Read New International Version, 2011 Genesis 49 Bible Online

Genesis 49 - New International Version, 2011 bible

Genesis 49

¹Then Jacob called for his sons and said: “Gather around so I can tell you what will happen to you in days to come.

²“Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob; listen to your father Israel.

³“Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, the first sign of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power.

⁴Turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel, for you went up onto your father’s bed, onto my couch and defiled it.

⁵“Simeon and Levi are brothers — their swords [208] are weapons of violence.

⁶Let me not enter their council, let me not join their assembly, for they have killed men in their anger and hamstrung oxen as they pleased.

⁷Cursed be their anger, so fierce, and their fury, so cruel! I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel.

⁸“Judah, [209] your brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons will bow down to you.

⁹You are a lion’s cub, Judah; you return from the prey, my son. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness — who dares to rouse him?

¹⁰The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, [210] until he to whom it belongs [211] shall come and the obedience of the nations shall be his.

¹¹He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch; he will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes.

¹²His eyes will be darker than wine, his teeth whiter than milk. [212]

¹³“Zebulun will live by the seashore and become a haven for ships; his border will extend toward Sidon.

¹⁴“Issachar is a rawboned [213] donkey lying down among the sheep pens. [214]

¹⁵When he sees how good is his resting place and how pleasant is his land, he will bend his shoulder to the burden and submit to forced labor.

¹⁶“Dan [215] will provide justice for his people as one of the tribes of Israel.

¹⁷Dan will be a snake by the roadside, a viper along the path, that bites the horse’s heels so that its rider tumbles backward.

¹⁸“I look for your deliverance, LORD.

¹⁹“Gad [216] will be attacked by a band of raiders, but he will attack them at their heels.

²⁰“Asher’s food will be rich; he will provide delicacies fit for a king.

²¹“Naphtali is a doe set free that bears beautiful fawns. [217]

²²“Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine near a spring, whose branches climb over a wall. [218]

²³With bitterness archers attacked him; they shot at him with hostility.

²⁴But his bow remained steady, his strong arms stayed [219] limber, because of the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob, because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,

²⁵because of your father’s God, who helps you, because of the Almighty, [220] who blesses you with blessings of the skies above, blessings of the deep springs below, blessings of the breast and womb.

²⁶Your father’s blessings are greater than the blessings of the ancient mountains, than [221] the bounty of the age-old hills. Let all these rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the prince among [222] his brothers.

²⁷“Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning he devours the prey, in the evening he divides the plunder.”

²⁸All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them, giving each the blessing appropriate to him.

²⁹Then he gave them these instructions: “I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite,

³⁰the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in Canaan, which Abraham bought along with the field as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite.

³¹There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried, and there I buried Leah.

³²The field and the cave in it were bought from the Hittites. [223]”

³³When Jacob had finished giving instructions to his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed, breathed his last and was gathered to his people.