1. And Jacob called to his sons, and said, Assemble yourselves, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.
2. Assemble yourselves, and hear, ye sons of Jacob: and hearken to Israel your father.
3. Reuben, thou art my first-born, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellence of dignity, and the excellence of power:
4. Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; then defiledst thou it; he went up to my couch.
5. Simeon and Levi are brethren: instruments of cruelty are in, their habitations.
6. O my soul, come not thou into their secret; to their assembly, my honor, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their self-will they digged down a wall.
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, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise; thy hand shall be on the neck of thy enemies: thy father's children shall bow down before thee.
9. Judah is a lion's whelp; from the prey, my son, thou hast gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion: who shall rouse him up?
10. The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh shall come: and to him shall be the gathering of the people.
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:
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 a haven of ships; and his border shall be to Zidon.
14. Issachar is a strong ass, couching down between two burdens:
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.