1Derefter tilkaldte Jakob alle sine sønner, og de samlede sig omkring ham: „Nu skal jeg fortælle jer, hvordan det vil gå jer fremover.2Kom og hør, I Jakobs sønner, lyt til Israel, jeres far!3Ruben, du min ældste søn, det første skud på stammen, ypperlig i rang og styrke,4men uregerlig som havets bølger. Du mistede din forret som førstefødt, for du gik i seng med din fars kone. Hvilken skændig handling at vanære sin far sådan.5Simeon og Levi, to alen af ét stykke, mænd af vold og vrede ord.6Jeres planer og motiver kan jeg ikke acceptere, i galskab myrdede I mennesker og lemlæstede okser for sjov.7Forbandet være jeres hidsighed, forbandet jeres vrede og vold. I bliver adskilt i Israel, spredt ud over landet.8Juda, dine brødre vil juble, når du tilintetgør dine fjender. Ja, dine brødre skal bøje sig for dig.9Juda er en løve, der vogter over sit bytte. Når han hviler sig, hvem tør da vække ham?10Scepteret skal tilhøre Juda, og han skal herske, indtil den rette hersker kommer,[1] han, som alle folkeslag skal lyde.11Han binder sit æsel til en vinstok og vasker sit tøj i druesaft.12Hans øjne er mørkere end rødvin, hans tænder hvidere end mælk.13Zebulon vil havne ved havet, hans land bliver hjemsted for skibe, det strækker sig helt til Sidon.14Issakar er stærk som et æsel, han hviler sig mellem kvægfoldene.15Når han opdager, hvor godt et sted, han har fundet og hvor frugtbart landet er, tager han villigt åget på skuldrene og arbejder hårdt for føden.16Dan skaffer sit folk deres ret så godt som nogen af Israels stammer.17Han er som en slange på stien, hugger i hestens hæl, så rytteren styrter.18Åh Gud, du er vores redning!19Gad bliver angrebet af omstrejfende bander, men han forfølger og udplyndrer dem.20Asher får en overflod af afgrøder og kan levere til kongens hof.21Naftali løber frit omkring, kommer gerne med smukke ord.[2]22Josef er som en vinstok, plantet ved kilden, hvis ranker spreder sig over muren.23Han blev beskudt med bitterheds pile, hans modstandere behandlede ham hårdt,24men han holdt sin bue med fasthed, hans stærke arme rystede ikke. Han blev hjulpet af Jakobs mægtige Gud, og igennem det blev han en hyrde, en frelser for Israels folk.25Din fars Gud er din hjælper, og den Almægtige velsigner dig med himlens velsignelser ovenfra og jordens velsignelser nedenfra, med ægteskabelige glæder og med mange børn.26Den velsignelse, du får fra din far, overgår de ældgamle bjerges velsignelser og det, de evige høje kan tilbyde. Må disse velsignelser hvile på Josefs hoved, på issen af fyrsten blandt brødre.27Benjamin er som en ulv på rov. Han æder af sit bytte om morgenen og deler ud af sit overskud om aftenen.”28Det var, hvad Jakob sagde til Israels 12 stammeoverhoveder. Hver især fik de deres særlige ord med på vejen.
Jakobs død og begravelse
29Til sidst sagde Jakob til sine sønner: „Nu skal jeg dø. Begrav mig hos mine forfædre i Kana’ans land i hulen på Makpela-marken øst for Mamre, den mark, som Abraham købte af hittitten Efron.30-32I den gravhule ligger Abraham og Sara begravet. Der ligger også Isak og Rebekka, og der har jeg selv begravet Lea.”33Med disse ord til sine sønner udtrykte Jakob sin sidste vilje. Så lagde han sig til rette i sengen og drog sit sidste åndedrag.
