Jacob Assembles His Sons

1Then Jacob summoned his sons and said, “Gather together that I may tell you what will befall you in the last days.

2Assemble together and hear, O sons of Jacob;

And listen to Israel your father.

3“Reuben, you are my firstborn;

My might and the beginning of my vigor,

[†]Preeminent in dignity and [†]preeminent in strength.

4[†]Uncontrolled as water, you shall not have preeminence,

Because you went up to your father’s bed;

Then you defiled it—he went up to my couch.

5“Simeon and Levi are brothers;

Their swords are implements of violence.

6Let my soul not enter into their council;

Let not my glory be united with their assembly;

Because in their anger they killed [†]men,

And in their self-will they hamstrung [†]oxen.

7Cursed be their anger, for it is strong;

And their wrath, for it is cruel.

I will divide them amongst Jacob,

And scatter them in Israel.

8“Judah, as for you, your brothers shall praise you;

Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;

Your father’s sons shall bow down to you.

9Judah is a lion’s whelp;

From the prey, my son, you have gone up.

He [†]crouches, he lies down as a lion,

And as a lioness, who [†]dares rouse him up?

10The scepter shall not depart from Judah,

Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,

[†]Until Shiloh comes,

And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.

11[†]He ties his foal to the vine,

And his donkey’s colt to the choice vine;

He washes his garments in wine,

And his robes in the blood of grapes.

12His eyes are [†]dark from wine,

And his teeth [†]white from milk.

13“Zebulun will dwell at the seashore;

And he shall be a shore for ships,

And his flank shall be toward Sidon.

14“Issachar is [†]a strong donkey,

Lying down between the [†]sheepfolds.

15And he saw that a resting place was good

And that the land was pleasant,

So he bowed his shoulder to bear burdens,

And became a slave at forced labor.

16“Dan shall render justice to his people,

As one of the tribes of Israel.

17Dan shall be a serpent in the way,

A horned snake in the path,

That bites the horse’s heels,

So that his rider falls backward.

18For Your salvation I hope, O Yahweh.

19“As for Gad, [†]raiders shall raid him,

But he will raid at their [†]heels.

20“[†]As for Asher, his [†]food shall be [†]rich,

And he will yield royal dainties.

21“Naphtali is a doe let loose,

He gives beautiful words.

22“Joseph is a fruitful [†]bough,

A fruitful [†]bough by a spring;

Its [†]branches run over a wall.

23And the archers bitterly attacked him and shot at him,

And they bore a grudge against him;

24But his bow remained [†]firm,

And [†]his arms were agile,

From the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob,

From there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel,

25From the God of your father who helps you,

And [†]by the [†]Almighty who blesses you

With blessings of heaven above,

Blessings of the deep that lies beneath,

Blessings of the breasts and of the womb.

26The blessings of your father

Have surpassed the blessings of my ancestors

Up to the [†]utmost bound of the everlasting hills;

May they be on the head of Joseph,

And on the top of the head of the one distinguished among his brothers.

27“Benjamin is a [†]ravenous wolf;

In the morning he devours the prey,

And in the evening he divides the spoil.”

Jacob Breathes His Last

28All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke to them. So he blessed them. He blessed them, every one [†]with the blessing appropriate to him. 29Then he commanded them and said to them, “I am about to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 30in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought along with the field from Ephron the Hittite as a possession for a burial site. 31There they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah, there they buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah, and there I buried Leah— 32the field and the cave that is in it, purchased from the sons of Heth.” 33So Jacob finished commanding his sons. And he drew his feet into the bed and breathed his last and was gathered to his people.