DEUTERONOMY 33

And this is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the sons of Israel before his death. 2 And he said:

Yehowah came from Sinai, and dawned from Seir upon them;

he shone from Mount Paran, and came with myriads of holy ones;

from his right hand went fire, a decree for them. 3 Indeed, he enfolded his peoples;

all its holy ones were in thy hands, and they were brought together at thy feet, accepting thy words. 4 Moses commanded us a law, an inheritance for the convocation of Jacob. 5 And Yehowah was king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people were gathered, the tribes of Israel together.

6 May Reuben live and not die, but let his men be few in number. 7 And this for Judah: and he said,

Hear, O Yehowah, the voice of Judah, and bring him to his people;

with his hands he contended for himself,* and thou art a help against his opponents. * Or let his hands be sufficient for him

8 And for Levi he said,

Let thy Thummim and thy Urim be for thy merciful one whom thou didst prove at Massah, with whom thou didst contend at the waters of Meribah;

9 who said of his father and mother, I have not seen him;

and did not acknowledge his brothers or know his sons;

for they keep thy sayings, and thy covenant they preserve. 10 They teach thy judgments to Jacob, and thy law to Israel;

they offer incense to thy nostrils, and burnt-offerings on thine altar. 11 O Yehowah, bless his might, and accept the work of his hands;

pierce the loins of those who attack him and of those who hate him, so that they rise no more.

12 For Benjamin he said,

Beloved of Yehowah! He shall live with him securely, protecting him all the day, for he lives between his shoulders.

13 And for Joseph he said,

Blessed by Yehowah is his land, by the excellence of heaven, by the dew, and by the deep that lies beneath;

14 and by the excellence of the produce of the sun, and by the excellence of the yield of the months, 15 and by the chief things of the mountains of the east, and by the excellence of the hills of old;

16 and by the excellence of the earth and its fulness, and the favour of him who lives in the bramble bush. They shall come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the crown of the head of the one separated from his brothers. 17 The firstborn of his cattle has honour, and his horns are the horns of a wild bull;

with them he shall thrust the peoples together to the ends of the earth;

now these are the myriads of Ephraim and the thousands of Manasseh.

18 And for Zebulun he said,

Be glad, Zebulun, in your going out, and Issachar, in your tents. 19 They shall call peoples to the mountain;

they shall offer righteous sacrifices there;

for they suck the abundance of the seas and the hidden secrets of the sand.

20 And for Gad he said,

Blessed is he who enlarges Gad;

like a lion he crouches, and tears the shoulder and also the crown of the head. 21 And he chose the best for himself, for a portion for the lawgiver was concealed there;

and he came with the heads of the people, he wrought Yehowah's righteousness, and his judgments with Israel.

22 And for Dan he said,

Dan is a lion's whelp leaping out from Bashan.

23 And for Naphtali he said, O Naphtali, replete with favour, and filled with the blessing of Yehowah, possess the Sea and the south.

24 And for Asher he said,

May Asher be blessed among the sons;

let him be favoured by his brothers, and dip his feet in oil. 25 Your sandals shall be iron and bronze, and your strength shall be sufficient for your days.

26 There is no one like God, O Jeshurun, riding through the heavens to your help, and in his majesty through the clouds. 27 The God of old is your habitation, and underneath are the everlasting arms;

and he thrust out the enemy before you, and said, Destroy them! 28 So Israel shall live securely, alone at Jacob's spring, in a land of corn and new wine O how his heavens distil the dew! 29 Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by Yehowah, the Shield of your help, and the Sword of your majesty! So your enemies shall cringe before you, and you shall trample down their hill-shrines.