And Jacob called his sons, and said to them: Gather yourselves together that I may tell you the things that shall befall you in the last days.

Vocavit autem Jacob filios suos, et ait eis: Congregamini, ut annuntiem quæ ventura sunt vobis in diebus novissimis.

Then Jacob summoned all his sons to him; Gather about me, he said, to hear what awaits you in the days still to come;

Gather yourselves together, and hear, O ye sons of Jacob, hearken to Israel your father:

Congregamini, et audite, filii Jacob, audite Israël patrem vestrum:

gather about me, sons of Jacob, and listen; it is Israel, your father, who speaks.

Ruben, my firstborn, thou art my strength, and the beginning of my sorrow: excelling in gifts, greater in command.

Ruben, primogenitus meus, tu fortitudo mea, et principium doloris mei; prior in donis, major in imperio.

Thou, Ruben, art my first-born, my pride, my manhood’s first-fruits; thine was the privilege, thine the right to rule,

Thou art poured out as water, grow thou not: because thou wentest up to thy father’s bed, and didst defile his couch.

Effusus es sicut aqua, non crescas: quia ascendisti cubile patris tui, et maculasti stratum ejus.

but all went to waste like water. Never mayst thou thrive, thou who wouldst lie between thy father’s sheets, and defile his bed.

Simeon and Levi brethren: vessels of iniquity, waging war.

Simeon et Levi fratres vasa iniquitatis bellantia.

Simeon and Levi are brothers indeed, warriors both, and ready tools of violence.

Let not my soul go into their counsel, nor my glory be in their assembly: because in their fury they slew a man, and in their selfwill they undermined a wall.

In consilium eorum non veniat anima mea, et in cœtu illorum non sit gloria mea: quia in furore suo occiderunt virum, et in voluntate sua suffoderunt murum.

Never may this soul of mine take part in their conspiracy, this heart be of their company; raging, they slew their enemy, recklessly they broke down a city wall.

Cursed be their fury, because it was stubborn: and their wrath because it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and will scatter them in Israel.

Maledictus furor eorum, quia pertinax: et indignatio eorum, quia dura: dividam eos in Jacob, et dispergam eos in Israël.

A curse on this unrelenting rage of theirs, this bitter spite! I will distribute them here and there in Jacob, I will scatter them throughout Israel.

Juda, thee shall thy brethren praise: thy hands shall be on the necks of thy enemies: the sons of thy father shall bow down to thee.

Juda, te laudabunt fratres tui: manus tua in cervicibus inimicorum tuorum, adorabunt te filii patris tui.

But thou, Juda, shalt win the praise of thy brethren; with thy hand on the necks of thy enemies, thou shalt be reverenced by thy own father’s sons.

Juda is a lion’s whelp: to the prey, my son, thou art gone up: resting thou hast couched as a lion, and as a lioness, who shall rouse him?

Catulus leonis Juda: ad prædam, fili mi, ascendisti: requiescens accubuisti ut leo, et quasi leæna: quis suscitabit eum?

Juda is like a lion’s whelp; on the hills, my son, thou roamest after thy prey; like a lion couched in his lair, a lioness that none dares provoke.

The sceptre shall not be taken away from Juda, nor a ruler from his thigh, till he come that is to be sent, and he shall be the expectation of nations.

Non auferetur sceptrum de Juda, et dux de femore ejus, donec veniat qui mittendus est, et ipse erit expectatio gentium.

Juda shall not want a branch from his stem, a prince drawn from his stock, until the day when he comes who is to be sent to us, he, the hope of the nations.

Tying his foal to the vineyard, and his ass, O my son, to the vine. He shall wash his robe in wine, and his garment in the blood of the grape.

Ligans ad vineam pullum suum, et ad vitem, o fili mi, asinam suam, lavabit in vino stolam suam et in sanguine uvæ pallium suum.

To what tree will he tie his mount; the ass he rides on? The vine for him, the vineyard for him; when he washes his garments, it shall be in wine, all his vesture shall be dyed with the blood of grapes.

His eyes are more beautiful than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk.

Pulchriores sunt oculi ejus vino, et dentes ejus lacte candidiores.

Fairer than wine his eyes shall be, his teeth whiter than milk.

Zabulon shall dwell on the sea shore, and in the road of ships, reaching as far as Sidon.

Zabulon in littore maris habitabit, et in statione navium pertingens usque ad Sidonem.

Zabulon shall dwell by the sea shore, where the ships find harbour, at Sidon’s gates.

Issachar shall be a strong ass lying down between the borders.

Issachar asinus fortis accubans inter terminos.

Issachar lies secure within its own confines, like some beast of burden that has great strength;

He saw rest that it was good: and the land that it was excellent: and he bowed his shoulder to carry, and became a servant under tribute.

Vidit requiem, quod esset bona et terram, quod optima: et supposuit humerum suum ad portandum, factusque est tributis serviens.

so pleasant he finds his resting-place, so fair his land, that he is willing to bow under the yoke, and pay tribute to others.

Dan shall judge his people like another tribe in Israel.

Dan judicabit populum suum sicut et alia tribus in Israël.

But Dan shall administer his own laws, like any other tribe of Israel;

Let Dan be a snake in the way, a serpent in the path, that biteth the horse’s heels that his rider may fall backward.

Fiat Dan coluber in via, cerastes in semita, mordens ungulas equi, ut cadat ascensor ejus retro.

