1 And Jacob called to his sons and said:**
Gather, and I’ll tell you what will happen to you in the future days.
2 Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob,
and listen to Israel, your father.
3 Reuben, you’re my firstborn,
my power, and the beginning of my might,
preeminent in bearing and preeminent in strength.
4 Unstable as water, you’ll not be preeminent,
for you ascended your father’s bed;
then you defiled, going up to my couch.
5 Simeon and Levi are brothers:
Implements of violence are their tools of trade.
6 Let my soul not come in their council;
let my glory not be united in their society.
For in their anger they killed a man,
and by their will they crippled an ox.
7 Cursed is their anger, for it’s strong,
and their wrath, for it’s hard.
I’ll divide them in Jacob,
and I’ll scatter them in Israel.
8 Judah: You, your brothers will praise you.
Your hand on your enemies’ neck,
your father’s sons will bow to you.
9 A lion’s whelp is Judah;
from prey, my son, you’ve risen.
He bent, crouched, like a lion;
and, like a feline, who will rouse him?
10 The scepter won’t depart from Judah*
or a ruler from between his legs
until he comes to Shiloh,
and peoples’ obedience is his.
11 Tying his ass to the vine
and his she-ass’s foal to the choice vine,
he washed in wine his clothing
and in blood of grapes his garment,
12 eyes darker than wine
and teeth whiter than milk.
13 Zebulun will dwell by seashores:
and he’ll be a shore for boats,
and his border at Sidon.
14 Issachar is a strong ass
crouching between the saddle-packs:
15 and he saw rest, that it was good,
and the land, that it was pleasant,
and he leaned his shoulder to bear
and became a work-company servant.
as one of the tribes of Israel:
17 Dan will be a snake on a road,
a venomous snake on a path,
that bites a horse’s heels,
and its rider falls backward.
18 I wait for your salvation, YHWH.
19 Gad: a troop will trap him,
and he’ll trap their heel.
20 Asher: his bread will be rich,
and he’ll provide a king’s delights.
21 Naphtali: a hind let loose,
who gives lovely words.
22 A fruitful bough is Joseph,
a fruitful bough over a spring,
branches running over a wall:
23 And archers bitterly attacked him,
shot at him, and despised him.
24 And his bow stayed strong,
and his forearms were nimble,
from the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob,
from there, the shepherd, the rock of Israel,
25 from your father’s God, and He’ll strengthen you,
and Shadday, and He’ll bless you,
blessings of skies from above,
blessings of deep, crouching below,
blessings of breast and womb,
26 blessings of your father, the mighty and most high,
blessings of the mountains of old
desired object of the hills of antiquity.
They’ll be on Joseph’s head,
on the top of the head of the one separate from his brothers.
27 Benjamin is a tearing wolf:
in the morning eating prey,
and at evening dividing booty.
28All these are the tribes of Israel, twelve, and this is what their father spoke to them, and he blessed them. He blessed them each according to his blessing. 29And he commanded them and said to them, “I’m being gathered to my people. Bury me: to my fathers, to the cave that’s in the field of Ephron, the Hittite, 30in the cave that’s in the field of Machpelah, which faces Mamre in the land of Canaan, as Abraham bought the field from Ephron, the Hittite, as a possession for a tomb. 31There they buried Abraham and Sarah, his wife. There they buried Isaac and Rebekah, his wife. And there I buried Leah. 32The field and the cave that’s in it were a purchase from the children of Heth.” 33And Jacob finished commanding his sons, and he gathered his feet into the bed, and he expired, and he was gathered to his people.