New International Reader s Version - NIrV - 1996
Genesis 49
1
Then Jacob sent for his sons. He said, "Gather around me so I can tell you what will happen to you in days to come.
Reference
2
"Sons of Jacob, come together and listen. Listen to your father Israel.
Reference
Parallel theme
Psalm 34:11
3
"Reuben, you are my oldest son. You were my first child. You were the first sign of my strength. You were first in honor. You were first in power.
Reference
4
But you are as unsteady as water. So you won't be first anymore. You had sex with your father's concubine in his bed. You lay on his couch and made it 'unclean.'
Reference
5
"Simeon and Levi are brothers. Their swords have killed a lot of people.
6
I won't share in their plans. I won't have anything to do with them. They became angry and killed people. They cut the legs of oxen just for the fun of it.
Reference
7
May the Lord put a curse on them because of their terrible anger. I will scatter them in Jacob's land. I will spread them around in Israel.
8
"Judah, your brothers will praise you. Your enemies will be brought under your control. Your father's sons will bow down to you.
Reference
Parallel theme
Hebrews 7:14
1 Chronicles 5:2
Genesis 27:29
Deuteronomy 33:7
Joshua 10:24
Resurrection
Genesis 29:35
9
Judah, you are like a lion's cub. You return from hunting, my son. Like a lion, you lie down and sleep. You are like a mother lion. Who dares to wake you up?
Reference
10
The right to rule will not leave Judah. The ruler's rod will not be taken from between his feet. It will be his until the king it belongs to comes. It will be his until the nations obey him.
Reference
11
He will tie his donkey to a vine. He will tie his colt to the very best branch. He will wash his clothes in wine. He will wash his robes in the red juice of grapes.
Reference
12
His eyes will be darker than wine. His teeth will be whiter than milk.
13
"Zebulun will live by the seashore. He will become a safe harbor for ships. His border will go out toward Sidon.
Reference
Parallel theme
Genesis 30:20
15
He sees how good his resting place is. He sees that his land is pleasant. So he'll carry a heavy load on his back. He will obey when he's forced to work.
16
"Dan will do what is fair for his people. He will do it as one of the tribes of Israel.
Reference
17
Dan will be a serpent by the side of the road. He will be a poisonous snake along the path. It bites the horse's heels so that the rider falls off backward.
Reference
Parallel theme
1 Chronicles 12:35
18
"Lord, I look to you to save me.
Reference
Parallel theme
1 Thessalonians 1:10
References Lord
Psalm 130:5
Psalm 40:1
Salvation
Psalm 119:174
Psalm 119:166
Isaiah 25:9
Micah 7:7
Psalm 14:7
Psalm 85:7
Matthew 1:21
20
"Asher's food will be rich and sweet. He will provide food that even a king would enjoy.
Reference
22
"Joseph is a vine that grows a lot of fruit. It grows close by a spring. Its branches climb over a wall.
Reference
24
But his bow remained steady. His strong arms moved freely. The hand of the Mighty One of Jacob was with him. The Shepherd, the Rock of Israel, stood by him.
Reference
Parallel theme
Job 29:20
Psalm 118:22
Ephesians 2:20
References God
Psalm 132:2
Isaiah 28:16
Psalm 132:5
Psalm 18:30
Genesis 45:5
References Israel
Psalm 80:1
Isaiah 1:24
25
Your father's God helps you. The Mighty One blesses you. He gives you blessings from the highest heavens. He gives you blessings from the deepest oceans. He blesses you with children and with a mother's milk.
Reference
Parallel theme
Deuteronomy 8:17
Psalm 85:12
References God
Genesis 28:13
Genesis 35:11
Philippians 4:19
1 Timothy 4:8
Genesis 27:28
Genesis 43:23
Sin
Deuteronomy 33:1
Ephesians 1:3
26
Your father's blessings are great. They are greater than the blessings from the age-old mountains. They are greater than the gifts from the ancient hills. Let all of those blessings rest on the head of Joseph. Let them rest on the head of the one who is prince among his brothers.
Reference
Eternal Life
Habakkuk 3:6
27
"Benjamin is a hungry wolf. In the morning he eats what he has killed. In the evening he shares what he has stolen."
Reference
28
All of those are the 12 tribes of Israel. That's what their father said to them when he blessed them. He gave each one the blessing that was just right for him.
