1
And Jacob called unto his sons, and said : gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the latter days .
2
Assemble yourselves, and hear , ye sons of Jacob ; And hearken unto Israel your father .
3
Reuben , thou art my first-born , my might , and the beginning of my strength; The pre-eminence of dignity, and the pre-eminence of power.
4
Boiling over as water , thou shalt not have the pre-eminence; Because thou wentest up to thy father 's bed ; Then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch .
5
Simeon and Levi are brethren ; Weapons of violence are their swords.
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O my soul , come not thou into their council; Unto their assembly , my glory, be not thou united; For in their anger they slew a man , And in their self-will they hocked an ox.
7
Cursed be their anger , for it was fierce; And their wrath , for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob , And scatter them in Israel .
8
Judah , thee shall thy brethren praise: Thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies ; Thy father 's sons shall bow down before thee.
9
Judah is a lion 's whelp; From the prey, my son , thou art gone up: He stooped down, he couched as a lion , And as a lioness; who shall rouse him up?
10
The sceptre shall not depart from Judah , Nor the ruler's staff from between his feet , Until Shiloh come : And unto him shall the obedience of the peoples be.
11
Binding his foal unto the vine, And his ass's colt unto the choice vine; He hath washed his garments in wine , And his vesture in the blood of grapes :
12
His eyes shall be red with wine , And his teeth white with milk .
13
Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea ; And he shall be for a haven of ships ; And his border shall be upon Sidon.
14
Issachar is a strong ass , Couching down between the sheepfolds:
15
And he saw a resting-place that it was good , And the land that it was pleasant ; And he bowed his shoulder to bear, And became a servant under taskwork.
16
Dan shall judge his people, As one of the tribes of Israel .
17
Dan shall be a serpent in the way , An adder in the path , That biteth the horse's heels , So that his rider falleth backward.
18
I have waited for thy salvation , O Jehovah .
19
Gad , a troop shall press upon him; But he shall press upon their heel .
20
Out of the Asher his bread shall be fat , And he shall yield royal dainties.
21
Naphtali is a hind let loose: He giveth goodly words .
22
Joseph is a fruitful bough, A fruitful bough by a fountain ; His branches run over the wall .
23
The archers have sorely grieved him, And shot at him, and persecute him:
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But his bow abode in strength, And the arms of his hands were made strong, By the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob , (From thence is the shepherd , the stone of Israel ),
25
Even 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 coucheth beneath , Blessings of the breasts , and of the womb .
26
The 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 .
27
Benjamin is a wolf that raveneth: In the morning she shall devour the prey, And at even he shall divide the spoil .
28
All these are the twelve tribes of Israel : and this is it that their father spake unto them and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them.
29
And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite ,
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in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah , which is before Mamre , in the land of Canaan , which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a burying-place.
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there they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife ; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife ; and there I buried Leah:
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the field and the cave that is therein, which was purchased from the children of Heth .
33
And when Jacob made an end of charging his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.