Genesis 49
49
Jacob’s Prophecy concerning His Sons
1Then Jacob summoned his sons and said, “Assemble yourselves, so that I may tell you what will happen to you in the #49:1 Lit end of the daysdays to come.
2“Gather together and listen, sons of Jacob;
Yes, listen to Israel your father.
3¶“Reuben, you are my firstborn,
My might and the beginning of my strength,
Preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power.
4“#49:4 Or Gushing overUncontrollable as water, you shall not have preeminence,
Because you went up to your father’s bed;
Then you defiled it—he went up to my couch.
5¶“Simeon and Levi are brothers;
Their #49:5 Or plans; meaning uncertainswords are implements of violence.
6“May my soul not enter into their council;
May my glory not be united with their assembly;
For in their anger they killed #49:6 Lit a manmen,
And in their self-will they lamed #49:6 Lit an oxoxen.
7“Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce;
And their wrath, for it is cruel.
I will scatter them in Jacob,
And disperse them among Israel.
8¶“As for you, Judah, your brothers shall praise you;
Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;
Your father’s sons shall bow down to you.
9“Judah is a lion’s cub;
From the prey, my son, you have gone up.
He #49:9 Lit bows downcrouches, he lies down as a lion,
And as a #49:9 Lit lionesslion, who #49:9 Lit shalldares to stir him up?
10“The scepter will not depart from Judah,
Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,
# 49:10 Or Until he comes to Shiloh; or Until he comes to whom it belongs Until Shiloh comes,
And to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.
11“He ties his foal to the vine,
And his donkey’s colt to the choice vine;
He washes his garments in wine,
And his robes in the blood of grapes.
12“His eyes are #49:12 Or darker thandull from wine,
And his teeth #49:12 Or whiter thanwhite from milk.
13¶“Zebulun will reside at the seashore;
And he shall be #49:13 Lit a shore of shipsa harbor for ships,
And his flank shall be toward Sidon.
14¶“Issachar is a #49:14 Lit donkey of bonestrong donkey,
Lying down between the sheepfolds.
15“When he saw that a resting place was good
And that the land was pleasant,
He bowed his shoulder to carry burdens,
And became a slave at forced labor.
16¶“Dan shall judge his people,
As one of the tribes of Israel.
17“Dan shall be a serpent in the way,
A horned viper in the path,
That bites the horse’s heels,
So that its rider falls backward.
18“For Your salvation I wait, Lord.
19¶“As for Gad, a band of raiders shall attack him,
But he will attack at their #49:19 Lit heelheels.
20¶“#49:20 Lit FromAs for Asher, his #49:20 Or breadfood shall be #49:20 Lit fatrich,
And he will yield royal delicacies.
21¶“Naphtali is a doe let loose;
He utters beautiful words.
22¶“Joseph is a fruitful #49:22 Lit sonbranch,
A fruitful #49:22 Lit sonbranch by a spring;
Its #49:22 Lit daughtersbranches hang over a wall.
23“The archers provoked him,
And shot at him and were hostile toward him;
24But his bow remained #49:24 I.e., in an unyielding positionfirm,
And #49:24 Lit the arms of his handshis arms were agile,
From the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob
(From there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel),
25From the God of your father who helps you,
And #49:25 Or withby the #49:25 Heb ShaddaiAlmighty who blesses you
With blessings of heaven above,
Blessings of the deep that lies beneath,
Blessings of the breasts and of the womb.
26“The blessings of your father
Have surpassed the blessings of my ancestors
Up to the #49:26 Lit limit; or desirefurthest boundary of the everlasting hills;
May they be on the head of Joseph,
And on the top of the head of the one distinguished among his brothers.
27¶“Benjamin is a #49:27 Lit a wolf that tearsravenous wolf;
In the morning he devours the prey,
And in the evening he divides the spoils.”
28All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them #49:28 Lit andwhen he blessed them. He blessed them, every one #49:28 Lit according to his blessingwith the blessing appropriate to him.
Jacob Dies
29Then he commanded them and said to them, “I am about to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 30in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is opposite Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought along with the field from Ephron the Hittite as a #49:30 Lit possession of a burial placeburial site. 31There they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah, there they buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah, and there I buried Leah— 32the field and the cave that is in it, purchased from the sons of Heth.” 33When Jacob finished commanding his sons, he drew his feet into the bed and breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.
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Genesis 49: NASB2020
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Genesis 49
49
Jacob told his sons about things that will happen later on
1Then Jacob sent somebody to bring all his sons to him. And Jacob said to his sons, “Come to me, all of you, and I will tell you about the things that will happen to you and your families. These things will happen later on. 2Come near to me, my sons. I am your father Jacob, and my other name is Israel. Listen to me.”
Jacob talked to Reuben
3Then Jacob said,
“Reuben, you are my oldest son.
You were born first. You were born at that time when I was a strong young man.
You were the most important and the most powerful of all my sons.
4But then you went and did whatever you wanted, just like the wild water in the sea.
You took one of my wives, and you slept with her, like a man sleeps with his wife.
That was a wrong and dirty thing you did. You made me really shamed.
So you will not be my most important son any more.”
Jacob talked about Simeon and Levi
5Then Jacob said,
“Simeon and Levi are just like each other.
They both like to fight, and they use long knives to hurt people and kill them.
6They got really angry, so they killed a big mob of men.
