New Living Translation

King James Bible

1Then Jacob called together all his sons and said, “Gather around me, and I will tell you what will happen to each of you in the days to come.

1And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.

2“Come and listen, you sons of Jacob; listen to Israel, your father.

2Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father.

3“Reuben, you are my firstborn, my strength, the child of my vigorous youth. You are first in rank and first in power.

3Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:

4But you are as unruly as a flood, and you will be first no longer. For you went to bed with my wife; you defiled my marriage couch.

4Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.

5“Simeon and Levi are two of a kind; their weapons are instruments of violence.

5Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations.

6May I never join in their meetings; may I never be a party to their plans. For in their anger they murdered men, and they crippled oxen just for sport.

6O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall.

7A curse on their anger, for it is fierce; a curse on their wrath, for it is cruel. I will scatter them among the descendants of Jacob; I will disperse them throughout Israel.

7Cursed 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, your brothers will praise you. You will grasp your enemies by the neck. All your relatives will bow before you.

8Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father's children shall bow down before thee.

9Judah, my son, is a young lion that has finished eating its prey. Like a lion he crouches and lies down; like a lioness—who dares to rouse him?

9Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?

10The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from his descendants, until the coming of the one to whom it belongs, the one whom all nations will honor.

10The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.

11He ties his foal to a grapevine, the colt of his donkey to a choice vine. He washes his clothes in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes.

11Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes:

12His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth are whiter than milk.

12His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.

13“Zebulun will settle by the seashore and will be a harbor for ships; his borders will extend to Sidon.

13Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be for an haven of ships; and his border shall be unto Zidon.

14“Issachar is a sturdy donkey, resting between two saddlepacks.

14Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens:

15When he sees how good the countryside is and how pleasant the land, he will bend his shoulder to the load and submit himself to hard labor.

15And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute.

16“Dan will govern his people, like any other tribe in Israel.

16Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.

17Dan will be a snake beside the road, a poisonous viper along the path that bites the horse’s hooves so its rider is thrown off.

17Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.

18I trust in you for salvation, O LORD!

18I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD.

19“Gad will be attacked by marauding bands, but he will attack them when they retreat.

19Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last.

20“Asher will dine on rich foods and produce food fit for kings.

20Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties.

21“Naphtali is a doe set free that bears beautiful fawns.

21Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words.

22“Joseph is the foal of a wild donkey, the foal of a wild donkey at a spring— one of the wild donkeys on the ridge.

22Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:

23Archers attacked him savagely; they shot at him and harassed him.

23The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:

24But his bow remained taut, and his arms were strengthened by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, by the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel.

24But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)

25May the God of your father help you; may the Almighty bless you with the blessings of the heavens above, and blessings of the watery depths below, and blessings of the breasts and womb.

25Even 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 lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:

26May my fatherly blessings on you surpass the blessings of my ancestors, reaching to the heights of the eternal hills. May these blessings rest on the head of Joseph, who is a prince among his brothers.

26The 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 ravenous wolf, devouring his enemies in the morning and dividing his plunder in the evening.”

27Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.

28These are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said as he told his sons good-bye. He blessed each one with an appropriate message. Jacob’s Death and Burial

28All 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.

29Then Jacob instructed them, “Soon I will die and join my ancestors. Bury me with my father and grandfather in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite.

29And 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,

30This is the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in Canaan, that Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite as a permanent burial site.

30In the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a buryingplace.

31There Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried. There Isaac and his wife, Rebekah, are buried. And there I buried Leah.

31There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah.

32It is the plot of land and the cave that my grandfather Abraham bought from the Hittites.”

32The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth.

33When Jacob had finished this charge to his sons, he drew his feet into the bed, breathed his last, and joined his ancestors in death.

33And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.

Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

King James Bible, text courtesy of BibleProtector.com.