AB - Genesis - 49

49:1  And Jacob called his sons, and said to them,

49:2  Assemble yourselves, that I may tell you what shall happen to you in the last days. Gather yourselves together, and hear me, sons of Jacob; hear Israel, hear your father.

49:3  Reuben, you are my firstborn, you my strength, and the first of my children, hard to be endured, hard and self-willed.

49:4  You were insolent like water, burst not forth with violence, for you went up to the bed of your father; then you defiled the couch, whereupon you went up.

49:5  Simeon and Levi, brothers, accomplished the injustice of their cutting off.

49:6  Let not my soul come into their counsel, and let not my inward parts contend in their conspiracy, for in their wrath they slew men, and in their passion they hamstrung a bull.

49:7  Cursed be their wrath, for it was willful, and their anger, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.

49:8  Judah, your brothers have praised you, and your hands shall be on the back of your enemies; your father's sons shall bow down before you.

49:9  Judah is a lion's whelp: from the tender plant, my son, you have gone up. Having couched, you lie down like a lion, and as a whelp; who shall stir him up?

49:10  A ruler shall not fail from Judah, nor a prince from his loins, until there come the things stored up for him; and He is the expectation of nations.

49:11  Binding his foal to the vine, and the foal of his donkey to the branch of it, he shall wash his robe in wine, and his garment in the blood of the grape.

49:12  His eyes shall be more cheering than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk.

49:13  Zebulun shall dwell on the coast, and he shall be by a haven of ships, and shall extend to Sidon.

49:14  Issachar has desired that which is good; resting between the inheritances.

49:15  And having seen the resting place that it was good, and the land that it was fertile, he subjected his shoulder to labor, and became a farmer.

49:16  Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.

49:17  And let Dan be a serpent in the way, besetting the path, biting the heel of the horse (and the rider shall fall backward),

49:18  waiting for the salvation of the Lord.

49:19  Gad, a plundering troop shall plunder him; but he shall plunder him, pursuing him closely.

49:20  Asher, his bread shall be fat; and he shall yield dainties to princes.

49:21  Naphtali is a spreading stem, bestowing beauty on its fruit.

49:22  Joseph is a son increased; my dearly loved son is increased; my youngest son, turn to me.

49:23  Against whom men taking evil counsel reproached him, and the archers pressed hard upon him.

49:24  But their bow and arrows were mightily consumed, and the sinews of their arms were slackened by the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob; this is he that strengthened Israel from the God of your father;

49:25  and my God helped you, and He blessed you with the blessing of heaven from above, and the blessing of the earth possessing all things, because of the blessing of the breasts and of the womb,

49:26  the blessings of your father and your mother-it has prevailed above the blessing of the lasting mountains, and beyond the blessings of the everlasting hills; they shall be upon the head of Joseph, and upon the head of the brothers of whom he took the lead.

49:27  Benjamin, as a ravening wolf, shall eat still in the morning, and at evening he gives food.

49:28  All these are the twelve sons of Jacob; and their father spoke these words to them, and he blessed them; he blessed each of them according to his blessing.

49:29  And he said to them, I am added to my people; you shall bury me with my fathers in the cave, which is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,

49:30  in the double cave which is opposite Mamre, in the land of Canaan, the cave which Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite for a possession, for a tomb.

49:31  There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac, and Rebecca his wife; there they buried Leah;

49:32  in the portion of the field, and of the cave that was in it, purchased from the sons of Heth.

49:33  And Jacob ceased giving charges to his sons; and having lifted up his feet on the bed, he died, and was gathered to his people.