Genesis 49:1-13

New King James Version

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.
⁴ Unstable 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.
⁷ Cursed 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.
⁹ Judah is ^(L)a lion’s whelp;
From the prey, my son, you have gone up.
^(M)He ^[c]bows down, he lies down as a lion;
And as a lion, who shall rouse him?
^10 (N)The ^[d]scepter shall not depart from Judah,
Nor ^(O)a lawgiver from between his feet,
^(P)Until Shiloh comes;
^(Q)And to Him shall be the obedience of the people.
¹¹ Binding his donkey to the vine,
And his donkey’s colt to the choice vine,
He washed his garments in wine,
And his clothes in the blood of grapes.
¹² His eyes are darker than wine,
And his teeth whiter than milk.

¹³ “Zebulun^(R) shall dwell by the haven of the sea;
He shall become a haven for ships,
And his border shall ^(S)adjoin Sidon.