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Genesis 49 KJV

Jacob Blesses His Sons

Law/Torah 5 min 33 verses 766 words Moses jacob ร—5 israel ร—5 blessings ร—5 field ร—4 sons ร—3

Genesis Chapter 49: Jacob Blesses His Sons

Jacob's revocation of Reuben's birthright for defiling Bilhah reflects ancient Near Eastern customs where moral transgression could transfer primogeniture rights, foreshadowing later shifts like Ephraim over Manasseh.

A1๐Ÿ”—nd Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.

2๐Ÿ”— Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father.

3๐Ÿ”— Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:

4๐Ÿ”— Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy fatherโ€™s bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.

5๐Ÿ”— Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations.

6๐Ÿ”— O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall.

7๐Ÿ”— 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.

8๐Ÿ”— Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy fatherโ€™s children shall bow down before thee.

9๐Ÿ”— Judah is a lionโ€™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?

10๐Ÿ”— 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.

11๐Ÿ”— Binding his foal unto the vine, and his assโ€™s colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes:

12๐Ÿ”— His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.

13๐Ÿ”— 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.

14๐Ÿ”— Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens:

15๐Ÿ”— 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.

16๐Ÿ”— Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.

17๐Ÿ”— 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.

18๐Ÿ”— I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD.

19๐Ÿ”— Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last.

20๐Ÿ”— Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties.

21๐Ÿ”— Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words.

22๐Ÿ”— Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:

23๐Ÿ”— The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:

24๐Ÿ”— 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:)

25๐Ÿ”— 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:

26๐Ÿ”— 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.

27๐Ÿ”— Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.

28๐Ÿ”— 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.

29๐Ÿ”— 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,

30๐Ÿ”— 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.

31๐Ÿ”— There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah.

32๐Ÿ”— The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth.

33๐Ÿ”— 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.

Commentary & Study Notes Jamieson-Fausset-Brown (1871) ยท Public Domain 1. Jacob called unto his sons โ€” It is not to the sayings of the dying saint, so much as of the inspired prophet, that attention is called in this chapter. Under the immediate influโ€ฆ

Classic verse-by-verse commentary on Genesis 49 from Jamieson, Fausset & Brown (1871). Covers: Patriarchal blessing; Judah--a high pre-eminence is destined to this tribe (nu 10:14; Jud 1:2). Besides the honor of giving name to the promised land, David, and a greater than David--the messiah--sprang from it. Chief among the tribes, "it grew up from a lion's whelp"--that is, a little power--till it became "an old lion"--that is, calm and quiet, yet still formidable; Issachar--; Dan--though the son of a secondary wife, was to be "as one of the tribes of Israel.".

27
shall ravin like a wolf โ€” This tribe in its early history spent its energies in petty or inglorious warfare and especially in the violent and unjust contest (Jud 19:1-20:48), in which it engaged with the other tribes, when, notwithstanding two victories, it was almost exterminated.
28
all these are the twelve tribes of Israel โ€” or ancestors. Jacob's prophetic words obviously refer not so much to the sons as to the tribes of Israel.
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Did You Know?

1

Jacob's revocation of Reuben's birthright for defiling Bilhah reflects ancient Near Eastern customs where moral transgression could transfer primogeniture rights, foreshadowing later shifts like Ephraim over Manasseh.

2

The 'Shiloh' reference in Judah's oracle (v.10) employs archaic Hebrew syntax possibly predating the monarchy, serving as an early textual anchor for both Davidic kingship and later messianic interpretations across Jewish and Christian traditions.

3

Levi's curse of dispersion is transformed historically when the tribe's zeal during the golden calf episode (Exodus 32) repurposes their landless status into a priestly role, illustrating a narrative reversal unique to this blessing.

4

Joseph's extended oracle invokes the 'stone of Israel' alongside Bethel theophany language, creating a literary bridge to Jacob's earlier dream-ladder and stone pillar, emphasizing divine continuity amid tribal division.

5

Benjamin's wolf imagery (v.27) parallels the tribe's later association with left-handed warriors like Ehud, while its placement as Jacob's final son subtly echoes Rachel's death and the matriarchal tensions running through the patriarchal stories.