Genesis

Genesis 49

33 verses · Law · Old Testament

1Jacob called to his sons, and said: “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which will happen to you in the days to come.

2Assemble yourselves, and hear, you sons of Jacob. Listen to Israel, your father.
3“Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength; excelling in dignity, and excelling in power. 4Boiling over like water, you shall not excel; because you went up to your father’s bed, then defiled it. He went up to my couch.
5“Simeon and Levi are brothers. Their swords are weapons of violence. 6My soul, don’t come into their council. My glory, don’t be united to their assembly; for in their anger they killed men. In their self-will they hamstrung cattle. 7Cursed 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.
8“Judah, your brothers will praise you. Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies. Your father’s sons will bow down before you. 9Judah is a lion’s cub. From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down, he crouched as a lion, as a lioness. Who will rouse him up? 10The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs. To him will the obedience of the peoples be. 11Binding his foal to the vine, his donkey’s colt to the choice vine; he has washed his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes. 12His eyes will be red with wine, his teeth white with milk.
13“Zebulun will dwell at the haven of the sea. He will be for a haven of ships. His border will be on Sidon.
14“Issachar is a strong donkey, lying down between the saddlebags. 15He saw a resting place, that it was good, the land, that it was pleasant. He bows his shoulder to the burden, and becomes a servant doing forced labor.
16“Dan will judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. 17Dan will be a serpent on the trail, an adder in the path, that bites the horse’s heels, so that his rider falls backward. 18I have waited for your salvation, Yahweh.
19“A troop will press on Gad, but he will press on their heel.
20“Asher’s food will be rich. He will produce royal dainties.
21“Naphtali is a doe set free, who bears beautiful fawns.
22“Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine by a spring. His branches run over the wall. 23The archers have severely grieved him, shot at him, and persecuted him: 24But his bow remained strong. The arms of his hands were made strong, by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, (from there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel), 25even by the God of your father, who will help you, by the Almighty, who will bless you, with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies below, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb. 26The blessings of your father have prevailed above the blessings of your ancestors, above the boundaries of the ancient hills. They will be on the head of Joseph, on the crown of the head of him who is separated from his brothers.
27“Benjamin is a ravenous wolf. In the morning he will devour the prey. At evening he will divide the plunder.”

28All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke to them, and blessed them. He blessed everyone according to his own blessing. 29He instructed them, and said to them, “I am to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 30in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite as a burial place. 31There they buried Abraham and Sarah, his wife. There they buried Isaac and Rebekah, his wife, and there I buried Leah: 32the field and the cave that is therein, which was purchased from the children of Heth.” 33When Jacob finished charging his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, breathed his last breath, and was gathered to his people.

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What others are saying

5 commentators · 83 notes on this chapter

Matthew HenryEnglish Puritan / Nonconformist · 1708–17146

Writes as a pastor rather than a critic. Expect devotional and practical application over historical or linguistic analysis, read through a Reformed covenantal frame — and expect the Old Testament to be read forward toward Christ throughout.

Why this voice is here: The most widely read English commentary for three centuries. Included as a baseline: where Henry and a modern voice diverge, the divergence itself is usually the interesting part.

v. 1–4

Here is, I. The preface to the prophecy, in which, 1. The congregation is called together (Gen 49:2): Gather yourselves together; let them all be sent for from their several employments, to see their father die, and to hear his dying words. It was a comfort…

v. 5–7

These were next in age to Reuben, and they also had been a grief and shame to Jacob, when they treacherously and barbarously destroyed the Shechemites, which he here remembers against them. Children should be afraid of incurring their parents' just…

v. 8–12

Glorious things are here said of Judah. The mention of the crimes of the three elder of his sons had not so put the dying patriarch out of humour but that he had a blessing ready for Judah, to whom blessings belonged. Judah's name signifies praise, in…

John GillParticular Baptist / High Calvinist · 1746–176333

The most exhaustive and the most doctrinally committed here. Expect high — even supralapsarian — Calvinism applied consistently, and unusually heavy use of rabbinic and Talmudic sources for Jewish context. Where a passage bears on election or the will, Gill will read it in one direction, and knowing that in advance is the point.

Why this voice is here: The strongest Calvinist reading available in the public domain, and the best on Jewish background. Read alongside Clarke, not instead of him — between them you get both sides of the argument.

v. 1

And Jacob called upon his sons,.... Who either were near at hand, and within call at the time Joseph came to visit him, or if at a distance, and at another time, he sent a messenger or messengers to them to come unto him: and said, gather yourselves together…

v. 2

Gather yourselves together,.... This is repeated to hasten them, and to suggest that he had something of importance to make known unto them, which he chose to do, when they were together: and hear, ye sons of Jacob, and hearken to Israel your father: these…

v. 3

Reuben, thou art my firstborn,.... Jacob addressed himself to Reuben first, in the presence of his brethren, owned him as his firstborn, as he was, Genesis 29:31 did not cashier him from his family, nor disinherit him, though he had greatly disobliged him…

Adam ClarkeMethodist / Wesleyan-Arminian · 1810–182621

The linguist of this set. Expect Hebrew and Greek word study, oriental custom, and geography — and an Arminian reading of grace and free will where Gill or Henry would read election. Note one real divergence: Clarke denied the eternal sonship of Christ, a position most of the tradition rejects, so read him closely on the person of Christ.

Why this voice is here: Where you want to know what a word actually says, Clarke is the one who will tell you — with the caveat above on Christ’s sonship.

v. 1–2

That which shall befall you in the last days - It is evident from this, and indeed from the whole complexion of these important prophecies, that the twelve sons of Jacob had very little concern in them, personally considered, as they were to be fulfilled in…

v. 3

Reuben as the first-born had a right to a double portion of all that the father had; see Deu 21:17 The eminence or dignity mentioned here may refer to the priesthood; the power, to the regal government or kingdom - In this sense it has been understood by all…

v. 4

Pouring out like the waters - This is an obscure sentence because unfinished. It evidently relates to the defilement of his father's couch; and the word פחז pachaz, here translated pouring out, and in our Version unstable, has a bad meaning in other places of…

Keil & DelitzschGerman Lutheran, conservative-critical · 1861–187515

The technical one, and Old Testament only. Expect Hebrew grammar, textual argument, and direct engagement with nineteenth-century critical scholarship — closer to a scholarly apparatus than a devotional read. Where a modern critic claims a text is late or composite, this is where the conservative counter-argument was made.

Why this voice is here: Old Testament only, and heavy going — but the place to look when someone asserts a passage cannot mean what it appears to.

v. 1–2

The Blessing. - Gen 49:1, Gen 49:2. When Jacob had adopted and blessed the two sons of Joseph, he called his twelve sons, to make known to them his spiritual bequest. In an elevated and solemn tone he said, "Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you…

v. 3–4

Reuben, my first-born thou, my might and first-fruit of my strength; pre-eminence in dignity and pre-eminence in power. - As the first-born, the first sprout of the full virile power of Jacob, Reuben, according to natural right, was entitled to the first rank…

v. 5–7

"Simeon and Levi are brethren:" emphatically brethren in the full sense of the word; not merely as having the same parents, but in their modes of thought and action. "Weapons of wickedness are their swords." The ἅπαξ lec. מכרת is rendered by Luther, etc…

Jamieson, Fausset & BrownScottish Presbyterian / Reformed · 18718

The concise option. Three authors split the canon, so the voice shifts between sections. Expect brief, sober, conservative notes that resolve difficulties rather than dwelling on them — useful for orientation, thinner than Gill or Clarke where a passage is genuinely contested.

Why this voice is here: The quickest way to see what the mainstream Reformed reading of a passage is. Start here, then go to Gill or Clarke when it matters.

v. 10–13

JUDAH--A high pre-eminence is destined to this tribe (Num 10:14; Jdg 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…

v. 14–16

ISSACHAR-- (Gen 49:14-15) a strong ass couching down between two burdens--that is, it was to be active, patient, given to agricultural labors. It was established in lower Galilee--a "good land," settling down in the midst of the Canaanites, where, for the…

v. 17–21

DAN--though the son of a secondary wife, was to be "as one of the tribes of Israel." (Gen 49:16-18) Dan--"a judge." a serpent . . . an adder--A serpent, an adder, implies subtlety and stratagem; such was pre-eminently the character of Samson, the most…

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