Genesis 49

1 And Jacob called to his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.

And Jacob called his sons, and said to them,

2 Gather yourselves together, and hear, you sons of Jacob; and listen to Israel your father.

Assemble yourselves, that I may tell you what shall happen to you in the last days. Gather yourselves together, and hear me, sons of Jacob; hear Israel, hear your father.

3 Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:

Ruben, you [are] my firstborn, you my strength, and the first of my children, hard to be endured, [hard and] self-willed.

4 Unstable as water, you shall not excel; because you went up to your father’s bed; then defiled you it: he went up to my couch.

You were insolent like water, burst not forth with violence, for you went up to the bed of your father; then you defiled the couch, whereupon you went up.

5 Simeon and Levi are brothers; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations.

Symeon and Levi, brethren, accomplished the injustice of their cutting off.

6 O my soul, come not you into their secret; to their assembly, my honor, be not you united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their self-will they dig down a wall.

Let not my soul come into their counsel, and let not mine inward parts contend in their conspiracy, for in their wrath they killed men, and in their passion they houghed a bull.

7 Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.

Cursed be their wrath, for it was willful, and their anger, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.

8 Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise: your hand shall be in the neck of your enemies; your father’s children shall bow down before you.

Juda, your brethren have praised you, and your hands shall be on the back of your enemies; your father's sons shall do you reverence.

9 Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, you are gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?

Juda is a lion's whelp: from the tender plant, my son, you are gone up, having couched you lie as a lion, and as a whelp; who shall stir him up?

10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and to him shall the gathering of the people be.

A ruler shall not fail from Juda, nor a prince from his loins, until there come the things stored up for him; and he is the expectation of nations.

11 Binding his foal to the vine, and his ass’s colt to the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes:

Binding his foal to the vine, and the foal of his ass to the branch [of it], he shall wash his robe in wine, and his garment in the blood of the grape.

12 His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.

His eyes shall be more cheering than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk.

13 Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be for an haven of ships; and his border shall be to Zidon.

Zabulon shall dwell on the coast, and he [shall be] by a haven of ships, and shall extend to Sidon.

14 Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens:

Issachar has desired that which is good; resting between the inheritances.

15 And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant to tribute.

And having seen the resting place that it was good, and the land that it was fertile, he subjected his shoulder to labor, and became a husbandman.

16 Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.

Dan shall judge his people, as one tribe too in Israel.

17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that bites the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.

And let Dan be a serpent in the way, besetting the path, biting the heel of the horse (and the rider shall fall backward),

18 I have waited for your salvation, O LORD.

waiting for the salvation of the Lord.

19 Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last.

Gad, a plundering troop shall plunder him; but he shall plunder him, [pursuing him] closely.

20 Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties.

Aser, his bread [shall be] fat; and he shall yield dainties to princes.

21 Naphtali is a hind let loose: he gives goodly words.

Nephthalim is a spreading stem, bestowing beauty on its fruit.

22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:

Joseph is a son increased; my dearly loved son is increased; my youngest son, turn to me.

23 The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:

Against whom men taking evil counsel reproached [him], and the archers pressed hard upon him.

24 But his bow stayed in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel: )

But their bow and arrows were mightily consumed, and the sinews of their arms were slackened by the hand of the mighty one of Jacob; thence is he that strengthened Israel from the God of your father;

25 Even by the God of your father, who shall help you; and by the Almighty, who shall bless you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:

and my God helped you, and he blessed you with the blessing of heaven from above, and the blessing of the earth possessing all things, because of the blessing of the breasts and of the womb,

26 The blessings of your father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brothers.

the blessings of your father and your mother—it has prevailed above the blessing of the lasting mountains, and beyond the blessings of the everlasting hills; they shall be upon the head of Joseph, and upon the head of the brothers of whom he took the lead.

27 Benjamin shall shred as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.

Benjamin, as a ravening wolf, shall eat still in the morning, and at evening he gives food.

28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it that their father spoke to them, and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them.

All these [are] the twelve sons of Jacob; and their father spoke these words to them, and he blessed them; he blessed each of them according to his blessing.

29 And he charged them, and said to them, I am to be gathered to my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,

And he said to them, I am added to my people; you shall bury me with my fathers in the cave, which is in the field of Ephron the Chettite,

30 In the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a burial plot.

in the double cave which is opposite Mambre, in the land of Chanaan, the cave which Abraam bought of Ephron the Chettite, for a possession of a sepulchre.

31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah.

There they buried Abraam and Sarrha his wife; there they buried Isaac, and Rebecca his wife; there they buried Lea;

32 The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth.

in the portion of the field, and of the cave that was in it, [purchased] of the sons of Chet.

33 And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered to his people.

And Jacob ceased giving charges to his sons; and having lifted up his feet on the bed, he died, and was gathered to his people.