Reference
Parallel theme
Acts 26:7
Numbers 23:24
Esther 8:7
Esther 8:9
Esther 8:11
References Israel
Revelation 7:4
Genesis 35:22
1 Kings 18:31
29
Then Jacob gave directions to his sons. He said, "I'm about to join the members of my family who have already died. Bury me with them in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite.
Reference
30
"The cave is in the field of Machpelah near Mamre in Canaan. Abraham had bought it as a place where he could bury his wife's body. He had bought the cave from Ephron the Hittite, along with the field.
31
"The bodies of Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried there. So were the bodies of Isaac and his wife Rebekah. I also buried Leah's body there.
Reference
32
Abraham bought the field and the cave from the Hittites."
Chapter Summary
Genesis chapter forty-nine concludes the saga of Jacob's life with a final remarkable scene: a dying father calling all his twelve sons together to talk over each in turn, blessing and, in some cases, giving some blistering rebukes.
Jacob calls them to him and tells them to gather around that he might declare what will happen to them in the years to come. What he proceeds to say is not so much a blessing, though there is that, but is much more personal, being based on their individuality, and not afraid to point out past failures as much as offer the hope of a bright future.
He begins with Reuben, the firstborn, who should have held his honored place had it not been for his fickle nature, which Jacob exposes in his verse to his son which begins turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel, for you went up onto your father's bed, referring to the episode in chapter thirty-five when young Reuben slept with the concubine Bilhah, and Jacob knows it happened.
Simeon and Levi are grouped together and he speaks of weapons of violence as their swords, and the curse of their anger so fierce and their fury so cruel, referring to the massacre of the Shechemites in chapter thirty-four, when in revenge for the rape of Dinah they butchered the men and women of the nearby town. Their punishment was being scattered among the other tribes, and they indeed proved to be much less prominent in later years, each going their separate ways, and this appears to be what Jacob means when he says I will disperse them throughout Israel.
Judah is next and the tone changes completely, as Jacob compliments his son saying 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. He calls Judah a lion's cub, and predicts that the scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come, and the obedience of the nations shall be his, which is clearly one of the most significant verses in the whole of scripture, as the scepter of authority, symbolizing the kingship of Israel, is predicted to come from Judah's line, which it did in David, and ultimately in later Christian readings, to far more, a divine fulfillment of Messianic hopes.
All the other sons get their sayings, which are far more succinct, but still contain images and metaphors that reflect their individual characters. Zebulun will live by the seashore, and be a haven for ships, Issachar is a rawboned donkey lying down between two saddlebags, who is content with his pleasant land and will bend his shoulder to hard labor rather than fight for more, Dan will be the judge of his people, but is also a serpent by the road, a viper in the path, who strikes at the horse at its heels, making the rider fall backward, and Jacob here begins what sounds like a prayer, for he says I look for your deliverance, Lord, in the midst of his rebuke to Dan, something of a moment's humanity in this otherwise poetic flow.
Gad will be attacked by raiders but will strike them at the heels, Asher's land will bring forth food fit for a king, and Naphtali is a doe set free, which bears beautiful fawns, or perhaps, in some manuscripts, a source of beautiful words.
Joseph gets a long blessing, which shows how favored he was by his father, and he is likened to a fruitful vine, whose clusters of grapes hang over a spring, whose tendrils climb up and over a wall. The archers shot at him furiously, but his bow did not fail him, and his arms, made strong by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, were agile. Then follow blessings of the heavens above, the deep springs below, the breast and womb, and blessings that come beyond the ancient mountains and the abundance of the everlasting hills. Let these blessings rest on the head of Joseph, and on the brow of the prince among his brothers, is Jacob's final hope.
Benjamin is a ravening wolf, devouring the prey in the morning, and dividing the plunder in the evening, just a snippet of a strong and fierce people his descendents would become.
This chapter reveals these to be the twelve tribes of Israel, and that this is what their father spoke to them, blessing each according to the blessing appropriate to him. Note the words appropriate to him for the closing lines, for his sons have each been rebuked or blessed according to their individuality.
