1 And Jacob called his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, and I will tell you what will befall you at the end of days.2 Assemble yourselves, and hear, ye sons of Jacob, And listen to Israel your father.3 Reuben, thou art my firstborn, My might, and the firstfruits of my vigour: Excellency of dignity, and excellency of strength.4 Impetuous as the waters, thou shalt have no pre-eminence; Because thou wentest up to thy father's couch: Then defiledst thou {it}: he went up to my bed.5 Simeon and Levi are brethren: Instruments of violence their swords.6 My soul, come not into their council; Mine honour, be not united with their assembly; For in their anger they slew men, And in their wantonness houghed oxen.7 Cursed be their anger, for it {was} violent; And their rage, for it {was} cruel! I will divide them in Jacob, And scatter them in Israel.8 Judah-{as to} thee, thy brethren will praise thee; Thy hand will be upon the neck of thine enemies; Thy father's children will bow down to thee.9 Judah is a young lion; From the prey, my son, thou art gone up. He stoopeth, he layeth himself down as a lion, And as a lioness: who will rouse him up?10 The sceptre will not depart from Judah, Nor the lawgiver from between his feet, Until Shiloh come, And to him will be the obedience of peoples.11 He bindeth his foal to the vine, And his ass's colt to the choice vine; He washeth his dress in wine, And his garment in the blood of grapes.12 The eyes are red with wine, And the teeth {are} white with milk.13 Zebulun will dwell at the shore of the seas; Yea, he will be at the shore of the ships, And his side {toucheth} upon Sidon.14 Issachar is a bony ass, Crouching down between two hurdles.15 And he saw the rest that it was good, And the land that it was pleasant; And he bowed his shoulder to bear, And was a tributary servant.16 Dan will judge his people, As another of the tribes of Israel.17 Dan will be a serpent on the way, A horned snake on the path, Which biteth the horse's heels, So that the rider falleth backwards.18 I wait for thy salvation, O Jehovah.19 Gad-troops will rush upon him; But he will rush upon the heel.20 Out of Asher, his bread shall be fat, And he will give royal dainties.21 Naphtali is a hind let loose; He giveth goodly words.22 Joseph is a fruitful bough; A fruitful bough by a well; {His} branches shoot over the wall.23 The archers have provoked him, And shot at, and hated him;24 But his bow abideth firm, And the arms of his hands are supple By the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob. From thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:25 From the *God of thy father, and he will help thee; And from the Almighty, and he will bless thee-With blessings of heaven from above, With blessings of the deep that lieth under, With blessings of the breast and of the womb.26 The blessings of thy father surpass the blessings of my ancestors, Unto the bounds of the everlasting hills: They shall be on the head of Joseph, And on the crown of the head of him that was separated from his brethren.27 Benjamin-{as} a wolf will he tear to pieces; In the morning he will devour the prey, And in the evening he will divide the booty.28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke to them; and he blessed them: every one according to his blessing he blessed them.29 And he charged them, and said to them, I am 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 to Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought of Ephron the Hittite along with the field for a possession of a sepulchre.31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebecca his wife; and there I buried Leah.32 The purchase of the field, and of the cave that is in it, was from the children of Heth.33 And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered his feet into the bed, and expired, and was gathered to his peoples.

