¹ When Ephraim spoke, a horror seized Israel: and he sinned in Baal and died.

² And now they have sinned more and more : and they have made to themselves a molten thing of their silver as the likeness of idols: the whole is the work of craftsmen: to these that say: Sacrifice men, ye that adore calves.

³ Therefore they shall be as a morning aloud, and as the early dew that passeth away, as the dust that is driven with a whirlwind out of the floor, and as the smoke out of the chimney.

⁴ But I am the Lord thy God from the land of Egypt: and thou shalt know no God but me, and there is no saviour beside me.

⁵ I knew thee in the desert, in the land of the wilderness.

⁶ According to their pastures they were filled, and were made full: and they lifted up their heart, and have forgotten me.

⁷ And I will be to them as a lioness, as a leopard in the way of the Assyrians.

⁸ I will meet them as a bear that is robbed of her whelps, and I will rend the inner parts of their liver: and I will devour them there as a lion, the beast of the field shall tear them.

⁹ Destruction is thy own, 0 Israel: thy help is only in me.

¹⁰ Where is thy king? now especially let him save thee in all thy cities: and thy judges, of whom thou saidst: Q Give me kings and princes.

¹¹ I will give thee a king in my wrath, and will take him away in my indignation.

¹² The iniquity of Ephraim is bound up, his sin is hidden.

¹³ The sorrows of a woman in labour snail come upon him, he is an unwise son: for now he shall not stand in the breach of the children.

¹⁴ I will deliver them out of the hand of death. I will redeem them from death : O death, I will be thy death; O hell, I will be thy bite: comfort is hidden from my eyes.

¹⁵ Because he shall make a separation between brothers: s the Lord will bring a burning wind that shall rise from the desert, and it shall dry up his springs, and shall make his fountain desolate, and he shall carry off the treasure of every desirable vessel.

⁶ Wherefore a lion out of the wood hath slain them, a wolf in the evening, hath spoiled them, a leopard watcheth for their cities: every one that shall go out thence shall be taken, because their transgressions are multiplied, their rebellions are strengthened.

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.