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¹ AND this is the blessing, wherewith Moses the servant of God blessed the children of Israel before his death.² And he said, The LORD came from Sinai, and shined upon us from Seir; he rose up from mount Paran; he came with ten thousands of saints at his right hand.³ Yea, he supplied their needs; he also made them to be beloved by the nations; he blessed all his saints; and they followed closely after his feet, every one receiving one of his words.⁴ Moses delivered to us a law, and he gave it as an inheritance to the congregation of Jacob.⁵ And there shall be a king in Israel, when the heads of the people and the tribes of Israel are gathered together.

⁶ Let Reuben live, and not die; and let his people be numerous.⁷ And this is the blessing of Judah: Hear, O LORD, the voice of Judah, and bring him close to his people; let his hands contend for him, and be thou a help to him from his oppressors.

⁸ And of Levi he said, Let your consecration and your light be upon the just one whom thou didst prove in trials and whom thou didst test at the waters of Mesotha;⁹ Who said of his father and of his mother, I have not seen them; neither did he recognize his brothers nor know his own children; for they have observed thy word and kept thy covenant.¹⁰ They shall teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy law; they shall put incense before thee when thou art angry, and whole burnt sacrifice upon thy altar.¹¹ Bless, O LORD, his substance, and accept the work of his hands; smite the loins of his adversaries, and of his enemies, that they rise not again.

¹² And of Benjamin he said, The beloved of the LORD shall dwell in safety; and the LORD shall have compassion on him all the day long, and he shall dwell in his bosom.¹³ And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the LORD be his land and its fruit, with the dew of heaven from above, with the deep that couches beneath,¹⁴ With the fruit of the earth brought forth by the sun, with the products brought forth by the moon,¹⁵ With the best fruits of the eastern mountains, with the fruit of the eternal hills,¹⁶ With the precious things of the earth and the fulness thereof, and with the good will of him who dwelt in the bush; let blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the crown of the head of his brothers.¹⁷ His glory is like the firstlings of the bullocks, and his horns are like the horns of unicorns; with them he shall push the peoples together to the ends of the earth; and they are the ten thousands of Ephraim, and they are the thousands of Manasseh.

¹⁸ And of Zebulun he said, Rejoice, O Zebulun, in your going out; and Issachar, in your tents.¹⁹ They shall call the people to the mountain; there they shall offer sacrifices of righteousness; for they shall suck of the abundance of the sea, and of the treasures which lie hidden in ships on the beaches.²⁰ And of Gad he said, Blessed be he who enlarges Gad; he dwells like a lion, and tears the arm together with the head.²¹ And he provided the first part of the spoil for himself, out of which he set aside the portion of the lawgiver; he went out at the head of the people; he executed the justice of the LORD and his judgments with Israel.

²² And of Dan he said, Dan is a lions whelp, who sucks milk from Mathnin.²³ And of Naphtali he said, O Naphtali, satisfied with abundance, and filled with the blessing of the LORD; he shall possess the west and the south.²⁴ And of Asher he said, Let Asher be blessed with children; let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him have abundance of oil.²⁵ Your shoes shall be iron and brass; and as to your days, so shall your strength be.

²⁶ There is none like the God of Israel, who rides through the heaven to your help, and in his excellency on the sky.²⁷ In the heaven of heavens is the dwelling of our God from everlasting, and below he creates men; and he shall destroy your enemies from before you; for he said, Destroy them.²⁸ Israel then shall dwell in safety alone; the fountain of Jacob shall be in a land of grain and wine and oil; also the heavens shall drop down dew.²⁹ Happy are you, O Israel: who is like you, a people whose salvation is sustained by the LORD, God is your help, and your pride is not in the sword; your enemies shall deal treacherously with you; but you shall tread upon their necks.