1And this is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the sons of Israel before his death.
2He said: Yahweh came from Sinai, and dawned upon them from Seir; he shone forth from Mount Paran, and came from the myriads of holy ones; from his right hand a fiery law for them.
3Indeed, he loves the peoples; all his holy ones are in your hand. And they, they bowed down at your feet; each receives from your words.
4Moses commanded us a Torah, a possession of the assembly of Jacob.
5And he became king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people gathered together, the tribes of Israel.
6Let Reuben live and not die, and let his men be few in number.
7And this is for Judah. He said: Hear, Yahweh, the voice of Judah, and bring him to his people. With his hands he contends for himself; and may you be a help against his foes.
8And of Levi he said: Your Thummim and your Urim belong to your faithful one, whom you tested at Massah, with whom you contended at the waters of Meribah.
9Who said of his father and his mother, ‘I have not seen him’; and his brothers he did not acknowledge, and his sons he did not know. For they kept your word, and they guarded your covenant.
10They will teach your judgments to Jacob, and your Torah to Israel. They will place incense before you, and whole burnt offering upon your altar.
11Bless, Yahweh, his strength, and accept the work of his hands. Shatter the loins of those who rise against him, and of those who hate him, that they rise no more.
12Of Benjamin he said: The beloved of Yahweh dwells in safety beside him; he shelters over him all the day, and he dwells between his shoulders.
13And of Joseph he said: Blessed by Yahweh is his land, with the choicest gifts of heaven, with dew, and with the deep crouching beneath;
14and with the choicest yield of the sun, and with the choicest produce of the months;
15and with the finest of the ancient mountains, and with the choicest of the everlasting hills;
16and with the choicest gifts of the earth and its fullness, and the favor of the one who dwells in the bush. May they come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the crown of the one set apart from his brothers.
17His firstborn bull—majesty is his, and his horns are the horns of a wild ox; with them he gores the peoples, all together, to the ends of the earth. These are the myriads of Ephraim, and these the thousands of Manasseh.
18And of Zebulun he said: Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out, and Issachar, in your tents.
19Peoples they will summon to the mountain; there they will sacrifice sacrifices of righteousness. For they will suck the abundance of the seas, and the hidden treasures buried in the sand.
20And of Gad he said: Blessed is the one who enlarges Gad. He dwells like a lion, and tears the arm, even the crown of the head.
21He saw the first portion for himself, for there the portion of the commander was reserved. And he came at the head of the people; he carried out the righteousness of Yahweh, and his judgments with Israel.
22And of Dan he said: Dan is a lion’s cub that leaps from Bashan.
23And of Naphtali he said: Naphtali, satisfied with favor and full of the blessing of Yahweh, take possession of the sea and the south.
24And of Asher he said: Most blessed of sons is Asher; may he be favored by his brothers, and may he dip his foot in oil.
25Iron and bronze be your bars, and as your days, so your strength.
26There is none like the God of Jeshurun, who rides the heavens to your help, and in his majesty the skies.
27A dwelling place is the God of old, and beneath are the everlasting arms. He drove out the enemy before you, and said, ‘Destroy!’
28And Israel dwells in safety, alone; the fountain of Jacob is in a land of grain and new wine; indeed, his heavens drip down dew.
29Blessed are you, Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by Yahweh, the shield of your help, and the sword of your majesty? Your enemies will cringe before you, and you will tread on their high places.
Open in the interactive reader →