Genesis 49

³ “Reuben, you are my firstborn;
My might and the beginning of my strength,
^[b]Preeminent in dignity and ^[c]preeminent in power.
⁴ “^[d]Uncontrolled as water, you shall not have preeminence,
Because you went up to your father’s bed;
Then you defiled it—he went up to my couch.

⁵ “Simeon and Levi are brothers;
Their swords are implements of violence.
⁶ “Let my soul not enter into their council;
Let not my glory be united with their assembly;
Because in their anger they slew ^[e]men,
And in their self-will they lamed ^[f]oxen.
⁷ “Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce;
And their wrath, for it is cruel.
I will ^[g]disperse them in Jacob,
And scatter them in Israel.

⁸ “Judah, your brothers shall praise you;
Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;
Your father’s sons shall bow down to you.
⁹ “Judah is a lion’s whelp;
From the prey, my son, you have gone up.
He ^[h]couches, he lies down as a lion,
And as a ^[i]lion, who ^[j]dares rouse him up?
¹⁰ “The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
^[k]Until Shiloh comes,
And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
¹¹ “^[l]He ties 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.
¹² “His eyes are ^[m]dull from wine,
And his teeth ^[n]white from milk.

¹³ “Zebulun will dwell at the seashore;
And he shall be ^[o]a haven for ships,
And his flank shall be toward Sidon.

¹⁴ “Issachar is ^[p]a strong donkey,
Lying down between the ^[q]sheepfolds.
¹⁵ “When he saw that a resting place was good
And that the land was pleasant,
He bowed his shoulder to bear burdens,
And became a slave at forced labor.

¹⁶ “Dan shall judge his people,
As one of the tribes of Israel.
¹⁷ “Dan shall be a serpent in the way,
A horned snake in the path,
That bites the horse’s heels,
So that his rider falls backward.
¹⁸ “For Your salvation I wait, O Lord.

¹⁹ “As for Gad, ^[r]raiders shall raid him,
But he will raid at their ^[s]heels.

²⁰ “^[t]As for Asher, his ^[u]food shall be ^[v]rich,
And he will yield royal dainties.

²¹ “Naphtali is a doe let loose,
He gives beautiful words.

²² “Joseph is a fruitful ^[w]bough,
A fruitful ^[x]bough by a spring;
Its ^[y]branches run over a wall.
²³ “The archers bitterly attacked him,
And shot at him and harassed him;
²⁴ But his bow remained ^[z]firm,
And ^[aa]his arms were agile,
From the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob
(From there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel),
²⁵ From the God of your father who helps you,
And ^[ab]by the ^[ac]Almighty who blesses you
With blessings of heaven above,
Blessings of the deep that lies beneath,
Blessings of the breasts and of the womb.
²⁶ “The blessings of your father
Have surpassed the blessings of my ancestors
Up to the ^[ad]utmost bound of the everlasting hills;
May they be on the head of Joseph,
And on the crown of the head of the one distinguished among his brothers.

²⁷ “Benjamin is a ^[ae]ravenous wolf;
In the morning he devours the prey,
And in the evening he divides the spoil.”