GENESIS 49 - English NLT

Jacob’s Last Words to His Sons

Verse 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.

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

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

Verse 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.

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

Verse 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.

Verse 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.

Verse 8:
“Judah, your brothers will praise you.
You will grasp your enemies by the neck.
All your relatives will bow before you.

Verse 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?

Verse 10:
The 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.

Verse 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.

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

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

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

Verse 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.

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

Verse 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.

Verse 18:
I trust in you for salvation, O Lord!

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

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

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

Verse 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.

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

Verse 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.

Verse 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.

Verse 26:
May 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.

Verse 27:
“Benjamin is a ravenous wolf,
devouring his enemies in the morning
and dividing his plunder in the evening.”

Verse 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

Verse 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.

Verse 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.

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

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

Verse 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.






Holy Bible, New Living Translation copyright 1996, 2004, 2007, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation.