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Apoteichisis

The Old Testament

Genesis 49

ΓΕΝΕΣΙΣ · 49

Brenton 49:1

And Jacob called his sons, and said to them, Assemble yourselves, that I may tell you what shall happen to you in the last days.

Brenton 49:2

Gather yourselves together, and hear me, sons of Jacob; hear Israel, hear your father.

Brenton 49:3

Ruben, thou art my first-born, thou my strength, and the first of my children, hard to be endured, hard and self-willed.

Source notes (1)
  • Or, thou my first-born, etc., nom. and voc. not being always regularly distinguished in the LXX. See Heb. 1. 8. ὁ θεὸς.
Brenton 49:4

Thou wast insolent like water, burst not forth with violence, for thou wentest up to the bed of thy father; then thou defiledst the couch, whereupon thou wentest up.

Brenton 49:5

Symeon and Levi, brethren, accomplished the injustice of their cutting off.

Brenton 49:6

Let not my soul come into their counsel, and let not mine inward parts contend in their conspiracy, for in their wrath they slew men, and in their passion they houghed a bull.

Brenton 49:7

Cursed be their wrath, for it was wilful, and their anger, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.

Source notes (1)
  • more lit. hardened or aggravated.
Brenton 49:8

Juda, thy brethren have praised thee, and thy hands shall be on the back of thine enemies; thy father's sons shall do thee reverence.

Brenton 49:9

Juda is a lion's whelp: from the tender plant, my son, thou art gone up, having couched thou liest as a lion, and as a whelp; who shall stir him up?

Source notes (1)
  • The terminations of proper names are occasionally varied.
Brenton 49:10

A ruler shall not fail from Juda, nor a prince from his loins, until there come the things stored up for him; and he is the expectation of nations.

Source notes (1)
  • Gr. thighs.
Brenton 49:11

Binding his foal to the vine, and the foal of his ass to the branch of it, he shall wash his robe in wine, and his garment in the blood of the grape.

Brenton 49:12

His eyes shall be more cheering than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk.

Brenton 49:13

Zabulon shall dwell on the coast, and he shall be by a haven of ships, and shall extend to Sidon.

Brenton 49:14

Issachar has desired that which is good; resting between the inheritances.

Brenton 49:15

And having seen the resting place that it was good, and the land that it was fertile, he subjected his shoulder to labour, and became a husbandman.

Brenton 49:16

Dan shall judge his people, as one tribe too in Israel.

Brenton 49:17

And let Dan be a serpent in the way, besetting the path, biting the heel of the horse (and the rider shall fall backward),

Brenton 49:19

Gad, a plundering troop shall plunder him; but he shall plunder him, pursuing him closely.

Brenton 49:20

Aser, his bread shall be fat; and he shall yield dainties to princes.

Brenton 49:21

Nephthalim is a spreading stem, bestowing beauty on its fruit.

Brenton 49:22

Joseph is a son increased; my dearly loved son is increased; my youngest son, turn to me.

Brenton 49:23

Against whom men taking evil counsel reproached him, and the archers pressed hard upon him.

Brenton 49:24

But their bow and arrows were mightily consumed, and the sinews of their arms were slackened by the hand of the mighty one of Jacob; thence is he that strengthened Israel from the God of thy father;

Brenton 49:25

and my God helped thee, and he blessed thee with the blessing of heaven from above, and the blessing of the earth possessing all things, because of the blessing of the breasts and of the womb,

Brenton 49:26

the blessings of thy father and thy mother—it has prevailed above the blessing of the lasting mountains, and beyond the blessings of the everlasting hills; they shall be upon the head of Joseph, and upon the head of the brothers of whom he took the lead.

Brenton 49:27

Benjamin, as a ravening wolf, shall eat still in the morning, and at evening he gives food.

Brenton 49:28

All these are the twelve sons of Jacob; and their father spoke these words to them, and he blessed them; he blessed each of them according to his blessing.

Brenton 49:29

And he said to them, I am added to my people; ye shall bury me with my fathers in the cave, which is in the field of Ephron the Chettite,

Brenton 49:30

in the double cave which is opposite Mambre, in the land of Chanaan, the cave which Abraam bought of Ephron the Chettite, for a possession of a sepulchre.

Brenton 49:31

There they buried Abraam and Sarrha his wife; there they buried Isaac, and Rebecca his wife; there they buried Lea;

Brenton 49:32

in the portion of the field, and of the cave that was in it, purchased of the sons of Chet.

Brenton 49:33

And Jacob ceased giving charges to his sons; and having lifted up his feet on the bed, he died, and was gathered to his people.

Brenton supplied wording, small capitals, translation notes, Greek wording, and edition-specific verse identifiers are retained. Parallel passages keep each edition's own references. Editions and sources.