Genesis 49:1-8

New King James Version

Jacob’s Last Words to His Sons

49 And Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather together, that I may ^(A)tell you what shall befall you ^(B)in the last days:

²“Gather together and hear, you sons of Jacob,
And listen to Israel your father.

³“Reuben, you are ^(C)my firstborn,
My might and the beginning of my strength,
The excellency of dignity and the excellency of power.
⁴Unstable as water, you shall not excel,
Because you ^(D)went up to your father’s bed;
Then you defiled it—
He went up to my couch.

⁵“Simeon and Levi are brothers;
Instruments of ^[a]cruelty are in their dwelling place.
⁶^(E)Let not my soul enter their council;
Let not my honor be united ^(F)to their assembly;
^(G)For in their anger they slew a man,
And in their self-will they ^[b]hamstrung an ox.
⁷Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce;
And their wrath, for it is cruel!
^(H)I will divide them in Jacob
And scatter them in Israel.

⁸“Judah,^(I) you are he whom your brothers shall praise;
^(J)Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;
^(K)Your father’s children shall bow down before you.