¹ This is the blessing, wherewith the man of God Moses blessed the children of Israel, before his death.

² And he said: The Lord came from Sinai, and from Seir he rose up to us: he hath appeared from mount Pharan, and with him thousands of saints. In his right hand a fiery law.

³ He hath loved the people, all the saints are in his hand: and they that approach to his feet, shall receive of his doctrine.

⁴ Moses commanded us a law, the inheritance of the multitude of Jacob.

⁵ He shall be king with the most right, the princes of the people being assembled with the tribes of Israel.

⁶ Let Ruben live, and not die, and be he small in number.

⁷ This is the blessing of Juda. Hear, O Lord, the voice of Juda, and bring him in unto his people : his hands shall fight for him, and he shall be his helper against his enemies.

⁸ To Levi also he said: Thy perfection, and thy doctrine be to thy holy man, whom thou hast proved in the temptation, and judged at the waters of contradiction :

⁹ Who hath said to his father, and to his mother: I do not know you; and to his brethren: I know you not: and their own children they have not known. These have kept thy word, and observed thy covenant,

¹⁰ Thy judgments, O Jacob, and thy law, O Israel: they shall put incense in thy wrath and holocaust upon thy altar.

¹¹ Bless, O Lord, his strength, and receive the works of his hands. Strike the backs of his enemies, and let not them that hate him rise.

¹² And to Benjamin he said: The best beloved of the Lord shall dwell confidently in him: as in a bride chamber shall he abide all the day long, and between his shoulders shall be rest.

¹³ To Joseph also he said: Of the blessing of the Lord be his land, of the fruits of heaven, and of the dew, and of the deep that lieth beneath.

¹⁴ Of the fruits brought forth by the sun and by the moon.

¹⁵ Of the tops of the ancient mountains, of the fruits of the everlasting hills:

¹⁶ And of the fruits of the earth, and of the fulness thereof. The blessing of him that appeared in the bush, come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the crown of the Nazarite among his brethren.

¹⁷ His beauty as of the firstling of a bullock, his horns as the horns of a rhinoceros: with them shall he push the nations even to the ends of the earth These are the multitudes of Ephraim and these the thousands of Manasses.

¹⁸ And to Zabulon he said: Rejoice, O Zabulon, in thy going out; and Issachar in thy tabernacles.

¹⁹ They shall call the people to the mountain: there shall they sacrifice the victims of justice. Who shall suck as milk the abundance of the sea, and the hidden treasures of the sands.

²⁰ And to Gad he said: Blessed be Gad in his breadth: he hath rested as a lion, and hath seized upon the arm and the top of the head.

²¹ And he saw his pre-eminence, that in his portion the teacher was laid up: who was with the princes of the people, and did the justices of the Lord, and his judgment with Israel.

²² To Dan also he said: Dan is a young lion, he shall flow plentifully from Basan.

²³ And to Nephtali he said: Nephtali shall enjoy abundance, and shall be full of the blessings of the Lord: he shall possess the sea and the south.

²⁴ To Aser also he said: Let Aser be blessed with children, let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil.

²⁵ His shoe shall be iron and brass. As the days of thy youth, so also shall thy old age be.

²⁶ There is no other God like the God of the rightest: he that is mounted upon the heaven is thy helper. By his magnificence the clouds run hither and thither.

²⁷ His dwelling is above, and underneath are the everlasting arms: he shall cast out the enemy from before thee, and shall say: Be thou brought to nought.

²⁸ Israel shall dwell in safety, and alone. The eye of Jacob in a land of corn and wine, and the heavens shall be misty with dew.

²⁹ Blessed are thou, Israel: who is like to thee, O people, that art saved by the Lord? the shield of thy help, and the sword of thy glory: thy enemies shall deny thee, and thou shalt tread upon their necks.

¹ It happened in the days of Amraphel, king of Shinar, Arioch, king of Ellasar, Chedorlaomer, king of Elam, and Tidal, king of Goiim,

² that they made war with Bera, king of Sodom, and with Birsha, king of Gomorrah, Shinab, king of Admah, and Shemeber, king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar).

³ All these joined together in the valley of Siddim (the same is the Salt Sea).

⁴ Twelve years they served Chedorlaomer, and in the thirteenth year, they rebelled.

⁵ In the fourteenth year Chedorlaomer came, and the kings who were with him, and struck the Rephaim in Ashteroth Karnaim, and the Zuzim in Ham, and the Emim in Shaveh Kiriathaim,

⁶ and the Horites in their Mount Seir, to Elparan, which is by the wilderness.

⁷ They returned, and came to En Mishpat (the same is Kadesh), and struck all the country of the Amalekites, and also the Amorites, that lived in Hazazon Tamar.

⁸ The king of Sodom, and the king of Gomorrah, and the king of Admah, and the king of Zeboiim, and the king of Bela (the same is Zoar) went out; and they set the battle in array against them in the valley of Siddim;

⁹ against Chedorlaomer king of Elam, and Tidal king of Goiim, and Amraphel king of Shinar, and Arioch king of Ellasar; four kings against the five.

¹⁰ Now the valley of Siddim was full of tar pits; and the kings of Sodom and Gomorrah fled, and they fell there, and those who remained fled to the hills.

¹¹ They took all the goods of Sodom and Gomorrah, and all their food, and went their way.

¹² They took Lot, Abram's brother's son, who lived in Sodom, and his goods, and departed.

¹³ One who had escaped came and told Abram, the Hebrew. Now he lived by the oaks of Mamre, the Amorite, brother of Eshcol, and brother of Aner; and these were allies of Abram.

¹⁴ When Abram heard that his relative was taken captive, he led forth his trained men, born in his house, three hundred and eighteen, and pursued as far as Dan.

¹⁵ He divided himself against them by night, he and his servants, and struck them, and pursued them to Hobah, which is on the left hand of Damascus.

¹⁶ He brought back all the goods, and also brought back his relative, Lot, and his goods, and the women also, and the people.

¹⁷ The king of Sodom went out to meet him, after his return from the slaughter of Chedorlaomer and the kings who were with him, at the valley of Shaveh (that is, the King's Valley).

¹⁸ Melchizedek king of Salem brought out bread and wine: and he was priest of God Most High.

¹⁹ He blessed him, and said, "blessed be Abram of God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth:

²⁰ and blessed be God Most High, who has delivered your enemies into your hand." Abram gave him a tenth of all.

²¹ The king of Sodom said to Abram, "Give me the people, and take the goods to yourself."

²² Abram said to the king of Sodom, "I have lifted up my hand to Yahweh, God Most High, possessor of heaven and earth,

²³ that I will not take a thread nor a sandal strap nor anything that is yours, lest you should say, 'I have made Abram rich.'

²⁴ I will accept nothing from you except that which the young men have eaten, and the portion of the men who went with me: Aner, Eshcol, and Mamre. Let them take their portion."