Study Desk

Then he positioned the boys in front of Jacob. With his right hand he directed Ephraim toward Jacob's left hand, and with his left hand he put Manasseh at Jacob's right hand.

But Jacob crossed his arms as he reached out to lay his hands on the boys' heads. He put his right hand on the head of Ephraim, though he was the younger boy, and his left hand on the head of Manasseh, though he was the firstborn.

But Joseph was upset when he saw that his father placed his right hand on Ephraim's head. So Joseph lifted it to move it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head.

"No, my father," he said. "This one is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head."

But his father refused. "I know, my son; I know," he replied. "Manasseh will also become a great people, but his younger brother will become even greater. And his descendants will become a multitude of nations."

Then Jacob called together all his sons and said, "Gather around me, and I will tell you what will happen to each of you in the days to come.

The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from his descendants, until the coming of the one to whom it belongs, the one whom all nations will honor.

He ties his foal to a grapevine, the colt of his donkey to a choice vine. He washes his clothes in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes.

His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth are whiter than milk.

"Zebulun will settle by the seashore and will be a harbor for ships; his borders will extend to Sidon.

When he sees how good the countryside is and how pleasant the land, he will bend his shoulder to the load and submit himself to hard labor.

"Dan will govern his people, like any other tribe in Israel.

But his bow remained taut, and his arms were strengthened by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, by the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel.

May my fatherly blessings on you surpass the blessings of my ancestors, reaching to the heights of the eternal hills. May these blessings rest on the head of Joseph, who is a prince among his brothers.

"Benjamin is a ravenous wolf, devouring his enemies in the morning and dividing his plunder in the evening."

These are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said as he told his sons good-bye. He blessed each one with an appropriate message.

There Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried. There Isaac and his wife, Rebekah, are buried. And there I buried Leah.

When Jacob had finished this charge to his sons, he drew his feet into the bed, breathed his last, and joined his ancestors in death.

Joseph threw himself on his father and wept over him and kissed him.

Then Joseph told the physicians who served him to embalm his father's body; so Jacob was embalmed.