³ “Reuben, you are my firstborn;
My might and ^(C)the beginning of my vigor,
^[a]Preeminent in dignity and ^[b]preeminent in strength.
^4 [c]Uncontrolled 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 swords are implements of violence.
^6 (F)Let my soul not enter into their council;
Let not my glory be united with their assembly;
Because in their anger they killed ^[d]men,
And in their self-will they hamstrung ^[e]oxen.
⁷ Cursed be their anger, for it is strong;
And their wrath, for it is cruel.
^(G)I will divide them amongst Jacob,
And scatter them in Israel.

⁸ “Judah, as for you, 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 whelp;
From the prey, my son, you have gone up.
^(J)He ^[f]crouches, he lies down as a lion,
And as a lioness, who ^[g]dares rouse him up?
^10 (K)The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
^[h]Until Shiloh comes,
And ^(L)to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
^11 [i](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]dark from wine,
And his teeth ^[k]white from milk.

¹³ “^(O)Zebulun will dwell at the seashore;
And he shall be a shore for ships,
And his flank shall be toward Sidon.

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

¹⁶ “^(Q)Dan shall ^(R)render justice to his people,
As one of the tribes of Israel.
¹⁷ Dan shall be a serpent in the way,
A horned snake in the path,
That bites the horse’s heels,
So that his rider falls backward.
^18 (S)For Your salvation I hope, O Yahweh.

¹⁹ “^(T)As for Gad, ^[n]raiders shall raid him,
But he will raid at their ^[o]heels.

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

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

²² “^(X)Joseph is a fruitful ^[s]bough,
A fruitful ^[t]bough by a spring;
Its ^[u]branches run over a wall.
²³ And the archers bitterly attacked him and shot at him,
And they bore a grudge against him;
²⁴ But his ^(Y)bow remained ^[v]firm,
And ^[w](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 ^[x](AE)by the ^[y]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 ^[z]utmost bound 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 ^[aa]ravenous wolf;
In the morning he devours the prey,
And in the evening he divides the spoil.”