49:1 Then Jacob called for his sons, and said, “Gather yourselves together so that I may tell you¹ what will happen to you in the latter days.²

49:2 “Assemble yourselves and listen, sons of Jacob;
listen to Israel, your father.
49:3 Reuben, you are my firstborn,
my might and the beginning of my strength,
outstanding in dignity, outstanding in power.
49:4 Destructive³ like water, you will not excel,⁴
for you went up to your father’s couch,⁵
then you defiled it—he went up to my couch.⁶
49:5 Simeon and Levi are brothers,
weapons of violence are their swords.⁷
49:6 O my soul, do not come into their council,
to their assembly, my glory,⁸ do not be united,
for in their anger they have killed men,
and in their pleasure they have hamstrung oxen;
49:7 Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce,
and their wrath, for it was cruel;
I will divide them in Jacob,
and scatter them in Israel.⁹
49:8 Judah, your brothers will praise you;¹⁰
your hand will be on the neck of your enemies,
your father’s sons will bow down to you.
49:9 You are a lion’s cub, Judah,
from the prey, my son, you have gone up.
He crouches and lies down like a lion,
like a lioness; who will rouse him?
49:10 The scepter will not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,¹¹
until he comes to whom it belongs,¹²
and to him will be the obedience of the nations.¹³
49:11 Binding his foal to the vine,
and his colt to the choicest vine,
he will wash¹⁴ his garments in wine,
his robes in the blood of grapes.
49:12 His eyes will be dark with wine,
and his teeth white from milk.¹⁵
49:13 Zebulon will live¹⁶ by the haven of the sea
and become a haven for ships;
and his border will extend to Sidon.
49:14 Issachar is a strong-boned donkey
lying down between two saddlebags;
49:15 when he sees¹⁷ a resting place, that it was good,
and the land that it was pleasant,
he will bend his shoulder to the burden
and become a servant for forced labor.¹⁸
49:16 Dan will judge¹⁹ his people
as one of the tribes of Israel.
49:17 May Dan be a serpent in the way,
a viper by the path,
that bites the heels of the horse
and its rider falls backward.²⁰
49:18 I wait for your deliverance, O LORD.²¹
49:19 Gad will be raided by marauding bands,²²
but he will attack them at their heels.
49:20 Asher’s food will be rich,²³
and he will provide delicacies²⁴ to royalty.
49:21 Naphtali is a free running doe,
that bears beautiful fawns.²⁵
49:22 Joseph is a fruitful bough,²⁶
a fruitful bough near a spring
whose branches²⁷ climb over the wall.
49:23 The archers will bitterly grieve him,²⁸
they will shoot at him, and will be hostile to him.
49:24 But his bow will remain steady,
and the arms of his hands will be agile;
because of the hands of the mighty One of Jacob,
because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,
49:25 because of the God of your father,
who will help you,²⁹
because of the Almighty,
who will bless you³⁰
with blessings of the heavens above
blessings of the deep that lies below,
blessings of the breast and womb.³¹
49:26 The blessings of your father are greater than³²
the blessings of the eternal mountains³³
or the desirable things of the age-old hills.
They will be on the head of Joseph
and on the brow of the prince of his brothers.³⁴
49:27 Benjamin is a ravenous wolf;
in the morning he devours the prey,
in the evening he divides the plunder.

49:28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel. And this is that which their father spoke to them when he blessed them;³⁵ he blessed each man according to the blessing appropriate for him.³⁶

49:29 Then he instructed them, and said to them, “I am about to be gathered³⁷ to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave which is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 49:30 the cave which is in the field of Machpelah, which is near Mamre in the land of Canaan, where Abraham bought the field for a possession for a burying place. 49:31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah. 49:32 It is the acquisition of the field and the cave which is in it from the sons of Heth.

49:33 When Jacob finished³⁸ instructing his sons, he gathered his feet up to the bed, breathed his last breath and was gathered to his people.