Genesis 49:3-15

EJ2000(i) 3 Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, principal in dignity, and the principal in power. 4 Unstable as water, thou shalt not be principal because thou didst go up to thy father’s bed; then thou became defiled, going up to my couch. 5 ¶ Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of injustice are their weapons. 6 Let my soul not enter into their secret; nor let my honour join their assembly; for in their anger they slew a man, and in their own will they dug down a wall. 7 Cursed be their anger, which is strong, and their wrath, which is hard; I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel. 8 ¶ Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise; thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s sons shall bow down before thee. 9 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 The sceptre shall not be taken from Judah, nor the lawgiver from between his feet until Shiloh comes; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be. 11 Binding his foal unto the vine and his ass’s colt unto the choice roots; he washed his garments in wine and his covering in the blood of grapes; 12 His eyes red with wine, and his teeth white with milk. 13 ¶ Zebulun shall dwell at the port of the sea; and he shall be for a port of ships; and his border shall be unto Zidon. 14 Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens; 15 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.