¹And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.

 ²Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father.

 ³Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:

 ⁴Unstable 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.

 ⁵Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations.

 ⁶O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall.

 ⁷Cursed 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.

 ⁸Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down before thee.

 ⁹Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?

 ¹⁰The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.

 ¹¹Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass’s colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes:

 ¹²His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.

 ¹³Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be for an haven of ships; and his border shall be unto Zidon.

 ¹⁴Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens:

 ¹⁵And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute.

 ¹⁶Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.

 ¹⁷Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.

 ¹⁸I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD.

 ¹⁹Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last.

 ²⁰Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties.

 ²¹Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words.

 ²²Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall: