Jacob Gathers His Sons
49 1 Then Jacob called his sons and said, "Gather around, and I will tell you what will happen to you in the days to come. 2 Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob; listen to Israel your father. 3 Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might and the firstfruits of my strength, excelling in dignity and excelling in power. 4 Unstable as water, you shall not excel, because you went up to your father's bed; then you defiled it — he went up to my couch. 5 Simeon and Levi are brothers; weapons of violence are their swords. 6 May I never enter their council; may my honor not be joined to their assembly. For in their anger they killed men, and in their willfulness they hamstrung oxen. 7 Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will divide them throughout Jacob and scatter them throughout Israel. 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. 9 Judah is a lion's cub; from the prey, my son, you have come back. He stooped down; he crouched as a lion and as a lioness — who dares rouse him? 10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs — Jesus — and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. a a v10 The scepter promised to Judah and the one to whom it belongs is Jesus — born from Judah's line, named the Lion of the tribe of Judah in Revelation 5:5. 11 Binding his foal to the vine and his donkey's colt to the choice vine, he has washed his garments in wine and his robes in the blood of grapes. 12 His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk. 13 Zebulun shall dwell at the shore of the sea; he shall become a haven for ships, and his border shall be at Sidon. 14 Issachar is a strong donkey, crouching between the sheepfolds. 15 He saw that a resting place was good and that the land was pleasant, so he bent his shoulder to the load and became a servant at forced labor. 16 Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. 17 Dan shall be a serpent in the road, a viper by the path, that bites the horse's heels so that his rider falls backward. 18 I wait for your salvation, my Sovereign Father. b b v18 In the middle of blessing his sons, Jacob breaks into personal prayer — the only direct cry to our Father in the chapter. His word for "salvation" carries the very root that, in time, becomes the name Jesus. 19 Gad — raiders shall raid him, but he shall raid at their heels. 20 Asher's food shall be rich, and he shall yield royal delicacies. 21 Naphtali is a doe let loose that bears beautiful fawns. 22 Joseph is a fruitful branch, a fruitful branch by a spring; his branches run over the wall. 23 The archers bitterly attacked him, shot at him, and harassed him severely. 24 Yet his bow remained unmoved; his arms were made agile by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob — our Father — from there comes the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel. c c v24 The Mighty One of Jacob is one of the oldest titles for our Father in the Bible — the strong one who holds his children's hands steady when arrows fly. The Shepherd and the Stone are titles our Father shares with his Son Jesus, who calls himself the good shepherd and is named the cornerstone by Peter. 25 By the Father of your father who will help you, by El Shaddai — the Almighty, our Father — who will bless you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that crouches beneath, blessings of the breasts and of the womb. 26 The blessings of your father are mighty beyond the blessings of my ancestors, reaching to the riches of the everlasting hills. May they be on the head of Joseph, and on the brow of him who was set apart from his brothers. 27 Benjamin is a ravenous wolf, in the morning devouring the prey and at evening dividing the spoil.
A Blessing for Each Son
28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel. This is what their father said to them as he blessed them, giving each one the blessing suited to him. 29 Then he commanded them and said to them, "I am about to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 30 in the cave that is in the field at Machpelah, east of Mamre in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought along with the field from Ephron the Hittite as a burial place. 31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah 32 —the field and the cave that is in it were bought from the Hittites." 33 When Jacob finished commanding his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed and breathed his last and was gathered to his people.