Catholic Public Domain Version

Genesis 49:21-29 Catholic Public Domain Version (CPDV)

21. Naphtali is a stag sent forth, offering words of eloquent beauty.

22. Joseph is a growing son, a growing son and stately to behold; the daughters run back and forth on the wall.

23. But those who held darts, provoked him, and they contend with him, and they envied him.

24. His bow sits in strength, and the bands of his arms and hands have been let loose by the hands of the mighty one of Jacob. From there he went forth as a pastor, the stone of Israel.

25. The God of your father will be your helper, and the Almighty will bless you with the blessings of heaven above, with the blessings of the abyss that lies beneath, with the blessings of the breasts and of the womb.

26. The blessings of your father are strengthened by the blessings of his fathers, until the desire of the hills of eternity shall arrive. May they be at the head of Joseph, and at the summit of the Nazarite, among his brothers.

27. Benjamin is a ravenous wolf, in the morning he will eat the prey, and in the evening he will divide the spoil."

28. All these are the twelve tribes of Israel. These things their father spoke to them, and he blessed each one with their proper blessings.

29. And he instructed them, saying: "I am being gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the double cave, which is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,