Genesis 49:1-12

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.