Genesis 49 :: Revised Standard Version (RSV)

Israel's Prophecy concerning His Sons

Gen 49:1Then Jacob called his sons, and said, "Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you what shall befall you in days to come.

Gen 49:2

Gen 49:2Assemble and hear, O sons of Jacob, and hearken to Israel your father.

Gen 49:3

Gen 49:3Reuben, you are my first-born, my might, and the first fruits of my strength, pre-eminent in pride and pre-eminent in power.

Gen 49:4

Gen 49:4Unstable as water, you shall not have pre-eminence because you went up to your father's bed; then you defiled it--you went up to my couch!

Gen 49:5

Gen 49:5Simeon and Levi are brothers; weapons of violence are their swords.

Gen 49:6

Gen 49:6O my soul, come not into their council; O my spirit, be not joined to their company; for in their anger they slay men, and in their wantonness they hamstring oxen.

Gen 49:7

Gen 49:7Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce; and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.

Gen 49:8

Gen 49:8Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father's sons shall bow down before you.

Gen 49:9

Gen 49:9Judah is a lion's whelp; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as a lioness; who dares rouse him up?

Gen 49:10

Gen 49:10The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs; and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.

Gen 49:11

Gen 49:11Binding his foal to the vine and his ass's colt to the choice vine, he washes his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes;

Gen 49:12

Gen 49:12his eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.

Gen 49:13

Gen 49:13Zeb'ulun shall dwell at the shore of the sea; he shall become a haven for ships, and his border shall be at Sidon.

Gen 49:14

Gen 49:14Is'sachar is a strong ass, crouching between the sheepfolds;

Gen 49:15

Gen 49:15he saw that a resting place was good, and that the land was pleasant; so he bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a slave at forced labor.

Gen 49:16

Gen 49:16Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel.

Gen 49:17

Gen 49:17Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a viper by the path, that bites the horse's heels so that his rider falls backward.

Gen 49:18

Gen 49:18I wait for thy salvation, O LORD.

Gen 49:19

Gen 49:19Raiders shall raid Gad, but he shall raid at their heels.

Gen 49:20

Gen 49:20Asher's food shall be rich, and he shall yield royal dainties.

Gen 49:21

Gen 49:21Naph'tali is a hind let loose, that bears comely fawns.

Gen 49:22

Gen 49:22Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a spring; his branches run over the wall.

Gen 49:23

Gen 49:23The archers fiercely attacked him, shot at him, and harassed him sorely;

Gen 49:24

Gen 49:24yet his bow remained unmoved, his arms were made agile by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob (by the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel),

Gen 49:25

Gen 49:25by the God of your father who will help you, by God Almighty who will bless you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that couches beneath, blessings of the breasts and of the womb.

Gen 49:26

Gen 49:26The blessings of your father are mighty beyond the blessings of the eternal mountains, the bounties of the everlasting hills; may they be on the head of Joseph, and on the brow of him who was separate from his brothers.

Gen 49:27

Gen 49:27Benjamin is a ravenous wolf, in the morning devouring the prey, and at even dividing the spoil."

Gen 49:28

Gen 49:28All these are the twelve tribes of Israel; and this is what their father said to them as he blessed them, blessing each with the blessing suitable to him.

Gen 49:29

Gen 49:29Then he charged them, and said to them, "I am to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,

Gen 49:30

Gen 49:30in the cave that is in the field at Mach-pe'lah, to the east of Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place.

Gen 49:31

Gen 49:31There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah--

Gen 49:32

Gen 49:32the field and the cave that is in it were purchased from the Hittites."

Gen 49:33

Gen 49:33When Jacob finished charging his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed, and breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.

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Source: Transcribed from: The Holy Bible: Revised Standard Version containing the Old and New Testaments, translated from the original tongues: being the version set forth A.D. 1611, revised A.D. 1881-1885 and A.D. 1901: compared with the most ancient authorities and revised A.D. 1946-52. — 2nd ed. of New Testament A.D. 1971. There should be enough in the rest of the description to identify the text.

Language: English

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Genesis 49 :: Revised Standard Version (RSV)

Israel's Prophecy concerning His Sons

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