December 17, 2013, Reading

Genesis    49: 2-10

49:2 Gather together and listen, O sons of Jacob. Listen to Israel, your father.

49:3 Reuben, my firstborn, you are my strength and the beginning of my sorrow: first in gifts, greater in authority.

49:4 You are being poured out like water, may you not increase. For you climbed onto your father’s bed, and you defiled his resting place.

49:5 The brothers Simeon and Levi: vessels of iniquity waging war.

49:6 Let not my soul go by their counsel, nor my glory be within their meeting. For in their fury they killed a man, and in their self-will they undermined a wall.

49:7 Cursed be their fury, because it was obstinate, and their indignation, because it was harsh. I will divide them in Jacob, and I will scatter them in Israel.

49:8 Judah, your brothers will praise you. Your hand will be at the necks of your enemies; the sons of your father will reverence you.

49:9 Judah is a lion’s young. You have gone up to the prey, my son. While resting, you have lain like a lion. And just like a lioness, who would rouse him?

49:10 The scepter from Judah and the leader from his thigh will not be taken away, until he who will be sent arrives, and he will be the expectation of Gentiles.