Genesis Chapter 49
Jacob Blesses His Sons
1 Jacob called for his sons, “Gather around so I can tell you what will happen to you.
2 Gather together, sons of Jacob;
listen to your father Israel.”
3 “Reuben, my firstborn,
my power and the first issue of my virility,
preeminent in dignity and power,
4 uncontrolled like water.
You won’t have preeminence,
because you defiled your father’s bed;
you got on my marriage couch.”
Gen 49:1-4
5 “Simeon and Levi are brothers;
their swords are violent tools.
6 Let my soul not join their council;
let my honor not agree with their assembly;
because in their anger they killed people,
in their unrestraint they lamed oxen.
7 Cursed be their fierce anger,
their cruel wrath.
I’ll disperse them in Jacob
and scatter them in Israel.”
Gen 49:5-7
8 “Judah, your brothers will praise you;
your hand will be on your enemies’ neck;
your father’s sons will bow to you.
9 Judah is a lion’s whelp;
son, you’ve risen up from the prey.
He crouches and lies down like a lioness;
who dares to rouse him?
10 The scepter won’t leave Judah,
or the ruler’s staff from between his feet
till Shiloh comes.
The nations will obey him.
11 He ties his foal to a grapevine,
his donkey colt to the best vine.
He washes his clothes in wine,
his robes in the juice from grapes.
12 His eyes are stained from wine;
his teeth are white from milk.”
Gen 49:8-12
13 “Zebulun will live by the lake;
he’ll be a haven for boats;
his border will extend toward Sidon.”
14 “Issachar is a strong donkey,
lying between the sheepfolds.
15 When he sees how good his resting place is
and how pleasant his land is,
he’ll bend his shoulder to carry burdens
and submit to forced labor.”
Gen 49:13-15
16 “Dan will judge his people,
as one of the tribes in Israel.
17 He’ll be a snake along the road,
a pit viper in the path
that bites a horse’s heels,
so its rider falls off backward.
18 I wait for your salvation, Yahveh.”
19 “Raiders will raid Gad,
but he’ll raid back.
Gen 49:16-19
20 “Asher will eat tasty food
and produce food fit for kings.”
21 “Naphtali is an untamed doe
that bears beautiful fauns.”
22 “Joseph is a fruitful limb,
a fruitful bough beside a spring;
its branches extend out over the wall.
23 The archers bitterly attacked him,
shot at him, and harassed him;
24 but his bow stayed strong,
and his arms maintained their endurance
because of the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob
(from there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel),
25 because your father’s God helps you,
because the Almighty blesses you
with blessings of the deep that lies below,
blessings of the animals and the womb.
26 Your father’s blessings
have surpassed his ancestors’ blessings
up to the utmost boundary of the everlasting hills.
May they be on Joseph’s head,
the distinguished one among his brothers.” Gen 49:20-26
27 “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf.
He eats prey in the morning
and divides spoil at dusk.”
Jacob’s Death and Burial
28 That’s what their father told his sons when he blessed them, each with an appropriate blessing. 29 Then he charged them,
“I’m about to pass on to my people. Bury me with my ancestors in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 30 in Machpelah east of Mamre, in Canaan, in the cave Abraham bought for a burial site. 31 They buried Abraham and his wife Sarah there. They buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah there. That’s where I buried Leah.” [ 32 ]
Gen 49:27-32
33 When Jacob finished charging his sons, he drew his feet into bed, breathed his last, and passed on to his people. 1 Joseph fell on his father’s face and cried and kissed him. 2 He told the physicians to embalm him. 3 The embalming took 40 days, and the Egyptians mourned him 70 days. Gen 49:33-50:3