 1 Jacob called to his sons and said, Gather together so that I may tell you what will happen to you in the days to come. 2 Gather together and hear, sons of Jacob, and listen to your father Israel. 3 Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might and the beginning of my strength, excellent in dignity and excellent in power. 4 But unstable as water, you will not excel because you went to your father's bed and defiled it. He went to my couch. 5 Simeon and Levi are brothers. Tools of violence are their weapons. 6 Oh my soul, do not come into their secret. Do not let my honor be united with their assembly. For in their anger they killed a man, and in their self will they hamstrung a bull. 7 Let their anger be cursed, for it was fierce. And their wrath, for it was cruel. I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel. 8 Judah, may your brothers praise you. May your hand be in the neck of your enemies. May your father's children bow before you. 9 Judah is a lion's whelp. My son, you have gone up from the prey. He stooped, he crouched like a lion. And like a lioness, who shall rouse him? 10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a Lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come. And the obedience of the people to him. 11 Binding his foal to the vine and his donkey's colt to the choice vine, he washed his garments in wine and his clothes in the blood of grapes. 12 His eyes shall be sparkling with wine, and his teeth white from milk. 13 Zebulun shall live at the sea shore. And he shall be a haven for ships, and his border beside Sidon. 14 Issachar is a strong donkey crouching down between the sheepfolds. 15 He saw that rest was good and that the land was pleasant. And he bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a tribute slave. 16 Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. 17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path that bites the horse's heels so that its rider will fall backward. 18 I have waited for your salvation O Lord. 19 Raiders will attack Gad and he will attack their heel. 20 Out of Asher his bread will be fat and he will yield royal dainties. 21 Naphtali is a deer let loose. He gives good words. 22 Joseph is a fruitful son, a fruitful son by a well, whose branches run over the wall. 23 The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and an archer lurks for him. 24 But his bow abode in strength and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob from the shepherd, the rock of Israel; 25 by the God of your father, who shall help you. And may the Almighty bless you with blessings of Heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies beneath, blessings of the breasts and of the womb. 26 The blessings of your father are more than the blessings of my ancestors, to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills. They shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him, the ruler, the leader of his brothers. 27 Benjamin is a wolf that tears in pieces. In the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil. 28 All these were the twelve tribes of Israel. And this is what their father spoke to them, and blessed them. Everyone according to his blessing he blessed them. 29 He charged them and said to them, I am to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 30 in the cave in the field of Machpelah that is before Mamre in the land of Canaan, the field that Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite for a burying place. 31 They buried Abraham and his wife Sarah there, and they buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah. And I buried Leah there; 32 the purchase of the field and the cave in it, from the children of Heth. 33 Jacob finished commanding his sons, and he gathered his feet into the bed. And he expired, and was gathered to his people.
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