Genesis 49
1 Then Iaakob called his sonnes, and sayde, Gather your selues together, that I may tell you what shall come to you in the last dayes.
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 Gather your selues together, and heare, ye sonnes of Iaakob, and hearken vnto Israel your father.
Be assembled, and hear, sons of Jacob, And listen to your father Israel.
3 Reuben mine eldest sonne, thou art my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellencie of dignitie, and the excellencie of power:
Reuben! You [are] my firstborn, My power, and beginning of my strength, The abundance of exaltation, And the abundance of strength;
4 Thou wast light as water: thou shalt not be excellent, because thou wentest vp to thy fathers bed: then diddest thou defile my bed, thy dignitie is gone.
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 Leui, brethren in euill, the instruments of crueltie are in their habitations.
Simeon and Levi [are] brothers! Instruments of violence—their espousals!
6 Into their secret let not my soule come: my glory, be not thou ioyned with their assembly: for in their wrath they slew a man, and in their selfe will they digged downe a wall.
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 Cursed be their wrath, for it was fierce, and their rage, for it was cruell: I will deuide them in Iaakob, and scatter them 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 Thou Iudah, thy brethre shall praise thee: thine hande shalbe in the necke of thine enemies: thy fathers sonnes shall bowe downe vnto thee.
Judah! Your brothers praise you! Your hand [is] on the neck of your enemies, Sons of your father bow themselves to you.
9 Iudah, as a Lions whelpe shalt thou come vp from the spoyle, my sonne. He shall lye downe and couche as a Lion, and as a Lionesse: Who shall stirre him vp?
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 scepter shall not depart from Iudah, nor a Lawegiuer from betweene his feete, vntill Shiloh come, and the people shall be gathered vnto him.
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 He shall binde his Asse foale vnto ye vine, and his Asses colte vnto the best vine. hee shall wash his garment in wine, and his cloke 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 shalbe red with wine, and his teeth white with milke.
Red [are] eyes with wine, And white [are] teeth with milk!
13 Zebulun shall dwell by the sea side, and he shalbe an hauen for shippes: and his border shalbe vnto 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 shalbe a strong asse, couching downe betweene two burdens:
Issachar [is] a strong donkey, Crouching between the two folds;
15 And he shall see that rest is good, and that the land is pleasant, and he shall bow his shoulder to beare, and shalbe subiect vnto tribute.
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 shall iudge his people as one of the tribes of Israel.
Dan judges his people, As one of the tribes of Israel;
17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder by the path, byting the horse heeles, so that his rider shall fall backward.
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 O Lord, I haue waited for thy saluation.
For Your salvation I have waited, YHWH!
19 Gad, an hoste of men shall ouercome him, but he shall ouercome at the last.
Gad! A troop assaults him, But he assaults last.
20 Concerning Asher, his bread shalbe fat, and he shall giue pleasures for a king.
Out of Asher his bread [is] fat; And he gives delicacies of a king.
21 Naphtali shalbe a hinde let goe, giuing goodly wordes.
Naphtali [is] a doe sent away, Who is giving beautiful young ones.
22 Ioseph shalbe a fruitefull bough, euen a fruitful bough by the well side: the small boughs shall runne vpon the wall.
Joseph [is] a fruitful son; A fruitful son by a fountain, Daughters step over the wall;
23 And the archers grieued him, and shotte against him and hated him.
And embitter him indeed, they have striven, Indeed, archers hate him;
24 But his bowe abode strong, and the hands of his armes were strengthened, by the handes of the mighty God of Iaakob, of whom was the feeder appointed, by 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 Euen by the God of thy father, who shall helpe thee, and by the almightie, who shall blesse thee with heauenly blessinges from aboue, with blessings of the deepe, that lyeth beneath, with blessings of the brestes, and of the wombe.
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 The blessings of thy father shalbe stronger then the blessings of mine elders: vnto the ende of the hilles of the worlde they shall be on the head of Ioseph, and on the top of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.
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 Beniamin shall rauine as a wolfe: in the morning he shall deuoure the pray, and at night he shall deuide the spoyle.
Benjamin! A wolf tears; In the morning he eats prey, And at evening he apportions spoil.”
28 All these are the twelue tribes of Israel, and thus their father spake vnto them, and blessed them: euery one of them blessed hee with a seuerall 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 charged them and sayd vnto them, I am ready to be gathered vnto my people: burie mee with my fathers in the caue, that is in the fielde 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 caue that is in the field of Machpelah besides Mamre in the land of Canaan: which caue Abraham bought with the fielde of Ephron the Hittite for a possession to burie in.
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 they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife: there they buryed Izhak and Rebekah his wife: and there I buried Leah.
(there they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah; there they buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah; and there I buried Leah);
32 The purchase of the fielde and the caue that is therein, was bought of the children of Heth.
the purchase of the field and of the cave which [is] in it, [is] from sons of Heth.”
33 Thus Iaakob made an end of giuing charge to his sonnes, and plucked vp his feete into the bed and gaue vp the ghost, and was gathered to his people.
And Jacob finishes commanding his sons, and gathers up his feet to the bed, and expires, and is gathered to his people.
