1 Jacob blesses his sons
1 And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may Deut. 33:1;Amos 3:7tell you that which shall befall you Deut. 4:30;Is. 39:6;Jer. 23:20;Heb. 1:2in the last days.
2 Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; 2 And hearken unto Israel your father.
3 Reuben, thou art ch. 29:32my firstborn, 3 My might, and the beginning of my strength, 3 The excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:
4 Unstable as water, [a]thou shalt not excel; 4 Because thou ch. 35:22;Deut. 27:20wentest up to thy father's bed; 4 Then defiledst thou it: [b]he went up to my couch.
5 ch. 29:33,34Simeon and Levi are brethren; 5 [c]Instruments of cruelty are in their habitations.
6 O my soul, Prov. 1:15,16come not thou into their secret; 6 Ps. 26:9;Eph. 5:11Unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: 6 For ch. 34:26in their anger they slew a man, 6 And in their selfwill they [d]digged down a wall.
7 Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; 7 And their wrath, for it was cruel: 7 I will divide them in Jacob, 7 And scatter them in Israel.
8 Deut. 33:7Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: 8 Ps. 18:40Thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; 8 1 Chr. 5:2Thy father's children shall bow down before thee.
9 Judah is Rev. 5:5a lion's whelp: 9 From the prey, my son, thou art gone up: 9 Num. 23:24;& 24:9He stooped down, he couched as a lion, 9 And as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?
10 Num. 24:17;Jer. 30:21The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, 10 Nor Ps. 60:7a lawgiver from between his feet, 10 Is. 11:1;Mat. 21:9Until Shiloh come; 10 Is. 60:1-5;Luke 2:30-32And unto him shall the gathering of the people be.
11 Binding his foal unto the vine, 11 And his ass's colt unto the choice vine; 11 He washed his garments in wine, 11 And his clothes in the blood of grapes:
12 His eyes shall be red with wine, 12 And his teeth white with milk.
13 Deut. 33:18,19;Josh. 19:10,11Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; 13 And he shall be for a haven of ships; 13 And his border shall be unto Zidon.
14 Issachar is a strong ass 14 Couching down between two burdens:
15 And he saw that rest was good, 15 And the land that it was pleasant; 15 And bowed 1 Sam. 10:9his shoulder to bear, 15 And became a servant unto tribute.
16 Deut. 33:22Dan shall judge his people, 16 As one of the tribes of Israel.
17 Judg. 18:27Dan shall be a serpent by the way, 17 [e]An adder in the path, 17 That biteth the horse heels, 17 So that his rider shall fall backward.
18 Ps. 25:5;Is. 25:9I have waited for thy salvation, O Lord.
19 Deut. 33:20;1 Chr. 5:18Gad, a troop shall overcome him: 19 But he shall overcome at the last.
20 Deut. 33:24;Josh. 19:24Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, 20 And he shall yield royal dainties.
21 Deut. 33:23Naphtali is a hind let loose: 21 He giveth goodly words.
22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, 22 Even a fruitful bough by a well; 22 Whose [f]branches run over the wall.
23 The archers have ch. 37:4,24;Ps. 118:13sorely grieved him, 23 And shot at him, and hated him:
24 But his Job 29:20;Ps. 37:15bow abode in strength, 24 And the arms of his hands were made strong 24 By the hands of Ps. 132:2,5the mighty God of Jacob; 24 (ch. 45:11;& 47:12From thence Ps. 80:1is the shepherd, Is. 28:16the stone of Israel:)
25 ch. 28:13;& 35:3;& 43:23Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; 25 ch. 17:1;& 35:11And by the Almighty, Deut. 33:13who shall bless thee 25 With blessings of heaven above, 25 Blessings of the deep that lieth under, 25 Blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:
26 The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors 26 Deut. 33:15;Hab. 3:6Unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: 26 Deut. 33:16They shall be on the head of Joseph, 26 And on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.
27 Benjamin shall Judg. 20:21,25ravin as a wolf: 27 In the morning he shall devour the prey, 27 Num. 23:24;Esth. 8:11;Ezek. 39:10;Zech. 14:1And at night he shall divide the spoil.
28 The death of Jacob
28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it that their father spake unto them, and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them.
29 And he charged them, and said unto them, I ch. 15:15;& 25:8am to be gathered unto my people: ch. 47:30;2 Sam. 19:37bury me with my fathers ch. 50:13in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,
30 In the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, ch. 23:16which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a buryingplace.
31 ch. 23:19;& 25:9There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; ch. 35:29there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah.
32 The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth.
33 And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and ver. 29was gathered unto his people.
