Genesis 49 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

Jacob’s Last Words to His Sons

Gen 49:1Then Jacob called together all his sons and said, “Gather around me, and I will tell you what will happen to each of you in the days to come.

Gen 49:2

Gen 49:2“Come and listen, you sons of Jacob;
listen to Israel, your father.

Gen 49:3

Gen 49:3“Reuben, you are my firstborn, my strength,
the child of my vigorous youth.
You are first in rank and first in power.

Gen 49:4

Gen 49:4But you are as unruly as a flood,
and you will be first no longer.
For you went to bed with my wife;
you defiled my marriage couch.

Gen 49:5

Gen 49:5“Simeon and Levi are two of a kind;
their weapons are instruments of violence.

Gen 49:6

Gen 49:6May I never join in their meetings;
may I never be a party to their plans.
For in their anger they murdered men,
and they crippled oxen just for sport.

Gen 49:7

Gen 49:7A curse on their anger, for it is fierce;
a curse on their wrath, for it is cruel.
I will scatter them among the descendants of Jacob;
I will disperse them throughout Israel.

Gen 49:8

Gen 49:8“Judah, your brothers will praise you.
You will grasp your enemies by the neck.
All your relatives will bow before you.

Gen 49:9

Gen 49:9Judah, my son, is a young lion
that has finished eating its prey.
Like a lion he crouches and lies down;
like a lioness—who dares to rouse him?

Gen 49:10

Gen 49:10The scepter will not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler’s staff from his descendants,[fn]
until the coming of the one to whom it belongs,[fn]
the one whom all nations will honor.

Gen 49:11

Gen 49:11He ties his foal to a grapevine,
the colt of his donkey to a choice vine.
He washes his clothes in wine,
his robes in the blood of grapes.

Gen 49:12

Gen 49:12His eyes are darker than wine,
and his teeth are whiter than milk.

Gen 49:13

Gen 49:13“Zebulun will settle by the seashore
and will be a harbor for ships;
his borders will extend to Sidon.

Gen 49:14

Gen 49:14“Issachar is a sturdy donkey,
resting between two saddlepacks.[fn]

Gen 49:15

Gen 49:15When he sees how good the countryside is
and how pleasant the land,
he will bend his shoulder to the load
and submit himself to hard labor.

Gen 49:16

Gen 49:16“Dan will govern his people,
like any other tribe in Israel.

Gen 49:17

Gen 49:17Dan will be a snake beside the road,
a poisonous viper along the path
that bites the horse’s hooves
so its rider is thrown off.

Gen 49:18

Gen 49:18I trust in you for salvation, O LORD!

Gen 49:19

Gen 49:19“Gad will be attacked by marauding bands,
but he will attack them when they retreat.

Gen 49:20

Gen 49:20“Asher will dine on rich foods
and produce food fit for kings.

Gen 49:21

Gen 49:21“Naphtali is a doe set free
that bears beautiful fawns.

Gen 49:22

Gen 49:22“Joseph is the foal of a wild donkey,
the foal of a wild donkey at a spring—
one of the wild donkeys on the ridge.[fn]

Gen 49:23

Gen 49:23Archers attacked him savagely;
they shot at him and harassed him.

Gen 49:24

Gen 49:24But his bow remained taut,
and his arms were strengthened
by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob,
by the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel.

Gen 49:25

Gen 49:25May the God of your father help you;
may the Almighty bless you
with the blessings of the heavens above,
and blessings of the watery depths below,
and blessings of the breasts and womb.

Gen 49:26

Gen 49:26May the blessings of your father
surpass the blessings of the ancient mountains,[fn]
reaching to the heights of the eternal hills.
May these blessings rest on the head of Joseph,
who is a prince among his brothers.

Gen 49:27

Gen 49:27“Benjamin is a ravenous wolf,
devouring his enemies in the morning
and dividing his plunder in the evening.”

Gen 49:28

Gen 49:28These are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said as he told his sons good-bye. He blessed each one with an appropriate message.

Jacob’s Death and Burial

Gen 49:29

Gen 49:29Then Jacob instructed them, “Soon I will die and join my ancestors. Bury me with my father and grandfather in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite.

Gen 49:30

Gen 49:30This is the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in Canaan, that Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite as a permanent burial site.

Gen 49:31

Gen 49:31There Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried. There Isaac and his wife, Rebekah, are buried. And there I buried Leah.

Gen 49:32

Gen 49:32It is the plot of land and the cave that my grandfather Abraham bought from the Hittites.”

Gen 49:33

Gen 49:33When Jacob had finished this charge to his sons, he drew his feet into the bed, breathed his last, and joined his ancestors in death.

See the NLT Preface (Especially for Parenthesis, Brackets, & Asterisks).

NLT Footnotes

(49:10)

Hebrew from between his feet.

(49:10)

Or until tribute is brought to him and the peoples obey; traditionally rendered until Shiloh comes.

(49:14)

Or sheepfolds, or hearths.

(49:22)

Or Joseph is a fruitful tree, / a fruitful tree beside a spring. / His branches reach over the wall. The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.

(49:26)

Or of my ancestors.

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Genesis Chapter 49 — Additional Translations:

King James Version New King James Version New International Version English Standard Version Christian Standard Bible New American Standard Bible 2020 New American Standard Bible 1995 Legacy Standard Bible Amplified Bible New English Translation Revised Standard Version American Standard Version Young's Literal Translation Darby Translation Webster's Bible Hebrew Names Version Latin Vulgate Westminster Leningrad Codex Septuagint Smith Van Dyck Arabic Bible Open New Arabic Version Brenton's English Septuagint Reina Valera 1909 Reina-Valera 1960 Bible in Basic English Chinese Traditional Union Espanol Moderno Korean Holy Bible Louis Segond German Luther Russian Synodal Translation Sagradas Escrituras

Genesis 49 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

NLT Footnotes

Genesis Chapter 49 — Additional Translations:

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