¹Jacob called to his sons , and said : “Gather yourselves together , that I may tell you that which will happen to you in the days to come .

²Assemble yourselves , and hear , you sons of Jacob .

Listen to Israel , your father .

³“Reuben , you are my firstborn , my might , and the beginning of my strength ,

excelling in dignity , and excelling in power .

⁴Boiling over like water , you shall not excel ,

because you went up to your father’s bed ,

then defiled it . He went up to my couch .

⁵“Simeon and Levi are brothers.

Their swords are weapons of violence .

⁶My soul , don’t come into their council .

My glory , don’t be united to their assembly ;

for in their anger they killed men .

In their self-will they hamstrung cattle .

⁷Cursed 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 .

⁸“Judah , your brothers will praise you .

Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies .

Your father ’s sons will bow down before you .

⁹Judah is a lion ’s cub .

From the prey , my son , you have gone up .

He stooped down , he crouched as a lion ,

as a lioness .

Who will rouse him up ?

¹⁰The sceptre will not depart from Judah ,

nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet ,

until he comes to whom it belongs.

The obedience of the peoples will be to him .

¹¹Binding his foal to the vine ,

his donkey’s colt to the choice vine ,

he has washed his garments in wine ,

his robes in the blood of grapes .

¹²His eyes will be red with wine ,

his teeth white with milk .

¹³“Zebulun will dwell at the haven of the sea .

He will be for a haven of ships.

His border will be on Sidon .

¹⁴“Issachar is a strong donkey ,

lying down between the saddlebags.

¹⁵He saw a resting place , that it was good ,

the land, that it was pleasant .

He bows his shoulder to the burden ,

and becomes a servant doing forced labour .

¹⁶“Dan will judge his people ,

as one of the tribes of Israel .

¹⁷Dan will be a serpent on the trail ,

an adder in the path ,

that bites the horse ’s heels ,

so that his rider falls backward.

¹⁸I have waited for your salvation , LORD .

¹⁹“A troop will press on Gad ,

but he will press on their heel .

²⁰“Asher’s food will be rich .

He will produce royal dainties .

²¹“Naphtali is a doe set free ,

who bears beautiful fawns.

²²“Joseph is a fruitful vine,

a fruitful vine by a spring .

His branches run over the wall .

²³The archers have severely grieved him ,

shot at him , and persecuted him :

²⁴But his bow remained strong .

The arms of his hands were made strong ,

by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob ,

(from there is the shepherd , the stone of Israel ),

²⁵even by the God of your father, who will help you ,

by the Almighty , who will bless you ,

with blessings of heaven above ,

blessings of the deep that lies below ,

blessings of the breasts , and of the womb .

²⁶The blessings of your father have prevailed above the blessings of my ancestors ,

above the boundaries of the ancient hills .

They will be on the head of Joseph ,

on the crown of the head of him who is separated from his brothers.

²⁷“Benjamin is a ravenous wolf .

In the morning he will devour the prey .

At evening he will divide the plunder .”

²⁸All 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 .

²⁹He 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 ,

³⁰in 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 .

³¹There they buried Abraham and Sarah , his wife. There they buried Isaac and Rebekah , his wife, and there I buried Leah :

³²the field and the cave that is therein, which was purchased from the children of Heth .”

³³When Jacob finished charging his sons , he gathered up his feet into the bed , breathed his last breath, and was gathered to his people .