Then
Jacob called together all his sons and said, “Gather around me, and I will tell
you what will happen to each of you in the days to come.
“Come and listen, you sons of Jacob;
listen to Israel, your
father.
“Reuben, you are my firstborn, my
strength,
the child of my
vigorous youth.
You are first in rank
and first in power.
But you are as unruly as a flood,
and you will be first
no longer.
For you went to bed with my wife;
you defiled my marriage
couch.
“Simeon and Levi are two of a kind;
their weapons are
instruments of violence.
May I never join in their meetings;
may I never be a party
to their plans.
For in their anger they murdered men,
and they crippled oxen
just for sport.
A curse on their anger, for it is
fierce;
a curse on their wrath,
for it is cruel.
I will scatter them among the
descendants of Jacob;
I will disperse them
throughout Israel.
“Judah, your brothers will praise
you.
You will grasp your
enemies by the neck.
All your relatives will
bow before you.
Judah, my son, is a young lion
that has finished
eating its prey.
Like a lion he crouches and lies
down;
like a lioness—who
dares to rouse him?
The scepter will not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler’s staff from
his descendants,
until the coming of the one to whom
it belongs,
the one whom all
nations will honor.
He ties his foal to a grapevine,
the colt of his donkey
to a choice vine.
He washes his clothes in wine,
his robes in the blood
of grapes.
His eyes are darker than wine,
and his teeth are
whiter than milk.
“Zebulun will settle by the seashore
and will be a harbor
for ships;
his borders will extend
to Sidon.
“Issachar is a sturdy donkey,
resting between two
saddlepacks.
When he sees how good the countryside
is
and how pleasant the
land,
he will bend his shoulder to the load
and submit himself to
hard labor.
“Dan will govern his people,
like any other tribe in
Israel.
Dan will be a snake beside the road,
a poisonous viper along
the path
that bites the horse’s hooves
so its rider is thrown
off.
I trust in you for salvation, O Lord!
“Gad will be attacked by marauding
bands,
but he will attack them
when they retreat.
“Asher will dine on rich foods
and produce food fit
for kings.
“Naphtali is a doe set free
that bears beautiful
fawns.
“Joseph is the foal of a wild donkey,
the foal of a wild
donkey at a spring—
one of the wild donkeys
on the ridge.
Archers attacked him savagely;
they shot at him and
harassed him.
But his bow remained taut,
and his arms were
strengthened
by the hands of the Mighty One of
Jacob,
by the Shepherd, the
Rock of Israel.
May the God of your father help you;
may the Almighty bless
you
with the blessings of the heavens
above,
and blessings of the
watery depths below,
and blessings of the
breasts and womb.
May my fatherly blessings on you
surpass the blessings
of my ancestors,
reaching to the heights
of the eternal hills.
May these blessings rest on the head
of Joseph,
who is a prince among
his brothers.
“Benjamin is a ravenous wolf,
devouring his enemies
in the morning
and dividing his
plunder in the evening.”
These are the twelve tribes of
Israel, and this is what their father said as he told his sons good-bye. He
blessed each one with an appropriate message.
Then Jacob instructed them, “Soon I
will die and join my ancestors. Bury me with my father and grandfather in the
cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite. This is the cave in the field of
Machpelah, near Mamre in Canaan, that Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite as
a permanent burial site. There Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried. There
Isaac and his wife, Rebekah, are buried. And there I buried Leah It is the plot
of land and the cave that my grandfather Abraham bought from the Hittites.”
When Jacob had finished this charge
to his sons, he drew his feet into the bed, breathed his last, and joined his
ancestors in death.
~ Source : Genesis 49:1-33 [Holy Bible -NLT]
taken from https://www.biblegateway.com
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