Genesis
49
- Then Jacob called for his sons and said:
"Gather around so I can tell you what will happen to you in days to come.
- "Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob;
listen to your father Israel.
- "Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might,
the first sign of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power.
- Turbulent as the waters, you will no longer
excel, for you went up onto your father's bed, onto my couch and defiled it.
- "Simeon and Levi are brothers -- their
swords are weapons of violence.
- Let me not enter their council, let me not
join their assembly, for they have killed men in their anger and hamstrung
oxen as they pleased.
- Cursed be their anger, so fierce, and their
fury, so cruel! I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel.
- "Judah, your brothers will praise you;
your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; your father's sons will bow
down to you.
- You are a lion's cub, O Judah; you return
from the prey, my son. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness
-- who dares to rouse him?
- The scepter will not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs
and the obedience of the nations is his.
- He will tether his donkey to a vine, his
colt to the choicest branch; he will wash his garments in wine, his robes
in the blood of grapes.
- His eyes will be darker than wine, his teeth
whiter than milk.
- "Zebulun will live by the seashore
and become a haven for ships; his border will extend toward Sidon.
- "Issachar is a rawboned donkey lying
down between two saddlebags.
- When he sees how good is his resting place
and how pleasant is his land, he will bend his shoulder to the burden and
submit to forced labor.
- "Dan will provide justice for his people
as one of the tribes of Israel.
- Dan will be a serpent by the roadside, a
viper along the path, that bites the horse's heels so that its rider tumbles
backward.
- "I look for your deliverance, O LORD.
- "Gad will be attacked by a band of
raiders, but he will attack them at their heels.
- "Asher's food will be rich; he will
provide delicacies fit for a king.
- "Naphtali is a doe set free that bears
beautiful fawns.
- "Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful
vine near a spring, whose branches climb over a wall.
- With bitterness archers attacked him; they
shot at him with hostility.
- But his bow remained steady, his strong
arms stayed limber, because of the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob, because
of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,
- because of your father's God, who helps
you, because of the Almighty, who blesses you with blessings of the heavens
above, blessings of the deep that lies below, blessings of the breast and
womb.
- Your father's blessings are greater than
the blessings of the ancient mountains, than the bounty of the age-old hills.
Let all these rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the prince among
his brothers.
- "Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the
morning he devours the prey, in the evening he divides the plunder."
- All these are the twelve tribes of Israel,
and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them, giving each
the blessing appropriate to him.
- Then he gave them these instructions: "I
am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave
in the field of Ephron the Hittite,
- the cave in the field of Machpelah, near
Mamre in Canaan, which Abraham bought as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite,
along with the field.
- There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried,
there Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried, and there I buried Leah.
- The field and the cave in it were bought
from the Hittites."
- When Jacob had finished giving instructions
to his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed, breathed his last and was gathered
to his people.
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