Genesis 49

English Standard Version

² “Assemble and listen, O sons of Jacob,
    listen to Israel your father.

³ “Reuben, you are ^(C)my firstborn,
    my might, and the ^(D)firstfruits of my strength,
    preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power.
⁴ Unstable as water, you shall not have preeminence,
    because you ^(E)went up to your father's bed;
    then you defiled it—he went up to my couch!

^5 (F)“Simeon and Levi are brothers;
    weapons ^(G)of violence are their swords.
⁶ Let my soul come not into their council;
    ^(H)O my glory, ^(I)be not joined to their company.
For in their anger they killed men,
    and in their willfulness they ^(J)hamstrung oxen.
⁷ Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce,
    and their wrath, for it is cruel!
I will ^(K)divide them in Jacob
    and scatter them in Israel.

⁸ “Judah, ^(L)your brothers shall praise you;
    ^(M)your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;
    ^(N)your father's sons shall bow down before you.
⁹ Judah is ^(O)a lion's cub;
    from the prey, my son, you have gone up.
^(P)He stooped down; he crouched as a lion
    and as a lioness; who dares rouse him?
¹⁰ The ^(Q)scepter shall not depart from Judah,
    nor the ruler's staff ^(R)from between his feet,
until tribute comes to him;^[a]
    and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
¹¹ Binding 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.
¹² His ^(S)eyes are darker than wine,
    and his teeth whiter than milk.

^13 (T)“Zebulun shall dwell at the ^(U)shore of the sea;
    he shall become a haven for ships,
    and his border shall be at Sidon.

^14 (V)“Issachar is a strong donkey,
    crouching between the sheepfolds.^[b]
15 He saw that a resting place was good,
    and that the land was pleasant,
so he bowed his shoulder to bear,
    and ^(W)became a servant at forced labor.

^16 (X)“Dan shall ^(Y)judge his people
    as one of the tribes of Israel.
¹⁷ Dan ^(Z)shall be a serpent in the way,
    a viper by the path,
that bites the horse's heels
    so that his rider falls backward.
¹⁸ I ^(AA)wait for your salvation, O Lord.

^19 (AB)“Raiders shall raid ^(AC)Gad,^[c]
    but he shall raid at their heels.

^20 (AD)“Asher's food shall be rich,
    and he shall yield royal delicacies.

^21 (AE)“Naphtali is a doe let loose
    that bears beautiful fawns.^[d]

²² “Joseph is ^(AF)a fruitful bough,
    a fruitful bough by a spring;
    his branches run over the wall.^[e]
23 The archers ^(AG)bitterly attacked him,
    shot at him, and harassed him severely,
²⁴ yet ^(AH)his bow remained unmoved;
    his arms^[f] were made agile
by the hands of the ^(AI)Mighty One of Jacob
    (from there is ^(AJ)the Shepherd,^{[g] (AK)}the Stone of Israel),
^25 (AL)by the God of your father who will help you,
    by ^(AM)the Almighty^{[h] (AN)}who will bless you
    with blessings of heaven above,
blessings of the deep that crouches beneath,
    blessings of the breasts and of the womb.
²⁶ The blessings of your father
    are mighty beyond the blessings of my parents,
    up to the bounties ^(AO)of the everlasting hills.^[i]
May they be ^(AP)on the head of Joseph,
    and on the brow of him who was set apart from his brothers.

^27 (AQ)“Benjamin is a ravenous wolf,
    in the morning devouring the prey
    and at evening ^(AR)dividing the spoil.”