Numbers 1:5

³⁰On the fourth day Elizur the son of Shedeur, prince of the children of Reuben,

¹⁰“On the south side shall be the standard of the camp of Reuben according to their divisions. The prince of the children of Reuben shall be Elizur the son of Shedeur.

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. The obedience of the peoples will be to him. 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, LORD. 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 my 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.

²Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah, ³Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin, ⁴Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. ⁵All the souls who came out of Jacob’s body were seventy souls, and Joseph was in Egypt already.

⁸These are the names of the children of Israel, who came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn. ⁹The sons of Reuben: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. ¹⁰The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman. ¹¹The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. ¹²The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah; but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul. ¹³The sons of Issachar: Tola, Puvah, Iob, and Shimron. ¹⁴The sons of Zebulun: Sered, Elon, and Jahleel. ¹⁵These are the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan Aram, with his daughter Dinah. All the souls of his sons and his daughters were thirty-three. ¹⁶The sons of Gad: Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli. ¹⁷The sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and Serah their sister. The sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel. ¹⁸These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah, his daughter, and these she bore to Jacob, even sixteen souls. ¹⁹The sons of Rachel, Jacob’s wife: Joseph and Benjamin. ²⁰To Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, bore to him. ²¹The sons of Benjamin: Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard. ²²These are the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob: all the souls were fourteen. ²³The son of Dan: Hushim. ²⁴The sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem.

⁵Bilhah conceived, and bore Jacob a son. ⁶Rachel said, “God has judged me, and has also heard my voice, and has given me a son.” Therefore she called his name Dan. ⁷Bilhah, Rachel’s servant, conceived again, and bore Jacob a second son. ⁸Rachel said, “I have wrestled with my sister with mighty wrestlings, and have prevailed.” She named him Naphtali.

⁹When Leah saw that she had finished bearing, she took Zilpah, her servant, and gave her to Jacob as a wife. ¹⁰Zilpah, Leah’s servant, bore Jacob a son. ¹¹Leah said, “How fortunate!” She named him Gad. ¹²Zilpah, Leah’s servant, bore Jacob a second son. ¹³Leah said, “Happy am I, for the daughters will call me happy.” She named him Asher.

¹⁴Reuben went in the days of wheat harvest, and found mandrakes in the field, and brought them to his mother, Leah. Then Rachel said to Leah, “Please give me some of your son’s mandrakes.”

¹⁵Leah said to her, “Is it a small matter that you have taken away my husband? Would you take away my son’s mandrakes, also?” Rachel said, “Therefore he will lie with you tonight for your son’s mandrakes.”

¹⁶Jacob came from the field in the evening, and Leah went out to meet him, and said, “You must come in to me; for I have surely hired you with my son’s mandrakes.” He lay with her that night.

¹⁷God listened to Leah, and she conceived, and bore Jacob a fifth son. ¹⁸Leah said, “God has given me my hire, because I gave my servant to my husband.” She named him Issachar. ¹⁹Leah conceived again, and bore a sixth son to Jacob. ²⁰Leah said, “God has endowed me with a good dowry. Now my husband will live with me, because I have borne him six sons.” She named him Zebulun.

¹⁷When she was in hard labor, the midwife said to her, “Don’t be afraid, for now you will have another son.”

¹⁸As her soul was departing (for she died), she named him Benoni,^[+] but his father named him Benjamin.^19[+] Rachel died, and was buried on the way to Ephrath (also called Bethlehem). ²⁰Jacob set up a pillar on her grave. The same is the Pillar of Rachel’s grave to this day. ²¹Israel traveled, and spread his tent beyond the tower of Eder. ²²While Israel lived in that land, Reuben went and lay with Bilhah, his father’s concubine, and Israel heard of it. Now the sons of Jacob were twelve.

²³The sons of Leah: Reuben (Jacob’s firstborn), Simeon, Levi, Judah, Issachar, and Zebulun. ²⁴The sons of Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. ²⁵The sons of Bilhah (Rachel’s servant): Dan and Naphtali. ²⁶The sons of Zilpah (Leah’s servant): Gad and Asher. These are the sons of Jacob, who were born to him in Paddan Aram.

¹⁸The standard of the camp of Reuben went forward according to their armies. Elizur the son of Shedeur was over his army.

