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For in their anger they slew men,

And in their self-will they houghed oxen.

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

 

⁸Judah, thee shall thy brethren praise;

Thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies;

Thy father's sons shall bow down before thee.

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 a lioness; who shall rouse him up?

¹⁰The sceptre shall not depart from Judah,

Nor the ruler's staff from between his feet,

As long as men come to Shiloh;

And unto him shall the obedience of the peoples be.

¹¹Binding his foal unto the vine,

And his ass's colt unto the choice vine;

He washeth his garments in wine,

And his vesture in the blood of grapes;

¹²His eyes shall be red with wine,

And his teeth white with milk.

 

¹³Zebulun shall dwell at the shore of the sea,

And he shall be a shore for ships,

And his flank shall be upon Zidon.

 

¹⁴Issachar is a large-boned ass,

Couching down between the sheepfolds.

¹⁵For 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.

 

¹⁶Dan shall judge his people,

As one of the tribes of Israel.

¹⁷Dan shall be a serpent in the way,

A horned snake in the path,

That biteth the horse's heels,

So that his rider falleth backward.

¹⁸I wait for Thy salvation, O Lord.

 

¹⁹Gad, ^[1]a troop ^[2]shall troop upon him;

But he shall troop upon their heel.

 

²⁰As for Asher, his bread shall be fat,

And he shall yield royal dainties.

 

²¹Naphtali is a hind let loose:

He giveth goodly words.

 

²²Joseph is a fruitful vine,

A fruitful vine by a fountain;

Its branches run over the wall.

²³The archers have dealt bitterly with him,

And shot at him, and hated him;

²⁴But his bow abode firm,

And the arms of his hands were made supple,

By the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob,

From thence, from the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel,

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 coucheth beneath,

Blessings of the breasts, and of the womb.

²⁶The blessings of thy father

Are mighty beyond the blessings of my progenitors

1. Heb. gedud.
2. From the Heb. root gadad.

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