Genesis 49

1 Then Jacob called his sons and said to them, “Assemble yourselves, and I will tell you what will happen to you in the last days. 2 Gather together and hear me, sons of Jacob — hear Israel, hear your father. 3 Reuben, you are my firstborn — my strength, the first of my children: hard to bear, hard and self-willed. 4 You ran wild like water — do not boil over. For you went up onto your father’s bed; you defiled the couch you climbed. 5 Simeon and Levi — brothers indeed: they carried out injustice by their own choice. 6 Let my soul not enter their council; let my inward parts take no part in their conspiracy. For in their rage they killed men, and in their passion they hamstrung a bull. [a] 7 Cursed be their rage, for it was willful, and their wrath, for it was hardened. I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel. 8 Judah — may your brothers praise you. Your hands shall be on the back of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down to you. 9 Judah is a lion’s cub. From the tender shoot, my son, you have gone up. Lying down, you slept like a lion — like a cub. Who will rouse him? 10 A ruler shall not fail from Judah, nor a leader from his body, until what is stored up for him comes — and he is the expectation of the nations. [b] 11 Binding his colt to the vine, and his donkey’s foal to the tendril, he shall wash his robe in wine, his garment in the blood of the grape. 12 His eyes sparkle with wine, and his teeth are whiter than milk. 13 Zebulun shall live by the sea — a harbor for ships — and he shall reach as far as Sidon. 14 Issachar has desired what is good, resting between the allotments. 15 He saw that the resting place was good and the land was rich — so he bent his shoulder to the labor, and became a man of the soil. 16 Dan shall judge his people, as one tribe also in Israel. 17 Let Dan be a serpent on the road, lying in wait on the path, biting the horse’s heel — and the rider falls backward — 18 I wait for the rescue of the Lord. 19 Gad — raiders will raid him, but he will raid at their heels. 20 Asher — his bread shall be rich, and he shall provide delicacies for rulers. 21 Naphtali is a spreading stem, giving beauty in its fruit. 22 Joseph is a son made great — a son made great and envied. My youngest son, turn back to me. [c] 23 Men plotting evil spoke against him; the archers pressed him hard. 24 But their bows and arrows were broken with power, and the sinews of their arms went slack — by the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob. From there is he who strengthened Israel. 25 From the God of your father — and my God helped you, and blessed you with the blessing of heaven above and the blessing of the earth that holds all things — for the sake of the blessing of the breasts and of the womb, 26 the blessings of your father and your mother. It has grown stronger than the blessing of the enduring mountains, beyond the blessings of the everlasting hills. They shall rest on the head of Joseph — on the brow of the one who led his brothers. [d] 27 Benjamin is a ravenous wolf: in the morning he is still devouring, and at evening he divides out food.” 28 All these are the twelve sons of Jacob, and this is what their father spoke to them. And he blessed them — each one he blessed with the blessing that was his.

29 Then he gave them this command: “I am being gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite — 30 in the double cave facing Mamre, in the land of Canaan, the cave Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite as a burial holding. 31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife. There they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife. And there I buried Leah — 32 in the field, with the cave in it, bought from the sons of Heth.” 33 And when Jacob finished giving his commands to his sons, he drew his feet up onto the bed, and breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.