49Genesis 49

1And Jacob called his sons, and said to them: Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you the things that shall befall you in the last days.Select Genesis 49:1

2Gather yourselves together, and hear, O ye sons of Jacob, hearken to Israel, your father:Select Genesis 49:2

3Ruben, my firstborn, thou art my strength, and the beginning of my sorrow; excelling in gifts, greater in command.Select Genesis 49:3

4Thou art poured out as water, grow thou not; because thou wentest up to thy father's bed, and didst defile his couch.Select Genesis 49:4

5Simeon and Levi brethren: vessels of iniquity waging war.Select Genesis 49:5

6Let not my soul go into their counsel, nor my glory be in their assembly: because in their fury they slew a man, and in their self-will they undermined a wall.Select Genesis 49:6

7Cursed be their fury, because it was stubborn: and their wrath, because it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and will scatter them in Israel.Select Genesis 49:7

8Juda, thee shall thy brethren praise: thy hand shall be on the necks of thy enemies; the sons of thy father shall bow down to thee.Select Genesis 49:8

9Juda is a lion's whelp: to the prey, my son, thou art gone up: resting thou hast couched as a lion, and as a lioness, who shall rouse him?Select Genesis 49:9

10The sceptre shall not be taken away from Juda, nor a ruler from his thigh, till he come that is to be sent, and he shall be the expectation of nations.Select Genesis 49:10

11Tying his foal to the vineyard, and his ass, O my son, to the vine. He shall wash his robe in wine, and his garment in the blood of the grape.Select Genesis 49:11

12His eyes are more beautiful than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk.Select Genesis 49:12

13Zabulon shall dwell on the seashore, and in the road of ships, reaching as far as Sidon.Select Genesis 49:13

14Issachar shall be a strong ass, lying down between the borders.Select Genesis 49:14

15He saw rest that it was good: and the land that it was excellent: and he bowed his shoulder to carry, and became a servant under tribute.Select Genesis 49:15

16Dan shall judge his people like another tribe in Israel.Select Genesis 49:16

17Let Dan be a snake in the way, a serpent in the path, that biteth the horse's heels, that his rider may fall backward.Select Genesis 49:17

18I will look for thy salvation, O Lord.Select Genesis 49:18

19Gad, being girded, shall fight before him: and he himself shall be girded backward.Select Genesis 49:19

20Aser, his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield dainties to kings.Select Genesis 49:20

21Nephthali, a hart let loose, and giving words of beauty.Select Genesis 49:21

22Joseph is a growing son, a growing son and comely to behold: the daughters run to and fro upon the wall;Select Genesis 49:22

23But they that held darts, provoked him, and quarrelled with him, and envied him.Select Genesis 49:23

24His bow rested upon the strong, and the bands of his arms and his hands were loosed, by the hands of the mighty one of Jacob: thence he came forth a pastor, the stone of Israel.Select Genesis 49:24

25The God of thy father shall be thy helper, and the Almighty shall bless thee with the blessings of heaven above, with the blessings of the deep that lieth beneath, with the blessings of the breasts and of the womb.Select Genesis 49:25

26The blessings of thy father are strengthened with the blessings of his fathers: until the desire of the everlasting hills should come: may they be upon the head of Joseph, and upon the crown of the Nazarite among his brethren.Select Genesis 49:26

27Benjamin a ravenous wolf, in the morning shall eat the prey, and in the evening shall divide the spoil.Select Genesis 49:27

28All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: these things their father spoke to them, and he blessed every one with their proper blessings.Select Genesis 49:28

29And he charged them, saying: I am now going to be gathered to my people: bury me with my fathers in the double cave, which is in the field of Ephron the Hethite,Select Genesis 49:29

30Over against Mambre, in the land of Chanaan, which Abraham bought together with the field, of Ephron the Hethite, for a possession to bury in.Select Genesis 49:30

31There they buried him, and Sara his wife: there was Isaac buried with Rebecca, his wife: there also Lia doth lie buried.Select Genesis 49:31

32And when he had ended the commandments, wherewith he instructed his sons, he drew up his feet upon the bed, and died: and he was gathered to his people.Select Genesis 49:32