Jacob Blesses His Sons
aThen Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you what shall happen to you bin days to come.
2 “Assemble and listen, O sons of Jacob,
listen to Israel your father.
3 “Reuben, you are amy firstborn,
my might, and the bfirstfruits of my strength,
preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power.
4 Unstable as water, you shall not have preeminence,
because you awent up to your father’s bed;
then you defiled it—he went up to my couch!
5 a“Simeon and Levi are brothers;
weapons bof violence are their swords.
6 Let my soul come not into their council;
aO my glory, bbe not joined to their company.
For in their anger they killed men,
and in their willfulness they chamstrung oxen.
7 Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce,
and their wrath, for it is cruel!
I will adivide them in Jacob
and scatter them in Israel.
8 “Judah, ayour brothers shall praise you;
byour hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;
cyour father’s sons shall bow down before you.
9 Judah is aa lion’s cub;
from the prey, my son, you have gone up.
bHe stooped down; he crouched as a lion
and as a lioness; who dares rouse him?
10 The ascepter shall not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler’s staff bfrom between his feet,
until tribute comes to him;
and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
11 Binding his foal to the vine
and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine,
he has washed his garments in wine
and his vesture in the blood of grapes.
12 His aeyes are darker than wine,
and his teeth whiter than milk.
13 a“Zebulun shall dwell at the bshore of the sea;
he shall become a haven for ships,
and his border shall be at Sidon.
14 a“Issachar is a strong donkey,
crouching between the sheepfolds.
15 He saw that a resting place was good,
and that the land was pleasant,
so he bowed his shoulder to bear,
and abecame a servant at forced labor.
16 a“Dan shall bjudge his people
as one of the tribes of Israel.
17 Dan ashall be a serpent in the way,
a viper by the path,
that bites the horse’s heels
so that his rider falls backward.
18 I await for your salvation, O Lord.
19 a“Raiders shall raid bGad,
but he shall raid at their heels.
20 a“Asher’s food shall be rich,
and he shall yield royal delicacies.
21 a“Naphtali is a doe let loose
that bears beautiful fawns.
22 “Joseph is aa fruitful bough,
a fruitful bough by a spring;
his branches run over the wall.
23 The archers abitterly attacked him,
shot at him, and harassed him severely,
24 yet ahis bow remained unmoved;
his arms were made agile
by the hands of the bMighty One of Jacob
(from there is cthe Shepherd, dthe Stone of Israel),
25 aby the God of your father who will help you,
by bthe Almighty cwho will bless you
with blessings of heaven above,
blessings of the deep that crouches beneath,
blessings of the breasts and of the womb.
26 The blessings of your father
are mighty beyond the blessings of my parents,
up to the bounties aof the everlasting hills.
May they be bon the head of Joseph,
and on the brow of him who was set apart from his brothers.
27 a“Benjamin is a ravenous wolf,
in the morning devouring the prey
and at evening bdividing the spoil.”
Jacob’s Death and Burial
28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel. This is what their father said to them as he blessed them, blessing each with the blessing suitable to him. 29 Then he commanded them and said to them, “I am to be agathered to my people; bbury me with my fathers cin the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 30 in the cave that is in the field at Machpelah, to the east of Mamre, in the land of Canaan, awhich Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place. 31 aThere they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife. There bthey buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah— 32 the field and the cave that is in it were bought from the Hittites.” 33 When Jacob finished commanding his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed and breathed his last and awas gathered to his people.