Bible Tribes

¹AND this is the blessing, with which Moses the servant of God blessed the children of Israel before his death. ²And he said, Yahvah came from Sinai, and shined on us from Seir; he rose up from mount Paran; he came with 10,000s of saints at his right hand. ³Yes, he supplied their needs; he also made them to be beloved by the nations; he blessed all his saints; and they followed closely after his feet, each one receiving one of his words. ⁴Moses delivered to us a law, and he gave it as an inheritance to the congregation of Jacob. ⁵And there will be a king in Israel, when the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel are gathered together.

⁶Let Reuben live, and not die; and let his people be numerous. ⁷And this is the blessing of Judah: Hear, oh Yahvah, the voice of Judah, and bring him close to his people; let his hands contend for him, and you be a help to him from his oppressors.

⁸And of Levi he said, Let your consecration and your light be on the just one whom you proved in trials and whom you tested at the waters of Mesotha; ⁹Who said of his father and of his mother, I have not seen them; he did not recognize his brothers nor know his own children; for they have observed your word and kept your contract. ¹⁰They will teach Jacob your judgments, and Israel your law; they will put incense before you when you are angry, and whole burnt sacrifice on your altar. ¹¹Bless, oh Yahvah, his substance, and accept the work of his hands; strike the loins of his adversaries, and of his enemies, that they do not rise again.

¹²And of Benjamin he said, The beloved of Yahvah will live in safety; and Yahvah will have compassion on him all day long, and he will live in his embrace. ¹³And of Joseph he said, Blessed of Yahvah be his land and its fruit, with the dew of heaven from above, with the deep that couches beneath, ¹⁴With the fruit of the earth brought forth by the sun, with the products brought forth by the moon, ¹⁵With the best fruits of the eastern mountains, with the fruit of the eternal hills, ¹⁶With the precious things of the earth and its fullness, and with the good will of him who lived in the bush; let blessing come on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of his brothers. ¹⁷His glory is like the firstlings of the bullocks, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns; with them he will push the peoples together to the ends of the earth; and they are the 10,000s of Ephraim, and they are the 1,000s of Manasseh.

¹⁸And of Zebulun he said, Rejoice, oh Zebulun, in your going out; and Issachar, in your tents. ¹⁹They will call the people to the mountain; there they will offer sacrifices of righteousness; for they will suck of the abundance of the sea, and of the treasures which lie hidden in ships on the beaches. ²⁰And of Gad he said, Blessed be he who enlarges Gad; he lives like a lion, and tears the arm together with the head. ²¹And he provided the first part of the spoil for himself, out of which he set aside the portion of the lawgiver; he went out at the head of the people; he executed the justice of Yahvah and his judgments with Israel.

²²And of Dan he said, Dan is a lion's whelp, who sucks milk from Mathnin. ²³And of Naphtali he said, Oh Naphtali, satisfied with abundance, and filled with the blessing of Yahvah; he will possess the west and the south. ²⁴And of Asher he said, Let Asher be blessed with children; let him be acceptable to his brothers, and let him have abundance of oil. ²⁵Your shoes will be iron and brass; and like your days, so your strength will be.

²⁶There is no one like the God of Israel, who rides through the heaven to your help, and in his excellency on the sky. ²⁷In the heaven of heavens is the dwelling of our God from everlasting, and below he creates men; and he will destroy your enemies from before you; for he said, Destroy them. ²⁸Israel then will live in safety alone; the fountain of Jacob will be in a land of grain and wine and oil; the heavens will also drop down dew. ²⁹Happy are you, oh Israel; who is like you, a people whose salvation is sustained by Yahvah; God is your help, and your pride is not in the sword; your enemies will deal treacherously with you; but you will tread on their necks.