And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves… And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you {that} which shall befall you in the last days Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father. Reuben, thou {art} my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power: Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then defiledst thou {it}: he went up to my couch. {thou shalt…: Heb. do not thou excel} {he went…: or, my couch is gone} Simeon and Levi {are} brethren; instruments of cruelty {are in} their habitations. {instruments…: or, their swords are weapons of violence} O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall. {digged…: or, houghed oxen} Cursed {be} their anger, for {it was} fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel. Judah, thou {art he} whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand {shall be} in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee. Judah {is} a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up? The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him {shall} the gathering of the people {be}. Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes: His eyes {shall be} red with wine, and his teeth white with milk. Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he {shall be} for an haven of ships; and his border {shall be} unto Zidon. Issachar {is} a strong ass couching down between two burdens: And he saw that rest {was} good, and the land that {it was} pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute. Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward. {an adder: Heb. an arrow-snake} I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD. Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last. Out of Asher his bread {shall be} fat, and he shall yield royal dainties. Naphtali {is} a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words. Joseph {is} a fruitful bough, {even} a fruitful bough by a well; {whose} branches run over the wall: {branches: Heb. daughters} The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot {at him}, and hated him: But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty {God} of Jacob; (from thence {is} the shepherd, the stone of Israel:) {Even} by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb: The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren. Benjamin shall ravin {as} a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil. All these {are} the twelve tribes of Israel: and this {is it} that their father spake unto them, and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them. And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that {is} in the field of Ephron the Hittite, In the cave that {is} in the field of Machpelah, which {is} before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a buryingplace. There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah. The purchase of the field and of the cave that {is} therein {was} from the children of Heth.