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49
1 And Jacob calls to his sons and says, “Be gathered together, and I declare to you that which happens with you in the latter end of the days. 2 Be assembled, and hear, sons of Jacob, || And listen to your father Israel. 3 Reuben! You [are] my firstborn, || My power, and beginning of my strength, || The abundance of exaltation, || And the abundance of strength; 4 Unstable as water, you are not abundant; For you have gone up your father’s bed; Then you have defiled [it]: He went up my couch! 5 Simeon and Levi [are] brothers! Instruments of violence—their espousals! 6 Into their secret, do not come, O my soul! Do not be united to their assembly, O my glory; For in their anger they slew a man, || And in their self-will eradicated a prince. 7 Cursed [is] their anger, for [it is] fierce, || And their wrath, for [it is] sharp; I divide them in Jacob, || And I scatter them in Israel. 8 Judah! Your brothers praise you! Your hand [is] on the neck of your enemies, || Sons of your father bow themselves to you. 9 A lion’s whelp [is] Judah, || For prey, my son, you have gone up; He has bent, he has crouched as a lion, || And as a lioness; who causes him to arise? 10 The scepter does not turn aside from Judah, || And a lawgiver from between his feet, || Until his Seed comes; And His [is] the obedience of peoples. 11 Binding to the vine his donkey, || And to the choice vine the colt of his donkey, || He has washed in wine his clothing, || And in the blood of grapes his covering; 12 Red [are] eyes with wine, || And white [are] teeth with milk! 13 Zebulun dwells at a haven of the seas, || And he [is] for a haven of ships; And his side [is] to Sidon. 14 Issachar [is] a strong donkey, || Crouching between the two folds; 15 And he sees rest, that [it is] good, || And the land, that [it is] pleasant, || And he inclines his shoulder to bear, || And is a servant for tribute. 16 Dan judges his people, || As one of the tribes of Israel; 17 Dan is a serpent by the way, a viper by the path, || Which is biting the horse’s heels, || And its rider falls backward. 18 For Your salvation I have waited, YHWH! 19 Gad! A troop assaults him, || But he assaults last. 20 Out of Asher his bread [is] fat; And he gives delicacies of a king. 21 Naphtali [is] a doe sent away, || Who is giving beautiful young ones. 22 Joseph [is] a fruitful son; A fruitful son by a fountain, || Daughters step over the wall; 23 And embitter him indeed, they have striven, || Indeed, archers hate him; 24 And his bow abides in strength, || And strengthened are the arms of his hands || By the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, || From where is a shepherd, a son of Israel. 25 By the God of your father who helps you, || And the Mighty One who blesses you, || Blessings of the heavens from above, || Blessings of the deep lying under, || Blessings of breasts and womb— 26 Your father’s blessings have been mighty || Above the blessings of my progenitors, || To the limit of the perpetual heights || They are for the head of Joseph, || And for the crown of the one || Separate [from] his brothers. 27 Benjamin! A wolf tears; In the morning he eats prey, || And at evening he apportions spoil.” 28 All these [are] the twelve tribes of Israel, and this [is] that which their father has spoken to them, and he blesses them; each according to his blessing he has blessed them. 29 And he commands them and says to them, “I am being gathered to my people; bury me by my fathers, at the cave which [is] in the field of Ephron the Hittite; 30 in the cave which [is] in the field of Machpelah, which [is] on the front of Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a burying-place; 31 (there they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah; there they buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah; and there I buried Leah); 32 the purchase of the field and of the cave which [is] in it, [is] from sons of Heth.” 33 And Jacob finishes commanding his sons, and gathers up his feet to the bed, and expires, and is gathered to his people.

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