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Genesis 49 :: New Living Translation (NLT)

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Jacob’s Last Words to His Sons
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 49:1 - Then 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.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 49:2 - “Come and listen, you sons of Jacob;
listen to Israel, your father.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 49:3 - “Reuben, you are my firstborn, my strength,
the child of my vigorous youth.
You are first in rank and first in power.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 49:4 - But 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.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 49:5 - “Simeon and Levi are two of a kind;
their weapons are instruments of violence.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 49:6 - May 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.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 49:7 - A 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.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 49:8 - “Judah, your brothers will praise you.
You will grasp your enemies by the neck.
All your relatives will bow before you.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 49:9 - Judah, 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?
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 49:10 - The scepter will not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler’s staff from his descendants,[fn]
until the coming of the one to whom it belongs,[fn]
the one whom all nations will honor.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 49:11 - He 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.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 49:12 - His eyes are darker than wine,
and his teeth are whiter than milk.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 49:13 - “Zebulun will settle by the seashore
and will be a harbor for ships;
his borders will extend to Sidon.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 49:14 - “Issachar is a sturdy donkey,
resting between two saddlepacks.[fn]
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 49:15 - When 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.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 49:16 - “Dan will govern his people,
like any other tribe in Israel.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 49:17 - Dan 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.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 49:18 - I trust in you for salvation, O LORD!
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 49:19 - “Gad will be attacked by marauding bands,
but he will attack them when they retreat.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 49:20 - “Asher will dine on rich foods
and produce food fit for kings.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 49:21 - “Naphtali is a doe set free
that bears beautiful fawns.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 49:22 - “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.[fn]
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 49:23 - Archers attacked him savagely;
they shot at him and harassed him.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 49:24 - But 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.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 49:25 - May 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.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 49:26 - May the blessings of your father
surpass the blessings of the ancient mountains,[fn]
reaching to the heights of the eternal hills.
May these blessings rest on the head of Joseph,
who is a prince among his brothers.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 49:27 - “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf,
devouring his enemies in the morning
and dividing his plunder in the evening.”
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 49:28 - These 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
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 49:29 - Then 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.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 49:30 - This is the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in Canaan, that Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite as a permanent burial site.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 49:31 - There Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried. There Isaac and his wife, Rebekah, are buried. And there I buried Leah.
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 49:32 - It is the plot of land and the cave that my grandfather Abraham bought from the Hittites.”
Unchecked Copy BoxGen 49:33 - When Jacob had finished this charge to his sons, he drew his feet into the bed, breathed his last, and joined his ancestors in death.
NLT Footnotes
Hebrew from between his feet.
Or until tribute is brought to him and the peoples obey; traditionally rendered until Shiloh comes.
Or sheepfolds, or hearths.
Or Joseph is a fruitful tree, / a fruitful tree beside a spring. / His branches reach over the wall. The meaning of the Hebrew is uncertain.
Or of my ancestors.
NLT

Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright © 1996, 2004, 2007 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers Inc., Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.

Full copyright information is provided here. Visit the New Living Translation website.

For more information on this translation, see the NLT Preface.

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