. Genesis 27:28
• 33. Deuteronomy 33:15, 16

Footnotes

• [a]. Lit "end of the days"
• [b]. Lit "preeminence"
• [c]. Lit "preeminence"
• [d]. Or "Boiling over;" lit "Recklessness"
• [e]. Lit "a man"
• [f]. Lit "an ox"
• [g]. Lit "divide"
• [h]. Lit "bows down"
• [i]. Or "lioness"
• [j]. Lit "shall"
• [k]. Or "Until he comes to Shiloh;" or "Until he comes to whom it belongs"
• [l]. Lit "Binding of"
• [m]. Or "darker than"
• [n]. Or "whiter than"
• [o]. Lit "for a shore of ships"
• [p]. Lit "a donkey of bone"
• [q]. Or "saddlebags"
• [r]. Lit "a raiding band"
• [s]. Lit "heel"
• [t]. Lit "From"
• [u]. Or "bread"
• [v]. Lit "fat"
• [w]. Lit "son"
• [x]. Lit "son"
• [y]. Lit "daughters"
• [z]. I.e. in an unyielding position
• [aa]. Lit "the arms of his hands"
• [ab]. Or "with"
• [ac]. Heb "Shaddai"
• [ad]. Lit "limit;" or "desire"
• [ae]. Lit "a wolf that tears"
• [af]. Lit "and"
• [ag]. Lit "according to his blessing"