1. 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.
2. “Come and listen, you sons of Jacob;listen to Israel, your father.
3. “Reuben, you are my firstborn, my strength,the child of my vigorous youth.You are first in rank and first in power.
4. But you are as unruly as a flood,and you will be first no longer.For you went to bed with my wife;you defiled my marriage couch.
5. “Simeon and Levi are two of a kind;their weapons are instruments of violence.
6. May I never join in their meetings;may I never be a party to their plans.For in their anger they murdered men,and they crippled oxen just for sport.
7. A curse on their anger, for it is fierce;a curse on their wrath, for it is cruel.I will scatter them among the descendants of Jacob;I will disperse them throughout Israel.
8. “Judah, your brothers will praise you.You will grasp your enemies by the neck.All your relatives will bow before you.
9. Judah, my son, is a young lionthat has finished eating its prey.Like a lion he crouches and lies down;like a lioness—who dares to rouse him?