Then Jacob called to his sons, and said, Gather together so that I may tell you what will happen to you in time to come.

2 Assemble together and hear, O sons of Jacob, and attend to Israel your father.

3 Reuben, you are my firstborn, my power and the first fruits of my strength, excelling in eminence and excelling in might;

4 unstable as water, you shall not excel;

for you went up to your father's bed;

then you defiled it; he went up to my couch.

5 Simeon and Levi are brothers;

weapons of violence are their swords. 6 Into their council let me not come;

with their assembly let not my glory be united;

for in their anger they killed a man, and in their wilfulness they hamstringed an ox;

7 cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their wrath, for it was harsh;

I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.

8 You are Judah;* your brothers shall praise you;

your hands shall be on the necks of your enemies;

the sons of your father shall bow down to you. 9 A lion's whelp is Judah;

from the prey, my son, you have gone up;

he crouched, he lay down like a lion and like an old lion; who shall rouse him up? 10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes;

and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. 11 Binding his young ass to the vine, and his ass's colt to the choice vine, he washes his garment in wine, and his vesture in the blood of grapes;

12 his eyes are red with wine, and his teeth are white with milk. * Judah means Confession or Praise

13 Zebulun shall live at the haven of the seas;

and he shall be a haven for ships;

and his flank shall be towards Zidon.

14 Issachar is a bony ass lying down between two burdens;

15 and he saw that rest was good, and that the land was pleasant;

but he bent his shoulder to bear, and it was forced labour.

16 Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel;

17 Dan shall be a serpent in the road, a snake upon the path, that bites a horse's heels so that its rider falls backwards;

18 for thy salvation have I waited, O Yehowah.

19 Gad: a troop shall ravage him, but he shall ravage the heel.

20 From Asher, his food shall be rich, and he shall give royal delights.

21 Naphtali is a hind let loose, which utters pleasant sayings.

22 A son of a fruitful one is Joseph, a son of a fruitful one by a fountain;

daughters trail along the wall;

23 archers both provoked him and shot at him, and hated him;

24 but his bow remained in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob-

from there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel-

25 by the God of your father who will help you, and by Shaddai who will bless you with blessings from heaven above, blessings from the deep that lies beneath, blessings of the breasts and of the womb;

26 the blessings of your father shall prevail beyond the blessings of my ancestors, to the desire of the everlasting hills;

they shall be upon the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of the one who was separated from his brothers.

17 Benjamin is a wolf; he ravens, in the morning he devours the prey, and in the evening he divides the spoil.

28 A11 these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them; he blessed each one with his blessing. 29 And he commanded them, and said to them, I am to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave which is in the field of Ephron the Hittite; 30 in the cave which is in the field of Machpelah, to the east of Mamre in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a sepulchre. 31 There they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah; there they buried Isaac and his wife Rebekab; and there I buried Leah- 32 in the field and the cave that is in it, purchased from the sons of Heth. 33 And when Jacob had finished commanding his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed and expired, and was gathered to his people.