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.

⁶ 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:

²⁴ 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,

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 for a possession of a burying-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 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.

¹ Now these are they that came to David to Ziklag, while he yet kept himself close because of Saul the son of Kish; and they were among the mighty men, his helpers in war.

² They were armed with bows, and could use both the right hand and the left in slinging stones and in shooting arrows from the bow: they were of Saul's brethren of Benjamin.

³ The chief was Ahiezer; then Joash, the sons of Shemaah the Gibeathite, and Jeziel, and Pelet, the sons of Azmaveth, and Beracah, and Jehu the Anathothite,

⁴ and Ishmaiah the Gibeonite, a mighty man among the thirty, and over the thirty, and Jeremiah, and Jahaziel, and Johanan, and Jozabad the Gederathite,

⁵ Eluzai, and Jerimoth, and Bealiah, and Shemariah, and Shephatiah the Haruphite,

⁶ Elkanah, and Isshiah, and Azarel, and Joezer, and Jashobeam, the Korahites,

⁷ and Joelah, and Zebadiah, the sons of Jeroham of Gedor.

⁸ And of the Gadites there separated themselves unto David to the stronghold in the wilderness, mighty men of valor, men trained for war, that could handle shield and spear; whose faces were like the faces of lions, and they were as swift as the roes upon the mountains;

⁹ Ezer the chief, Obadiah the second, Eliab the third,

¹⁰ Mishmannah the fourth, Jeremiah the fifth,

¹¹ Attai the sixth, Eliel the seventh,

¹² Johanan the eighth, Elzabad the ninth,

¹³ Jeremiah the tenth, Machbannai the eleventh.

¹⁴ These of the sons of Gad were captains of the host: he that was least was equal to a hundred, and the greatest to a thousand.

¹⁵ These are they that went over the Jordan in the first month, when it had overflowed all its banks; and they put to flight all them of the valleys, both toward the east, and toward the west.

¹⁶ And there came of the children of Benjamin and Judah to the stronghold unto David.

¹⁷ And David went out to meet them, and answered and said unto them, If ye be come peaceably unto me to help me, my heart shall be knit unto you; but if [ye be come] to betray me to mine adversaries, seeing there is no wrong in my hands, the God of our fathers look thereon, and rebuke it.

¹⁸ Then the Spirit came upon Amasai, who was chief of the thirty, [and he said], Thine are we, David, and on thy side, thou son of Jesse: peace, peace be unto thee, and peace be to thy helpers; for thy God helpeth thee. Then David received them, and made them captains of the band.

¹⁹ Of Manasseh also there fell away some to David, when he came with the Philistines against Saul to battle: but they helped them not; for the lords of the Philistines upon advisement sent him away, saying, He will fall away to his master Saul to the jeopardy of our heads.

²⁰ As he went to Ziklag, there fell to him of Manasseh, Adnah, and Jozabad, and Jediael, and Michael, and Jozabad, and Elihu, and Zillethai, captains of thousands that were of Manasseh.

²¹ And they helped David against the band of rovers: for they were all mighty men of valor, and were captains in the host.

²² For from day to day men came to David to help him, until there was a great host, like the host of God.

²³ And these are the numbers of the heads of them that were armed for war, who came to David to Hebron, to turn the kingdom of Saul to him, according to the word of Jehovah.

²⁴ The children of Judah that bare shield and spear were six thousand and eight hundred, armed for war.

²⁵ Of the children of Simeon, mighty men of valor for the war, seven thousand and one hundred.

²⁶ Of the children of Levi four thousand and six hundred.

²⁷ And Jehoiada was the leader of [the house of] Aaron; and with him were three thousand and seven hundred,

²⁸ and Zadok, a young man mighty of valor, and of his father's house twenty and two captains.

²⁹ And of the children of Benjamin, the brethren of Saul, three thousand: for hitherto the greatest part of them had kept their allegiance to the house of Saul.

³⁰ And of the children of Ephraim twenty thousand and eight hundred, mighty men of valor, famous men in their fathers' houses.

³¹ And of the half-tribe of Manasseh eighteen thousand, who were mentioned by name, to come and make David king.

³² And of the children of Issachar, men that had understanding of the times, to know what Israel ought to do, the heads of them were two hundred; and all their brethren were at their commandment.

³³ Of Zebulun, such as were able to go out in the host, that could set the battle in array, with all manner of instruments of war, fifty thousand, and that could order [the battle array, and were] not of double heart.

³⁴ And of Naphtali a thousand captains, and with them with shield and spear thirty and seven thousand.

³⁵ And of the Danites that could set the battle in array, twenty and eight thousand and six hundred.

³⁶ And of Asher, such as were able to go out in the host, that could set the battle in array, forty thousand.

³⁷ And on the other side of the Jordan, of the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and of the half-tribe of Manasseh, with all manner of instruments of war for the battle, a hundred and twenty thousand.

³⁸ All these being men of war, that could order the battle array, came with a perfect heart to Hebron, to make David king over all Israel: and all the rest also of Israel were of one heart to make David king.

³⁹ And they were there with David three days, eating and drinking; for their brethren had made preparation for them.

⁴⁰ Moreover they that were nigh unto them, [even] as far as Issachar and Zebulun and Naphtali, brought bread on asses, and on camels, and on mules, and on oxen, victuals of meal, cakes of figs, and clusters of raisins, and wine, and oil, and oxen, and sheep in abundance: for there was joy in Israel.