And Jacob called unto his sons, and said: Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the latter days.
Assemble yourselves, and hear, ye sons of Jacob;
And hearken unto Israel your father.
Reuben, thou art my first-born, my might, and the {Or, first-fruits}beginning of my strength;
The pre-eminence of dignity, and the pre-eminence of power.
Boiling over as water, {Or, have not thou}thou shalt not have the pre-eminence;
Because thou wentest up to thy father's bed;
Then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.
Simeon and Levi are brethren;
Weapons of violence are their {Or, compacts}swords.
O my soul, come not thou into their {Or, secret}council;
Unto their assembly, my glory, be not thou united;
For in their anger they slew {Or, men}a man,
And in their self-will they hocked {Or, oxen}an ox.
Cursed 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.
Judah, thee shall thy brethren praise:
Thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies;
Thy father's sons shall bow down before thee.
Judah 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?
The sceptre shall not depart from Judah,
Nor {Or, a lawgiver}the ruler's staff from between his feet,
{Or, Til he come to Shiloh, having the obedience of the peoples Or, according to Syriac, Til he come whose it is &c.}Until Shiloh come:
And unto him shall the obedience of the peoples be.
Binding his foal unto the vine,
And his ass's colt unto the choice vine;
He hath washed his garments in wine,
And his vesture in the blood of grapes:
His eyes shall be red with wine,
And his teeth white with milk.
Zebulun shall dwell at the {Hebrew: beach.}haven of the sea;
And he shall be for a {Hebrew: beach.}haven of ships;
And his border shall be {Or, by}upon Sidon.
Issachar is a strong ass,
Couching down between the sheepfolds:
And he saw {Or, rest}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.
Dan shall judge his people,
As one of the tribes of Israel.
Dan shall be a serpent in the way,
An {Or, horned snake}adder in the path,
That biteth the horse's heels,
So that his rider falleth backward.
I have waited for thy salvation, O Jehovah.
Gad, {Hebrew: gedud, a marauding band.}a troop {Hebrew: gad, to press.}shall press upon him;
But he shall press upon their heel.
Out of Asher his bread shall be fat,
And he shall yield royal dainties.
Naphtali is a hind let loose:
He giveth goodly words.
Joseph is {Hebrew: the son of a fruitful tree.}a fruitful bough,
A fruitful bough by a fountain;
His {Hebrew: daughters.}branches run over the wall.
The archers have sorely grieved him,
And shot at him, and persecuted him:
But his bow abode in strength,
And the arms of his hands were made {Or, active}strong,
By the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob
( {Or, From hence from the shepherd Or, as otherwise read, By the name of the shepherd}From thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel),
Even 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.
The blessings of thy father
Have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors
Unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills:
They shall be on the head of Joseph,
And on the crown of the head of him {Or, that is prince among}that was separate from his brethren.
Benjamin is a wolf that raveneth:
In the morning she shall devour the prey,
And at even he shall divide the spoil.
All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it that their father spake unto them and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them.
And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,
in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a burying-place.
There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah—
the field and the cave that is therein, which was purchased from the children of Heth.
And when Jacob made an end of charging his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.
Querverweise zu 1. Mose 49,6 1Mo 49,6
The river Kishon swept them away,That ancient river, the river Kishon.O my soul, {Or, thou hast trodden down strength}march on with strength.
And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me, to make me odious to the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and, I being few in number, they will gather themselves together against me and smite me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house.
Cursed be he that smiteth his neighbor in secret. And all the people shall say, Amen.
{Or, Happy}Blessed is the man that walketh not in the counsel of the wicked,Nor standeth in the way of sinners,Nor sitteth in the seat of scoffers:
Therefore my heart is glad, and my glory rejoiceth;My flesh also shall dwell {Or, confidently}in safety.
And it came to pass on the third day, when they were sore, that two of the sons of Jacob, Simeon and Levi, Dinah's brethren, took each man his sword, and came upon the city {Or, boldly}unawares, and slew all the males.
Why art thou {Hebrew: bowed down.}cast down, O my soul?And why art thou disquieted within me?Hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise himFor the help of his countenance.
Hold them guilty, O God;Let them fall {Or, from their counsels}by their own counsels;Thrust them out in the multitude of their transgressions;For they have rebelled against thee.
{Or, Take not away}Gather not my soul with sinners,Nor my life with men of blood;
{Or, Take not away}Gather not my soul with sinners,Nor my life with men of blood;
To the end that my glory may sing praise to thee, and not be silent.O Jehovah my God, I will give thanks unto thee for ever.
And they slew Hamor and Shechem his son with the edge of the sword, and took Dinah out of Shechem's house, and went forth.
Why art thou cast down, O my soul?And why art thou disquieted within me?Hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise him,Who is the help of my countenance, and my God.
I have not sat with men of falsehood;Neither will I go in with dissemblers.
Hide me from the secret counsel of evil-doers,From the {Or, throng}tumult of the workers of iniquity;
Shall the {Or, seat}throne of wickedness have fellowship with thee,Which frameth mischief by statute?
Awake up, my glory; awake, psaltery and harp:I myself {Or, will awake the dawn}will awake right early.
And Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, Ye have troubled me, to make me odious to the inhabitants of the land, among the Canaanites and the Perizzites: and, I being few in number, they will gather themselves together against me and smite me; and I shall be destroyed, I and my house.
Why art thou cast down, O my soul?And why art thou disquieted within me?Hope thou in God; for I shall yet praise him,Who is the help of my countenance, and my God.
I hate the assembly of evil-doers,And will not sit with the wicked.
I sat not in the assembly of them that make merry, nor rejoiced; I sat alone because of thy hand; for thou hast filled me with indignation.
Be not unequally yoked with unbelievers: for what fellowship have righteousness and iniquity? or what communion hath light with darkness?
A Psalm of David.Bless Jehovah, O my soul;And all that is within me, bless his holy name.
Draw me not away with the wicked,And with the workers of iniquity;That speak peace with their neighbors,But mischief is in their hearts.
My anguish, my anguish! {Another reading is, I will wait patiently}I am pained at {Hebrew: the walls of my heart.}my very heart; my heart is disquieted in me; I cannot hold my peace; because {Or, as otherwised read, my soul heareth}thou hast heard, O my soul, the sound of the trumpet, the alarm of war.
Shall the {Or, seat}throne of wickedness have fellowship with thee,Which frameth mischief by statute?
And I will say to my {Or, life}soul, {Or, life}Soul, thou hast much goods laid up for many years; take thine ease, eat, drink, be merry.
They gather themselves together against the soul of the righteous,And condemn the innocent blood.
{Or, Oh that thou wouldest slay}Surely thou wilt slay the wicked, O God:Depart from me therefore, ye bloodthirsty men.
If they say, Come with us,Let us lay wait for blood;Let us lurk privily for the innocent without cause;
My son, walk not thou in the way with them;Refrain thy foot from their path:
For their feet run to evil,And they make haste to shed blood.
The thoughts of the righteous are just;But the counsels of the wicked are deceit.