And so Jacob ends his tremendous saga of deceit and struggle, and his final words to his sons are not merely words of blessing, but are much more personal, as he speaks to each one individually, telling them what he foresees for their lives, and the good and bad he sees in each. After he finishes, he charges them to bury him with his fathers, in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite, the cave of Machpelah, near Mamre in Canaan, the field Abraham purchased as a burial ground, where Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Leah are buried, the latter by Jacob himself. Seventeen years he had spent in Egypt, and his heart still longed for the land of promise his ancestors had coveted, and he makes this his final request as well, just as Isaac and Abraham had done before him.
He breathed his last in peace, having told them what he wished for his sons' graves, and having lived a life of deception, danger, loss and comfort, and his end came quietly.
Jacob calls them to him and tells them to gather around that he might declare what will happen to them in the years to come. What he proceeds to say is not so much a blessing, though there is that, but is much more personal, being based on their individuality, and not afraid to point out past failures as much as offer the hope of a bright future.
He begins with Reuben, the firstborn, who should have held his honored place had it not been for his fickle nature, which Jacob exposes in his verse to his son which begins turbulent as the waters, you will no longer excel, for you went up onto your father's bed, referring to the episode in chapter thirty-five when young Reuben slept with the concubine Bilhah, and Jacob knows it happened.
Simeon and Levi are grouped together and he speaks of weapons of violence as their swords, and the curse of their anger so fierce and their fury so cruel, referring to the massacre of the Shechemites in chapter thirty-four, when in revenge for the rape of Dinah they butchered the men and women of the nearby town. Their punishment was being scattered among the other tribes, and they indeed proved to be much less prominent in later years, each going their separate ways, and this appears to be what Jacob means when he says I will disperse them throughout Israel.
Judah is next and the tone changes completely, as Jacob compliments his son saying 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. He calls Judah a lion's cub, and predicts that the scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he to whom it belongs shall come, and the obedience of the nations shall be his, which is clearly one of the most significant verses in the whole of scripture, as the scepter of authority, symbolizing the kingship of Israel, is predicted to come from Judah's line, which it did in David, and ultimately in later Christian readings, to far more, a divine fulfillment of Messianic hopes.
All the other sons get their sayings, which are far more succinct, but still contain images and metaphors that reflect their individual characters. Zebulun will live by the seashore, and be a haven for ships, Issachar is a rawboned donkey lying down between two saddlebags, who is content with his pleasant land and will bend his shoulder to hard labor rather than fight for more, Dan will be the judge of his people, but is also a serpent by the road, a viper in the path, who strikes at the horse at its heels, making the rider fall backward, and Jacob here begins what sounds like a prayer, for he says I look for your deliverance, Lord, in the midst of his rebuke to Dan, something of a moment's humanity in this otherwise poetic flow.
Gad will be attacked by raiders but will strike them at the heels, Asher's land will bring forth food fit for a king, and Naphtali is a doe set free, which bears beautiful fawns, or perhaps, in some manuscripts, a source of beautiful words.
Joseph gets a long blessing, which shows how favored he was by his father, and he is likened to a fruitful vine, whose clusters of grapes hang over a spring, whose tendrils climb up and over a wall. The archers shot at him furiously, but his bow did not fail him, and his arms, made strong by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, were agile. Then follow blessings of the heavens above, the deep springs below, the breast and womb, and blessings that come beyond the ancient mountains and the abundance of the everlasting hills. Let these blessings rest on the head of Joseph, and on the brow of the prince among his brothers, is Jacob's final hope.
Benjamin is a ravening wolf, devouring the prey in the morning, and dividing the plunder in the evening, just a snippet of a strong and fierce people his descendents would become.
This chapter reveals these to be the twelve tribes of Israel, and that this is what their father spoke to them, blessing each according to the blessing appropriate to him. Note the words appropriate to him for the closing lines, for his sons have each been rebuked or blessed according to their individuality.
And so Jacob ends his tremendous saga of deceit and struggle, and his final words to his sons are not merely words of blessing, but are much more personal, as he speaks to each one individually, telling them what he foresees for their lives, and the good and bad he sees in each. After he finishes, he charges them to bury him with his fathers, in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite, the cave of Machpelah, near Mamre in Canaan, the field Abraham purchased as a burial ground, where Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Leah are buried, the latter by Jacob himself. Seventeen years he had spent in Egypt, and his heart still longed for the land of promise his ancestors had coveted, and he makes this his final request as well, just as Isaac and Abraham had done before him.
He breathed his last in peace, having told them what he wished for his sons' graves, and having lived a life of deception, danger, loss and comfort, and his end came quietly.