And this is the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death.
And he said,
Jehovah came from Sinai,
And rose from Seir unto them;
He shined forth from mount Paran,
And he came from the ten thousands of {Hebrew: holiness.}holy ones:
At his right hand {Or, was fire, a law Or, as otherwise read, were streams for them}was a fiery law for them.
Yea, he loveth the {Or, tribes}people;
All {Or, their holy ones}his saints are in thy hand:
And they sat down at thy feet;
Every one {Or, received}shall receive of thy words.
Moses commanded us a law,
An inheritance for the assembly of Jacob.
And {Or, there was a king}he was king in Jeshurun,
When the heads of the people were gathered,
All the tribes of Israel together.
Let Reuben live, and not die;
{Or, But}Nor let his men be few.
And this is the blessing of Judah: and he said,
Hear, Jehovah, the voice of Judah,
And bring him in unto his people.
{Or, Let his hands be sufficient for them}With his hands he contended {Or, for them}for himself;
And thou shalt be a help against his adversaries.
And of Levi he said,
Thy Thummim and thy Urim are with {Or, him whom thou lovest}thy godly one,
Whom thou didst prove at Massah,
With whom thou didst strive at the waters of Meribah;
Who said of his father, and of his mother, I have not seen him;
Neither did he acknowledge his brethren,
Nor knew he his own children:
For they have observed thy word,
And keep thy covenant.
They shall teach Jacob thine ordinances,
And Israel thy law:
They shall put incense {Hebrew: in thy nostrils.}before thee,
And whole burnt-offering upon thine altar.
Bless, Jehovah, his substance,
And accept the work of his hands:
Smite through the loins of them that rise up against him,
And of them that hate him, that they rise not again.
Of Benjamin he said,
The beloved of Jehovah shall dwell in safety by him;
He covereth him all the day long,
And he dwelleth between his shoulders.
And of Joseph he said,
Blessed of Jehovah be his land,
For the precious things of heaven, for the dew,
And for the deep that coucheth beneath,
And for the precious things of the fruits of the sun,
And for the precious things of the growth of the {Or, months}moons,
And for the chief things of the ancient mountains,
And for the precious things of the everlasting hills,
And for the precious things of the earth and the fulness thereof,
And the good will of him that dwelt in the bush.
Let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph,
And upon the crown of the head of him {Or, that is prince among}that was separate from his brethren.
{Or, His firstling bullock}The firstling of his herd, majesty is his;
And his horns are the horns of the wild-ox:
With them he shall {Or, gore}push the peoples all of them, even the ends of the earth:
And they are the ten thousands of Ephraim,
And they are the thousands of Manasseh.
And of Zebulun he said,
Rejoice, Zebulun, in thy going out;
And, Issachar, in thy tents.
They shall call the peoples unto the mountain;
There shall they offer sacrifices of righteousness:
For they shall suck the abundance of the seas,
And the hidden treasures of the sand.
And of Gad he said,
Blessed be he that enlargeth Gad:
He dwelleth as a lioness,
And teareth the arm, yea, the crown of the head.
And he {Or, chose Hebrew: saw.}provided the first part for himself,
For there was {Or, a ruler's portion}the lawgiver's portion reserved;
And he came {Or, to}with the heads of the people;
He executed the righteousness of Jehovah,
And his ordinances with Israel.
And of Dan he said,
Dan is a lion's whelp,
That leapeth forth from Bashan.
And of Naphtali he said,
O Naphtali, satisfied with favor,
And full with the blessing of Jehovah,
Possess thou the {Or, sea}west and the south.
And of Asher he said,
Blessed be Asher {Or, above sons}with children;
Let him be acceptable unto his brethren,
And let him dip his foot in oil.
Thy {Or, shoes}bars shall be iron and brass;
And as thy days, so shall thy {Or, rest Or, security}strength be.
There is none like unto God, O Jeshurun,
Who rideth upon the heavens for thy help,
And in his excellency on the skies.
The eternal God is thy dwelling-place,
And underneath are the everlasting arms.
And he thrust out the enemy from before thee,
And said, Destroy.
And Israel dwelleth in safety,
The fountain of Jacob alone,
In a land of grain and new wine;
Yea, his heavens drop down dew.
Happy art thou, O Israel:
Who is like unto thee, a people saved by Jehovah,
The shield of thy help,
And the sword of thy excellency!
And thine enemies shall {Or, yield feigned obedience}submit themselves unto thee;
And thou shalt tread upon their high places.
Querverweise zu 5. Mose 33,6 5Mo 33,6
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.
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.
And the children of Gad and the children of Reuben answered, saying, As Jehovah hath said unto thy servants, so will we do.
We will pass over armed before Jehovah into the land of Canaan, and the possession of our inheritance shall remain with us beyond the Jordan.
Then Joshua called the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half-tribe of Manasseh,
and said unto them, Ye have kept all that Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded you, and have hearkened unto my voice in all that I commanded you:
ye have not left your brethren these many days unto this day, but have kept the charge of the commandment of Jehovah your God.
And now Jehovah your God hath given rest unto your brethren, as he spake unto them: therefore now turn ye, and get you unto your tents, unto the land of your possession, which Moses the servant of Jehovah gave you beyond the Jordan.
Only take diligent heed to do the commandment and the law which Moses the servant of Jehovah commanded you, to love Jehovah your God, and to walk in all his ways, and to keep his commandments, and to cleave unto him, and to serve him with all your heart and with all your soul.
So Joshua blessed them, and sent them away; and they went unto their tents.
Now to the one half-tribe of Manasseh Moses had given inheritance in Bashan; but unto the other half gave Joshua among their brethren beyond the Jordan westward. Moreover when Joshua sent them away unto their tents, he blessed them,
and spake unto them, saying, Return with much wealth unto your tents, and with very much cattle, with silver, and with gold, and with brass, and with iron, and with very much raiment: divide the spoil of your enemies with your brethren.
And the children of Reuben and the children of Gad and the half-tribe of Manasseh returned, and departed from the children of Israel out of Shiloh, which is in the land of Canaan, to go unto the land of Gilead, to the land of their possession, whereof they were possessed, according to the commandment of Jehovah by Moses.