1 Now Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather together, and I will tell you that which will happen to you in the last days.
bcv=Assemble yourselves and hear, you sons of Jacob,
and listen to Israel, your father.
bcv=“Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength;
excelling in dignity, and excelling in power,
bcv=boiling over like water, you shall not excel,
because you climbed in your father’s bed, then defiled it.
He climbed in my bed!
bcv=“Shimon and Levi are brothers.
Their swords* are weapons of violence.
bcv=My self, don’t come into their council.
My glory, don’t be united to their assembly;
for in their anger they killed men,
and in their self-will they disabled an ox.
bcv=Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce,
and their wrath, for it is cruel.
I will divide them in Jacob,
and scatter them in Israel.
bcv=“Judah, your brothers will praise you.
Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies.
Your father’s sons will bow down to you.
9 Judah is a lion’s cub.
From prey, my son, you have gone up.
He stooped down, he crouched as a lion,
and as a lioness.
Who will rouse him up?
10 The scepter will not depart from Judah,
nor a lawgiver* from between his feet,
until Shiloh comes.
And to Him the obedience of the peoples will be.
11 Tying his donkey to the vine,
and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine;
he washes his garments in wine,
his robes in the blood of grapes.
12 His eyes are darker than wine,
his teeth are whiter than milk.
13 “Zebulun will dwell at a haven of seas.
He will be for a haven of ships.
And his border will be on Sidon.
14 “Issachar is a strong donkey,
lying down between the saddlebags.
15 And he will see a resting place, that it is good,
and the land, that it is pleasant.
He will bend down his shoulder to carry a burden,
and will become a servant doing forced labor.
16 “Dan will judge his people,
as one of the tribes of Israel.
17 Dan will be a snake on the trail,
an adder in the path,
That will bite the horse’s heels,
so that its rider will fall backward.
18 I have waited for your salvation, Yehovah.
19 “Gad, a troop will attack him,
and he will attack their heel.
20 “From Asher, his food will be rich.
And he will provide delicacies of a king.
21 “Naphtali will be a doe set free,
who will provide beautiful words*.
22 “Joseph will be a productive son*,
a productive son by a spring,
his daughters* run over the wall.
23 Archers will make him bitter,
and shoot at him, and bear a grudge against him,
24 but his bow will remain steady,
and the arms of his hands will be agile,
from the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob
(from there will be a Shepherd, a Stone of Israel)—
25 from the God of your father, who will help you,
and the Almighty, who will bless you,
with blessings of the sky from above,
blessings of the ocean* that lies below,
blessings of breasts and womb.
26 The blessings of your father have surpassed the blessings of my ancestors,
up to the boundary of the ancient hills.
They will be on the head of Joseph,
on the crown of the head of the concecrated one among his brothers.
27 “Benjamin will be a ravenous wolf.
In the morning he will devour the prey.
At evening he will divide the plunder.”
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 own 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 Hittites.” 33 When Jacob finished charging his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, breathed his last breath, and was gathered to his people.