Genesis 49

¹ And Jacob called his sons, and said, Gather together, and I will show you what will befall you in the end of the days; ² assemble, and hearken, O sons of Jakob, and receive instruction from Israel your father, ³ Reuben, thou art my first-born, my strength, and the beginning of my power. Thine should it have been taking to take the three portions,the birthright, the priesthood, and the kingdom: but because thou hast proceeded perversely, ⁴ behold, as water outpoured thou wilt not prosper, neither wilt thou receive the excellent portion; because thou wentest up to thy father's place of sleep: then, my son, didst thou become profane, when thou wentest up to my bed. ⁵ Shimeon and Levi are brothers; mighty men in the land of their sojourning, they did mightily. ⁶ My soul was not in their secret; into their company to come I would not have descended from mine honour. For in their anger they slew a slaughter, and in their wilfulness they razed the wall of their enemy. ⁷ Accursed was their anger, for it was strong, and their wrath, for it was relentless. I will divide them in Jakob, and I will scatter them in Israel. ⁸ Jehuda, thou art praise and not shame; thy brethren shall praise thee; thy hand shall prevail against thine adversaries, thine enemies shall be dispersed; they will be turned backward before thee, and the sons of thy father will come before thee with salutations. ⁹ The dominion shall be (thine) in the beginning, and in the end the kingdom shall be increased from the house of Jehuda, because from the judgment of death, my son, hast thou withdrawn. He shall repose, and abide in strength as a lion, and as a lioness, there shall be no king that may cut him off. ¹⁰ He who exerciseth dominion shall not pass away from the house of Jehuda, nor the saphra from his children's children for ever, until the Meshiha come, whose is the kingdom, and unto whom shall be the obedience of the nations (or, whom the peoples shall obey). ¹¹ Israel shall pass round about in his cities; the people shall build his temple, they will be righteous round about him, and be doers of the law through his doctrine. Of goodly purple will be his raiment, and his vesture of crimson wool with colours. ¹² His mountains shall be red with his vine-yards, and his hills be dropping with wine; his valleys shall be white with corn, and with flocks of sheep. ¹³ Zebulon will dwell nigh the haven of the sea; he will subdue provinces with ships, and will eat the good of the sea, and his boundary shall come unto Sidon. ¹⁴ Issakar, rich in substance, will have his heritage between the boundaries; ¹⁵ and he, seeing his portion that it is good, and the land that it is fruit-bearing, will subdue the provinces of the people, and disperse their inhabitants, and they who remain of them will become servants to him and bringers of tribute. ¹⁶ From the house of Dan will be chosen and will arise a man in whose days his people shall be delivered, and in whose years the tribes of Israel have rest together. ¹⁷ A chosen man will arise from the house of Dan, the terror of whom shall fall upon the peoples; (a man) who will smite the Philistines with strength, as the serpent, the deadly serpent, lurking by the way, he will slay the mighty of the Philistines' host, the horsemen with the foot; he will weaken (loosen) the horses and chariots, and throw their riders backward. ¹⁸ For thy salvation have I waited, Lord! ¹⁹ From the house of Gad will armed hosts go over the Jardena before their brethren to the battle; and with much substance will they return unto their land. ²⁰ The land of Asher will be good; and he shall be nourished with the dainties of kings. ²¹ In a good land will the lot of Naphtali be cast, and his inheritance be fruitful; over them will they give praise and benediction. ²² Joseph is my son who shall increase, my son who shall be blessed, as a vine planted by a fountain of waters. Two tribes will come forth from his sons, and they shall receive a portion and inheritance. ²³ The mighty men, the men of division, were bitter against him; they afflicted him and sorely grieved him; and his prophecy shall be fulfilled in them, because he was faithful to the law in secret, and set his confidence firmly. ²⁴ Therefore was gold laid upon his arm, and the kingdom was strengthened and confirmed. This was to him from the mighty God of Jacob, who by His Word pastureth the fathers and the children of the seed of Israel. ²⁵ The Word of the God of thy father shall be thy Helper, and the All-Sufficient shall bless thee, with the blessings of the dew that descends from the heavens above, with the blessings that spring from the depths of the earth beneath, with the blessings of thy father and of thy mother. ²⁶ The blessing of thy father shall be added upon the blessing with which my fathers blessed me; which the princes who are of the world have desired: all of them shall be upon the head of Joseph, and upon the man who was separated from his brethren. ²⁷ Benjamin: in his land will dwell the Shekina, and in his possession will the sanctuary be builded. In the morning and evening will the priests offer the oblation, and at eventime divide the remaining portions of the residue of the sacred things. ²⁸ All these the tribes of Israel are twelve; and this it is which their father spake to them, and blessed them; according to the blessing of each man, blessed he them. ²⁹ And he commanded them, and said to them, I am to be gathered unto my people; bury me with my fathers in the cavern which is in the field of Ephron the Hitaah; ³⁰ in the cavern which is in the double field over against Mamre, in the land of Kenaan, which field Abraham bought of Ephron the Hitaah for an inheritance-sepulchre. ³¹ There buried they Abraham and Sarah his wife; there buried they Izhak and Revekah his wife; and there buried I Leah. ³² The field, and the cavern that is in it, purchased of the sons of Hitaah. ³³ And Jakob ceased to instruct his sons, and drew his feet together in the bed, and died, and was gathered unto his people.