Genesis 49

Then Jacob called for his sons and said, “Gather together, and I will reveal to you what will meet you in the end of days. 2 Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob, and listen to Israel your father. \* 3 Reuben, you {are} my firstborn, my might and the first of my strength, excelling {in} rank and excelling {in} power. 4 Turbulent like waters, you will not excel, because you went up {onto} your father’s bed, and you defiled {it}. He went up {onto} my couch! \* 5 Simeon and Levi {are} brothers. Their swords {are} weapons of violence. 6 Do not let my soul enter into their council! Do not let my glory join in their assembly, because in their anger they killed a man, and for their pleasure they hamstrung an ox. \* 7 Cursed {be} their anger because {it is} strong, and their fury because {it is} cruel! I will divide them in Jacob, and I will scatter them in Israel. \* 8 Judah, {it is} you your brothers will praise. Your hand {will be} on the neck of those opposing you. The sons of your father will bow down to you. \* 9 Judah {is} the cub of a lion. From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He crouches {and} lies down like a lion. And like a lioness, who will rouse him? \* 10 The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes and to him {belongs} the obedience of the peoples. \* 11 He will tether his donkey to the {grape}vine, and the son of his donkey to the choice branch. He will wash his garment{s} in wine and his robe{s} in the blood of grapes. 12 {His} eyes {will be} brilliant from wine, and {his} teeth {will be} white from milk. \* 13 Zebulun will settle at the shore of the sea, and he {will live} at the shore of ships, and his border {will reach} to Sidon. \* 14 Issachar {is} a strong donkey lying down between two saddlebags. 15 And he sees {his} resting place that {it is} good and the land that it is pleasant. Then he will bend his shoulder to bear {the loads}, and he will be a forced labor servant. \* 16 Dan will judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. 17 Dan will be a snake beside the road, a viper beside the path, that bites the heels of a horse, and its rider falls off backward. 18 I am waiting for your salvation, God! \* 19 {As for} Gad, raider{s} will attack him, but he will attack {their} heel{s}. 20 From Asher, his bread {will be} fat, and he will provide king’s delicacies. 21 Naphtali {is} a doe that is let loose. He gives words of beauty. \* 22 Joseph {is} the son of a fruit-bearing {vine}, the son of a fruit-bearing {vine} beside a spring, {whose} daughters go up over a wall. 23 And masters of arrows will attack him and shoot and harass him. \* 24 But his bow will remain in strength and the arms of his hands will be made limber by the hands of the Mighty {One} of Jacob, by the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel, \* 25 by the God of your father, and he will help you, and with the Almighty, and he will bless you {with} blessings of the heavens above, blessings of the deep that lies below, blessings of breasts and womb. \* 26 The blessings of your father have surpassed the blessings of my ancestors, even to the bounties of the eternal hills. May they rest on the head of Joseph, even on the top of the head of the one consecrated from {among} his brothers. \* 27 Benjamin {is} a ravenous wolf. In the morning it devours {its} prey, and in the evening it divides the plunder.” \*

All those {are} the twelve tribes of Israel, and that {is} what their father said to them. And he blessed them, each one, according to his blessing he blessed them. \*

Then he commanded them and said to them, “I am being gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave that {is} in the field of Ephron the Hittite,

in the cave that {is} in the field of Machpelah that {is} in front of Mamre in the land of Canaan, that Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite as property {for} a burial place. \*

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 the cave that {is} in it {was} from the sons of Heth.”

Then Jacob finished commanding his sons, and he drew his feet into the bed and exhaled and was gathered to his people. \*