1Then Jacob called for his sons and said, “Gather around so that I can tell you what will happen to you in the days to come:
2Come together and listen, O sons of Jacob; listen to your father Israel.
3Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power.
4Uncontrolled as the waters, you will no longer excel, because you went up to your father’s bed, onto my couch, and defiled it.
5Simeon and Levi are brothers; their swords are weapons of violence.
6May I never enter their council; may I never join their assembly. For they kill men in their anger, and hamstring oxen on a whim.
7Cursed be their anger, for it is strong, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will disperse them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.
8Judah, your brothers shall praise you. Your hand shall be on the necks of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down to you.
9Judah is a young lion—my son, you return from the prey. Like a lion he crouches and lies down; like a lioness, who dares to rouse him?
10The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes and the allegiance of the nations is his.
11He ties his donkey to the vine, his colt to the choicest branch. He washes his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes.
12His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth are whiter than milk.