1
And Jacob calls to his sons and says, “Be gathered together, and I declare to you that which happens with you in the latter end of the days.
2
Be assembled, and hear, sons of Jacob, || And listen to your father Israel.
3
Reuben! You [are] my firstborn, || My power, and beginning of my strength, || The abundance of exaltation, || And the abundance of strength;
4
Unstable as water, you are not abundant; For you have gone up your father’s bed; Then you have defiled [it]: He went up my couch!
5
Simeon and Levi [are] brothers! Instruments of violence—their espousals!
6
Into their secret, do not come, O my soul! Do not be united to their assembly, O my glory; For in their anger they slew a man, || And in their self-will eradicated a prince.
7
Cursed [is] their anger, for [it is] fierce, || And their wrath, for [it is] sharp; I divide them in Jacob, || And I scatter them in Israel.
8
Judah! Your brothers praise you! Your hand [is] on the neck of your enemies, || Sons of your father bow themselves to you.
9
A lion’s whelp [is] Judah, || For prey, my son, you have gone up; He has bent, he has crouched as a lion, || And as a lioness; who causes him to arise?
10
The scepter does not turn aside from Judah, || And a lawgiver from between his feet, || Until his Seed comes; And His [is] the obedience of peoples.
11
Binding to the vine his donkey, || And to the choice vine the colt of his donkey, || He has washed in wine his clothing, || And in the blood of grapes his covering;
12
Red [are] eyes with wine, || And white [are] teeth with milk!
13
Zebulun dwells at a haven of the seas, || And he [is] for a haven of ships; And his side [is] to Sidon.
14
Issachar [is] a strong donkey, || Crouching between the two folds;
15
And he sees rest, that [it is] good, || And the land, that [it is] pleasant, || And he inclines his shoulder to bear, || And is a servant for tribute.
16
Dan judges his people, || As one of the tribes of Israel;
17
Dan is a serpent by the way, a viper by the path, || Which is biting the horse’s heels, || And its rider falls backward.
18
For Your salvation I have waited, YHWH!
19
Gad! A troop assaults him, || But he assaults last.
20
Out of Asher his bread [is] fat; And he gives delicacies of a king.
21
Naphtali [is] a doe sent away, || Who is giving beautiful young ones.
22
Joseph [is] a fruitful son; A fruitful son by a fountain, || Daughters step over the wall;
23
And embitter him indeed, they have striven, || Indeed, archers hate him;
24
And his bow abides in strength, || And strengthened are the arms of his hands || By the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, || From where is a shepherd, a son of Israel.
25
By the God of your father who helps you, || And the Mighty One who blesses you, || Blessings of the heavens from above, || Blessings of the deep lying under, || Blessings of breasts and womb—
26
Your father’s blessings have been mighty || Above the blessings of my progenitors, || To the limit of the perpetual heights || They are for the head of Joseph, || And for the crown of the one || Separate [from] his brothers.
27
Benjamin! A wolf tears; In the morning he eats prey, || And at evening he apportions spoil.”
28
All these [are] the twelve tribes of Israel, and this [is] that which their father has spoken to them, and he blesses them; each according to his blessing he has blessed them.
The Death of Jacob
29
And he commands them and says to them, “I am being gathered to my people; bury me by my fathers, at the cave which [is] in the field of Ephron the Hittite;
30
in the cave which [is] in the field of Machpelah, which [is] on the front of Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a burying-place;
31
(there they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah; there they buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah; and there I buried Leah);
32
the purchase of the field and of the cave which [is] in it, [is] from sons of Heth.”
33
And Jacob finishes commanding his sons, and gathers up his feet to the bed, and expires, and is gathered to his people.
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