1Then Jacob called for all his sons. He said, ‘Come here to me. Then I can tell you what will happen to you, in future years. 2You sons of Jacob, come together now and listen to your father, Israel.’ #49:2 Jacob told his sons what will happen to each of them and to their descendants.

Reuben

3Jacob said, ‘Reuben you are my firstborn son. You were born first, when I was a strong young man. Of all my sons, you are the most famous and the strongest.

4Yet you are as wild as the sea. You had sex with your father's slave wife. This bad thing brought me shame. So you will not become great. #49:4 See Genesis 35:22.

Simeon and Levi

5Simeon and Levi are brothers. They use their swords as weapons to destroy people. #49:5 See Genesis 34:26.

6I will not join them when they decide to do bad things. I will not meet with them. They have killed people when they are angry. They have hurt animals because it makes them happy.

7Their anger is so strong that God will curse them. Their anger makes them do cruel things. So God will curse them. I will make your descendants separate from one another. They will live all over the country of Israel.

Judah

8Judah, your brothers will praise you. You will win against your enemies. Your father's sons will bend down towards the ground in front of you.

9Judah is like a young lion who has eaten good food. He has eaten what he killed and now he rests. Nobody would want to try and wake him up!

10Judah's descendants will always rule as king. They will continue to hold the stick and the sceptre that show the king's authority. They will do that until the man comes who truly has that authority. People from all nations will obey that king. #49:10 King David was from the tribe of Judah, and so was Jesus Christ. Jesus is the true king who rules for ever. A sceptre is something that a king holds. Its shape is like a stick with a ball on the top.

11Judah will tie his young donkey to a vine. It will be a vine that has the best grapes. He will wash his clothes in the red wine that is made from those grapes. #49:11 Vines were valuable plants in Old Testament times. Jacob is saying that Judah will be very rich. He will tie his donkey to the best of his valuable plants. He will wash his clothes in wine. He will be very rich.

12His eyes will become red because he drinks so much wine. His teeth will become white because he drinks so much milk.#49:12 Jacob is saying that Judah will have plenty of everything.

Zebulun

13Zebulun will live by the shore of the sea. His town will be a safe place for ships to stay. His land will go as far as Sidon.

Issachar

14Issachar is like a strong donkey that is lying down between two of its bags.

15He will see that he has a good place to live, with good land. Then he will agree to work hard. He will work like a slave for other people. #49:15 Jacob is saying that Issachar is strong. He is saying that he will work like a donkey. Donkeys carry heavy things in their bags. Issachar will work for other people, to get food and a nice place to stay.

Dan

16Dan will be a ruler for his people. His descendants will be equal with the other tribes of Israel. #49:16 The tribe of Dan was a small tribe, but they had the same authority as all the other tribes.

17He will be small and dangerous, like a snake that lies beside the road. He will be like a snake that bites the legs of horses so that the riders fall off.

18I trust you to save me from trouble, Lord. #49:18 Jacob prays for himself and then he continues.

Gad

19Robbers will attack Gad, but he will fight back against them.

Asher

20Asher will have much good food. It will be good enough for kings to eat.

Naphtali

21Naphtali is like a deer that runs freely and gives birth to beautiful babies.

Joseph

22Joseph is like a vine that has lots of fruit. It grows near a well and its branches go over a wall. #49:22 Jacob means that Joseph's descendants will go and live all over the land.

23His enemies will be angry with him. They will attack him with arrows. 24But he will hold his own bow strongly. He will shoot his arrows well. The Mighty One of Jacob will give Joseph strength. God, who is Israel's Shepherd and Rock, will help him. #49:24 Mighty One means the God who is very strong. It is a name for the Lord God. Shepherd is also a name for God (see Genesis 48:15). Rock of Israel means that God is strong and does not change. Jacob knows that God will continue to help Joseph.

25The Almighty God, the God of your father, will help you and he will bless you. He will give you rain that comes from the sky above. He will give you springs of water from below the ground. He will cause you to have many descendants. That is how God will bless you.

