< 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 to 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 to 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 thou didst defile 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; to their assembly, my 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 on the neck of thy 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 hast gone up: he stooped down, he crouched 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 shall come; and to him shall be the obedience of the people.
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 his donkey’s colt to 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 to Zidon.
14 Issachar [is] a strong donkey, Crouching between the two folds;
Issachar is a strong donkey crouching 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 slave at forced labour.
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 bitterly attacked 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 there 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 beneath, 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 ancestors 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 brethren.
27 Benjamin! A wolf tears; In the morning he eats prey, And at evening he apportions spoil.”
Benjamin shall raven 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 which their father spoke to 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 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,
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 in it 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 drew his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered to his people.