Jacob Blesses His Twelve Sons

49:1-28

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 grapevine,

and the son of his donkey to the choice branch.

He will wash his garments in wine

and his robes 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, Yahweh!

19 “As for Gad, raiders will attack him,

but he will attack their heels.

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.”

28 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.