Genesis 49

Great(i) 1 And Iacob called for hys sonnes and sayde: come together, that I maye tell you what shall happen you in the last dayes. 2 Gather you to gether, and heare ye sonnes of Iacob, herken vnto Israel youre father. 3 Ruben myne eldest sonne, thou art my myghte and the beginnynge of my strength, the noblenesse of dignyte, and the noblenesse of power. 4 Unstable as water. Thou shalt not be the chefest, because thou wentest vp to thy fathers bed. Euen then dyddest thou defyle it, & it was nomore my couche. 5 The brethren Simeon and Leui, cruell instrumentes in their habitacions. 6 In to their secretes come not my soule, vnto their congregacyon be my honoure not coupled: for in their wrath they slewe a man, & in their selfe wyll they, digged downe a wall. 7 Cursed be their wrath, for it was shamelesse, and their fearsnes, for it was cruell. I wyll deuide them in Iacob, & scater them in Israel. 8 Iuda thou art he, whom thy brethren shall prayse. Thy hande shalbe in the necke of thyne enymies, thy fathers chyldren shall stoupe before the. 9 Iuda is a lyons whelpe, From thy spoyle my sonne thou art come an hye. He layde hym downe and couched hym selfe as a lyon, and as a lionesse. Who wyll stere hym vp? 10 The sceptre shall not departe from Iuda, and a lawgeuer from betwene hys fete, vntyll. Sylocome. And vnto hym shall the gatherynge of the people be. 11 He shall bynde his fole vnto the vyne, and hys asses colt vnto the braunche. He washed hys garment in wyne, and hys mantell in the bloude of grapes. 12 Hys eyes are redder than wyne, & his teeth whytter then mylke. 13 Zabulon shall dwell besyde the heauen of the see and nye the heauen of shyppes. His border shalbe vnto Sydon. 14 Isachar a stronge asse couchynge hym downe betwene .ij. bordens, 15 and sawe that rest was good, & the lande that it was pleasant, and bowed hys shulder to beare, and became a seruaunte vnto tribute. 16 Dan shall iudge hys people & the trybes of Israel 17 Dan shalbe a serpent in the waye, an edder in the path, bytinge the horse heles and hys ryder fell bacwarde: 18 after thy saluacyon haue I loked (o Lorde.) 19 Gad, an hoost of men shall ouercome him, And he shall ouercome at the last. 20 Of asser: his bread shalbe fat, and he shall geue pleasures for a kynge. 21 Nephtalim is a swyfte hynde, geuynge goodly wordes. 22 That florysshynge childe Ioseph, that plenteous chylde by the well syde, the daughters ran vpon the wall 23 They haue prouoked hym, and shot hym thrugh with dartes. The archers haue enuyed him: 24 But hys bowe abode fast, and the armes of hys handes were made stronge, by the handes of the myghtye God of Iacob. Out of hym shall come an herde man, a stone in Israel: 25 From thy fathers God which hath helped the, and with the almyghtye which hath blessed the wyth blessynges from heauen aboue, wyth blessynges of the depe that lyeth vnder, and wyth blessynges of the brestes and of the wombe. 26 The blessynges of thy father were stronger then the blessynges of my elders, vnto the vtmost of the hylles of the worlde, and they shalbe on the heade of Ioseph, and on the toppe of the heade of hym that was separat from his brethren. 27 Ben Iamin shall raueshe as a wolfe. In the mornynge he shall deuoure the praye, and at nyghte he shall deuyde the spoyle. 28 All these are the .xij. tribes of Israel, and thys their father spake vnto them and blessed them, euery one of them blessed he wyth a seuerall blessynge. 29 And he charged them, and sayde vnto them: whan I shalbe gathered vnto my people, burye me wyth my fathers, in the caue that is in the felde of Ephron the Hethyte, 30 in the double caue that is in the felde by the countre of Mamre in the land of Canaan. Whych felde Abraham boughte of Ephron the Hethyte for a possessyon to burye in, 31 where as were buryed Abraham and Sarah hys wyfe. And where as were buryed Isahac & Rebecca his wyfe. And there I buryed Lea. 32 The felde and the caue that is therin, was bought of the chyldren of Heth. 33 And when Iacob had commaunded all that he wolde vnto hys sonnes, he plucked vp his fete vnto the bedd and dyed, and was put vnto hys people.