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Genesis 49:1-28 — Jacob Blesses His Sons

Gen.49.1-28

¹Then Jacob summoned his sons and said, "Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you what will happen to you in the days to come. ²Assemble yourselves and listen, O sons of Jacob; and listen to Israel your father. ³Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, excelling in dignity, and excelling in power. ⁴Unstable as water, you shall not excel, because you went up to your father's bed; then you defiled it—he went up to my couch! ⁵Simeon and Levi are brothers; their swords are weapons of violence. ⁶Let my soul not enter their council; let my glory not be joined to their assembly. For in their anger they killed men, and at their whim they hamstrung oxen. ⁷Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel. ⁸Judah, your brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; your father's sons will bow down to you. ⁹Judah is a lion's cub; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stoops down, he crouches as a lion, and as a lioness—who dares to rouse him? ¹⁰The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and to him will be the obedience of the peoples. ¹¹He binds his foal to the vine, and his donkey's colt to the choice vine; he washes his garments in wine, and his robes in the blood of grapes. ¹²His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk. ¹³Zebulun will dwell at the shore of the sea; he will become a haven for ships, and his border will extend to Sidon. ¹⁴Issachar is a strong donkey, lying down between the sheepfolds. ¹⁵He saw that a resting place was good, and that the land was pleasant; so he bent his shoulder to bear the burden , and became a servant at forced labor. ¹⁶Dan will judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. ¹⁷Dan will be a serpent on the road, a viper on the path, that bites the horse's heels, so that its rider falls backward. ¹⁸I wait for your salvation, O Yahweh. ¹⁹Gad will be raided by a band of raiders, but he will raid at their heels. ²⁰Asher's food will be rich, and he will provide royal delicacies. ²¹Naphtali is a doe set free, that bears beautiful words . ²²Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a spring; his branches run over the wall. ²³The archers bitterly attacked him, shot at him, and harbored hostility against him. ²⁴Yet his bow remained steady, and the arms of his hands were made agile, by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, from there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel, ²⁵from the God of your father who helps you, and the Almighty who blesses you, with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies beneath, blessings of the breasts and of the womb. ²⁶The blessings of your father have prevailed over the blessings of my ancestors, to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills. May they be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of the one separated from his brothers. ²⁷Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning he devours the prey, and in the evening he divides the plunder." ²⁸All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke to them, and he blessed them; he blessed them, each one according to his suitable blessing.

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4/11/2026

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