“1 And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves
together, that I may tell you [that] which shall befall you in the last
days. 2 Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and
hearken unto Israel your father. 3 Reuben, thou [art] my firstborn, my
might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and
the excellency of power: 4 Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel;
because thou wentest up to thy father’s bed; then defiledst thou [it]:
he went up to my couch.”
“5 Simeon and Levi [are] brethren; instruments of cruelty [are in]
their habitations. 6 O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto
their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they
slew a man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall. 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.”
“8 Judah, thou [art he] whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand
[shall be] in the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow
down before thee. 9 Judah [is] a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son,
thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old
lion; who shall rouse him up? 10 The sceptre shall not depart from
Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto
him [shall] the gathering of the people [be]. 11 Binding his foal unto
the vine, and his ass’s colt unto the choice vine; he washed his
garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes: 12 His eyes
[shall be] red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.”
“13 Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he [shall be] for
an haven of ships; and his border [shall be] unto Zidon. 14 Issachar
[is] a strong ass couching down between two burdens: 15 And he saw that
rest [was] good, and the land that [it was] pleasant; and bowed his
shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute. 16 Dan shall judge
his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. 17 Dan shall be a serpent by
the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his
rider shall fall backward. 18 I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD.
19 Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last.
20 Out of Asher his bread [shall be] fat, and he shall yield royal
dainties. 21 Naphtali [is] a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words.”
“22 Joseph [is] a fruitful bough, [even] a fruitful bough by a well;
[whose] branches run over the wall: 23 The archers have sorely grieved
him, and shot [at him], and hated him: 24 But his bow abode in strength,
and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty
[God] of Jacob; (from thence [is] the shepherd, the stone of Israel:) 25
[Even] by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the
Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings
of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:
26 The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my
progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall
be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was
separate from his brethren. 27 Benjamin shall ravin [as] a wolf: in the
morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the
spoil.”
“28 All these [are] the twelve tribes of Israel: and this [is it] that
their father spake unto them, and blessed them; every one according to
his blessing he blessed them. 29 And he charged them, and said unto
them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the
cave that [is] in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 30 In the cave that
[is] in the field of Machpelah, which [is] before Mamre, in the land of
Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a
possession of a buryingplace. 31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his
wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried
Leah. 32 The purchase of the field and of the cave that [is] therein
[was] from the children of Heth. 33 And when Jacob had made an end of
commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded
up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.” (Ge 49:1-33 AV)
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