1And Jacob called for his sons and said: come together, that I may tell you what shall happen you in the last days.
2Gather you together and hear ye sons of Jacob, and hearken unto Israel your father.
3Ruben, thou art mine eldest son, my might and the beginning of my strength, chief in receiving and chief in power.
4As unstable as water wast thou: thou shalt therefore not be the chiefest, for thou wentest up upon thy father's bed, and then defiledest thou my couch with going up.
5The brethren Simeon and Levi, wicked instruments are their weapons.
6Into their secrets come not my soul, and unto their congregation be my honour not coupled: for in their wrath they slew a man, and in their self will they houghed an ox.
7Cursed be their wrath for it was strong, and their fierceness for it was cruel. I will therefore divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.
8Juda, thy brethren shall praise thee, and thine hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies, and thy father's children shall stoop unto thee.
9Juda is a lion's whelp. From spoil my son thou art come on high:(an hye) he laid him down and couched himself as a lion, and as a lioness. Who dare stir him up?
10The sceptre shall not depart from Juda, nor a ruler from between his legs, until Silo come, unto whom the people shall hearken.
11He shall bind his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the vine branch, and shall wash his garment in wine and his mantle in the blood of grapes:
12his eyes are roudier than wine, and his teeth whiter then milk.
13Zabulon shall dwell in the haven of the sea and in the port of ships, and shall reach unto Sidon.
14Isachar is a strong ass, he couched him down between two borders,
15and saw that rest was good and the land that it was pleasant, and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute.
16Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.
17Dan shall be a serpent in the way, and an adder in the path, and bite the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.
18After thy saving look I, LORD.
19Gad, men of war shall invade him. And he shall turn them to flight.
20Of Asser cometh fat bread, and he shall give pleasures for a king.
21Nephtali is a swift hind, and giveth goodly words.
22That flourishing child Joseph, that flourishing child and goodly unto the eye: the daughters come forth to bear rule.(ran upon the wall.)
23The shooters have envied him and chide with him and hated him,
24and yet his bow bode fast, and his arms and his hands were strong, by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob: out of him shall come an herdman, a stone in Israel.
25Thy father's God shall help thee, and the almighty shall bless thee with blessings from heaven above, and with blessings of the water that lieth under, and with blessings of the breasts and of the womb.
26The blessings of thy father were strong: even as the blessings of my elders, after the desire of the highest(hiest) in the world, and these blessings shall fall on the head of Joseph, and on the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren.
27Ben Jamin is a ravishing wolf. In the morning he shall devour his prey, and at night he shall divide his spoil.
28All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is that which their father spake unto them when he blessed them, every man with a several blessing.
29And he charged them and said unto them. I shall be put unto my people: see that ye bury me with my fathers, in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hethite,
30in the double cave that is in the field before Mamre in the land of Canaan. Which field Abraham bought of Ephron the Hethite for a possession to bury in.
31There they buried Abraham and Sara his wife, there they buried Isaac and Rebecca his wife. And there I buried Lea:
32which field and the cave that is therein, was bought of the children of Heth.
33When Jacob had commanded all that he would unto his sons, he plucked up his feet upon the bed and died, and was put unto his people;