¹Jacob called for his sons and said, “Gather together so I can tell you what will happen to you in future days. ²“Assemble and listen, you sons of Jacob; listen to Israel, your father. ³Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might and the beginning of my strength, outstanding in dignity, outstanding in power.⁴You 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! ⁵Simeon and Levi are brothers, weapons of violence are their knives! ⁶O 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. ⁷Cursed 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! ⁸Judah, your brothers will praise you. Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies, your father’s sons will bow down before you. ⁹You 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?¹⁰The 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.¹¹Binding 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. ¹²His eyes will be red from wine, and his teeth white from milk. ¹³Zebulun will live by the haven of the sea and become a haven for ships; his border will extend to Sidon. ¹⁴Issachar is a strong-boned donkey lying down between two saddlebags. ¹⁵When he sees a good resting place, and the pleasant land, he will bend his shoulder to the burden and become a slave laborer. ¹⁶Dan will judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. ¹⁷May 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. ¹⁸I wait for your deliverance, O Lord. ¹⁹Gad will be raided by marauding bands, but he will attack them at their heels. ²⁰Asher’s food will be rich, and he will provide delicacies to royalty. ²¹Naphtali is a free running doe, he speaks delightful words. ²²Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough near a spring whose branches climb over the wall. ²³The archers will attack him, they will shoot at him and oppose him.²⁴But his bow will remain steady, and his hands will be skillful; because of the hands of the Powerful One of Jacob, because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel, ²⁵because 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. ²⁶The 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. ²⁷Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning devouring the prey, and in the evening dividing the plunder.” ²⁸These 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. ²⁹Then 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. ³⁰It 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. ³¹There they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah; there they buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah; and there I buried Leah. ³²The field and the cave in it were acquired from the sons of Heth.” ³³When 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.