Genesis chapter .xlix.
¶ And Iacob called for his sons and said: come together, that I may tell you what shall happen you in the last days.
Gather you together and hear ye sons of Iacob, and hearken unto Israel your father.
Ruben, thou art mine eldest son, my might and the beginning of my strength, chief in receiving and chief in power.
As unstable as water wast thou: thou shalt therefore not be the chiefest, for thou wentest up upon thy father's bed, and then defiledest thou my couch with going up.
¶ The brethren Simeon and Levi, wicked instruments are their weapons.
Into their secrets come not my soul, and unto their congregation be my honour not coupled: for in their wrath they slew a man, and in their self will they houghed an ox.
Cursed be their wrath for it was strong, and their fierceness for it was cruel. I will therefore divide them in Iacob, and scatter them in Israel.
¶ Iuda, thy brethren shall praise thee, and thine hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies, and thy father's children shall stoop unto thee.
Iuda is a lion's whelp. From spoil my son thou art come on high: he laid him down and couched himself as a lion, and as a lioness. Who dare stir him up?
The sceptre shall not depart from Iuda, nor a ruler from between his legs, until Silo come, unto whom the people shall hearken.
He shall bind his foal unto the vine, and his ass's colt unto the vine branch, and shall wash his garment in wine and his mantle in the blood of grapes:
his eyes are roudier than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk.
¶ Zabulon shall dwell in the haven of the sea and in the port of ships, and shall reach unto Sidon.
Isachar is a strong ass, he couched him down between two borders,
and saw that rest was good and the land that it was pleasant, and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute.
Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.
Dan shall be a serpent in the way, and an adder in the path, and bite the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.
After thy saving look I, LORD.
Gad, men of war shall invade him. And he shall turn them to flight.
Of Asser cometh fat bread, and he shall give pleasures for a king.
Nephtali is a swift hind, and giveth goodly words.
¶ That flourishing child Ioseph, that flourishing child and goodly unto the eye: the daughters come forth to bear rule.
The shooters have envied him and chide with him and hated him,
and yet his bow bode fast, and his arms and his hands were strong, by the hands of the mighty God of Iacob: out of him shall come an herdman, a stone in Israel.
Thy father's God shall help thee, and the almighty shall bless thee with blessings from heaven above, and with blessings of the water that lieth under, and with blessings of the breasts and of the womb.
The blessings of thy father were strong: even as the blessings of my elders, after the desire of the hiest in the world, and these blessings shall fall on the head of Ioseph, and on the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren.
Ben Iamin is a ravishing wolf. In the morning he shall devour his prey, and at night he shall divide his spoil.
¶ All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is that which their father spake unto them when he blessed them, every man with a several blessing.
And he charged them and said unto them. I shall be put unto my people: see that ye bury me with my fathers, in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hethite,
in the double cave that is in the field before Mamre in the land of Canaan. Which field Abraham bought of Ephron the Hethite for a possession to bury in.
There they buried Abraham and Sara his wife, there they buried Isaac and Rebecca his wife. And there I buried Lea:
which field and the cave that is therein, was bought of the children of Heth.
When Iacob had commanded all that he would unto his sons, he plucked up his feet upon the bed and died, and was put unto his people;
Praise the Everlasting Lord for His Faithful Word.