American King James Version - AKJV - 1999
Genesis 49
1
And Jacob called to his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.
Reference
2
Gather yourselves together, and hear, you sons of Jacob; and listen to Israel your father.
Reference
Parallel theme
Psalm 34:11
3
Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:
Reference
4
Unstable as water, you shall not excel; because you went up to your father's bed; then defiled you it: he went up to my couch.
Reference
5
Simeon and Levi are brothers; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations.
6
O my soul, come not you into their secret; to their assembly, my honor, be not you united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their self-will they dig down a wall.
Reference
7
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.
8
Judah, you are he whom your brothers shall praise: your hand shall be in the neck of your enemies; your father's children shall bow down before you.
Reference
Parallel theme
Hebrews 7:14
1 Chronicles 5:2
Genesis 27:29
Deuteronomy 33:7
Joshua 10:24
Resurrection
Genesis 29:35
9
Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, you are gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?
Reference
10
The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and to him shall the gathering of the people be.
Reference
11
Binding his foal to the vine, and his ass's colt to the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes:
Reference
12
His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.
13
Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be for an haven of ships; and his border shall be to Zidon.
Reference
Parallel theme
Genesis 30:20
15
And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant to tribute.
17
Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that bites the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.
Reference
Parallel theme
1 Chronicles 12:35
18
I have waited for your salvation, O LORD.
Reference
Parallel theme
1 Thessalonians 1:10
References Lord
Psalm 130:5
Psalm 40:1
Salvation
Psalm 119:174
Psalm 119:166
Isaiah 25:9
Micah 7:7
Psalm 14:7
Psalm 85:7
Matthew 1:21
22
Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:
Reference
24
But his bow stayed in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)
Reference
Parallel theme
Job 29:20
Psalm 118:22
Ephesians 2:20
References God
Psalm 132:2
Isaiah 28:16
Psalm 132:5
Psalm 18:30
Genesis 45:5
References Israel
Psalm 80:1
Isaiah 1:24
25
Even by the God of your father, who shall help you; and by the Almighty, who shall bless you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:
Reference
Parallel theme
Deuteronomy 8:17
Psalm 85:12
References God
Genesis 28:13
Genesis 35:11
Philippians 4:19
1 Timothy 4:8
Genesis 27:28
Genesis 43:23
Sin
Deuteronomy 33:1
Ephesians 1:3
26
The blessings of your father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors to the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brothers.
Reference
Eternal Life
Habakkuk 3:6
27
Benjamin shall shred as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.
Reference
28
All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it that their father spoke to them, and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them.
Reference
Parallel theme
Acts 26:7
Numbers 23:24
Esther 8:7
Esther 8:9
Esther 8:11
References Israel
Revelation 7:4
Genesis 35:22
1 Kings 18:31
29
And 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,
Reference
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 for a possession of a burial plot.
31
There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah.
Reference
32
The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth.
Summary of Genesis 49
Genesis chapter forty-nine concludes the saga of Jacob's life with a final remarkable scene: a dying father calling all his twelve sons together to talk over each in turn, blessing and, in some cases, giving some blistering rebukes.
Jacob calls them to him and tells them to gather around that he might declare what will happen to them in the years to come. What he proceeds to say is not so much a blessing, though there is that, but is much more personal, being based on their individuality, and not afraid to point out past failures as much as offer the hope of a bright future.
He begins with Reuben, the firstborn, who should have held his honored place had it not been for his fickle nature, which Jacob exposes in his verse to his son which begins turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel, for you went up onto your father's bed, referring to the episode in chapter thirty-five when young Reuben slept with the concubine Bilhah, and Jacob knows it happened.
Simeon and Levi are grouped together and he speaks of weapons of violence as their swords, and the curse of their anger so fierce and their fury so cruel, referring to the massacre of the Shechemites in chapter thirty-four, when in revenge for the rape of Dinah they butchered the men and women of the nearby town. Their punishment was being scattered among the other tribes, and they indeed proved to be much less prominent in later years, each going their separate ways, and this appears to be what Jacob means when he says I will disperse them throughout Israel.
Judah is next and the tone changes completely, as Jacob compliments his son saying Judah, your brothers will praise you, your hand will be on the neck of your enemies, your father's sons will bow down to you. He calls Judah a lion's cub, and predicts that the scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come, and the obedience of the nations shall be his, which is clearly one of the most significant verses in the whole of scripture, as the scepter of authority, symbolizing the kingship of Israel, is predicted to come from Judah's line, which it did in David, and ultimately in later Christian readings, to far more, a divine fulfillment of Messianic hopes.
All the other sons get their sayings, which are far more succinct, but still contain images and metaphors that reflect their individual characters. Zebulun will live by the seashore, and be a haven for ships, Issachar is a rawboned donkey lying down between two saddlebags, who is content with his pleasant land and will bend his shoulder to hard labor rather than fight for more, Dan will be the judge of his people, but is also a serpent by the road, a viper in the path, who strikes at the horse at its heels, making the rider fall backward, and Jacob here begins what sounds like a prayer, for he says I look for your deliverance, Lord, in the midst of his rebuke to Dan, something of a moment's humanity in this otherwise poetic flow.
Gad will be attacked by raiders but will strike them at the heels, Asher's land will bring forth food fit for a king, and Naphtali is a doe set free, which bears beautiful fawns, or perhaps, in some manuscripts, a source of beautiful words.