They are like people that caught a lot of cows and cut their legs, for no reason.
They make secret plans, but I will not do that with them.
I will not go with them to do bad things.
7I’m asking God to curse Simeon and Levi, because they are really angry men, and they properly hurt people.
So God will split up their tribes, and he will send their people all over the land.
He will mix them up with all the other tribes of the Israel nation.”
Jacob talked to Judah
8Then Jacob said,
“Judah, your tribe will fight against their enemies, and your tribe will win.
Then the tribes of all your brothers, they will say that your tribe is really great,
and they will bend down in front of your tribe, to show them respect.”
9Jacob also said,
“My son Judah is like a strong young lion,
like a lion that fought another animal and won,
like a lion that killed an animal and ate it.
He is like a lion that lies down to sleep,
and nobody is brave enough to wake it up.#Numbers 24:9; Revelation 5:5
10Judah’s tribe will always be important and powerful.
Leaders and big bosses will come from his tribe.
People from other countries will bring them gifts.
And people from different nations will respect them and do what they say.
11Judah’s land will be full of good grape vines.
His tribe will even tie their donkeys to those grape vines, so that the donkeys can eat the grapes.
They will make lots of grape juice and wine.
They will have even more grape juice and wine than water.
12There will be enough wine for everybody in Judah’s land,
and they will all have lots of milk to drink.”
Jacob talked about Zebulun
13Then Jacob said,
“Zebulun’s tribe will set up their camp next to the sea,
and it will be a safe place for ships.
The north bit of Zebulun’s land will be near the town called Sidon, in Fonisha country.”
Jacob talked about Issachar
14Then Jacob said,
“Issachar is like a strong donkey,
like a donkey with bags on its back, that lies down to rest.
15His tribe will see a country where the land is really good,
and they will want to live in that land.
So they will agree to work for the people that own that country,
and those people will make them work really hard.”
Jacob talked about Dan
16Then Jacob said,
“Dan’s tribe will have their own bosses, just like all the other tribes of the Israel nation.
Those bosses from Dan’s tribe, they will be good and fair to the people.
17Dan’s tribe will be smart, just like a clever snake.
They will wait for their enemies, like a snake hiding beside the road.
They will attack their enemies, and they will win against those enemies,
like a snake that bites a horse’s leg, so that the man on the horse will fall down.”
Jacob talked to God
18Then Jacob said, “God, I am waiting for you to save us.”
Jacob talked about Gad
19Then Jacob said,
“Bad men will attack Gad’s tribe, and those bad men will try to steal Gad’s things,
but Gad’s tribe will fight back and attack those men, and those men will run away.”
Jacob talked about Asher
20Then Jacob said,
“Asher’s land will grow really good food.
That food will be so good, rich bosses will pay a lot of money to eat it.”
Jacob talked about Naphtali
21Then Jacob said,
“Naphtali is like a wild animal called a deer,
that is free to run wherever it wants,
and has really pretty babies.”
Jacob talked about Joseph
22Then Jacob said,
“Lots of people will be born into Joseph’s family.
Yes, Joseph’s family will grow big, just like a grape vine that grows near a spring of water,
and has lots of fruit.
Its branches are so long, they grow over a big wall.
23Joseph’s enemies hated him,
they attacked him and made trouble for him.
24But he didn’t give up,
God helped him to stand strong.
Yes, God, my God, he is the one that has all the power.
God looks after his people properly, just like a man looks after his sheep properly.
God is like solid rock, he keeps his people safe.”
25Jacob kept on talking to Joseph. He said,
“My God will help you.
God has power over everything, and he will be good to you.
He will make rain come down from the sky,
and he will make water come up from springs under the ground,
so that your land will grow really good food.
You will have lots of kids and grand-kids,
and your animals will have lots of babies.
26I know that God will give you all those good things,
and they will be better than anything the old mountains can give you,
better than anything else on the earth.”
Then Jacob said,
“Joseph, you are more special than all your brothers,
so I’m asking God to give you all those good things.”
Jacob talked about Benjamin
27Then Jacob said,
“Benjamin’s tribe will be like a wild dog that is really hungry.
In the morning, they will kill their enemies and grab all their good things,
and in the night time, they will share those good things with each other.”
28In that way, Jacob talked to his 12 sons, and he told them about things that will happen to them and their families later on. He said different things to each of his sons, and those things that he said were right for each one of them.
You know, later on, Jacob’s 12 sons became the grand-fathers of the 12 tribes in the Israel mob.
Jacob told his sons to bury his body in a cave
29-30Then Jacob said to his sons, “I am going to die very soon. After I die, I want you mob to bury my body in that cave in Canaan country. My father’s body and my grand-father’s body are already in that cave. That cave is on some land in the place called Makpelah, to the east of Mamreh, in Canaan country. That land used to belong to a man from the Heth tribe, called Efron. My grand-father Abraham, he bought that land from Efron, to use as a grave.#Genesis 23:3-20 31And Abraham buried his wife Sarah there. Some time later, Abraham died, and they buried him in that same place. My father Isaac and his wife Rebekah, they are buried there too. And I also buried my wife Leah there.#Genesis 25:9-10; 35:29 32That land and that cave, they used to belong to the Heth people, but now that place belongs to our family.”
33Jacob finished saying all those things to his sons, and he lay down on his bed. Then he breathed for the last time, and he died.#Acts 7:15
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