1 And Jacob called unto his sons, and said: Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the latter days.
2 Assemble yourselves, and hear, ye sons of Jacob;
And hearken unto Israel your father.
3 Reuben, thou art my first-born, my might, and the beginning of my strength;
The pre-eminence of dignity, and the pre-eminence of power.
4 Boiling over as water, thou shalt not have the pre-eminence;
Because thou wentest up to thy father’s bed;
Then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.
5 Simeon and Levi are brethren;
Weapons of violence are their swords.
6 O my soul, come not thou into their council;
Unto their assembly, my glory, be not thou united;
For in their anger they slew a man,
And in their self-will they hocked an ox.
7 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.
8 Judah, thee shall thy brethren praise:
Thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies;
Thy father’s sons shall bow down before thee.
9 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 a lioness; who shall rouse him up?
10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah,
Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
Until Shiloh come;
And unto him shall the obedience of the peoples be.
11 Binding his foal unto the vine,
And his ass’s colt unto the choice vine;
He hath washed his garments in wine,
And his vesture in the blood of grapes:
12 His eyes shall be red with wine,
And his teeth white with milk.
13 Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea;
And he shall be for a haven of ships;
And his border shall be upon Sidon.
14 Issachar is a strong ass,
Couching down between the sheepfolds:
15 And he saw a resting-place that it was good,
And the land that it was pleasant;
And he bowed his shoulder to bear,
And became a servant under taskwork.
16 Dan shall judge his people,
As one of the tribes of Israel.
17 Dan shall be a serpent in the way,
An adder in the path,
That biteth the horse’s heels,
So that his rider falleth backward.
18 I have waited for thy salvation, O Jehovah.
19 Gad, a troop shall press upon him;
But he shall press upon their heel.
20 Out of Asher his bread shall be fat,
And he shall yield royal dainties.
21 Naphtali is a hind let loose:
He giveth goodly words.
22 Joseph is a fruitful bough,
A fruitful bough by a fountain;
His branches run over the wall.
23 The archers have sorely grieved him,
And shot at him, and persecuted him:
24 But his bow abode in strength,
And the arms of his hands were made strong,
By the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob
(From thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel),
25 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 coucheth beneath,
Blessings of the breasts, and of the womb.
26 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.
27 Benjamin is a wolf that raveneth:
In the morning he shall devour the prey,
And at even he shall divide the spoil.
28 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. 29 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, 30 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 from Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a burying-place. 31 There 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 that is therein, which was purchased from the children of Heth. 33 And when Jacob made an end of charging his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.
1 Ja Jaakob kutsus oma pojad enese juurde ning ütles: „Tulge kokku, siis ma kuulutan teile, mis teiega sünnib tulevasil päevil!
2 Kogunege ja kuulge, Jaakobi pojad, võtke kuulda Iisraeli, oma isa!
3 Ruuben, sina oled mu esmasündinu, mu rammu ja sigitusjõu esikpoeg, väljapaistev väärikuselt ja väljapaistev võimult!
4 Veena oled vooganud — esikohale sa ei jää, sest sa tõusid oma isa sängi! Sel korral sa rüvetasid mu voodi, kuhu sa olid tõusnud!
5 Siimeon ja Leevi, vennaksed, nende ümberlõikamisnoad on vägivalla riistad!
6 Nende nõusse ei astu mu hing, nende seltsiga ei liitu mu süda! Sest oma vihas nad tapsid mehi ja meelevallatuses halvasid härgi!
7 Olgu neetud nende kange viha ja nende range raev! Ma jaotan nad Jaakobis ja hajutan Iisraelis!
8 Juuda, sind ülistavad su vennad! Sinu käsi on su vaenlaste turjal, sind kummardavad su isa pojad!
9 Juuda on lõukoera kutsikas — saagi kallalt, mu poeg, oled tõusnud! Ta on heitnud maha, ta lebab nagu kunagi lõukoer või lõvi — kes julgeks teda äratada?
10 Ei lahku valitsuskepp Juudast ega korraldamissau tema jalgade vahelt, kuni tuleb tema valitseja, keda rahvad võtavad kuulda!
11 Ta seob oma eesli viinapuu külge, hea viinapuu külge oma eeslivarsa; ta peseb oma kuube viinaga ja oma vammust viinamarjade verega!
12 Ta silmad on viinast hämused ja hambad piimast valged!
13 Sebulon elab mererannas, laevade rannikul, ja tema selg on pööratud Siidoni poole!
14 Issaskar on kondine eesel, kes lebab sadulakorvide vahel!
15 Kui ta nägi head hingamispaika ja meeldivat maad, ta langetas oma turja koormat kandma ja sai tööorjaks!
16 Daan mõistab kohut oma rahvale, üks Iisraeli suguharu on temagi!
17 Daan on madu teel, rästik raja peal, kes salvab hobuse kandu, nõnda et ratsanik kukub selili!
18 Ma ootan päästet sinult, Issand!
19 Gaad — röövjõugud ründavad teda, aga ta ise ründab neid, olles neil kannul!
20 Aaserilt tuleb rammus roog ja temal on anda kuninglikke maiuspalu!
21 Naftali on nobe emahirv, kes kannab haralisi sarvi!
22 Joosep on noor viljapuu, noor viljapuu allika ääres, mille oksad ulatuvad üle müüri!
23 Ammukütid vaenavad teda, peavad ta peale ajujahti,
24 aga tema amb jääb painduvaks ja ta käsivarred on nõtked Jaakobi Vägeva abiga, Karjase, Iisraeli Kalju nime abiga,
25 su isa Jumala abiga, kes sind aidaku, Kõigeväelise abiga, Kes sind õnnistagu õnnistustega ülalt taevast, õnnistustega all asuvast põhjaveest, õnnistustega emarindadest ja üskadest!
26 Su isa õnnistused ületavad igaveste mägede õnnistused, ürgsete küngaste ihaldusväärsed annid! Need tulgu Joosepi pea peale, oma vendade vürsti pealaele!
27 Benjamin on kiskjalik hunt! Hommikul ta sööb saaki ja õhtul jaotab röövitut!"
28 Need kõik olid Iisraeli suguharud, neid oli kaksteist, ja see oli, mis nende isa neile rääkis, kui ta neid õnnistas: ta õnnistas igaüht temale kohase õnnistusega.
29 Ja ta käskis neid ning ütles neile: „Mind koristatakse mu rahva juurde. Matke mind mu isade juurde koopasse, mis on hetiit Efroni väljal,
30 sellesse koopasse, mis on Makpela väljal Mamre kohal Kaananimaal, mille Aabraham ostis koos väljaga hetiit Efronilt pärandhauaks.
31 Sinna on maetud Aabraham ja tema naine Saara, sinna on maetud Iisak ja tema naine Rebeka, ja sinna ma olen matnud Lea.
32 Väli ja seal olev koobas on hetiitidelt ostetud!"
33 Kui Jaakob oli oma poegadele käsu andnud, siis ta sirutas voodis oma jalad välja ja heitis hinge; ja ta koristati oma rahva juurde.