Genesis 49

1 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.

And Jacob called his sons, and said to them,

2 Be assembled, and hear, sons of Jacob, And listen to your father Israel.

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 power, and beginning of my strength, The abundance of exaltation, And the abundance of strength;

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 are not abundant; For you have gone up your father’s bed; Then you have defiled [it]: He went up 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 violence—their espousals!

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

6 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.

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 [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.

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

8 Judah! Your brothers praise you! Your hand [is] on the neck of your enemies, Sons of your father bow themselves to 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 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?

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 does not turn aside from Judah, And a lawgiver from between his feet, Until his Seed comes; And His [is] the obedience of peoples.

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 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;

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 Red [are] eyes with wine, And white [are] teeth with milk!

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

13 Zebulun dwells at a haven of the seas, And he [is] for a haven of ships; And his side [is] to Sidon.

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 donkey, Crouching between the two folds;

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

15 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.

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 judges his people, As one of the tribes of Israel;

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

17 Dan is a serpent by the way, a viper by the path, Which is biting the horse’s heels, And its rider falls 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 Your salvation I have waited, YHWH!

waiting for the salvation of the Lord.

19 Gad! A troop assaults him, But he assaults last.

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

20 Out of Asher his bread [is] fat; And he gives delicacies of a king.

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

21 Naphtali [is] a doe sent away, Who is giving beautiful young ones.

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

22 Joseph [is] a fruitful son; A fruitful son by a fountain, Daughters step over the wall;

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

23 And embitter him indeed, they have striven, Indeed, archers hate him;

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

24 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.

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 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—

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 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.

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! A wolf tears; In the morning he eats prey, And at evening he apportions 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] that which their father has spoken to them, and he blesses them; each according to his blessing he has 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 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;

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 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;

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 his wife Sarah; there they buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah; 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 which [is] in it, [is] from sons of Heth.”

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

33 And Jacob finishes commanding his sons, and gathers up his feet to the bed, and expires, and is 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.