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Chapter 49
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1
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And Jacob
called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together,
that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the
last days. |
2
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Gather yourselves
together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto
Israel your father. |
3
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Reuben, thou
art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength,
the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power: |
4
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Unstable
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. |
5
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Simeon and
Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their
habitations. |
6
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O my soul,
come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine
honor, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew
a man, and in their self-will they digged down a wall. |
7
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Cursed 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. |
8
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Judah, 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. |
9
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Judah 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? |
10
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The 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. |
11
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Binding 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: |
12
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His eyes
shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk. |
13
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Zebulun shall
dwell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be for an haven
of ships; and his border shall be unto Zidon. |
14
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Issachar
is a strong ass couching down between two burdens: |
15
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And 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. |
16
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Dan shall
judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. |
17
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Dan shall
be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth
the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward. |
18
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I have waited
for thy salvation, O LORD. |
19
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Gad, a troop
shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last. |
20
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Out of Asher
his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties. |
21
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Naphtali
is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words. |
22
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Joseph is
a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose
branches run over the wall: |
23
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The archers
have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him: |
24
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But his bow
abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made
strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence
is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:) |
25
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Even by the
God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty,
who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings
of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts,
and of the womb: |
26
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The blessings
of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my
progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills:
they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of
the head of him that was separate from his brethren. |
27
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Benjamin
shall raven as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the
prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil. |
28
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All these
are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it that their
father spake unto them, and blessed them; every one according
to his blessing he blessed them. |
29
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And he charged
them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people:
bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field
of Ephron the Hittite, |
30
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In the cave
that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre,
in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field
of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a buryingplace. |
31
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There they
buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac
and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah. |
32
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The purchase
of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the
children of Heth. |
33
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And when
Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered
up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and
was gathered unto his people. |