26The blessings that I, your father, give to you are great! They are greater than any good things that the old mountains or hills can give to you. They are special blessings for you, Joseph, because you are the leader of your brothers.

Benjamin

27Benjamin is like a hungry wolf. He kills an animal and eats it in the morning. In the evening, he gives what remains to his people.’ #49:27 Jacob is saying that Benjamin will go out and kill his enemies in the morning. And he will return in the evening. In the evening, he will give what he has taken from his enemies to his people.

28All these are ancestors of the 12 tribes of Israel. This is what their father said to them when he blessed them. He told each of his sons what was right for them and their descendants. #49:28 The descendants of each of Jacob's sons would become a separate group of people. Those are the tribes of Israel (Jacob).

Jacob dies and Joseph buries him

29Then Jacob said to his 12 sons, ‘I will soon die. You must take my dead body back to Canaan. Bury me there with my ancestors. Bury me in the cave in the field that belonged to Ephron the Hittite. 30The cave is at Machpelah, near Mamre in Canaan. Abraham bought this cave from Ephron as a place to bury his family. 31That is where they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah. They also buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah there. I buried Leah there too. 32Abraham bought the cave and the field from the Hittites.’

33Jacob finished telling his sons what they should do. Then he lay down on his bed again. He breathed for the last time and he died there.

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Genesis 49

Jacob's Blessing

1And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.

2Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob;

And hearken unto Israel your father.

3Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength,

The excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:

4Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel;

Because thou wentest up to thy father's bed;

Then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.

5Simeon and Levi are brethren;

Instruments of cruelty are in their habitations.

6O my soul, come not thou into their secret;

Unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united:

For in their anger they slew a man,

And in their selfwill they digged down a wall.

7Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce;

And their wrath, for it was cruel:

I will divide them in Jacob,

And scatter them in Israel.

8Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise:

Thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies;

Thy father's children shall bow down before thee.

9Judah is a lion's whelp:

From the prey, my son, thou art gone up:

He stooped down, he couched as a lion,

And as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?

10The sceptre shall not depart from Judah,

Nor a lawgiver from between his feet,

Until Shiloh come;

And unto him shall the gathering of the people be.

11Binding his foal unto the vine,

And his ass's colt unto the choice vine;

He washed his garments in wine,

And his clothes in the blood of grapes:

12His eyes shall be red with wine,

And his teeth white with milk.

13Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea;

And he shall be for an haven of ships;

And his border shall be unto Zidon.

14Issachar is a strong ass

Couching down between two burdens:

15And he saw that rest was good,

And the land that it was pleasant;

And bowed his shoulder to bear,

And became a servant unto tribute.

16Dan shall judge his people,

As one of the tribes of Israel.

17Dan shall be a serpent by the way,

An adder in the path,

That biteth the horse heels,

So that his rider shall fall backward.

18I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD.

19Gad, a troop shall overcome him:

But he shall overcome at the last.

20Out of Asher his bread shall be fat,

And he shall yield royal dainties.

21Naphtali is a hind let loose:

He giveth goodly words.

22Joseph is a fruitful bough,

Even a fruitful bough by a well;

Whose branches run over the wall:

23The archers have sorely grieved him,

And shot at him, and hated him:

24But his bow abode in strength,

And the arms of his hands were made strong

By the hands of the mighty God of Jacob;

(From thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)

25 Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee;

And by the Almighty, who shall bless thee

With blessings of heaven above,

Blessings of the deep that lieth under,

Blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:

26The blessings of thy father

Have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors

Unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills:

They shall be on the head of Joseph,

And on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.

27Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf:

In the morning he shall devour the prey,

And at night he shall divide the spoil.

Death of Jacob

28All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it that their father spake unto them, and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them. 29And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 30in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a buryingplace. 31There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah. 32The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth. 33And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.

Rights in the Authorized (King James) Version in the United Kingdom are vested in the Crown. Published by permission of the Crown’s patentee, Cambridge University Press.

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Genesis 49

Genesis 49