Genesis 49

New American Standard Bible

³ “Reuben, you are my firstborn,
My might and ^(C)the beginning of my strength,
Preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power.
^4 [b]Uncontrollable as water, you shall not have preeminence,
^(D)Because you went up to your father’s bed;
Then you defiled it—he went up to my couch.

⁵ “^(E)Simeon and Levi are brothers;
Their ^[c]swords are implements of violence.
^6 (F)May my soul not enter into their council;
May my glory not be united with their assembly;
For in their anger they killed ^[d]men,
And in their self-will they lamed ^[e]oxen.
⁷ Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce;
And their wrath, for it is cruel.
^(G)I will scatter them in Jacob,
And disperse them among Israel.

⁸ “As for you, Judah, your brothers shall praise you;
Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;
^(H)Your father’s sons shall bow down to you.
⁹ Judah is a ^(I)lion’s cub;
From the prey, my son, you have gone up.
^(J)He ^[f]crouches, he lies down as a lion,
And as a ^[g]lion, who ^[h]dares to stir him up?
^10 (K)The scepter will not depart from Judah,
Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
^[i]Until Shiloh comes,
And ^(L)to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
^11 (M)He ties his foal to the vine,
And his donkey’s colt to the choice vine;
^(N)He washes his garments in wine,
And his robes in the blood of grapes.
¹² His eyes are ^[j]dull from wine,
And his teeth ^[k]white from milk.

¹³ “^(O)Zebulun will reside at the seashore;
And he shall be ^[l]a harbor for ships,
And his flank shall be toward Sidon.

¹⁴ “Issachar is a ^[m]strong donkey,
^(P)Lying down between the sheepfolds.
¹⁵ When he saw that a resting place was good
And that the land was pleasant,
He bowed his shoulder to carry burdens,
And became a slave at forced labor.

¹⁶ “^(Q)Dan shall ^(R)judge his people,
As one of the tribes of Israel.
¹⁷ Dan shall be a serpent in the way,
A horned viper in the path,
That bites the horse’s heels,
So that its rider falls backward.
^18 (S)For Your salvation I wait, Lord.

¹⁹ “^(T)As for Gad, a band of raiders shall attack him,
But he will attack at their ^[n]heels.

²⁰ “^[o](U)As for ^(V)Asher, his ^[p]food shall be ^[q]rich,
And he will yield royal delicacies.

²¹ “^(W)Naphtali is a doe let loose;
He utters beautiful words.

²² “^(X)Joseph is a fruitful ^[r]branch,
A fruitful ^[s]branch by a spring;
Its ^[t]branches hang over a wall.
²³ The archers provoked him,
And shot at him and were hostile toward him;
²⁴ But his ^(Y)bow remained ^[u]firm,
And ^[v](Z)his arms were agile,
From the hands of the ^(AA)Mighty One of Jacob
(From there is ^(AB)the Shepherd, ^(AC)the Stone of Israel),
²⁵ From ^(AD)the God of your father who helps you,
And ^[w](AE)by the ^[x]Almighty who blesses you
With ^(AF)blessings of heaven above,
Blessings of the deep that lies beneath,
Blessings of the breasts and of the womb.
²⁶ The blessings of your father
Have surpassed the blessings of my ancestors
Up to the ^[y]furthest boundary of ^(AG)the everlasting hills;
May they be on the head of Joseph,
And on the top of the head of the one distinguished among his brothers.

²⁷ “Benjamin is a ^[z]ravenous wolf;
In the morning he devours the prey,
And in the evening he divides the spoils.”