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God has given me here.” And he said, “Bring them to me, please, that I may bless them.” ¹⁰Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age, and he could not see well. So Joseph brought them near him; and he kissed them and embraced them. ¹¹Israel said to Joseph, “I did not expect to see your face; and here God has let me see your children also.” ¹²Then Joseph removed them from his father’s knees,[161] and he bowed himself with his face to the earth. ¹³Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel’s left, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel’s right, and brought them near him. ¹⁴But Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim, who was the younger, and his left hand on the head of Manasseh, crossing his hands, for Manasseh was the firstborn. ¹⁵He blessed Joseph, and said,

      “The God before whom my ancestors Abraham and Isaac walked,

      the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day,

      ¹⁶ the angel who has redeemed me from all harm, bless the boys;

      and in them let my name be perpetuated, and the name of my ancestors Abraham and Isaac;

      and let them grow into a multitude on the earth.”

      17 When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him; so he took his father’s hand, to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. ¹⁸Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father! Since this one is the firstborn, put your right hand on his head.” ¹⁹But his father refused, and said, “I know, my son, I know; he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great. Nevertheless his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations.” ²⁰So he blessed them that day, saying,

“By you [162] Israel will invoke blessings, saying,

      ‘God make you [162] like Ephraim and like Manasseh.’”

So he put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh. ²¹Then Israel said to Joseph, “I am about to die, but God will be with you and will bring you again to the land of your ancestors. ²²I now give to you one portion [163] more than to your brothers, the portion[163] that I took from the hand of the Amorites with my sword and with my bow.”

49 Then Jacob called his sons, and said: “Gather around, that I may tell you what will happen to you in days to come.

       ² Assemble and hear, O sons of Jacob;

      listen to Israel your father.

       ³ Reuben, you are my firstborn,

      my might and the first fruits of my vigor,

      excelling in rank and excelling in power.

       ⁴ Unstable as water, you shall no longer excel

      because you went up onto your father’s bed;

then you defiled it—you [164] went up onto my couch!

       ⁵ Simeon and Levi are brothers;

      weapons of violence are their swords.

       ⁶ May I never come into their council;

      may I not be joined to their company—

      for in their anger they killed men,

      and at their whim they hamstrung oxen.

       ⁷ Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce,

      and their wrath, for it is cruel!

      I will divide them in Jacob,

      and scatter them in Israel.

       ⁸ Judah, your brothers shall praise you;

      your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;

      your father’s sons shall bow down before you.

       ⁹ Judah is a lion’s whelp;

      from the prey, my son, you have gone up.

      He crouches down, he stretches out like a lion,

      like a lioness—who dares rouse him up?

      ¹⁰ The scepter shall not depart from Judah,

      nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet,

until tribute comes to him;[165]

      and the obedience of the peoples is his.

      ¹¹ Binding his foal to the vine

      and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine,

      he washes his garments in wine

      and his robe in the blood of grapes;

      ¹² his eyes are darker than wine,

      and his teeth whiter than milk.

      ¹³ Zebulun shall settle at the shore of the sea;

      he shall be a haven for ships,

      and his border shall be at Sidon.

      ¹⁴ Issachar is a strong donkey,

      lying down between the sheepfolds;

      ¹⁵ he saw that a resting place was good,

      and that the land was pleasant;

      so he bowed his shoulder to the burden,

      and became a slave at forced labor.

      ¹⁶ Dan shall judge his people

      as one of the tribes of Israel.

      ¹⁷ Dan shall be a snake by the roadside,

      a viper along the path,

      that bites the horse’s heels

      so that its rider falls backward.

      ¹⁸ I wait for your salvation, O LORD.

      ¹⁹ Gad shall be raided by raiders,

      but he shall raid at their heels.

²⁰ Asher’s [166] food shall be rich,

      and he shall provide royal delicacies.

      ²¹ Naphtali is a doe let loose

that bears lovely fawns. [167]

      ²² Joseph is a fruitful bough,

      a fruitful bough by a spring;

his branches run over the wall. [168]

      ²³ The archers fiercely attacked him;

      they shot at him and pressed him hard.

      ²⁴ Yet his bow remained taut,

and his arms [169] were made agile

      by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob,

      by

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