Jacob Blesses his Sons
1And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell youthat which shall befall you in the last days.
2Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father.
3Reuben, thouart my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:
4Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then defiledst thouit: he went up to my couch.
5Simeon and Leviare brethren; instruments of crueltyare in their habitations.
6O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall.
7Cursedbe their anger, forit was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.
8Judah, thouart he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy handshall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee.
9Judahis a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?
10The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto himshall the gathering of the peoplebe.
11Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes:
12His eyesshall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.
13Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and heshall be for an haven of ships; and his bordershall be unto Zidon.
14Issacharis a strong ass couching down between two burdens:
15And he saw that restwas good, and the land thatit was pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute.
16Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.
17Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.
18I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD.
19Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last.
20Out of Asher his breadshall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties.
21Naphtaliis a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words.
22Josephis a fruitful bough,even a fruitful bough by a well;whose branches run over the wall:
23The archers have sorely grieved him, and shotat him, and hated him:
24But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mightyGod of Jacob; (from thenceis the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)
25Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:
26The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.
27Benjamin shall ravinas a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.
28All theseare the twelve tribes of Israel: and thisis it that their father spake unto them, and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them.
The Death of Jacob
29And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave thatis in the field of Ephron the Hittite,30In the cave thatis in the field of Machpelah, whichis before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a buryingplace.31There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah.32The purchase of the field and of the cave thatis thereinwas from the children of Heth.33And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.
