64|Genesis 49:5
5 Simeon and Levi are brothers;
their swords [1] are weapons of violence.
6 May I never enter their council;
may I never join their assembly.
For they kill men in their anger,
and hamstring oxen on a whim.
7 Cursed be their anger, for it is strong,
and their wrath, for it is cruel!
I will disperse them in Jacob
and scatter them in Israel.
8 Judah,[2] your brothers shall praise you.
Your hand shall be on the necks of your enemies;
your father’s sons shall bow down to you.
9 Judah is a young lion—
my son, you return from the prey.
Like a lion he crouches and lies down;
like a lioness, who dares to rouse him?
10 The scepter will not depart from Judah,
nor the staff from between his feet,[3]
until Shiloh [4] comes
and the allegiance of the nations is his.
11 He ties his donkey to the vine,
his colt to the choicest branch.
He washes his garments in wine,
his robes in the blood of grapes.
12 His eyes are darker than wine,
and his teeth are whiter than milk.
13 Zebulun shall dwell by the seashore
and become a harbor for ships;
his border shall extend to Sidon.
14 Issachar is a strong donkey,
lying down between the sheepfolds.[5]
15 He saw that his resting place was good
and that his land was pleasant,
so he bent his shoulder to the burden
and submitted to labor as a servant.
16 Dan shall provide justice for his people [6]
as one of the tribes of Israel.
17 He will be a snake by the road,
a viper in the path
that bites the horse’s heels
so that its rider tumbles backward.
18 I await Your salvation, O LORD.
19 Gad [7] will be attacked by raiders,
but he will attack their heels.
20 Asher’s food will be rich;
he shall provide royal delicacies.
21 Naphtali is a doe set free
that bears beautiful fawns.[8]
22 Joseph is a fruitful vine—
a fruitful vine by a spring,
whose branches scale the wall.[9]
23 The archers attacked him with bitterness;
they aimed at him in hostility.
24 Yet he steadied his bow,
and his strong arms were tempered
by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob,
in the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,
25 by the God of your father who helps you,
and by the Almighty [10] who blesses you,
with blessings of the heavens above,
with blessings of the depths below,
with blessings of the breasts and womb.
26 The blessings of your father have surpassed
the blessings of the ancient mountains [11]
and the bounty of the everlasting hills.
- ↑ 5 Or dwelling places
- ↑ 8 Judah sounds like the Hebrew for praise.
- ↑ 10 Or from his descendants
- ↑ 10 Or until the one to whom tribute belongs
- ↑ 14 Or saddlebags or hearths
- ↑ 16 Or Dan shall judge his people; Dan means He has judged or He has vindicated.
- ↑ 19 Gad sounds like the Hebrew for raid and also for band of raiders.
- ↑ 21 Or gives beautiful words or bears fawns of the fold
- ↑ 22 Or Joseph is a wild donkey, a wild donkey by a spring, with his wild colts beside the wall
- ↑ 25 Hebrew Shaddai
- ↑ 26 Or of my ancestors
