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New International Version |   | |
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| | Gen 49:1 | Then Jacob called for his sons and said: "Gather around so I can tell you what will happen to you in days to come.
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| | Gen 49:2 | "Assemble and listen, sons of Jacob; listen to your father Israel.
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| | Gen 49:3 | "Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, the first sign of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power.
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| | Gen 49:4 | Turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel, for you went up onto your father's bed, onto my couch and defiled it.
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| | Gen 49:5 | "Simeon and Levi are brothers-- their swords are weapons of violence.
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| | Gen 49:6 | Let me not enter their council, let me not join their assembly, for they have killed men in their anger and hamstrung oxen as they pleased.
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| | Gen 49:7 | Cursed be their anger, so fierce, and their fury, so cruel! I will scatter them in Jacob and disperse them in Israel.
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| | Gen 49:8 | "Judah, your brothers will praise you; your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; your father's sons will bow down to you.
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| | Gen 49:9 | You are a lion's cub, O Judah; you return from the prey, my son. Like a lion he crouches and lies down, like a lioness--who dares to rouse him?
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| | Gen 49:10 | The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs and the obedience of the nations is his.
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| | Gen 49:11 | He will tether his donkey to a vine, his colt to the choicest branch; he will wash his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes.
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| | Gen 49:12 | His eyes will be darker than wine, his teeth whiter than milk.
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| | Gen 49:13 | "Zebulun will live by the seashore and become a haven for ships; his border will extend toward Sidon.
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| | Gen 49:14 | "Issachar is a rawboned donkey lying down between two saddlebags.
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| | Gen 49:15 | When he sees how good is his resting place and how pleasant is his land, he will bend his shoulder to the burden and submit to forced labor.
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| | Gen 49:16 | "Dan will provide justice for his people as one of the tribes of Israel.
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| | Gen 49:17 | Dan will be a serpent by the roadside, a viper along the path, that bites the horse's heels so that its rider tumbles backward.
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| | Gen 49:18 | "I look for your deliverance, O LORD.
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| | Gen 49:19 | "Gad will be attacked by a band of raiders, but he will attack them at their heels.
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| | Gen 49:20 | "Asher's food will be rich; he will provide delicacies fit for a king.
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| | Gen 49:21 | "Naphtali is a doe set free that bears beautiful fawns.
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| | Gen 49:22 | "Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine near a spring, whose branches climb over a wall.
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| | Gen 49:23 | With bitterness archers attacked him; they shot at him with hostility.
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| | Gen 49:24 | But his bow remained steady, his strong arms stayed limber, because of the hand of the Mighty One of Jacob, because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,
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| | Gen 49:25 | because of your father's God, who helps you, because of the Almighty, who blesses you with blessings of the heavens above, blessings of the deep that lies below, blessings of the breast and womb.
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| | Gen 49:26 | Your father's blessings are greater than the blessings of the ancient mountains, than the bounty of the age-old hills. Let all these rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the prince among his brothers.
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| | Gen 49:27 | "Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning he devours the prey, in the evening he divides the plunder."
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| | Gen 49:28 | All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them, giving each the blessing appropriate to him.
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| | Gen 49:29 | Then he gave them these 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,
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| | Gen 49:30 | the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in Canaan, which Abraham bought as a burial place from Ephron the Hittite, along with the field.
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| | Gen 49:31 | There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried, and there I buried Leah.
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| | Gen 49:32 | The field and the cave in it were bought from the Hittites. "
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| | Gen 49:33 | When Jacob had finished giving instructions to his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed, breathed his last and was gathered to his people.
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