Genesis 49

¹Then Jacob called for his sons and said, “Gather around so that I can tell you what will happen to you in the days to come:

²Come together and listen, O sons of Jacob; listen to your father Israel.

³Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power.

⁴Uncontrolled as the waters, you will no longer excel, because you went up to your father’s bed, onto my couch, and defiled it.

⁵Simeon and Levi are brothers; their swords are weapons of violence.

⁶May I never enter their council; may I never join their assembly. For they kill men in their anger, and hamstring oxen on a whim.

⁷Cursed be their anger, for it is strong, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will disperse them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.

⁸Judah, your brothers shall praise you. Your hand shall be on the necks of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down to you.

⁹Judah is a young lion—my son, you return from the prey. Like a lion he crouches and lies down; like a lioness, who dares to rouse him?

¹⁰The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes and the allegiance of the nations is his.

¹¹He ties his donkey to the vine, his colt to the choicest branch. He washes his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes.

¹²His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth are whiter than milk.