Joseph gets a long blessing, which shows how favored he was by his father, and he is likened to a fruitful vine, whose clusters of grapes hang over a spring, whose tendrils climb up and over a wall. The archers shot at him furiously, but his bow did not fail him, and his arms, made strong by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, were agile. Then follow blessings of the heavens above, the deep springs below, the breast and womb, and blessings that come beyond the ancient mountains and the abundance of the everlasting hills. Let these blessings rest on the head of Joseph, and on the brow of the prince among his brothers, is Jacob's final hope.
Benjamin is a ravening wolf, devouring the prey in the morning, and dividing the plunder in the evening, just a snippet of a strong and fierce people his descendents would become.
This chapter reveals these to be the twelve tribes of Israel, and that this is what their father spoke to them, blessing each according to the blessing appropriate to him. Note the words appropriate to him for the closing lines, for his sons have each been rebuked or blessed according to their individuality.
And so Jacob ends his tremendous saga of deceit and struggle, and his final words to his sons are not merely words of blessing, but are much more personal, as he speaks to each one individually, telling them what he foresees for their lives, and the good and bad he sees in each. After he finishes, he charges them to bury him with his fathers, in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite, the cave of Machpelah, near Mamre in Canaan, the field Abraham purchased as a burial ground, where Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Leah are buried, the latter by Jacob himself. Seventeen years he had spent in Egypt, and his heart still longed for the land of promise his ancestors had coveted, and he makes this his final request as well, just as Isaac and Abraham had done before him.
He breathed his last in peace, having told them what he wished for his sons' graves, and having lived a life of deception, danger, loss and comfort, and his end came quietly.
Jacob calls them to him and tells them to gather around that he might declare what will happen to them in the years to come. What he proceeds to say is not so much a blessing, though there is that, but is much more personal, being based on their individuality, and not afraid to point out past failures as much as offer the hope of a bright future.
He begins with Reuben, the firstborn, who should have held his honored place had it not been for his fickle nature, which Jacob exposes in his verse to his son which begins turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel, for you went up onto your father's bed, referring to the episode in chapter thirty-five when young Reuben slept with the concubine Bilhah, and Jacob knows it happened.
Simeon and Levi are grouped together and he speaks of weapons of violence as their swords, and the curse of their anger so fierce and their fury so cruel, referring to the massacre of the Shechemites in chapter thirty-four, when in revenge for the rape of Dinah they butchered the men and women of the nearby town. Their punishment was being scattered among the other tribes, and they indeed proved to be much less prominent in later years, each going their separate ways, and this appears to be what Jacob means when he says I will disperse them throughout Israel.
Judah is next and the tone changes completely, as Jacob compliments his son saying Judah, your brothers will praise you, your hand will be on the neck of your enemies, your father's sons will bow down to you. He calls Judah a lion's cub, and predicts that the scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come, and the obedience of the nations shall be his, which is clearly one of the most significant verses in the whole of scripture, as the scepter of authority, symbolizing the kingship of Israel, is predicted to come from Judah's line, which it did in David, and ultimately in later Christian readings, to far more, a divine fulfillment of Messianic hopes.
All the other sons get their sayings, which are far more succinct, but still contain images and metaphors that reflect their individual characters. Zebulun will live by the seashore, and be a haven for ships, Issachar is a rawboned donkey lying down between two saddlebags, who is content with his pleasant land and will bend his shoulder to hard labor rather than fight for more, Dan will be the judge of his people, but is also a serpent by the road, a viper in the path, who strikes at the horse at its heels, making the rider fall backward, and Jacob here begins what sounds like a prayer, for he says I look for your deliverance, Lord, in the midst of his rebuke to Dan, something of a moment's humanity in this otherwise poetic flow.
Gad will be attacked by raiders but will strike them at the heels, Asher's land will bring forth food fit for a king, and Naphtali is a doe set free, which bears beautiful fawns, or perhaps, in some manuscripts, a source of beautiful words.
Joseph gets a long blessing, which shows how favored he was by his father, and he is likened to a fruitful vine, whose clusters of grapes hang over a spring, whose tendrils climb up and over a wall. The archers shot at him furiously, but his bow did not fail him, and his arms, made strong by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, were agile. Then follow blessings of the heavens above, the deep springs below, the breast and womb, and blessings that come beyond the ancient mountains and the abundance of the everlasting hills. Let these blessings rest on the head of Joseph, and on the brow of the prince among his brothers, is Jacob's final hope.
Benjamin is a ravening wolf, devouring the prey in the morning, and dividing the plunder in the evening, just a snippet of a strong and fierce people his descendents would become.
This chapter reveals these to be the twelve tribes of Israel, and that this is what their father spoke to them, blessing each according to the blessing appropriate to him. Note the words appropriate to him for the closing lines, for his sons have each been rebuked or blessed according to their individuality.
And so Jacob ends his tremendous saga of deceit and struggle, and his final words to his sons are not merely words of blessing, but are much more personal, as he speaks to each one individually, telling them what he foresees for their lives, and the good and bad he sees in each. After he finishes, he charges them to bury him with his fathers, in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite, the cave of Machpelah, near Mamre in Canaan, the field Abraham purchased as a burial ground, where Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Leah are buried, the latter by Jacob himself. Seventeen years he had spent in Egypt, and his heart still longed for the land of promise his ancestors had coveted, and he makes this his final request as well, just as Isaac and Abraham had done before him.
He breathed his last in peace, having told them what he wished for his sons' graves, and having lived a life of deception, danger, loss and comfort, and his end came quietly.