Jacob Blesses His Sons
1. Then Jacob called for his sons and said, “Gather around, that I may tell you what will happen to you in the days to come:
2. Assemble and listen, O sons of Jacob;
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.
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.
5. Simeon and Levi are brothers;
their swords are weapons of violence.
6. Let me not enter their council,
let me not join their assembly,
for they have killed men in their anger
and hamstrung 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, 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 kill.
He crouches; he lies down like a lion
or a lioness—who dares to rouse him?
10. The scepter will not depart from Judah,
nor the staff from between his feet,
until Shiloh comes
and the allegiance of the nations is his.
11. He ties his donkey to a 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,
his teeth whiter than milk.
13. Zebulun will dwell by the seashore
and become a harbor for ships;
his border will extend toward Sidon.
14. Issachar is a strong donkey
lying down between the sheepfolds.
15. When he sees that his resting place is good
and that the land is pleasant,
he will bend his shoulder to the burden
and submit to forced labor.
16. Dan will judge his people
as one of the tribes of Israel.
17. Dan will be a serpent by the roadside,
a viper along the path,
that bites the horse’s heels
so that its rider falls backward.
18. I wait for Your salvation, O LORD!
19. Gad will be raided by raiders,
but he will raid them at their heels.
20. Asher’s food will be rich;
he will provide royal delicacies.
21. Naphtali is a doe set free
that bears beautiful fawns.
22. Joseph is a fruitful vine,
a fruitful vine by a spring,
whose branches scale the wall.
23. The archers attacked him with bitterness,
shooting at him with hostility.
24. But his bow remained steady,
and his strong arms stayed limber,
because of the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob,
in the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,
25. because of the God of your father,
who helps you,
because of the Almighty,
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 excel
the blessings of the ancient mountains,
surpassing the bounty of the age-old hills.
May they rest on the head of Joseph,
on the brow of the prince among his brothers.
27. Benjamin is a ravenous wolf;
in the morning he devours the prey,
in the evening he divides the plunder.”
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.
29. Then he commanded them, “I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite,
30. the cave in the field of Machpelah near Mamre in Canaan, which Abraham bought as a burial site from Ephron the Hittite.
31. There Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah are buried, and there I buried Leah.
32. The field and the cave in it were purchased from the Hittites.”
33. When Jacob had finished giving instructions to his sons, he drew his feet into the bed, breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.