Jacob Blesses His Sons
1Jacob called for his sons and said, “Gather around, so I can tell you what is to happen to you in the days to come. 2Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob; listen to Israel, your father. 3Reuben, you are my firstborn, my strength, the first sign of my manhood — excelling in honor, excelling in power. 4Turbulent as water, you will no longer excel, for you climbed into your father’s bed and defiled it — you climbed onto my couch. 5Simeon and Levi are brothers — their swords are weapons of violence. 6Let my soul not enter their council, let my glory not join their assembly, for in their anger they killed men, and at their whim they hamstrung oxen. 7Cursed be their anger, so fierce, and their fury, so cruel! I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel. 8Judah, your brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons will bow down to you. 9Judah is a lion’s cub — you return, my son, from the kill. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness — who dares rouse him? 10The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and the obedience of the nations is his. 11He ties his donkey to the vine, his colt to the choicest branch; he washes his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. 12His eyes are darker than wine, his teeth whiter than milk. 13Zebulun will live by the seashore and become a haven for ships; his border will extend toward Sidon. 14Issachar is a sturdy donkey, lying down between the sheepfolds. 15When he saw how good the resting place was and how pleasant the land, he bent his shoulder to the load and became a servant at forced labor. 16Dan will judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. 17Dan will be a snake by the road, a viper along the path, that bites the horse’s heels so its rider tumbles backward. 18I wait for your salvation, Yahweh. 19Gad will be raided by raiders, but he will raid at their heels. 20Asher’s food will be rich; he will provide delicacies fit for a king. 21Naphtali is a doe set free, bringing forth words of grace. 22Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine beside a spring, whose branches climb over the wall. 23The archers attacked him fiercely; they shot at him with hostility. 24But his bow remained steady, and his arms stayed limber, by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, from there, the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel, 25by the God of your father, who helps you, by the Almighty, who blesses you with blessings of the heavens above, blessings of the deep that lies below, blessings of breast and womb. 26The blessings of your father surpass the blessings of my ancestors, to the bounds of the everlasting hills. Let them rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the one set apart from his brothers. 27Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning he devours the prey, in the evening he divides the plunder.” 28All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them, giving each the blessing appropriate to him.
Jacob’s Burial Instructions
29Then he instructed them: “I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 30the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite as a burial site. 31There Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah are buried, and there I buried Leah. 32The field and the cave in it were bought from the Hittites.” 33When Jacob had finished instructing his sons, he drew his feet into the bed, breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.
