¹ And Jacob sent for his sons, and said, Come together, all of you, so that I may give you news of your fate in future times.

² Come near, O sons of Jacob, and give ear to the words of Israel your father.

³ Reuben, you are my oldest son, the first-fruit of my strength, first in pride and first in power:

⁴ But because you were uncontrolled, the first place will not be yours; for you went up to your father's bed, even his bride-bed, and made it unclean.

⁵ Simeon and Levi are brothers; deceit and force are their secret designs.

⁶ Take no part in their secrets, O my soul; keep far away, O my heart, from their meetings; for in their wrath they put men to death, and for their pleasure even oxen were wounded.

⁷ A curse on their passion for it was bitter; and on their wrath for it was cruel. I will let their heritage in Jacob be broken up, driving them from their places in Israel.

⁸ To you, Judah, will your brothers give praise: your hand will be on the neck of your haters; your father's sons will go down to the earth before you.

⁹ Judah is a young lion; like a lion full of meat you have become great, my son; now he takes his rest like a lion stretched out and like an old lion; by whom will his sleep be broken?

¹⁰ The rod of authority will not be taken from Judah, and he will not be without a law-giver, till he comes who has the right to it, and the peoples will put themselves under his rule.

¹¹ Knotting his ass's cord to the vine, and his young ass to the best vine; washing his robe in wine, and his clothing in the blood of grapes:

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

¹³ The resting-place of Zebulun will be by the sea, and he will be a harbour for ships; the edge of his land will be by Zidon.

¹⁴ Issachar is a strong ass stretched out among the flocks:

¹⁵ And he saw that rest was good and the land was pleasing; so he let them put weights on his back and became a servant.

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

¹⁷ May Dan be a snake in the way, a horned snake by the road, biting the horse's foot so that the horseman has a fall.

¹⁸ I have been waiting for your salvation, O Lord.

¹⁹ Gad, an army will come against him, but he will come down on them in their flight.

²⁰ Asher's bread is fat; he gives delicate food for kings.

²¹ Naphtali is a roe let loose, giving fair young ones.

²² Joseph is a young ox, whose steps are turned to the fountain;

²³ He was troubled by the archers; they sent out their arrows against him, cruelly wounding him:

²⁴ But their bows were broken by a strong one, and the cords of their arms were cut by the Strength of Jacob, by the name of the Stone of Israel:

²⁵ Even by the God of your father, who will be your help, and by the Ruler of all, who will make you full with blessings from heaven on high, blessings of the deep stretched out under the earth, blessings of the breasts and of the fertile body:

²⁶ Blessings of sons, old and young, to the father: blessings of the oldest mountains and the fruit of the eternal hills: let them come on the head of Joseph, on the crown of him who was separate from his brothers.

²⁷ Benjamin is a wolf, searching for meat: in the morning he takes his food, and in the evening he makes division of what he has taken.

²⁸ These are the twelve tribes of Israel: and these are the words their father said to them, blessing them; to every one he gave his blessing.

²⁹ And he gave orders to them, saying, Put me to rest with my people and with my fathers, in the hollow of the rock in the field of Ephron the Hittite,

³⁰ In the rock in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in the land of Canaan, which Abraham got from Ephron the Hittite, to be his resting-place.

³¹ There Abraham and Sarah his wife were put to rest, and there they put Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I put Leah to rest.

³² In the rock in the field which was got for a price from the people of Heth.

³³ And when Jacob had come to the end of these words to his sons, stretching himself on his bed, he gave up his spirit, and went the way of his people.

¹ The whole earth was of one language and of one speech.

² It happened, as they traveled east, that they found a plain in the land of Shinar, and they lived there.

³ They said one to another, "Come, let's make bricks, and burn them thoroughly." They had brick for stone, and they used tar for mortar.

⁴ They said, "Come, let's build ourselves a city, and a tower whose top reaches to the sky, and let's make ourselves a name, lest we be scattered abroad on the surface of the whole earth."

⁵ Yahweh came down to see the city and the tower, which the children of men built.

⁶ Yahweh said, "Behold, they are one people, and they have all one language, and this is what they begin to do. Now nothing will be withheld from them, which they intend to do.

⁷ Come, let's go down, and there confuse their language, that they may not understand one another's speech."

⁸ So Yahweh scattered them abroad from there on the surface of all the earth. They stopped building the city.

⁹ Therefore its name was called Babel, because there Yahweh confused the language of all the earth. From there, Yahweh scattered them abroad on the surface of all the earth.

¹⁰ This is the history of the generations of Shem. Shem was one hundred years old and became the father of Arpachshad two years after the flood.

¹¹ Shem lived five hundred years after he became the father of Arpachshad, and became the father of sons and daughters.

¹² Arpachshad lived thirty-five years and became the father of Shelah.

¹³ Arpachshad lived four hundred three years after he became the father of Shelah, and became the father of sons and daughters.

¹⁴ Shelah lived thirty years, and became the father of Eber:

¹⁵ and Shelah lived four hundred three years after he became the father of Eber, and became the father of sons and daughters.

¹⁶ Eber lived thirty-four years, and became the father of Peleg.

¹⁷ Eber lived four hundred thirty years after he became the father of Peleg, and became the father of sons and daughters.

¹⁸ Peleg lived thirty years, and became the father of Reu.

¹⁹ Peleg lived two hundred nine years after he became the father of Reu, and became the father of sons and daughters.

²⁰ Reu lived thirty-two years, and became the father of Serug.

²¹ Reu lived two hundred seven years after he became the father of Serug, and became the father of sons and daughters.

²² Serug lived thirty years, and became the father of Nahor.

²³ Serug lived two hundred years after he became the father of Nahor, and became the father of sons and daughters.

²⁴ Nahor lived twenty-nine years, and became the father of Terah.

²⁵ Nahor lived one hundred nineteen years after he became the father of Terah, and became the father of sons and daughters.

²⁶ Terah lived seventy years, and became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran.

²⁷ Now this is the history of the generations of Terah. Terah became the father of Abram, Nahor, and Haran. Haran became the father of Lot.

²⁸ Haran died before his father Terah in the land of his birth, in Ur of the Chaldees.

²⁹ Abram and Nahor took wives. The name of Abram's wife was Sarai, and the name of Nahor's wife, Milcah, the daughter of Haran who was also the father of Iscah.

³⁰ Sarai was barren. She had no child.

³¹ Terah took Abram his son, Lot the son of Haran, his son's son, and Sarai his daughter-in-law, his son Abram's wife. They went forth from Ur of the Chaldees, to go into the land of Canaan. They came to Haran and lived there.

³² The days of Terah were two hundred five years. Terah died in Haran.