< Deuteronomy 33 >
1 And this is the blessing, wherewith Moses, the man of God, blessed the children of Israel before his death.
2 And he said, The Lord came from Sinai, and rose up from Seir unto them: he shone forth from mount Paran, and he came from among myriads of saints; from his right hand he gave a fiery law unto them.
3 Yea, thou also lovedst the tribes; all their saints were in thy hand; and they, prostrate before thy feet, received thy words.
4 “The law which Moses commanded us, is the inheritance of the congregation of Jacob.”
5 Thus became he king in Yeshurun, when the heads of the people were assembled, as one the tribes of Israel.
6 May Reuben live, and not die; and may not his men be few.
7 And this is [the blessing] of Judah, and he said, Hear, Lord, the voice of Judah, and bring him unto his people: let the power of his hands contend for him; and be thou a help to him from his adversaries.
8 And of Levi he said, Thy Thummim and thy Urim are with thy holy man, whom thou didst prove at Massah, and with whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah;
9 Who said of his father and of his mother, I have not seen him; and who did not acknowledge his brothers, nor regarded his own children; for they observe thy word, and thy covenant they keep.
10 They shall teach thy ordinances unto Jacob, and thy law unto Israel: they shall put incense before thee, and whole burnt-sacrifice upon thy altar.
11 Bless, O Lord, his substance, and receive favorably the work of his hands: crush the loins of those that rise up against him, and those that hate him, that they cannot rise again.
12 And of Benjamin he said, The beloved of the Lord [is he], he shall dwell in safety by him: he will shield him all the day long, and between his shoulders will he dwell.
13 And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the Lord be his land, through the precious gift of heaven, through the dew, and through the deep that coucheth beneath,
14 And through the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and through the precious things put forth by the moon,
15 And through the best things of the ancient mountains, and through the precious things of the everlasting hills,
16 And through the precious things of the earth and its fulness, and through the goodwill of him that dwelt in the thorn-bush: may this blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the crown of the head of him that was separated from his brothers.
17 His first-born steer is adorned with glory, and his horns are like the horns of reem; with them shall he push nations together to the ends of the earth: and they are the myriads of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Menasseh.
18 And of Zebulun he said, Rejoice, Zebulun, in thy going out; and, Issachar, in thy tents.
19 They will call the tribes unto the mountain; there will they offer sacrifices of righteousness; for they will suck the abundance of the seas, and the treasures hid in the sand.
20 And of Gad he said, Blessed be he that enlargeth Gad: like a lioness lieth he down, and teareth off the arm with the crown of the head.
21 And he provided the first part for himself, because there is the field of the law-giver, of the hidden; and he went forth at the head of the people: he executed the justice of the Lord, and his judgments with Israel.
22 And of Dan he said, Dan is a lion's whelp, that leapeth forth from Bashan.
23 And of Naphtali he said, O Naphtali, satisfied with favor, and full of the blessing of the Lord, take thou possession of the west and the south.
24 And of Asher he said, More than [all] the children be Asher blessed: he shall be the most favored of his brethren, and bathe his foot in oil.
25 Iron and copper shall be thy bolts; and as thy [younger] days so shall thy old age be.
26 There is none like unto the God of Yeshurun, who rideth to help thee upon the heavens, and in his excellency upon the skies.
27 Thy refuge is the eternal God, and here beneath, the everlasting arms; and he thrust out the enemy from before thee; and he said, Destroy.
28 And then dwelt Israel in safety, alone, the fountain of Jacob; in a land of corn and wine; also its heavens shall drop down dew.
29 Happy art thou, O Israel! who is like unto thee, O people, saved by the Lord, the Shield of thy help, and who is the Sword of thy excellency! and thy enemies shall fawn upon thee; and thou shalt tread upon their high-places.