Genesis 49 in plain modern English. New Ground English Translation.

Then Jacob called his sons together and said, "Gather around — let me tell you what will happen to you in the days ahead."

"Come close, sons of Jacob, and listen. Listen to Israel, your father."

"Reuben, you are my firstborn, my strength, the first proof of my power — surpassing in rank, surpassing in force."

"Unstable as churning water — you will not surpass, because you climbed into your father's bed, defiled it — climbed into my couch."

"Simeon and Levi are brothers — weapons of violence are their tools of trade."

"Let me never join their council, let my honor never be linked with their assembly — for in their anger they killed men, and on a whim they crippled oxen."

"Cursed be their anger — so fierce, and their fury — so cruel. I will scatter them through Jacob, spread them across Israel."

"Judah — your brothers will praise you. Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies. Your father's sons will bow before you."

"A lion's cub is Judah — from the prey, my son, you rise up. He crouches, he lies down like a lion, like a great lion — who dares rouse him?"

"The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes — and the obedience of the peoples will be his."

"He 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."

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

"Zebulun will settle by the shore of the sea. He will be a harbor for ships, his border reaching toward Sidon."

"Issachar is a strong-boned donkey, lying down between the saddlebags."

"He saw that the resting place was good, that the land was pleasant — so he bent his shoulder to the load and became a laborer under forced work."

"Dan will judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel."

"Dan will be a serpent on the road, a viper along the path, that bites the horse's heels so the rider tumbles backward."

"For your deliverance I wait, Yahweh!"

"Gad — raiders will raid him, but he will raid at their heels."

"From Asher — his food will be rich, and he will provide delicacies fit for a king."

"Naphtali is a doe set free who bears beautiful fawns."

"Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine by a spring, his branches climbing over the wall."

"The archers attacked him bitterly, shot at him, harassed him relentlessly."

"But his bow stayed steady, his arms stayed strong — by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, by the name of the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel."

"By the God of your father who helps you, by the Almighty who covers you with favor — favor from the sky above, favor from the deep that crouches below, favor from the breast and the womb."

"The favor your father speaks over you surpasses the favor of the ancient mountains, the bounty of the everlasting hills. Let it all rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the one set apart from his brothers."

"Benjamin is a ravenous wolf — in the morning he devours the prey, in the evening he divides the plunder."

All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke over them. He gave each one the words that fit them — each received their own.

Then he gave them instructions: "I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite — "

"the cave in the field of Machpelah, facing Mamre in the land of Canaan — the field Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite as a burial site."

"That is where they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah. That is where they buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah. And that is where I buried Leah."

"The field and the cave in it were purchased from the Hittites."

When Jacob finished giving instructions to his sons, he drew his feet up onto the bed, breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.