124 lines
4.0 KiB
Markdown
124 lines
4.0 KiB
Markdown
Jacob's Last Words to His Sons
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# Chapter 49
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1. And Jacob called his sons and said, "Gather together, that I may tell you what shall befall you in the last days:
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2. "Gather together and hear, you sons of Jacob,
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And listen to Israel your father.
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3. "Reuben, you are my firstborn,
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My might and the beginning of my strength,
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The excellency of dignity and the excellency of power.
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4. Unstable as water, you shall not excel,
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Because you went up to your father's bed;
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Then you defiled it--
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He went up to my couch.
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5. "Simeon and Levi are brothers;
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Instruments of cruelty are in their dwelling place.
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6. Let not my soul enter their council;
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Let not my honor be united to their assembly;
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For in their anger they slew a man,
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And in their self-will they hamstrung an ox.
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7. Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce;
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And their wrath, for it is cruel!
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I will divide them in Jacob
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And scatter them in Israel.
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8. "Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise;
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Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;
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Your father's children shall bow down before you.
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9. Judah is a lion's whelp;
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From the prey, my son, you have gone up.
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He bows down, he lies down as a lion;
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And as a lion, who shall rouse him?
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10. The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
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Nor a lawgiver from between his feet,
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Until Shiloh comes;
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And to Him shall be the obedience of the people.
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11. Binding his donkey to the vine,
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And his donkey's colt to the choice vine,
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He washed his garments in wine,
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And his clothes in the blood of grapes.
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12. His eyes are darker than wine,
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And his teeth whiter than milk.
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13. "Zebulun shall dwell by the haven of the sea;
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He shall become a haven for ships,
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And his border shall adjoin Sidon.
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14. "Issachar is a strong donkey,
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Lying down between two burdens;
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15. He saw that rest was good,
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And that the land was pleasant;
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He bowed his shoulder to bear a burden,
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And became a band of slaves.
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16. "Dan shall judge his people
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As one of the tribes of Israel.
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17. Dan shall be a serpent by the way,
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A viper by the path,
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That bites the horse's heels
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So that its rider shall fall backward.
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18. I have waited for your salvation, O Lord!
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19. "Gad, a troop shall tramp upon him,
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But he shall triumph at last.
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20. "Bread from Asher shall be rich,
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And he shall yield royal dainties.
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21. "Naphtali is a deer let loose;
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He uses beautiful words.
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22. "Joseph is a fruitful bough,
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A fruitful bough by a well;
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His branches run over the wall.
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23. The archers have bitterly grieved him,
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Shot at him and hated him.
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24. But his bow remained in strength,
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And the arms of his hands were made strong
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By the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob
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(From there is the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel),
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25. By the God of your father who will help you,
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And by the Almighty who will bless you
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With blessings of heaven above,
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Blessings of the deep that lies beneath,
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Blessings of the breasts and of the womb.
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26. The blessings of your father
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Have excelled the blessings of my ancestors,
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Up to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills.
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They shall be on the head of Joseph,
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And on the crown of the head of him who was separate from his brothers.
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27. "Benjamin is a ravenous wolf;
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In the morning he shall devour the prey,
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And at night he shall divide the spoil."
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28. All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke to them. And he blessed them; he blessed each one according to his own blessing.
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Jacob's Death and Burial
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29. Then he charged them and said to them: "I am to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,
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30. 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 of Ephron the Hittite as a possession for a burial place.
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31. There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife, there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah.
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32. The field and the cave that is there were purchased from the sons of Heth."
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33. And when Jacob had finished commanding his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed and breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.
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