Genesis Chapter 49:
advertising
Genesis Verses, Chapter 49 of the Book of Genesis of the Bible.
Jacob blesses the children
- 1. Then Jacob called his sons and said, “Draw near so that I can tell you what will happen to you in the last days.
- 2. Gather together and listen, sons of Jacob; listen to Israel your father.
- 3. Reuben, you are my firstborn, my strength, the first fruit of my strength, superior in dignity and superior in power.
- 4. Impetuous as water, you will not be superior, because you went up to your father's bed; in fact, you have desecrated it. Climbed into my bed.
- 5. Simeon and Levi are brothers; their swords are instruments of violence.
- 6. Do not enter his council, my soul, and my honor do not join his assembly; because they slew men in their anger and spoiled princes in their obstinacy.
- 7. Cursed be your anger, for it is fierce; and his indignation, for it is cruel. I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.
- 8. Judah, his brothers will praise him; his hand will be on the neck of his enemies; your father's sons will bow down to you.
- 9. Judah is a young lion; you have risen, my son, from the prey. He bends down, he lies down like a lion; and like a lioness, who will make him rise?
- 10. The 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 the peoples be obedient.
- 11. He shall tie his colt to the vine, and his colt to the best branch; he will wash his garments in wine and his cloak in the blood of grapes.
- 12. His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk.
- 13. Zebulun will dwell on the shore of the seas and will become a haven for ships; its borders will extend to Sidon.
- 14. Issachar is a donkey that lies down between two bundles.
- 15. He saw that rest was good, and that the land was pleasant; so he bent his shoulder to bear burdens and became a submissive servant.
- 16. Dan will judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel.
- 17. It shall be a serpent by the wayside, a viper by the path, that bites the horse's heels and makes its rider fall backwards.
- 18. Your salvation I hope, Lord!
- 19. Armed bands will attack Gad, but he will attack them by the heel.
- 20. From Asher will come rich food; he will provide the delicacies of kings.
- 21. Naphtali is a loose gazelle; he produces beautiful offspring.
- 22. Joseph is a fruitful branch by a fountain; its branches extend over the wall.
- 23. Arrowed down by archers, his brothers hate him and pursue him.
- 24. But his bow held firm, and his arms were strengthened by the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob, by the name of the Shepherd, by the Rock of Israel,
- 25. by the God of your father, who will help you, and by the Almighty, who will bless you with blessings from the heavens above, blessings from the depths of the earth, blessings from the breasts and the maternal womb.
- 26. The blessings of your father shall exceed the blessings of my fathers to the end of the everlasting mountains; they will be on the head of Joseph and on the forehead of the one separated from among his brothers.
- 27. Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning it devours the prey, and in the evening divides the spoil.”
Jacob's death
- 28. All these are the twelve sons of Jacob, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them; he blessed each of them with appropriate blessings.
- 29. Then he gave them this order: “I am being 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 of Machpelah, before Mamre, in the land of Canaan. Abraham purchased this cave from Ephron the Hittite as a burial property.
- 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 in it were bought from the sons of Heth.”
- 33. When Jacob had finished giving instructions to his sons, he drew his feet up on the bed, expired, and was gathered to his people.