1Then Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you what shall happen to you in days to come. (4.Mos 24,14; 5.Mos 4,30; 5.Mos 31,29; 5.Mos 33,6; Es 2,2; Jer 23,20; Dan 2,28; Dan 10,14; Hos 3,5)2“Assemble and listen, O sons of Jacob, listen to Israel your father.3“Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the firstfruits of my strength, preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power. (1.Mos 29,32; 5.Mos 21,17)4Unstable 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! (1.Mos 35,22; 1.Krøn 5,1)5“Simeon and Levi are brothers; weapons of violence are their swords. (1.Mos 29,33; 1.Mos 34,25)6Let my soul come not into their council; O my glory, be not joined to their company. For in their anger they killed men, and in their willfulness they hamstrung oxen. (Josva 11,6; Josva 11,9; 2.Sam 8,4; Salm 16,9; Salm 26,9; Salm 57,8)7Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel. (4.Mos 3,5; Josva 19,1; 1.Krøn 4,24)8“Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down before you. (1.Mos 27,29; 1.Mos 29,35; 1.Krøn 5,2; Job 16,12)9Judah is a lion’s cub; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down; he crouched as a lion and as a lioness; who dares rouse him? (4.Mos 23,24; 4.Mos 24,9; 5.Mos 33,22; Hos 5,14; Åb 5,5)10The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him;[1] and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples. (4.Mos 24,17; 5.Mos 28,57; Zak 10,11)11Binding his foal to the vine and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine, he has washed his garments in wine and his vesture in the blood of grapes.12His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk. (Ord 23,29)13“Zebulun shall dwell at the shore of the sea; he shall become a haven for ships, and his border shall be at Sidon. (5.Mos 1,7; 5.Mos 33,18; Josva 9,1; Josva 19,10; Dom 5,17)14“Issachar is a strong donkey, crouching between the sheepfolds.[2] (Dom 5,16; 1.Krøn 12,32)15He saw that a resting place was good, and that the land was pleasant, so he bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant at forced labor. (Josva 16,10)16“Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. (1.Mos 30,6; 5.Mos 33,22)17Dan shall be a serpent in the way, a viper by the path, that bites the horse’s heels so that his rider falls backward. (Dom 18,27)18I wait for your salvation, O Lord. (Salm 25,5; Salm 119,166; Salm 119,174; Es 25,9; Mika 7,7; Luk 2,25)19“Raiders shall raid Gad,[3] but he shall raid at their heels. (5.Mos 33,20; 1.Krøn 5,18)20“Asher’s food shall be rich, and he shall yield royal delicacies. (5.Mos 33,24)21“Naphtali is a doe let loose that bears beautiful fawns.[4] (5.Mos 33,23)22“Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a spring; his branches run over the wall.[5] (1.Mos 41,52; Josva 17,14; Josva 17,18)23The archers bitterly attacked him, shot at him, and harassed him severely, (1.Mos 37,24; 1.Mos 37,28; 1.Mos 39,20)24yet his bow remained unmoved; his arms[6] were made agile by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob (from there is the Shepherd,[7] the Stone of Israel), (5.Mos 32,4; Job 29,20; Salm 23,1; Salm 80,1; Salm 132,2; Salm 132,5; Es 1,24; Es 28,16; Ef 2,20; 1.Pet 2,4)25by the God of your father who will help you, by the Almighty[8] who will bless you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that crouches beneath, blessings of the breasts and of the womb. (1.Mos 17,1; 1.Mos 35,3; 1.Mos 35,11; 1.Mos 50,17; 5.Mos 33,13)26The blessings of your father are mighty beyond the blessings of my parents, up to the bounties of the everlasting hills.[9] May they be on the head of Joseph, and on the brow of him who was set apart from his brothers. (5.Mos 33,15; 5.Mos 33,16; Hab 3,6)27“Benjamin is a ravenous wolf, in the morning devouring the prey and at evening dividing the spoil.” (Dom 20,21; Dom 20,25; Ez 22,27; Ez 39,10; Zak 14,1)
Jacob’s Death and Burial
28All these are the twelve tribes of Israel. This is what their father said to them as he blessed them, blessing each with the blessing suitable to him.29Then he commanded 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, (1.Mos 23,9; 1.Mos 25,8; 1.Mos 47,30; 1.Mos 49,33; 1.Mos 50,13)30in the cave that is in the field at Machpelah, to the east of Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite to possess as a burying place. (1.Mos 23,16)31There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife. There they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah— (1.Mos 23,19; 1.Mos 25,9; 1.Mos 35,29)32the field and the cave that is in it were bought from the Hittites.”33When Jacob finished commanding his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed and breathed his last and was gathered to his people. (1.Mos 49,29)