< Genesis 49 >
1 Vocavit autem Iacob filios suos, et ait eis: Congregamini, ut annunciem quæ ventura sunt vobis in diebus novissimis.
And Jacob called to his sons, and said, Assemble yourselves, that I may tell you [that] which shall befall you in the last days.
2 Congregamini, et audite filii Iacob, audite Israel patrem vestrum:
Assemble yourselves, and hear, ye sons of Jacob: and hearken to Israel your father.
3 Ruben primogenitus meus, tu fortitudo mea, et principium doloris mei: prior in donis, maior in imperio.
Reuben, thou [art] my first-born, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellence of dignity, and the excellence of power:
4 Effusus es sicut aqua, non crescas: quia ascendisti cubile patris tui, et maculasti stratum eius.
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 et Levi fratres: vasa iniquitatis bellantia.
Simeon and Levi [are] brethren: instruments of cruelty [are in], their habitations.
6 In consilium eorum non veniat anima mea, et in cœtu illorum non sit gloria mea: quia in furore suo occiderunt virum, et in voluntate sua suffoderunt murum.
O my soul, come not thou into their secret; to their assembly, my honor, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their self-will they digged down a wall.
7 Maledictus furor eorum, quia pertinax: et indignatio eorum, quia dura: dividam eos in Iacob, et dispergam eos 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 Iuda, te laudabunt fratres tui: manus tua in cervicibus inimicorum tuorum, adorabunt te filii patris tui.
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 Catulus leonis Iuda: ad prædam fili mi ascendisti: requiescens accubuisti ut leo, et quasi leæna, quis suscitabit eum?
Judah [is] a lion's whelp; from the prey, my son, thou hast gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion: who shall rouse him up?
10 Non auferetur sceptrum de Iuda, et dux de femore eius, donec veniat qui mittendus est, et ipse erit expectatio Gentium.
The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh shall come: and to him [shall be] the gathering of the people.
11 Ligans ad vineam pullum suum, et ad vitem, o fili mi, asinam suam. Lavabit in vino stolam suam, et in sanguine uvæ pallium suum.
Binding his foal to the vine, and his ass's colt to the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes:
12 Pulchriores sunt oculi eius vino, et dentes eius lacte candidiores.
His eyes [shall be] red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.
13 Zabulon in littore maris habitabit, et in statione navium pertingens usque ad Sidonem.
Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he [shall be] for a haven of ships; and his border [shall be] to Zidon.
14 Issachar asinus fortis accubans inter terminos.
Issachar [is] a strong ass, couching down between two burdens:
15 Vidit requiem quod esset bona: et terram quod optima: et supposuit humerum suum ad portandum, factusque est tributis serviens.
And he saw that rest [was] good, and the land that [it was] pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant to tribute.
16 Dan iudicabit populum suum sicut et alia tribus in Israel.
Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.
17 Fiat Dan coluber in via, cerastes in semita, mordens ungulas equi, ut cadat ascensor eius retro.
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 Salutare tuum expectabo Domine.
I have waited for thy salvation O LORD.
19 Gad, accinctus præliabatur ante eum: et ipse accingetur retrorsum.
Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last.
20 Aser, pinguis panis eius, et præbebit delicias regibus.
Out of Asher his bread [shall be] fat, and he shall yield royal dainties.
21 Nephthali, cervus emissus, et dans eloquia pulchritudinis.
Naphtali [is] a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words.
22 Filius accrescens Ioseph, filius accrescens et decorus aspectu: filiæ discurrerunt super murum.
Joseph [is] a fruitful bough, [even] a fruitful bough by a well; [whose] branches run over the wall:
23 Sed exasperaverunt eum, et iurgati sunt, invideruntque illi habentes iacula.
The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot [at him], and hated him:
24 Sedit in forti arcus eius, et dissoluta sunt vincula brachiorum et manuum illius per manus potentis Iacob: inde pastor egressus est lapis 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 Deus patris tui erit adiutor tuus, et omnipotens benedicet tibi benedictionibus cæli desuper, benedictionibus abyssi iacentis deorsum, benedictionibus uberum et vulvæ.
[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 Benedictiones patris tui confortatæ sunt benedictionibus patrum eius: donec veniret desiderium collium æternorum: fiant in capite Ioseph, et in vertice Nazaræi inter fratres suos.
The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors 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 Beniamin lupus rapax, mane comedat prædam, et vespere dividet spolia.
Benjamin shall raven [as] a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.
28 Omnes hi in tribubus Israel duodecim: hæc locutus est eis pater suus, benedixitque singulis benedictionibus propriis.
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 Et præcepit eis, dicens: Ego congregor ad populum meum: sepelite me cum patribus meis in spelunca duplici quæ est in agro Ephron Hethæi,
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 contra Mambre in Terra Chanaan, quam emit Abraham cum agro ab Ephron Hethæo in possessionem sepulchri.
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 burying-place.
31 Ibi sepelierunt eum, et Saram uxorem eius: ibi sepultus est Isaac cum Rebecca coniuge sua: ibi et Lia condita iacet.
(There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah, )
The purchase of the field and of the cave that [is] in it, [was] from the children of Heth.
33 Finitisque mandatis quibus filios instruebat, collegit pedes suos super lectulum, et obiit: appositusque est ad populum suum.
And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he drew his feet into the bed, and expired, and was gathered to his people.