Genesis 49

Modern

Literal

Jacob Blesses His Sons

¹Then Jacob called for his sons and said, “Gather around so that I can tell you what will happen to you in the days to come:

¹And Jacob called to his sons and he said, “Gather together, and I will tell you what shall befall you in the last days.

²Come together and listen, O sons of Jacob;

listen to your father Israel.

²Assemble yourselves, and listen, sons of Jacob; and listen to Israel your father.

³Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might,

and the beginning of my strength,

excelling in honor,

excelling in power.

³Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the first of my strength, exceeding in rank, and exceeding in power.

⁴Uncontrolled as the waters,

you will no longer excel,

because you went up to your father’s bed,

onto my couch, and defiled it.

⁴Uncontrolled as the waters, you shall not excel, because you went up to the bed of your father; then you defiled it—he went up onto my couch.

⁵Simeon and Levi are brothers;

their swords^a are weapons of violence.

⁵Simeon and Levi are brothers; instruments of violence are their swords.

⁶May I never enter their council;

may I never join their assembly.

For they kill men in their anger,

and hamstring oxen on a whim.

⁶Into their council let not my soul enter; to their assembly let not my honor be united; for in their anger they killed a man, and in their self-will they hamstrung an ox.

⁷Cursed be their anger, for it is strong,

and their wrath, for it is cruel!

I will disperse them in Jacob

and scatter them in Israel.

⁷Cursed be their anger, for it is strong, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.

⁸Judah,^a your brothers shall praise you.

Your hand shall be on the necks of your enemies;

your father’s sons shall bow down to you.

⁸Judah—you, your brothers shall praise you. Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; sons of your father shall bow down to you.

⁹Judah is a young lion—

my son, you return from the prey.

Like a lion he crouches and lies down;

like a lioness, who dares to rouse him?

⁹Judah is a whelp of a lion; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He crouched, he lay down as a lion, and like a lioness, who shall rouse him?

¹⁰The scepter will not depart from Judah,

nor the staff from between his feet,^a

until Shiloh^b comes

and the allegiance of the nations is his.

¹⁰The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the staff from between his feet, until that he comes to Shiloh; and to him is the obedience of the peoples.

¹¹He ties his donkey to the vine,

his colt to the choicest branch.

He washes his garments in wine,

his robes in the blood of grapes.

¹¹Binding his donkey to the vine, and the colt of his donkey to the choice vine; he washed in the wine his garment, and in the blood of grapes his robe.

¹²His eyes are darker than wine,

and his teeth are whiter than milk.

¹²His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk.

¹³Zebulun shall dwell by the seashore

and become a harbor for ships;

his border shall extend to Sidon.

¹³Zebulun shall dwell by the shore of the sea, and he shall be a haven for ships, and his border shall be to Sidon.

¹⁴Issachar is a strong donkey,

lying down between the sheepfolds.^a

¹⁴Issachar is a strong-boned donkey, lying down between the sheepfolds.

¹⁵He saw that his resting place was good

and that his land was pleasant,

so he bent his shoulder to the burden

and submitted to labor as a servant.

¹⁵And he saw rest, that its was good, and the land, that it was pleasant, and he extended his shoulder to bear a burden, and he became a servant at forced labor.

¹⁶Dan shall provide justice for his people^a

as one of the tribes of Israel.

¹⁶Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.

¹⁷He will be a snake by the road,

a viper in the path

that bites the horse’s heels

so that its rider tumbles backward.

¹⁷Dan shall be a serpent by the way, a viper by the path, biting the heels of the horse, and its rider falls backward.

¹⁸I await Your salvation, O LORD.

¹⁸For Your salvation I have waited, YHWH.

¹⁹Gad^a will be attacked by raiders,

but he will attack their heels.

¹⁹Gad—a troop shall assault him, and he will attack the heel.

²⁰Asher’s food will be rich;

he shall provide royal delicacies.

²⁰Out of Asher his bread shall be rich, and he shall give royal delicacies.

²¹Naphtali is a doe set free

that bears beautiful fawns.^a

²¹Naphtali is a doe set free, the one giving sayings of beauty.

²²Joseph is a fruitful vine—

a fruitful vine by a spring,

whose branches scale the wall.^a

²²Joseph is a son of fruitfulness, a son of fruitfulness by a spring; daughters march over the wall.

²³The archers attacked him with bitterness;

they aimed at him in hostility.

²³The masters of arrows—and they have embittered him, and shot and hated him.

²⁴Yet he steadied his bow,

and his strong arms were tempered

by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob,

in the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,

²⁴And his bow remained in strength, and the arms of his hands were tempered by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob; from there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel.

²⁵by the God of your father who helps you,

and by the Almighty^a who blesses you,

with blessings of the heavens above,

with blessings of the depths below,

with blessings of the breasts and womb.

²⁵By the God of your father, and He will help you, and by Shaddai, and He will bless you with blessings of the heavens above, blessings of the deep that lies beneath, blessings of breasts and womb.

²⁶The blessings of your father have surpassed

the blessings of the ancient mountains^a

and the bounty of the everlasting hills.

May they rest on the head of Joseph,

on the brow of the prince of his brothers.

²⁶The blessings of your father have excelled over the blessings of my ancestors up to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills; they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the prince of his brothers.

²⁷Benjamin is a ravenous wolf;

in the morning he devours the prey,

in the evening he divides the plunder.”

²⁷Benjamin is a wolf that tears; in the morning he shall devour prey, and in the evening he shall divide spoil.”

²⁸These are the tribes of Israel, twelve in all, and this was what their father said to them. He blessed them, and he blessed each one with a suitable blessing.

²⁸All these are two and ten tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke to them, and he blessed them—each one according to his own blessing, he blessed them.

The Death of Jacob

²⁹Then Jacob instructed them, “I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite.

²⁹And he commanded them and he said to them, “I am being gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,

³⁰The cave is in the field of Machpelah near Mamre, in the land of Canaan. This is the field Abraham purchased from Ephron the Hittite as a burial site.

³⁰in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before the face of Mamre in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a burial place.

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

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 in it were purchased from the Hittites.”

³²The field and the cave that is in it were purchased from the sons of Heth.”

³³When Jacob had finished instructing his sons, he pulled his feet into the bed and breathed his last, and he was gathered to his people.

³³And Jacob finished commanding his sons, and he gathered his feet into the bed and he expired, and he was gathered to his people.