“O Lord, give heed to Judah,
    and bring him to his people;
strengthen his hands for him,^[a]
    and be a help against his adversaries.”^(A)

⁸ Judah, your brothers shall praise you;
    your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;
    your father’s sons shall bow down before you.^(A)
9 Judah is a lion’s whelp;
    from the prey, my son, you have gone up.
He crouches down, he stretches out like a lion,
    like a lioness—who dares rouse him up?^(B)
10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
    nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
until tribute comes to him,^[a]
    and the obedience of the peoples is his.^(C)
11 Binding his foal to the vine
    and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine,
he washes his garments in wine
    and his robe in the blood of grapes;
¹² his eyes are darker than wine
    and his teeth whiter than milk.