Genesis 49
1 Then Jacob summoned his sons, and said: "Gather yourselves together so that I may tell you what will happen to you in the days to come.
Jacob summoned all his sons, and said to them,
2 Assemble yourselves and hear, you sons of Jacob. Listen to Israel, your father.
“Gather around me in order that I can tell you what will happen in the future. My sons, come and listen to me. I am your father, [Jacob, whom God named] Israel.
3 Reuben, you are my firstborn, my strength, and the the firstfruits of my virility, preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power.
Reuben, you are my oldest son. You were born when I was young and energetic/strong. You are prouder and stronger than all the rest of my sons.
4 Uncontrolled as the waters, you will not have excel, because you went up to your father's bed, you went up and defiled my couch.
But you were as uncontrollable as a flood [SIM]. So now you will not be my most important son, because you climbed up onto my bed, and had sex with [MTY] my (concubine/slave who had become one of my wives). Your doing that caused me, your father, to have great shame.
5 Simeon and Levi are brothers. Their swords are weapons of violence.
Simeon and Levi, you have both acted like criminals. You use your swords to act violently.
6 May I never enter their council. May my honor never be joined with their assembly. For in their anger they killed men, and for pleasure they hamstrung oxen.
I do not want to be with you when you make evil plans [DOU]. I do not want to join you in your meetings, because you killed people when you became very angry, and you (hamstrung/cut the tendons in the legs of) oxen just to (have fun/see them suffer).
7 Cursed be their anger, for it has been fierce, and their fury, for it was cruel. I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.
God says, ‘I will (curse/cause bad things to happen to) them for being very angry, for acting very cruelly when they were very furious. I will scatter their descendants [MTY] throughout Israel land.’
8 Judah, your brothers will praise you. Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies. Your father's sons will bow down before you.
Judah, your [older and younger] brothers will praise you. They will bow down before you, because you will thoroughly defeat [MTY] your enemies.
9 Judah is a lion's cub. From the prey, my son, you rise up. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, as a lioness. Who will rouse him up?
Judah is like a young lion [SIM] that has returned to its den satisfied after eating the animals that it has killed. He is like a lion that lies down and stretches out after eating; no one would dare to disturb it [RHQ].
10 The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs. And it is he whom the peoples will obey.
There will always be a ruler [MTY] from the descendants of Judah [MTY]. Each one will hold a scepter/staff to show that he has authority as a king. He will do that until the one to whom the scepter belongs comes, the one to whom the nations will bring tribute and show that they will obey him.
11 Binding his foal to the vine, and his donkey's colt to the choice vine. He will wash his garments in wine, and his robes in the blood of grapes.
The grapevines of Judah’s descendants will produce grapes very abundantly. As a result, they will not object to tying their young donkeys to the grapevines in order that the donkeys can eat the leaves of the grapevines. [Wine will be very plentiful, with the result that] they could wash their cloaks in wine that is as red as blood [MET].
12 His eyes will be darker than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk.
Their eyes will be red because of [drinking too much] wine, but their teeth will be very white because of drinking much milk [from the cows].
13 Zebulun will dwell at the seashore, and he will be a harbor for ships, and his border will be at Sidon.
Zebulun, your descendants will live by the seashore where there will be a safe harbor for ships. Their land will extend north as far as Sidon [city].
14 Issachar is a strong donkey lying down between the saddlebags.
Issachar, your descendants will be like strong donkeys that are lying down on the ground between their loads, [so tired that they cannot get up]!
15 When he sees a good resting place, that the land is pleasant, he will bend his back to the burden, and become a slave doing forced labor.
They will see that their resting place is good, and that the land pleases them very much. But they will bend their backs to carry heavy loads and be forced to work for others.
16 Dan will judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel.
Dan, although your tribe will be small, their leaders will rule their people just like the leaders of other tribes of Israel will rule their people.
17 Dan will be a serpent on the road, a viper by the path, that bites the horse's heels so that his rider falls backward.