⁴I heard the number of those who were sealed, one hundred forty-four thousand, sealed out of every tribe of the children of Israel: ⁵of the tribe of Judah twelve thousand were sealed, of the tribe of Reuben twelve thousand, of the tribe of Gad twelve thousand, ⁶of the tribe of Asher twelve thousand, of the tribe of Naphtali twelve thousand, of the tribe of Manasseh twelve thousand, ⁷of the tribe of Simeon twelve thousand, of the tribe of Levi twelve thousand, of the tribe of Issachar twelve thousand, ⁸of the tribe of Zebulun twelve thousand, of the tribe of Joseph twelve thousand, and of the tribe of Benjamin twelve thousand were sealed.

¹This is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death. ²He said, “The LORD came from Sinai, and rose from Seir to them. He shone from Mount Paran. He came from the ten thousands of holy ones. At his right hand was a fiery law for them.³Yes, ^[+] he loves the people. All his saints are in your hand. They sat down at your feet. Each receives your words. ⁴Moses commanded us a law, an inheritance for the assembly of Jacob. ⁵He was king in Jeshurun, when the heads of the people were gathered, all the tribes of Israel together. ⁶“Let Reuben live, and not die; Nor let his men be few.”

⁷This is for Judah. He said, “Hear, LORD, the voice of Judah. Bring him in to his people. With his hands he contended for himself. You shall be a help against his adversaries.”

⁸About Levi he said, “Your Thummim and your Urim are with your godly one, whom you proved at Massah, with whom you contended at the waters of Meribah. ⁹He said of his father, and of his mother, ‘I have not seen him.’ He didn’t acknowledge his brothers, nor did he know his own children; for they have observed your word, and keep your covenant. ¹⁰They shall teach Jacob your ordinances, and Israel your law. They shall put incense before you, and whole burnt offering on your altar. ¹¹LORD, bless his skills. Accept the work of his hands. Strike through the hips of those who rise up against him, of those who hate him, that they not rise again.”

¹²About Benjamin he said, “The beloved of the LORD will dwell in safety by him. He covers him all day long. He dwells between his shoulders.”

¹³About Joseph he said, “His land is blessed by the LORD, for the precious things of the heavens, for the dew, for the deep that couches beneath, ¹⁴for the precious things of the fruits of the sun, for the precious things that the moon can yield, ¹⁵for the best things of the ancient mountains, for the precious things of the everlasting hills, ¹⁶for the precious things of the earth and its fullness, the good will of him who lived in the bush.Let this come ^[+] on the head of Joseph, on the crown of the head of him who was separated from his brothers. ¹⁷Majesty belongs to the firstborn of his herd. His horns are the horns of the wild ox. With them he will push all the peoples to the ends of the earth. They are the ten thousands of Ephraim. They are the thousands of Manasseh.”

¹⁸About Zebulun he said, “Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out; and Issachar, in your tents. ¹⁹They will call the peoples to the mountain. There they will offer sacrifices of righteousness, for they will draw out the abundance of the seas, the hidden treasures of the sand.”

²⁰About Gad he said, “He who enlarges Gad is blessed. He dwells as a lioness, and tears the arm and the crown of the head. ²¹He provided the first part for himself, for the lawgiver’s portion was reserved for him. He came with the heads of the people. He executed the righteousness of the LORD, His ordinances with Israel.”

²²About Dan he said, “Dan is a lion’s cub that leaps out of Bashan.”

²³About Naphtali he said, “Naphtali, satisfied with favor, full of the LORD’s blessing, Possess the west and the south.”

²⁴About Asher he said, “Asher is blessed with children. Let him be acceptable to his brothers. Let him dip his foot in oil. ²⁵Your bars will be iron and bronze. As your days, so your strength will be. ²⁶“There is no one like God, Jeshurun, who rides on the heavens for your help, in his excellency on the skies. ²⁷The eternal God is your dwelling place. Underneath are the everlasting arms. He thrust out the enemy from before you, and said, ‘Destroy!’ ²⁸Israel dwells in safety, the fountain of Jacob alone, In a land of grain and new wine. Yes, his heavens drop down dew. ²⁹You are happy, Israel! Who is like you, a people saved by the LORD, the shield of your help, the sword of your excellency? Your enemies will submit themselves to you. You will tread on their high places.”