Genesis 49
1 And Jacob sent for his sons, and said, Come together, all of you, so that I may give you news of your fate in future times.
And Jacob calls to his sons and says, “Be gathered together, and I declare to you that which happens with you in the latter end of the days.
2 Come near, O sons of Jacob, and give ear to the words of Israel your father.
Be assembled, and hear, sons of Jacob, And listen to your father Israel.
3 Reuben, you are my oldest son, the first-fruit of my strength, first in pride and first in power:
Reuben! You [are] my firstborn, My power, and beginning of my strength, The abundance of exaltation, And the abundance of strength;
4 But because you were uncontrolled, the first place will not be yours; for you went up to your father's bed, even his bride-bed, and made it unclean.
Unstable as water, you are not abundant; For you have gone up your father’s bed; Then you have defiled [it]: He went up my couch!
5 Simeon and Levi are brothers; deceit and force are their secret designs.
Simeon and Levi [are] brothers! Instruments of violence—their espousals!
6 Take no part in their secrets, O my soul; keep far away, O my heart, from their meetings; for in their wrath they put men to death, and for their pleasure even oxen were wounded.
Into their secret, do not come, O my soul! Do not be united to their assembly, O my glory; For in their anger they slew a man, And in their self-will eradicated a prince.
7 A curse on their passion for it was bitter; and on their wrath for it was cruel. I will let their heritage in Jacob be broken up, driving them from their places in Israel.
Cursed [is] their anger, for [it is] fierce, And their wrath, for [it is] sharp; I divide them in Jacob, And I scatter them in Israel.
8 To you, Judah, will your brothers give praise: your hand will be on the neck of your haters; your father's sons will go down to the earth before you.
Judah! Your brothers praise you! Your hand [is] on the neck of your enemies, Sons of your father bow themselves to you.
9 Judah is a young lion; like a lion full of meat you have become great, my son; now he takes his rest like a lion stretched out and like an old lion; by whom will his sleep be broken?
A lion’s whelp [is] Judah, For prey, my son, you have gone up; He has bent, he has crouched as a lion, And as a lioness; who causes him to arise?
10 The rod of authority will not be taken from Judah, and he will not be without a law-giver, till he comes who has the right to it, and the peoples will put themselves under his rule.
The scepter does not turn aside from Judah, And a lawgiver from between his feet, Until his Seed comes; And His [is] the obedience of peoples.
11 Knotting his ass's cord to the vine, and his young ass to the best vine; washing his robe in wine, and his clothing in the blood of grapes:
Binding to the vine his donkey, And to the choice vine the colt of his donkey, He has washed in wine his clothing, And in the blood of grapes his covering;
12 His eyes will be dark with wine, and his teeth white with milk.
Red [are] eyes with wine, And white [are] teeth with milk!
13 The resting-place of Zebulun will be by the sea, and he will be a harbour for ships; the edge of his land will be by Zidon.
Zebulun dwells at a haven of the seas, And he [is] for a haven of ships; And his side [is] to Sidon.
14 Issachar is a strong ass stretched out among the flocks:
Issachar [is] a strong donkey, Crouching between the two folds;
15 And he saw that rest was good and the land was pleasing; so he let them put weights on his back and became a servant.
And he sees rest, that [it is] good, And the land, that [it is] pleasant, And he inclines his shoulder to bear, And is a servant for tribute.
16 Dan will be the judge of his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.
Dan judges his people, As one of the tribes of Israel;
17 May Dan be a snake in the way, a horned snake by the road, biting the horse's foot so that the horseman has a fall.
Dan is a serpent by the way, a viper by the path, Which is biting the horse’s heels, And its rider falls backward.
18 I have been waiting for your salvation, O Lord.
For Your salvation I have waited, YHWH!
19 Gad, an army will come against him, but he will come down on them in their flight.
Gad! A troop assaults him, But he assaults last.
20 Asher's bread is fat; he gives delicate food for kings.
Out of Asher his bread [is] fat; And he gives delicacies of a king.
21 Naphtali is a roe let loose, giving fair young ones.
Naphtali [is] a doe sent away, Who is giving beautiful young ones.
22 Joseph is a young ox, whose steps are turned to the fountain;
Joseph [is] a fruitful son; A fruitful son by a fountain, Daughters step over the wall;
23 He was troubled by the archers; they sent out their arrows against him, cruelly wounding him:
And embitter him indeed, they have striven, Indeed, archers hate him;
24 But their bows were broken by a strong one, and the cords of their arms were cut by the Strength of Jacob, by the name of the Stone of Israel:
And his bow abides in strength, And strengthened are the arms of his hands By the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, From where is a shepherd, a son of Israel.
25 Even by the God of your father, who will be your help, and by the Ruler of all, who will make you full with blessings from heaven on high, blessings of the deep stretched out under the earth, blessings of the breasts and of the fertile body:
By the God of your father who helps you, And the Mighty One who blesses you, Blessings of the heavens from above, Blessings of the deep lying under, Blessings of breasts and womb—
26 Blessings of sons, old and young, to the father: blessings of the oldest mountains and the fruit of the eternal hills: let them come on the head of Joseph, on the crown of him who was separate from his brothers.
Your father’s blessings have been mighty Above the blessings of my progenitors, To the limit of the perpetual heights They are for the head of Joseph, And for the crown of the one Separate [from] his brothers.
27 Benjamin is a wolf, searching for meat: in the morning he takes his food, and in the evening he makes division of what he has taken.
Benjamin! A wolf tears; In the morning he eats prey, And at evening he apportions spoil.”
28 These are the twelve tribes of Israel: and these are the words their father said to them, blessing them; to every one he gave his blessing.
All these [are] the twelve tribes of Israel, and this [is] that which their father has spoken to them, and he blesses them; each according to his blessing he has blessed them.
29 And he gave orders to them, saying, Put me to rest with my people and with my fathers, in the hollow of the rock in the field of Ephron the Hittite,
And he commands them and says to them, “I am being gathered to my people; bury me by my fathers, at the cave which [is] in the field of Ephron the Hittite;
30 In the rock in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in the land of Canaan, which Abraham got from Ephron the Hittite, to be his resting-place.
in the cave which [is] in the field of Machpelah, which [is] on the front of Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a burying-place;
31 There Abraham and Sarah his wife were put to rest, and there they put Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I put Leah to rest.
(there they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah; there they buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah; and there I buried Leah);
32 In the rock in the field which was got for a price from the people of Heth.
the purchase of the field and of the cave which [is] in it, [is] from sons of Heth.”
33 And when Jacob had come to the end of these words to his sons, stretching himself on his bed, he gave up his spirit, and went the way of his people.
And Jacob finishes commanding his sons, and gathers up his feet to the bed, and expires, and is gathered to his people.