Dan is like a snake by the road side, an adder on the path, to bite the horse’s heels, and make him throw the rider backwards.

I will look for thy salvation, O Lord.

Salutare tuum expectabo, Domine.

I will wait patiently, Lord, for the deliverance thou canst bring me.

Gad, being girded, shall fight before him: and he himself shall be girded backward.

Gad, accinctus præliabitur ante eum: et ipse accingetur retrorsum.

Gad shall be at the mercy of armed men, till he goes armed in his turn.

Aser, his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield dainties to kings.

Aser, pinguis panis ejus, et præbebit delicias regibus.

Rich in wheat shall Aser’s lands be; he shall send out delicacies for the tables of kings.

Nephtali, a hart let loose, and giving words of beauty.

Nephthali, cervus emissus, et dans eloquia pulchritudinis.

Nephthali is like a roe-deer that goes free, bringing a message of gladness.

Joseph is a growing son, a growing son and comely to behold; the daughters run to and fro upon the wall.

Filius accrescens Joseph, filius accrescens et decorus aspectu: filiæ discurrerunt super murum.

Joseph grows upward, upward still, fair to view; see how the maidens pass to and fro on the city walls!

But they that held darts provoked him, and quarrelled with him, and envied him.

Sed exasperaverunt eum et jurgati sunt, invideruntque illi habentes jacula.

Sorely his enemies harass him with the darts they throw, unrelenting in their hatred,

His bow rested upon the strong, and the bands of his arms and his hands were loosed, by the hands of the mighty one of Jacob: thence he came forth a pastor, the stone of Israel.

Sedit in forti arcus ejus, et dissoluta sunt vincula brachiorum et manuum illius per manus potentis Jacob: inde pastor egressus est, lapis Israël.

but his bow rests in the strength that does not fail him; the power of the God who rules in Jacob gives free play to hand and arm. From Joseph one shall arise, who will be the shepherd and the corner-stone of Israel.

The God of thy father shall be thy helper, and the Almighty shall bless thee with the blessings of heaven above, with the blessings of the deep that lieth beneath, with the blessings of the breasts and of the womb.

Deus patris tui erit adjutor tuus, et omnipotens benedicet tibi benedictionibus cæli desuper, benedictionibus abyssi jacentis deorsum, benedictionibus uberum et vulvæ.

The God of thy father shall bring thee aid; the Almighty shall bless thee with all the blessings that lie stored in heaven above, or in the depth beneath us, all the blessings that enrich breast and womb.

The blessings of thy father are strengthened with the blessings of his fathers: until the desire of the everlasting hills should come; may they be upon the head of Joseph, and upon the crown of the Nazarite among his brethren.

Benedictiones patris tui confortatæ sunt benedictionibus patrum ejus, donec veniret desiderium collium æternorum: fiant in capite Joseph, et in vertice Nazaræi inter fratres suos.

This blessing which thy father gives thee draws strength from all the blessings which his own fathers bequeathed; they shall not cease till he comes, whom the everlasting hills await. May they all rest on Joseph’s head, rest on his brow, who is separated, like a Nazirite, from his brethren.

Benjamin a ravenous wolf, in the morning shall eat the prey, and in the evening shall divide the spoil.

Benjamin lupus rapax, mane comedat prædam, et vespere dividet spolia.

As for Benjamin, he is like a ravening wolf, that must devour his own prey in the morning, and have plunder still to divide at nightfall.

All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: these things their father spoke to them, and he blessed every one, with their proper blessings.

Omnes hi in tribubus Israël duodecim: hæc locutus est eis pater suus, benedixitque singulis benedictionibus propriis.

All these names are perpetuated in the twelve tribes of Israel; and these are the words in which their father blessed them one by one, giving each the blessing that was due to him.

And he charged them, saying: I am now going to be gathered to my people: bury me with my fathers in the double cave, which is in the field of Ephron the Hethite,

Et præcepit eis, dicens: Ego congregor ad populum meum: sepelite me cum patribus meis in spelunca duplici quæ est in agro Ephron Hethæi,

Then he laid a charge upon them; I must die, he said, and become a part of my people; bury me with my fathers in the double cave on the land that belonged once to Ephron the Hethite,

Over against Mambre in the land of Chanaan, which Abraham bought together with the field of Ephron the Hethite for a possession to bury in.

contra Mambre in terra Chanaan, quam emit Abraham cum agro ab Ephron Hethæo in possessionem sepulchri.

the cave that looks towards Mambre, in the land of Chanaan. It was this cave that Abraham bought, with the ground it stands in, from Ephron the Hethite, to make his tomb there.

There they buried him, and Sara his wife: there was Isaac buried with Rebecca his wife: there also Lia doth lie buried.

Ibi sepelierunt eum, et Saram uxorem ejus: ibi sepultus est Isaac cum Rebecca conjuge sua: ibi et Lia condita jacet.

There they buried him, and his wife Sara with him; there, too, Isaac lies buried with his wife Rebecca; there Lia, too, was laid.

And when he had ended the commandments, wherewith he instructed his sons, he drew up his feet upon the bed, and died: and he was gathered to his people.

Finitisque mandatis quibus filios instruebat, collegit pedes suos super lectulum, et obiit: appositusque est ad populum suum.

So he made an end of giving the directions he would have his sons observe; then lay his full length on the bed, and died, and became a part of his people.