Your descendants will be like snakes at the side of a road, like poisonous snakes lying beside a path. They will strike the heels of horses that pass by, causing the riders to fall backwards [as the horses rear up on their hind legs].”
18 I wait for your salvation, God.
Then Jacob prayed, “Yahweh, I am waiting for you to rescue me [from my enemies].”
19 Gad will be attacked by raiders, but he will raid at their heels.
[Then Jacob continued telling his sons what would happen in the future. He said], “Gad, your tribe/descendants will be attacked by a group of bandits, but your tribe/descendants will pursue and attack them [MTY].
20 Asher's food will be rich, and he will provide royal delicacies.
Asher, your descendants will eat good-tasting food; they will produce food that is delicious enough for kings to eat.
21 Naphtali is a doe set free that bears beautiful fawns.
Naphtali, your descendants will be like deer [MET] that are (free to/not tied down and can) run wherever they wish. They will give birth to children who are good-looking like (fawns/baby deer) [MET].
22 Joseph is a fruitful son, a fruitful son by a spring. His branches run over a wall.
Joseph, you will have many descendants [MET]. Their children will be as many as the fruit on a vine near a spring of water, whose branches extend over a wall.
23 The archers will attack him with bitterness, and shoot at him, and harass him.
Their enemies will attack them fiercely, and shoot at them with bows and arrows and pursue them.
24 Yet his bow will remain steady, and his arms will be made agile by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, by the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,
But they will hold their bows steady and their arms will remain strong, because of the power [MTY] of my mighty God, because of Yahweh who guides and provides for me [MET] like a shepherd guides and provides for his sheep. The people of Israel will [ask Yahweh to protect them], [like people hide under] a huge [overhanging] to be protected.
25 by the God of your father, who will help you, and El Shaddai, who will bless you with blessings of the sky above, blessings of the deep that lies below, and blessings of the breasts and of the womb.
God, the one whom I worship, will help your descendants. God Almighty will bless them by sending them rain from the sky and by giving them water from deep/far below the ground. He will give them many cattle and children [MET] (OR, and their cattle will have many offspring).
26 The blessings of your father are greater than the blessings of the ancient mountains, and the bounty of the everlasting hills. They will be on the head of Joseph, and on the brow of the prince among his brothers.
The blessings that I want God to give you are great ones. They are greater than the blessings that come from the eternal mountains, greater than the ones that come from the everlasting hills. Joseph, I pray that these blessings will (be given to you/come upon your head), because you are the leader of your [older] brothers [and younger brother].
27 Benjamin is a ravenous wolf. In the morning he will devour the prey, and at evening he will divide the plunder."
Benjamin, your descendants will be like [MET] vicious/fierce wolves: In the morning they will kill their enemies like a wolf devours (its prey/the animals that it has killed), and in the evening they will divide among their warriors the spoils that they seized from their enemies.”
28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them. He blessed each one with his own individual blessing.
Those twelve sons are the ancestors of the twelve tribes of Israel. That is what their father said to them as he blessed them, telling to each one words that were appropriate for him.
29 Then he instructed 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 Hethite,
Then Jacob said to his sons, “I will soon die. Bury my body where some of my ancestors are buried, in the cave that is in the field that was bought from Ephron, who belonged to the Heth people-group.
30 in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is near Mamre in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought along with the field from Ephron the Hethite as a burial place.
That field is in the Machpelah area, east of Mamre [town], in Canaan. My grandfather Abraham bought it from Ephron to use as a burial place.
31 There they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah. There they buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah, and there I buried Leah.
That is where they buried him and his wife Sarah. That is where they buried my father Isaac and his wife Rebekah. And that is where I buried my wife Leah.
32 The field and the cave that is in it were purchased from the sons of Heth."
That field and the cave in it were bought from the Heth people-group; so that is where I want you to bury me.”
33 When Jacob finished instructing his sons, he drew his legs up into the bed and breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.
When Jacob finished giving those instructions to his sons, he lay down on his bed again. Then he died [IDM].
