¹ In the meantime God said to Jacob: Arise, and go up to Bethel, and dwell there, and make there an altar to God, who appeared to thee when thou didst flee from Esau thy brother.

² And Jacob having called together all his household, said: Cast away the strange gods that are among you, and be cleansed and change your garments.

³ Arise, and let us go up to Bethel, that we may make there an altar to God: who heard me in the day of my affliction, and accompanied me in my journey.

⁴ So they gave him all the strange gods they had, and the earrings which were in their ears: and he buried them under the turpentine tree, that is behind the city of Sichem.

⁵ And when they were departed, the terror of God fell upon all the cities round about, and they durst not pursue after them as they went away.

⁶ And Jacob came to Luza, which is in the land of Chanaan, surnamed Bethel: he and all the people that were with him.

⁷ And he built there an altar, and called the name of that place, The house of God: for there God appeared to him when he fled from his brother.

⁸ At the same time Debora the nurse of Rebecca died, and was buried at the foot of Bethel under an oak: and the name of that place was called, The oak of weeping.

⁹ And God appeared again to Jacob, after he returned from Mesopotamia of Syria, and he blessed him,

¹⁰ Saying: Thou shalt not be called any more Jacob, but Israel shall be thy name. And he called him Israel.

¹¹ And said to him: I am God Almighty, increase thou and be multiplied. Nations and peoples of Nations shall be from thee, and kings shall come out of thy loins.

¹² And the land which I gave to Abraham and Isaac, I will give to thee, and to thy seed after thee.

¹³ And he departed from him.

¹⁴ But he set up a monument of stone, in the place where God had spoken to him: pouring drink offerings upon it, and pouring oil thereon:

¹⁵ And calling the name of that place Bethel.

¹⁶ And going forth from thence, he came in the springtime to the land which leadeth to Ephrata: wherein when Rachel was in travail,

¹⁷ By reason of her hard labor she began to be in danger, and the midwife said to her: Fear not, for thou shalt have this son also.

¹⁸ And when her soul was departing for pain, and death was now at hand, she called the name of her son Benoni, that is, The son of my pain: but his father called him Benjamin, that is, The son of the right hand.

¹⁹ So Rachel died, and was buried in the highway that leadeth to Ephrata, that is Bethlehem.

²⁰ And Jacob erected a pillar over her sepulcher: this is the pillar of Rachel's monument, to this day.

²¹ Departing thence, he pitched his tent beyond the Flock tower.

²² And when he dwelt in that country, Ruben went, and slept with Bala, the concubine of his father: which he was not ignorant of. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve.

²³ The sons of Lia: Ruben the firstborn, and Simeon, and Levi, and Juda, and Issachar, and Zebulon.

²⁴ The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.

²⁵ The sons of Bala, Rachel's handmaid: Dan and Naphthali.

²⁶ The sons of Zelpha, Lia's handmaid: Gad and Aser: these are the sons of Jacob, that were born to him in Mesopotamia of Syria.

²⁷ And he came to Isaac his father in Mambre, the city of Arbee, this is Hebron: Wherein Abraham and Isaac sojourned.

²⁸ And the days of Isaac were a hundred and eighty years.

²⁹ And being spent with age he died, and was gathered to his people, being old and full of days: and his sons Esau and Jacob buried him.

¹ Jacob called to his sons, and said: "Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which will happen to you in the days to come.

² Assemble yourselves, and hear, you sons of Jacob. Listen to Israel, your father.

³ "Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength; excelling in dignity, and excelling in power.

⁴ Boiling over as water, you shall not excel; because you went up to your father's bed, then defiled it. He went up to my couch.

⁵ "Simeon and Levi are brothers. Their swords are weapons of violence.

⁶ My soul, don't come into their council. My glory, don't be united to their assembly; for in their anger they killed men. In their self-will they hamstrung cattle.

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, your brothers will praise you. Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies. Your father's sons will bow down before you.

⁹ Judah is a lion's cub. From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down, he crouched as a lion, as a lioness. Who will rouse him up?

¹⁰ The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs. To him will the obedience of the peoples be.

¹¹ Binding his foal to the vine, his donkey's colt to the choice vine; he has washed his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes.

¹² His eyes will be red with wine, his teeth white with milk.

¹³ "Zebulun will dwell at the haven of the sea. He will be for a haven of ships. His border will be on Sidon.

¹⁴ "Issachar is a strong donkey, lying down between the saddlebags.

¹⁵ He saw a resting place, that it was good, the land, that it was pleasant. He bows his shoulder to the burden, and becomes a servant doing forced labor.

¹⁶ "Dan will judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.

¹⁷ Dan will be a serpent in the way, an adder in the path, That bites the horse's heels, so that his rider falls backward.

¹⁸ I have waited for your salvation, Yahweh.

¹⁹ "A troop will press on Gad, but he will press on their heel.

²⁰ "Asher's food will be rich. He will yield royal dainties.

²¹ "Naphtali is a doe set free, who bears beautiful fawns.

²² "Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine by a spring. His branches run over the wall.

²³ The archers have severely grieved him, shot at him, and persecute him:

²⁴ But his bow remained strong. 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 even by the God of your father, who will help you; by the Almighty, who will bless you, with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies below, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb.

²⁶ The blessings of your father have prevailed above the blessings of your ancestors, above the boundaries of the ancient hills. They will be on the head of Joseph, on the crown of the head of him who is separated from his brothers.

²⁷ "Benjamin is a ravenous wolf. In the morning he will devour the prey. At evening he will divide the spoil."

²⁸ All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke to them and blessed them. He blessed everyone according to his blessing.

²⁹ He instructed them, and said to them, "I am to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,

³⁰ 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 as a burial place.

³¹ There they buried Abraham and Sarah, his wife. There they buried Isaac and Rebekah, his wife, and there I buried Leah:

³² the field and the cave that is therein, which was purchased from the children of Heth."

³³ When Jacob made an end of charging his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the spirit, and was gathered to his people.