Genesis 49:1-15 ▼

1 Then Jacob summoned his sons and said, |Assemble yourselves that I may tell you what will befall you in the days to come.

2 |Gather 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 strength, Preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power.

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.

6 |Let my soul not enter into their council; Let not my glory be united with their assembly; Because in their anger they slew men, And in their self-will they lamed oxen.

7 |Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce; And their wrath, for it is cruel. I will disperse them in Jacob, And scatter them in Israel.

8 |Judah, your brothers shall praise you; Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; Your father's sons shall bow down to you.

9 |Judah is a lion's whelp; From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He couches, he lies down as a lion, And as a lion, who dares rouse him up?

10 |The 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.

12 |His eyes are dull from wine, And his teeth white from milk.

13 |Zebulun will dwell at the seashore; And he [shall be] a haven for ships, And his flank [shall be] toward Sidon.

14 |Issachar is a strong donkey, Lying down between the sheepfolds.

15 |When he saw that a resting place was good And that the land was pleasant, He bowed his shoulder to bear [burdens], And became a slave at forced labor.