[[Genesis 48|<< Genesis 48]] | [[Genesis|Genesis]] | [[Genesis 50|Genesis 50 >>]] ### Genesis 49 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. ^1 2 Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father. ^2 3 ¶ Reuben, thou _art_ my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power: ^3 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. ^4 5 ¶ Simeon and Levi _are_ brethren; instruments of cruelty _are_ _in_ their habitations. ^5 6 O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honor, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they dug down a wall. ^6 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. ^7 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. ^8 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? ^9 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_. ^10 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: ^11 12 His eyes _shall_ _be_ red with wine, and his teeth white with milk. ^12 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. ^13 14 ¶ Issachar _is_ a strong ass couching down between two burdens: ^14 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. ^15 16 ¶ Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. ^16 17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that bites the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward. ^17 18 I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD. ^18 19 ¶ Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last. ^19 20 ¶ Out of Asher his bread _shall_ _be_ fat, and he shall yield royal dainties. ^20 21 ¶ Naphtali _is_ a hind let loose: he gives goodly words. ^21 22 ¶ Joseph _is_ a fruitful bough, _even_ a fruitful bough by a well; _whose_ branches run over the wall: ^22 23 The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot _at_ _him_, and hated him: ^23 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:) ^24 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 lies under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb: ^25 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. ^26 27 ¶ Benjamin shall ravin _as_ a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil. ^27 28 ¶ All these _are_ the twelve tribes of Israel: and this _is_ _it_ that their father spoke unto them, and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them. ^28 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, ^29 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. ^30 31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah. ^31 32 The purchase of the field and of the cave that _is_ therein _was_ from the children of Heth. ^32 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. ^33