1 Daarna het Jakob sy seuns geroep en gesê: Kom bymekaar, dat ek julle kan verkondig wat julle aan die einde van die dae sal wedervaar.2 Versamel en hoor, seuns van Jakob, en luister na Israel, julle vader!3 Ruben, jy is my eersgeborene, my krag en die eersteling van my sterkte; die vernaamste in hoogheid en die vernaamste in mag!4 Opbruising soos van waters -- jy sal die vernaamste nie wees nie, want jy het die bed van jou vader beklim; toe het jy dit ontheilig. Hy het my bed beklim.5 S¡meon en Levi is broers. Hulle wapens is werktuie van geweld.6 Laat my siel nie kom in hulle raad nie, laat my eer nie eens wees met hulle vergadering nie. Want in hul toorn het hulle manne doodgeslaan, en in hulle moedswilligheid het hulle beeste vermink.7 Vervloek is hulle toorn, want dit is heftig; en hulle grimmigheid, want dit is hard. Ek sal hulle verdeel in Jakob en hulle verstrooi in Israel.8 Juda, jy is dit! Jou sal jou broers loof. Jou hand sal op die nek van jou vyande wees; voor jou sal die seuns van jou vader hulle neerbuig.9 Juda is 'n jong leeu; van die roof af het jy opgeklim, my seun. Hy buig hom, hy gaan lê soos 'n leeu en soos 'n leeuin; wie sal hom opjaag?10 Die septer sal van Juda nie wyk nie, nog die veldheerstaf tussen sy voete uit totdat Silo kom; en aan Hom sal die volke gehoorsaam wees.11 Hy maak sy jong esel vas aan die wingerdstok en die vul van sy eselin aan die edelste wynstok; Hy was sy kleed in wyn en sy gewaad in druiwebloed.12 Hy is donkerder van oë as wyn en witter van tande as melk.13 S,bulon sal woon by die strand van die see; en hy sal by die strand van die skepe wees, met die sykant na Sidon toe.14 Issaskar is 'n sterkgebeende esel wat tussen die veekrale lê.15 Toe hy sien dat die rus goed en die land lieflik is, het hy sy skouer gebuig om te dra, en hy moes dwangarbeid verrig.16 Dan sal aan sy volk reg verskaf net soos enigeen van die stamme van Israel.17 Laat Dan 'n slang wees op die weg, 'n horingslang op die pad, wat die perd aan die hakskene byt, sodat sy ruiter agteroorval.18 Op u verlossing wag ek, HERE!19 Gad -- 'n bende sal hom aanval, maar hy sal hulle aan die hakskeen gryp.20 Aser, sy spys is vet, en hy lewer koninklike lekkernye.21 N ftali is soos 'n wildsbok so vry, hy wat mooi woorde laat hoor.22 Josef is 'n jong vrugteboom, 'n jong vrugteboom by 'n fontein; sy takke klim oor die muur.23 Die boogskutters het hom wel geprikkel en hom beskiet en hom bestry,24 maar sy boog het sterk gebly, en die arms van sy hande was buigsaam, deur die hande van die Magtige van Jakob -- daarvandaan waar die Herder, die Steen van Israel, is,25 van die God van jou vader, wat jou help, en met die hulp van die Almagtige wat jou seën met seëninge van die hemel daarbo, met seëninge van die watervloed wat daaronder lê, met seëninge van borste en moederskoot.26 Die seëninge wat jou vader ontvang het, oortref die seëninge van die ewige berge, die kostelike gawes van die ewige heuwels. Dit sal wees op die hoof van Josef en op die hoofskedel van die uitverkorene onder sy broers.27 Benjamin is 'n wolf wat verskeur; in die môre eet hy sy prooi, en in die aand deel hy buit uit.28 Hulle almal is die twaalf stamme van Israel; en dit is wat hulle vader aan hulle gesê het, en hy het hulle geseën; hy het hulle geseën, elkeen volgens sy besondere seën.29 Daarna het hy hulle bevel gegee en aan hulle gesê: Ek word versamel by my volk. Begrawe my by my vaders in die spelonk wat op die stuk grond van Efron, die Hetiet, is;30 in die spelonk wat op die stuk grond van Magp,la is, wat oos van Mamre lê, in die land Kanaän; die stuk grond wat Abraham van Efron, die Hetiet, as eiendomsgraf gekoop het.31 Daar het hulle Abraham begrawe en Sara, sy vrou; daar het hulle Isak begrawe en Rebekka, sy vrou; en daar het ek Lea begrawe --32 die stuk grond en die spelonk wat daarin is, wat gekoop is van die seuns van Het.33 Toe Jakob klaar sy bevele aan sy seuns gegee het, trek hy sy voete terug op die bed en blaas die asem uit; en hy is by sy volksgenote versamel.