Genesis 49

1 And Jacob called unto 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, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto 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, thou art my first-born, my might, and the beginning of my strength; the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power [should be thine].

Ruben, thou [art] my first-born, thou my strength, and the first of my children, hard to be endured, [hard and] self-willed.

4 Unstable as water, thou shalt not have the excellence; because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then defiledst thou the one who ascended my couch.

Thou wast insolent like water, burst not forth with violence, for thou wentest up to the bed of thy father; then thou defiledst the couch, whereupon thou wentest up.

5 Simeon and Levi are brethren; weapons of violence are their swords.

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

6 Into their secret shall my soul not come; unto their assembly my spirit shall not be united; for in their anger they slew the man, and in their self-will they lamed the ox.

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

7 Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce; and their wrath, for it is 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, thou art the one thy brothers shall praise, thy hand shall be on the neck of thy enemies; thy father's children shall bow down unto thee.

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

9 Like a lion's whelp, O Judah, from the prey, my son, thou risest: he stoopeth down, he croucheth as a lion, and as a lioness, who shall rouse him up?

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

10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet; until Shiloh come, and unto 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 He bindeth unto the vine his foal, and to the vine-branch his ass's colt; he washeth his garments in wine, and in the blood of grapes his clothes;

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 from wine, and his teeth white from milk.

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

13 Zebulun shall dwell at the margin of the seas; and he shall be at the haven of ships; and his border shall be near 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-boned ass, couching down between the stables.

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

15 And when he saw the resting-place that it was good, and the land that it was pleasant, he bent his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute.

And having seen the resting place that it was good, and the land that it was fertile, he subjected his shoulder to labour, 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 on the path, that biteth the horse in the heels, so that his rider falleth 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 For thy salvation, I hope, O Lord.

waiting for the salvation of the Lord.

19 Gad, troops will band against him; but he shall wound their heel.

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

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

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

21 Naphtali is [like] a fleet hind; he bringeth pleasant words.

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

22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a spring; the branches of which run over the wall.

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

23 And they embittered his life, and they shot at him, and they hated him, the men of the arrows.

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

24 But his bow abode in strength, and his arm and his hands remained firm; from the hands of the mighty God of Jacob, from there thou becamest 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 thy father;

25 From the God of thy father, who will help thee; and from the Almighty, who will bless thee, with blessings of heaven above, with blessings of the deep that coucheth beneath, with blessings of the breasts, and of the womb;

and my God helped thee, and he blessed thee 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 With the blessings of thy father that have excelled the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: these shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separated from his brothers.

the blessings of thy father and thy 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 be as a wolf that rendeth: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at evening 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 tribes of Israel, twelve in number; and this is what their father spoke unto them, and wherewith he blessed them; every one according to his proper blessing blessed he 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 unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people; bury me near 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; ye 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 field Abraham bought of Ephron the Hittite, for a possession as a burying-place,

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 Purchasing the field and the cave that is therein 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 he departed this life, and was gathered unto 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.