Moses Blesses Israel

1 And this is the blessing with which Moses, the prophet of the Lord, blessed the children of Israel before his death; 2 and he said: The Lord was revealed from Sinai, and the brightness of His glory appeared to us from Seir. He was revealed in His power upon the mountain of Paran, and with Him were 10,000 saints; He gave us, written with His own right hand, the law from the middle of the fire. 3 He loved the tribes, all the holy ones of the house of Israel; with power He led them out of Egypt, and they were conducted under Your Cloud, they journeyed by Your Memra. 4 Moses gave to us the law, and gave it as an inheritance to the congregation of Jacob. 5 And he was the king in Israel, when the heads of the people were gathered with the tribes of Israel.

The Tribal Blessings

6 Let Reuben live forever, and not die the second death; and let his children receive their inheritance according to their numbers. 7 And of Judah he said this: Hear, Lord, the prayer of Judah when he goes out to battle, and let him return to his people in peace; let his hands take vengeance on his enemies, and be You to him a help against his enemies. 8 And of Levi he said: Clothe the man who is found holy before You with perfections and lights; whom You tested in the time of testing, and he was upright, and whom You tested at the waters of Meribah, and he was faithful. 9 Who, when they had sinned, had no mercy in the judgment upon his father or his mother, and no respect to his brother or his children; for they have kept the charge of Your word, and they have not changed Your covenant. 10 These are worthy to teach Your judgments to Jacob, and Your law to Israel. They shall set the sweet incense before You, and the full freewill offerings upon Your altar. 11 Bless, Lord, his wealth, and accept the offering of his hands with favor; break the backs of his enemies and of his adversaries, so that they may not rise. 12 Of Benjamin he said: The beloved of the Lord shall live in safety by Him: the shield will be over him all the days, and the Shekinah will live in his land. 13 And of Joseph he said: Blessed be his land from before the Lord; let it bear fruit by the dew of the heavens from above, and from the fountain springs, and the depths which flow from the abysses of the earth beneath, 14 let it bear fruit and produce which the sun causes to grow; let it bear fruit from the beginning of month after month; 15 and first fruits from the mountain tops, and good things from the unfailing hills, 16 with the good of the earth and its fullness, and the favor of Him whose glory is in the heavens, and who was revealed to Moses at the Bush: let all these come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the man who was separated from his brothers. 17 The greatness of his children will be his beauty, and the mighty works done for him from before the Omnipotent and the Most High, by whose strength he will defeat nations together to the ends of the earth; and these are the myriads of the house of Ephraim, and these are the thousands of the house of Manasseh. 18 And to Zebulun he said: Rejoice, Zebulun, when you go out to war against your adversaries, and you, Issachar, when you go to calculate the time of the festivals in Jerusalem. 19 They shall assemble the tribes of Israel at the mountain of the sanctuary, to offer there the holy sacrifices freely; for they will eat the wealth of the nations, and the treasures hidden in the sand shall be disclosed for them. 20 And of Gad he said: Blessed is He who enlarges Gad. He dwells as a lioness; he will kill sultans with kings: 21 and he shall receive his own at the beginning: for there, in his inheritance, Moses the scribe and leader of Israel is to be buried; he who came out and went in at the head of the people, who has done righteousness before the Lord and His judgments with Israel. 22 And of Dan he said: Dan is strong as a lion's cub; his land is watered by the streams that flow from Bashan. 23 And of Naphtali he said: Naphtali, satisfied with favor and full of blessings from the Lord, shall inherit from the western sea, Gennesaret, to the south. 24 And of Asher he said: Asher shall be blessed with the blessings of children: let him be acceptable to his brothers, and be nourished with the royal delicacies: 25 you shall be strong as iron and bronze, and your strength shall be as in the days of your youth.

The Everlasting Help of God

26 There is no God like the God of Israel, whose Shekinah in the skies is your help, and whose power is in the heaven of heavens. 27 The habitation of Eloha is from eternity, and the world was made by His Memra;⁠a and He will drive out your enemies from before you, and will say, Destroy. 28 And Israel shall dwell securely by themselves, according to the blessing with which Jacob their father blessed them in the land producing grain and wine; the heavens also above them shall drop down with dew. 29 Happy are you, Israel; no one is like you, a people whose salvation is from the Lord, who is the strength of your help, and from whom is the might of your victory: your enemies shall lie to you, and you shall tread upon the necks of their kings.