New International Version NIV
Wycliffe WYC
1 Then Jacob called for his sons and said: “Gather around so I can tell you what will happen to you in days to come.
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Forsooth Jacob called his sons, and said to them, Be ye gathered together, that I tell what things shall come to you in the last days; (And Jacob called his sons, and said to them, Be ye gathered together, so that I can tell what things shall happen to you in the days to come;)
2 “Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob; listen to your father Israel.
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be ye gathered [together], and hear, ye sons of Jacob, hear ye Israel your father (listen to your father Israel).
3 “Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, the first sign of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power.
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Reuben, my first begotten son, thou art my strength, and the beginning of my sorrow; thou oughtest to be the former in gifts, the more in lordship (thou ought to be the first in gifts, and the greatest in power, or in authority);
4 Turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel, for you went up onto your father’s bed, onto my couch and defiled it.
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(but) thou art shed out as water; wax thou not, for thou ascendedest on the bed of thy father, and defouledest his bed.
5 “Simeon and Levi are brothers— their swords are weapons of violence.
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Simeon and Levi, brethren, fighting vessels of wickedness; (Simeon and Levi truly be brothers, and they use their bodies for fighting, and for wickedness;)
6 Let me not enter their council, let me not join their assembly, for they have killed men in their anger and hamstrung oxen as they pleased.
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my soul come not into the counsel of them, and my glory be not in the congregation of them; for in their strong vengeance, they killed a man, and in their [own] will, they undermined the wall (for in their anger, they have killed some men, and to make sport, they have wounded some oxen);
7 Cursed be their anger, so fierce, and their fury, so cruel! I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel.
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cursed be the strong vengeance of them, for it is obstinate, and the indignation of them, for it is hard; I shall part them in Jacob (I shall divide them in Jacob), and I shall scatter them in Israel.
8 “Judah, your brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons will bow down to you.
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Judah, thy brethren shall praise thee, thine hands shall be in the nolls of thine enemies; the sons of thy father shall worship thee. (Judah, thy brothers shall praise thee, thy hands shall be upon the necks of thy enemies; the sons of thy father shall bow before thee.)
9 You are a lion’s cub, Judah; you return from the prey, my son. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness—who dares to rouse him?
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Judah, the whelp of a lion; my son, thou hast gone up to the prey; thou restedest, and hast lain as a lion, and as a lioness, who shall raise him? (thou hast rested, and hast lain like a lion, and a lioness, and now who shall dare rouse thee?)
10 The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,until he to whom it belongs shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his.
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The sceptre shall not be taken away from Judah, and a duke (out) of his hip (nor a ruler from between his hips, or out of his loins), till he come that shall be sent, and he shall be the abiding of heathen men;
11 He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch; he will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes.
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and he shall tie his colt at the vinery, and his she-ass at the vine; O! my son, he shall wash his stole in wine, and his mantle in the blood of the grape;
12 His eyes will be darker than wine, his teeth whiter than milk.
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(yea,) his eyes be fairer than wine, and his teeth be whiter than milk.
13 “Zebulun will live by the seashore and become a haven for ships; his border will extend toward Sidon.
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Zebulun shall dwell in the brink of the sea, and in the standing of ships; and he shall stretch till to Sidon. (Zebulun shall live at the edge of the sea, and his shore shall be a haven for ships; and he shall reach as far as Sidon.)
14 “Issachar is a rawboned donkey lying down among the sheep pens.
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Issachar, a strong ass, lying betwixt [the] terms, (Issachar, like a strong donkey, lying between two burdens,)
15 When he sees how good is his resting place and how pleasant is his land, he will bend his shoulder to the burden and submit to forced labor.
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saw rest, that it was good, and saw the land, that it was best, and he underset his shoulder to bear, and he was made serving to tributes . (saw that the resting place was good, and that the land was the best, and so he underset his shoulder to carry the burden, and was made to serve as a slave.)
16 “Dan will provide justice for his people as one of the tribes of Israel.
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Dan shall deem his people, as also another lineage in Israel. (Dan shall judge, or shall rule, his people, like another tribe in Israel.)
17 Dan will be a snake by the roadside, a viper along the path, that bites the horse’s heels so that its rider tumbles backward.
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Dan be made a serpent in the way, and (a) cerastes, that is, an horned adder, in the path, and bite he the feet of an horse, that the rider of him fall backward; (Let Dan be made a serpent on the way, and a cerastes, or a horned adder, on the path, and bite he the horse's feet, so that his rider fall backwards;)
18 “I look for your deliverance, LORD.
