1Jacob called his sons and said, "Gather round me, so that I can tell you what will happen to you in the last days."
2"Gather together and listen, you sons of Jacob; listen to Israel your father."
3"Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the first of my strength, highest in dignity and highest in power."
4"Unsteady as water, you will not be the highest, because you went up to your father's bed. Then you defiled it. He went up to my couch."
6"My soul, do not enter their secret plans. My honour, do not join their gathering. For in their anger they killed a man, and to please themselves they broke down a wall."
7"A curse on their anger, for it was fierce, and on their rage, for it was cruel. I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel."
8"Judah, you are the one your brothers will praise. Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies. Your father's children will bow down before you."
9"Judah is a lion's cub. My son, you have gone up from the prey. He stooped down, he lay down like a lion, and like an old lion; who will rouse him?"
10"The sceptre will not leave Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and the peoples will gather to him."
11"He ties his donkey to the vine, and his donkey's colt to the best vine. He washed his clothes in wine, and his robes in the blood of grapes."
12"His eyes will be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk."
13"Zebulun will live by the harbour of the sea. He will be a harbour for ships, and his border will reach to Zidon."
14"Issachar is a strong donkey lying down between two loads."
15"He saw that rest was good, and that the land was pleasant. So he bent his shoulder to carry the load, and became a servant doing forced labour."
16"Dan will judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel."
17"Dan will be a snake by the road, a viper in the path, that bites the horse's heels, so that its rider falls backward."
18"I have waited for your salvation, LORD."
19"Gad - a troop will overcome him, but he will overcome at the last."
20"Asher's bread will be rich, and he will provide food fit for a king."
21"Naphtali is a deer set free; he gives beautiful words."
22"Joseph is a fruitful branch, a fruitful branch by a well, whose shoots climb over the wall."
23"The archers have hurt him badly; they shot at him and hated him."
24"But his bow stayed strong, and his arms and hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob. (From there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel.)"
25"It was by the God of your father, who will help you, and by the Almighty, who will bless you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies below, blessings of the breasts and of the womb."
26"The blessings of your father are greater than the blessings of my ancestors, reaching to the farthest edge of the everlasting hills. They will rest on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of the one set apart from his brothers."
27"Benjamin will tear like a wolf. In the morning he will eat the prey, and at night he will divide the plunder."
28All these are the twelve tribes of Israel. This is what their father said to them when he blessed them; he blessed each one with the blessing that suited him.
29Then he gave them this command: "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,"
30in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is in front of Mamre, in the land of Canaan. Abraham bought it, along with the field, from Ephron the Hittite to own as a burial place.
31There 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 children of Heth."
33When Jacob had finished giving these commands to his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed, and breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.