1 And Jacob called to his sons, and said: “Gather yourselves together so that I may tell you what shall happen to you in the days to come. 2 Assemble yourselves, and hear, sons of Jacob, and listen to Israel your father. 3 Reuben, you are my first-born, my might, and the beginning of my strength; preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power. 4 You have been flowing like water; you shall not have preeminence, because you went up to your father’s bed; then you defiled it. He went up to my couch!

5 Simeon and Levi are brothers. They consumed sin by their covenants. 6 Let my soul not come into their council, and in their assembly, let my glory not be enraged. For in their anger they killed a man, and in their willfulness they hamstrung an ox. 7 May their anger be exalted, for it is fierce; and their group, for it is severe. I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.

8 Judah, your brothers shall praise you. Your hands shall be on the neck of your enemies, and your father’s sons shall bow down before you. 9 Judah is a lion cub. From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down, he crouched like a lion; and like a lioness, who shall rouse him? 10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from among his troops, until Shiloh comes, and the peoples shall gather to him. 11 He is tied up to Gafna, his city, and the son of his might to emptiness.⁠a He has washed his garments in wine, and his clothing in the blood of grapes. 12 His eyes shall be cloudy because of wine, and his teeth white with fat.

13 Zebulun shall live at the harbor of the sea, and he shall be a harbor for ships. And his border shall be as far as Sidon. 14 Issachar is a foreign residents’ donkey, crouching down between the nations. 15 And he saw that a resting place was good, and that the land was pleasant. And he bent his shoulder to carry a load, and became a servant under forced labor.

16 Dan shall judge his people. As one of the tribes of Israel 17 he shall be. Dan, a serpent in the way, lying in the path that bites the horse’s heels, and throws his rider backward. 18 I wait for your salvation, Shema.

19 Gad shall bring good news and he shall foretell the end. 20 Asher! His bread shall be like oil, and he shall produce royal delicacies. 21 Naphtali is a doe let loose that carries words of redemption.

22 Joseph is a fruitful branch, a fruitful branch by a spring; my young son [runs] over the wall. 23 The archers have grieved him and quarreled with him, and harassed him. 24 But his bow remained strong, and the arms of his hands were made strong, by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, in the name of the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel. 25 By the God of your father, who shall help you, and by God Almighty, who shall bless you, with blessing of heaven above, blessing of the deep that crouches beneath, blessing of the breasts, and of the womb. 26 The blessings of your father and your mother have surpassed the blessings of my mountain to the greatest bounties of the everlasting hill. They shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the leader, the consecrated among his brothers. 27 Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning he shall devour the prey; and at evening he shall divide the plunder.” 28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel. And this is what their father spoke to them and blessed them; he blessed each one according to his blessing.

29 And he commanded them, and said to them: “I am to be 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, which is opposite Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite as a burial place to own. 31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife, and there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah. 32 The field and the cave that is in it were purchased from the children of Heth.”

33 And when Jacob finished commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.