| 49:1 | Jacob called for his sons and said, “Gather together so I can tell you* what will happen to you in the future.* |
| 49:2 | “Assemble and listen, you sons of Jacob; listen to Israel, your father. |
| 49:3 | Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might and the beginning of my strength, outstanding in dignity, outstanding in power. |
| 49:4 | You are destructive* like water and will not excel,* for you got on your father’s bed,* then you defiled it – he got on my couch!* |
| 49:5 | Simeon and Levi are brothers, weapons of violence are their knives!* |
| 49:6 | O my soul, do not come into their council, do not be united to their assembly, my heart,* for in their anger they have killed men, and for pleasure they have hamstrung oxen. |
| 49:7 | Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their fury, for it was cruel. I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel!* |
| 49:8 | Judah,* your brothers will praise you. Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies, your father’s sons will bow down before you. |
| 49:9 | You are a lion’s cub, Judah, from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He crouches and lies down like a lion; like a lioness – who will rouse him? |
| 49:10 | The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,* until he comes to whom it belongs;* the nations will obey him.* |
| 49:11 | Binding his foal to the vine, and his colt to the choicest vine, he will wash* his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. |
| 49:12 | His eyes will be dark from wine, and his teeth white from milk.* |
| 49:13 | Zebulun will live* by the haven of the sea and become a haven for ships; his border will extend to Sidon.* |
| 49:14 | Issachar is a strong-boned donkey lying down between two saddlebags. |
| 49:15 | When he sees* a good resting place, and the pleasant land, he will bend his shoulder to the burden and become a slave laborer.* |
| 49:16 | Dan* will judge* his people as one of the tribes of Israel. |
| 49:17 | May Dan be a snake beside the road, a viper by the path, that bites the heels of the horse so that its rider falls backward.* |
| 49:18 | I wait for your deliverance, O Lord.* |
| 49:19 | Gad will be raided by marauding bands, but he will attack them at their heels.* |
| 49:20 | Asher’s* food will be rich,* and he will provide delicacies* to royalty. |
| 49:21 | Naphtali is a free running doe,* he speaks delightful words.* |
| 49:22 | Joseph is a fruitful bough,* a fruitful bough near a spring whose branches* climb over the wall. |
| 49:23 | The archers will attack him,* they will shoot at him and oppose him. |
| 49:24 | But his bow will remain steady, and his hands* will be skillful; because of the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, because of* the Shepherd, the Rock* of Israel, |
| 49:25 | because of the God of your father, who will help you,* because of the sovereign God,* who will bless you* with blessings from the sky above, blessings from the deep that lies below, and blessings of the breasts and womb.* |
| 49:26 | The blessings of your father are greater than* the blessings of the eternal mountains* or the desirable things of the age-old hills. They will be on the head of Joseph and on the brow of the prince of his brothers.* |
| 49:27 | Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning devouring the prey, and in the evening dividing the plunder.” |
| 49:28 | These* are the twelve tribes of Israel. This is what their father said to them when he blessed them. He gave each of them an appropriate blessing.* |
| 49:29 | Then he instructed them,* “I am about to go* to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite. |
| 49:30 | It is the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought for a burial plot from Ephron the Hittite. |
| 49:31 | There they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah; there they buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah; and there I buried Leah. |
| 49:32 | The field and the cave in it were acquired from the sons of Heth.”* |
| 49:33 | When Jacob finished giving these instructions to his sons, he pulled his feet up onto the bed, breathed his last breath, and went* to his people. |
Genesis 49 - NET Bible [draft]
