1. And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.
2. Gather yourselves together, and hear, you sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father.
3. Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:
4. Unstable as water, you shall not excel; because you went up to your father's bed; then you defiled it: he went up to my couch.
5. Simeon and Levi are brothers; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations.
6. O my soul, come not into their secret; unto their assembly, my spirit, be not united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their self-will they dug down a wall.
7. Cursed 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, you are he whom your brothers shall praise: your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father's children shall bow down before you.
9. Judah is a lion's whelp: from the prey, my son, you are gone up: he stooped down, he crouched as a lion, and as a lioness; who shall rouse him up?
10. The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh comes; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.