Genesis 49
1 Jacob summoned all his sons, and said to them,
And Jacob called his sons, and said to them,
2 “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.
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 oldest son. You were born when I was young and energetic/strong. You are prouder and stronger than all the rest of my sons.
Ruben, you [are] my firstborn, you my strength, and the first of my children, hard to be endured, [hard and] self-willed.
4 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.
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, you have both acted like criminals. You use your swords to act violently.
Symeon and Levi, brethren, accomplished the injustice of their cutting off.
6 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).
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 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.’
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, your [older and younger] brothers will praise you. They will bow down before you, because you will thoroughly defeat [MTY] your enemies.
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 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].
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 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.
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 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].
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 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].
His eyes shall be more cheering than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk.
13 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].
Zabulon shall dwell on the coast, and he [shall be] by a haven of ships, and shall extend to Sidon.
14 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]!
Issachar has desired that which is good; resting between the inheritances.
15 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.
And having seen the resting place that it was good, and the land that it was fertile, he subjected his shoulder to labor, and became a husbandman.
16 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.
Dan shall judge his people, as one tribe too in Israel.
17 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].”
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 Then Jacob prayed, “Yahweh, I am waiting for you to rescue me [from my enemies].”
waiting for the salvation of the Lord.
19 [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].
Gad, a plundering troop shall plunder him; but he shall plunder him, [pursuing him] closely.
20 Asher, your descendants will eat good-tasting food; they will produce food that is delicious enough for kings to eat.
Aser, his bread [shall be] fat; and he shall yield dainties to princes.
21 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].
Nephthalim is a spreading stem, bestowing beauty on its fruit.
22 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.
Joseph is a son increased; my dearly loved son is increased; my youngest son, turn to me.
23 Their enemies will attack them fiercely, and shoot at them with bows and arrows and pursue them.
Against whom men taking evil counsel reproached [him], and the archers pressed hard upon him.
24 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.
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 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).
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 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].
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, 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.”
Benjamin, as a ravening wolf, shall eat still in the morning, and at evening he gives food.
28 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.
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 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.
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 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.
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 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.
There they buried Abraam and Sarrha his wife; there they buried Isaac, and Rebecca his wife; there they buried Lea;
32 That field and the cave in it were bought from the Heth people-group; so that is where I want you to bury me.”
in the portion of the field, and of the cave that was in it, [purchased] of the sons of Chet.
33 When Jacob finished giving those instructions to his sons, he lay down on his bed again. Then he died [IDM].
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.
