1
Then Ya'akov called for his sons and said, "Gather yourselves together, and I will tell you what will happen to you in the acharit-hayamim.
2
Assemble yourselves and listen, sons of Ya'akov; pay attention to Isra'el your father.
3
"Re'uven, you are my firstborn, my strength, the firstfruits of my manhood.
4
Though superior in vigor and power you are unstable as water, so your superiority will end, because you climbed into your father's bed and defiled it -he climbed onto my concubine's couch!
5
"Shim'on and Levi are brothers, related by weapons of violence.
6
Let me not enter their council, let my honor not be connected with their people; for in their anger they killed men, and at their whim they maimed cattle.
7
Cursed be their anger, for it has been fierce; their fury, for it has been cruel. I will divide them in Ya'akov and scatter them in Isra'el.
8
"Y'hudah, your brothers will acknowledge you, your hand will be on the neck of your enemies, your father's sons will bow down before you.
9
Y'hudah is a lion's cub; my son, you stand over the prey. He crouches down and stretches like a lion; like a lioness, who dares to provoke him?
10
The scepter will not pass from Y'hudah, nor the ruler's staff from between his legs, until he comes to whom [obedience] belongs; and it is he whom the peoples will obey.