Genesis 49

Jacob’s Last Words to His Sons

1Then 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.

8“Judah, your brothers will praise you.

You will grasp your enemies by the neck.

All your relatives will bow before you.

9Judah, my son, is a young lion

that has finished eating its prey.

Like a lion he crouches and lies down;

like a lioness—who dares to rouse him?

10The 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.

11He 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.

12His eyes are darker than wine,

and his teeth are whiter than milk.