Genesis 49

All 33 verses in the Clear Bible Translation. Tap a verse to compare the KJV and read what it means.

Read Genesis 49 in the Bible reader, with audio →

1. 1Jacob summoned his sons and said, "Come together so I can reveal what will happen to you in the days to come."
2. 2"Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob; pay attention to Israel, your father."
3. 3"Reuben, you are my firstborn, my vigor, the first sign of my strength, supreme in dignity and supreme in power."
4. 4"Turbulent like water, you will not hold the highest place, because you climbed into your father's bed; you defiled it when you went up onto my couch."
5. 5"Simeon and Levi are brothers; weapons of violence fill their dwelling places."
6. 6O my soul, do not enter their secret; my honor, do not be united with their assembly. For in their anger they killed a man, and in their self-will they dug down a wall.
7. 7"Cursed be their anger, because it was fierce, and their fury, because it was ruthless. I will divide them throughout Jacob and scatter them across Israel."
8. 8"Judah, your brothers will praise you. Your hand will grip the neck of your enemies, and your father's sons will bow down to you."
9. 9"Judah is a young lion. You have risen from the prey, my son. He crouches and lies down like a lion, like an aged lion — who dares disturb him?"
10. 10"The sceptre will not leave Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and the obedience of the nations belongs to him."
11. 11"He ties his donkey to the vine, his donkey's colt to the choicest vine. He washes his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes."
12. 12His eyes will be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.
13. 13"Zebulun will settle by the seashore. He will become a harbor for ships, and his territory will extend toward Zidon."
14. 14"Issachar is a sturdy donkey lying down between two saddlebags."
15. 15"When he saw how good the resting place was and how pleasant the land, he bent his back to carry the load and submitted to forced labor."
16. 16"Dan will provide justice for his people as one of the tribes of Israel."
17. 17"Dan will be a snake beside the road, a viper along the path, that strikes at the horse's heels so that its rider tumbles backward."
18. 18I have waited for your salvation, O LORD.
19. 19"Gad — raiders will attack him, but he will strike back at their heels."
20. 20"Asher's food will be rich, and he will produce delicacies fit for a king."
21. 21"Naphtali is a doe set free; he speaks beautiful words."
22. 22"Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine beside a spring, whose branches climb over the wall."
23. 23"Archers attacked him bitterly, shooting at him and harassing him with hostility."
24. 24"Yet his bow remained steady, and his arms were made strong by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob — from there comes the shepherd, the stone of Israel —"
25. 25"by the God of your father, who will help you, and by the Almighty, who will bless you with blessings from the heavens above, blessings from the deep that lies beneath, blessings of the breasts and of the womb."
26. 26"The blessings of your father have surpassed the blessings of my ancestors, reaching to the farthest limits of the eternal hills. May they rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the one set apart from his brothers."
27. 27"Benjamin is a ravenous wolf. At dawn he devours the prey, and in the evening he divides the plunder."
28. 28These are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke over them. He blessed each one with the blessing suited to him.
29. 29Then he gave them instructions, saying, "I am to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite,"
30. 30the cave in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan — the field that Abraham purchased from Ephron the Hittite as a burial site.
31. 31"Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried there. Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried there. That is also where I buried Leah."
32. 32"The field and the cave within it were bought from the children of Heth."
33. 33After Jacob finished giving these instructions to his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed, breathed his last, and was joined to his people.