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 雅各把他的众子叫来， 说： "你们要聚集在一起， 我要把你们日后必遇到的事告诉你们。
2 雅各的儿子们哪， 你们要一起来听； 要听你们父亲以色列的话。
3 流本哪， 你是我的长子， 是我的力量， 是我的初生子； 你大有尊荣， 权力超众；
4 但是你放纵情欲， 好像水沸腾一样， 你必不能居首位； 因为你上了你父亲的床； 上了我的榻， 然后把它玷污了。
5 西缅和利未是兄弟； 他们的刀剑是强暴的武器。
6 我的灵啊， 不可加入他们的阴谋； 我的心啊， 不可参与他们的集会， 因为他们在怒中杀人， 任意砍断牛的腿筋。
7 他们的怒气可咒， 因为非常暴烈； 他们的烈怒可诅， 因为十分凶猛； 我要把他们分散在雅各家； 把他们散居在以色列。
8 犹大啊， 你的兄弟们要称赞你； 你的手必压住仇敌的颈项； 你父亲的众子必向你下拜。
9 犹大是只小狮子； 我儿啊， 你猎取了食物就上到洞穴去。他屈身伏卧， 好像公狮， 又像母狮， 谁敢惊动他呢？
10 权杖必不离开犹大， 王圭必不离他两脚之间， 直到细罗（"细罗"有古?本作"属他的那位"）来到， 万族都要臣服他。
11 犹大把自己的驴驹拴在葡萄树旁， 把自己的小驴系在上等的葡萄树旁； 他在葡萄酒中洗净自己的衣服， 在血红的葡萄汁中洗衣袍。
12 他因饮酒而双眼发红， 他因喝奶而牙齿雪白。
13 西布伦必在沿海地带居住， 他必成为船只停泊的港口， 他的边界必伸到西顿。
14 以萨迦是一头粗壮的驴， 伏卧在羊圈（"羊圈"原文意思不详， 或译： "重驮"）之间；
15 他看安居为美， 他看肥地为佳， 他屈肩负重， 成了服苦的奴仆。
16 但要审判自己的人民， 作以色列的一个支派。
17 但要作路上的蛇， 道中的毒蛇， 他要咬伤马蹄， 使骑马的人向后坠落。
18 耶和华啊， 我向来等候你的拯救。
19 迦得必被侵略者追逼， 他却要追逼他们的脚跟。
20 至于亚设， 他的食物必定肥美， 他有美食可以供奉君王。
21 拿弗他利是只得释放的母鹿， 发出优美的言语。
22 约瑟是一根结果子的树枝， 是一根泉旁结果子的树枝， 他的枝条蔓延出墙外。
23 弓箭手把他苦害， 向他射箭敌对他。
24 但他的弓依然坚硬， 他的手臂仍旧敏捷， 这是出于雅各的大能者之手； 出于以色列的牧者， 以色列的磐石。
25 是你父亲的 神帮助你， 是那全能者赐给你； 他把从天上来的福， 地下深渊蕴藏着的福， 哺乳和生育的福， 都赐给你。
26 你父亲的祝福， 胜过我祖先的祝福（"胜过我祖先的祝福"有古?本作"胜过亘古的山冈"）， 胜过永远山岭上的美物。愿这些福都降在约瑟的头上， 降在兄弟中作王子的那一位头上。
27 便雅悯是只撕掠的豺狼， 早晨吞吃他的猎物， 晚上瓜分他的掳物。"
28 这些就是以色列的十二支派； 以上是他们父亲对他们所说的话， 是按着各人的福分给他们所祝的福。
29 雅各又嘱咐他们， 对他们说： "我快要归到我的亲族那里去， 你们要把我埋葬在赫人以弗仑田间的洞里， 与我的祖先在一起。
30 这个洞在迦南地， 在幔利前面的麦比拉的田间。那地方原是亚伯拉罕向赫人以弗仑买下来作坟地的。
31 他们在那里埋葬了亚伯拉罕和他的妻子撒拉； 又在那里埋葬了以撒和他的妻子利百加； 我也在那里埋葬了利亚。
32 那块田和田间的洞， 是向赫人买来的。"
33 雅各对他的众子嘱咐完了， 就把双脚收回床上， 气绝而死， 归到他的亲族那里去了。