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 unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you [that] which shall befall you in the last days.

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

Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father.

3 Reuben! You [are] my firstborn, My power, and beginning of my strength, The abundance of exaltation, And the abundance of strength;

Reuben, thou [art] my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:

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!

Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father’s bed; then defiledst thou [it: ] he went up to my couch.

5 Simeon and Levi [are] brothers! Instruments of violence—their espousals!

Simeon and Levi [are] brethren; instruments of cruelty [are in] their habitations.

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.

O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall.

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 anger, for [it was] fierce; and their wrath, 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.

Judah, thou [art he] whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand [shall be] in the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down before thee.

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?

Judah [is] a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse 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.

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].

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

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

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

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

Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he [shall be] for an haven of ships; and his border [shall be] unto Zidon.

14 Issachar [is] a strong donkey, Crouching between the two folds;

Issachar [is] a strong ass couching down between two burdens:

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

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

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

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

18 For Your salvation I have waited, YHWH!

I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD.

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

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

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

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

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

Naphtali [is] a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words.

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

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

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

The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot [at him], and hated 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 his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty [God] of Jacob; (from thence [is] the shepherd, the stone of Israel: )

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—

[Even] by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings 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 thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto 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 brethren.

27 Benjamin! A wolf tears; In the morning he eats prey, And at evening he apportions spoil.”

Benjamin shall ravin [as] a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.

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 tribes of Israel: and this [is it] that their father spake unto them, and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them.

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

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 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 buryingplace.

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

32 the purchase of the field and of the cave which [is] in it, [is] from sons of Heth.”

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

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

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 unto his people.