CHAPTER 49
Jacob’s Testament.*
listen to Israel, your father.
my strength and the first fruit of my vigor,
excelling in rank and excelling in power!
for you climbed into your father’s bed
and defiled my couch to my sorrow.a
weapons of violence are their knives.*
or my honor be joined with their company;
For in their fury they killed men,
at their whim they maimed oxen.b
and their rage so cruel!
I will scatter them in Jacob,
disperse them throughout Israel.
—your hand on the neck of your enemies;
the sons of your father shall bow down to you.
you have grown up on prey, my son.
He crouches, lies down like a lion,
like a lioness—who would dare rouse him?c
or the mace from between his feet,
Until tribute comes to him,*
and he receives the people’s obedience.
his donkey’s foal to the choicest stem.
In wine he washes his garments,
his robe in the blood of grapes.*
and his teeth are whiter than milk.
he will be a haven for ships,
and his flank shall rest on Sidon.
crouching between the saddlebags.
and how pleasant the land,
He bent his shoulder to the burden
and became a toiling serf.
as one of the tribes of Israel.
a horned viper by the path,
That bites the horse’s heel,
so that the rider tumbles backward.
but he shall raid at their heels.*
and he shall furnish delicacies for kings.
which brings forth lovely fawns.
a wild colt by a spring,
wild colts on a hillside.
the archers opposed him;
and his arms were nimble,
By the power of the Mighty One of Jacob,
because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,
God Almighty, who blesses you,
With the blessings of the heavens above,
the blessings of the abyss that crouches below,
The blessings of breasts and womb,
the blessings of the everlasting mountains,
the delights of the eternal hills.
May they rest on the head of Joseph,
on the brow of the prince among his brothers.
mornings he devours the prey,
and evenings he distributes the spoils.”
* [49:1–27] The testament, or farewell discourse, of Jacob, which has its closest parallel in Moses’ farewell in Dt 33:6–25. From his privileged position as a patriarch, he sees the future of his children (the eponymous ancestors of the tribes) and is able to describe how they will fare and so gives his blessing. The dense and archaic poetry is obscure in several places. The sayings often involve wordplays (explained in the notes). The poem begins with the six sons of Leah (vv. 2–15), then deals with the sons of the two secondary wives, and ends with Rachel’s two sons, Joseph and Benjamin. Reuben, the oldest son, loses his position of leadership as a result of his intercourse with Bilhah (35:22), and the words about Simeon and Levi allude to their taking revenge for the rape of Dinah (chap. 34). The preeminence of Judah reflects his rise in the course of the narrative (mirroring the rise of Joseph). See note on 44:1–34.
* [49:5–7] This passage probably refers to their attack on the city of Shechem (Gn 34). Because there is no indication that the warlike tribe of Levi will be commissioned as a priestly tribe (Ex 32:26–29; Dt 33:11), this passage reflects an early, independent tradition.
* [49:5] Knives: if this is the meaning of the obscure Hebrew word here, the reference may be to the knives used in circumcising the men of Shechem (34:24; cf. Jos 5:2).
* [49:10] Until tribute comes to him: this translation is based on a slight change in the Hebrew text, which, as it stands, would seem to mean, “until he comes to Shiloh.” A somewhat different reading of the Hebrew text would be, “until he comes to whom it belongs.” This last has been traditionally understood in a messianic sense. In any case, the passage aims at the supremacy of the tribe of Judah and of the Davidic dynasty.
* [49:11] In wine…the blood of grapes: Judah’s clothes are poetically pictured as soaked with grape juice from trampling in the wine press, the rich vintage of his land; cf. Is 63:2.
* [49:16] In Hebrew the verb for “achieve justice” is from the same root as the name Dan.
* [49:18] This short plea for divine mercy has been inserted into the middle of Jacob’s testament.
* [49:19] In Hebrew there is assonance between the name Gad and the words for “raided,” “raiders,” and “raid.”
* [49:25–26] A very similar description of the agricultural riches of the tribal land of Joseph is given in Dt 33:13–16.
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