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Lord, I shall abide thine health. (Lord, I wait for thy salvation!)
19 “Gad will be attacked by a band of raiders, but he will attack them at their heels.
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Gad shall be girded, and he shall fight (them) before him, and he shall be girded behind. (Gad shall be girded, and shall be attacked from the front, but he shall fight back from behind.)
20 “Asher’s food will be rich; he will provide delicacies fit for a king.
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Asher, his bread shall be fat, and he shall give delights to kings.
21 “Naphtali is a doe set free that bears beautiful fawns.
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Naphtali shall be an hart sent out, and giving speeches of fairness.
22 “Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine near a spring, whose branches climb over a wall.
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Joseph, a son increasing, (yea,) a son increasing, and fair in beholding; [the] daughters run about on the wall (his branches climb up over the wall),
23 With bitterness archers attacked him; they shot at him with hostility.
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but his brethren wrathed (at) him, and chided him, and they had darts, and had envy to him (and they had arrows, and they envied him).
24 But his bow remained steady, his strong arms stayed limber, because of the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob, because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,
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His bow sat in the strong (One), the Lord, and the bonds of his arms and his hands were unbound by the hand of the mighty (God) of Jacob; of him a shepherd went out, the stone of Israel. (But his bow stood strong, and the bonds on his arms, and on his hands, were unbound by the power of the mighty God of Jacob; yea, by his Shepherd, by the Rock of Israel.)
25 because of your father’s God, who helps you, because of the Almighty, who blesses you with blessings of the skies above, blessings of the deep springs below, blessings of the breast and womb.
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(The) God of thy father shall be thine helper, and Almighty God shall bless thee, with blessings of (the) heaven(s) from above (with blessings from heaven above), and with blessings of the sea lying beneath, with blessings of teats, and of the womb;
26 Your father’s blessings are greater than the blessings of the ancient mountains, than the bounty of the age-old hills. Let all these rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the prince among his brothers.
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the blessings of thy father be strengthened, that is, be (made) better than the blessings of his fathers, till the desire of (the) everlasting hills came; blessings be made on the head of Joseph, and in the noll of (the) Nazarite, that is, holy, among his brethren (blessings shall rest on Joseph's head, yea, on the noll of the Nazarite, that is, the one set apart, or the holy one, among his brothers).
27 “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning he devours the prey, in the evening he divides the plunder.”
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Benjamin, a ravishing wolf (a ravenous wolf), shall eat the prey early, and in the eventide he shall part (the) spoils.
28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them, giving each the blessing appropriate to him.
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All these were in [the] twelve kindreds of Israel; their father spake these things to them, and he blessed them all by proper blessings, (All these were the twelve tribes, or the twelve families, of Israel; their father spoke these things to them, and he blessed each of them with their own blessings,)
29 Then he gave them these instructions: “I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite,
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and he commanded to them, and said, I am (soon to be) gathered to my people; bury ye me with my fathers in the double den, that is in the land of Ephron (the) Hittite, (and he commanded to them, and said, soon I shall join my people, yea, my ancestors; bury ye me with my fathers in the cave, that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,)
30 the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in Canaan, which Abraham bought along with the field as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite.
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(that is, in the den in the field at Machpelah,) against Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which den Abraham bought with the field of Ephron (the) Hittite, into (a) possession of a sepulchre. (that is, in the cave in the field at Machpelah, east of Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which cave Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite, for a burial place.)
31 There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried, and there I buried Leah.
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There they buried him, and Sarah his wife; also Isaac was buried there, with Rebecca his wife; there also Leah lieth buried. (They buried him there, with his wife Sarah; Isaac was also buried there, with his wife Rebecca; and Leah also lieth buried there.)
32 The field and the cave in it were bought from the Hittites. ”
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(This verse is omitted in the original text.)
33 When Jacob had finished giving instructions to his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed, breathed his last and was gathered to his people.
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And when the behests were ended, by which he taught his sons, he gathered together his feet on the bed, and died, and he was put to his people. (And when Jacob had finished giving these prophesies to his sons, he drew his feet up onto the bed, and died, and he joined his ancestors.)
Scripture quoted by permission.Ā Quotations designated (NIV) are from THE HOLY BIBLE: NEW INTERNATIONAL VERSIONĀ®.Ā NIVĀ®.Ā Copyright Ā© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica.Ā All rights reserved worldwide.
Copyright Ā© 2001 by Terence P. Noble. For personal use only.