Genesis 49:1-27

Jacob Blesses His Sons

1 aThen Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you what shall happen to you bin days to come.

2 Assemble and listen, O sons of Jacob,
listen to Israel your father.
3 Reuben, you are cmy firstborn,
my might, and the dfirstfruits of my strength,
preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power.
4Unstable as water, you shall not have preeminence,
because you ewent up to your father’s bed;
then you defiled it—he went up to my couch!
5 fSimeon and Levi are brothers;
weapons gof violence are their swords.
6Let my soul come not into their council;
hO my glory, ibe not joined to their company.
For in their anger they killed men,
and in their willfulness they jhamstrung oxen.
7Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce,
and their wrath, for it is cruel!
I will kdivide them in Jacob
and scatter them in Israel.
8 Judah, lyour brothers shall praise you;
myour hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;
nyour father’s sons shall bow down before you.
9Judah is oa lion’s cub;
from the prey, my son, you have gone up.
pHe stooped down; he crouched as a lion
and as a lioness; who dares rouse him?
10The qscepter shall not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler’s staff rfrom between his feet,
until tribute comes to him;
By a slight revocalization; a slight emendation yields (compare Septuagint, Syriac, Targum)  until he comes to whom it belongs; Hebrew until Shiloh comes, or until he comes to Shiloh

and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
11Binding his foal to the vine
and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine,
he has washed his garments in wine
and his vesture in the blood of grapes.
12His teyes are darker than wine,
and his teeth whiter than milk.
13 uZebulun shall dwell at the vshore of the sea;
he shall become a haven for ships,
and his border shall be at Sidon.
14 wIssachar is a strong donkey,
crouching between the sheepfolds.
Or  between its saddlebags

15He saw that a resting place was good,
and that the land was pleasant,
so he bowed his shoulder to bear,
and ybecame a servant at forced labor.
16 zDan shall aajudge his people
as one of the tribes of Israel.
17Dan abshall be a serpent in the way,
a viper by the path,
that bites the horse’s heels
so that his rider falls backward.
18I acwait for your salvation, O Lord.
19 adRaiders shall raid aeGad,
 Gad sounds like the Hebrew for  raiders and raid

but he shall raid at their heels.
20 agAsher’s food shall be rich,
and he shall yield royal delicacies.
21 ahNaphtali is a doe let loose
that bears beautiful fawns.
Or he gives beautiful words, or  that bears fawns of the fold

22 Joseph is aja fruitful bough,
a fruitful bough by a spring;
his branches run over the wall.
Or  Joseph is a wild donkey, a wild donkey beside a spring, his wild colts beside the wall

23The archers albitterly attacked him,
shot at him, and harassed him severely,
24yet amhis bow remained unmoved;
his arms
Hebrew the arms of his hands
were made agile
by the hands of the aoMighty One of Jacob
(from there is apthe Shepherd,
Or by the name of the Shepherd
arthe Stone of Israel),
25 asby the God of your father who will help you,
by atthe Almighty
Hebrew Shaddai
avwho will bless you
with blessings of heaven above,
blessings of the deep that crouches beneath,
blessings of the breasts and of the womb.
26The blessings of your father
are mighty beyond the blessings of my parents,
up to the bounties awof the everlasting hills.
A slight emendation yields (compare Septuagint)  the blessings of the eternal mountains, the bounties of the everlasting hills

May they be ayon the head of Joseph,
and on the brow of him who was set apart from his brothers.
27 azBenjamin is a ravenous wolf,
in the morning devouring the prey
and at evening badividing the spoil.”
Copyright information for ESV