Genesis 49

Genesis · Chapter 49

Genesis 49:9

1And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.2Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father.3Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:4Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father’s bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.5Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations.6O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall.7Cursed 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.8Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down before thee.9Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?10The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come; and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.11Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass’s colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes:12His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.13Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be for an haven of ships; and his border shall be unto Zidon.14Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens:15And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute.16Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.17Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.18I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD.19Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last.20Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties.21Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words.22Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:23The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:24But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)25Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:26The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.27Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.28All these are the twelve tribes of Israel: and this is it that their father spake unto them, and blessed them; every one according to his blessing he blessed them.29And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,30In the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a buryingplace.31There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah.32The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth.33And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the ghost, and was gathered unto his people.

King James Version (1769)

Other translations

VerseKJVBSBASV
9Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?Judah is a young lion— my son, you return from the prey. Like a lion he crouches and lies down; like a lioness, who dares to rouse him?Judah is a lion’s whelp; From the prey, my son, thou art gone up: He stooped down, he couched as a lion, And as a lioness; who shall rouse him up?

In context

Who is speaking and to whom, what is happening, when and where, and why it matters, each with its sources. Coming with the context cards.

Original Hebrew words

EnglishHebrewSay itStrong'sMeaning
[is] a cub ofגּ֤וּרgurH1482
whelp

גּוּר (gur) cub, whelp, young

a lionאַרְיֵה֙'ar-YEHH0738B
lion

אַרְיֵה (ar.yeh) 1) lion 1a) pictures or images of lions Aramaic equivalent: ar.yeh (אַרְיֵה "lion" H0744)

Judahיְהוּדָ֔הye-hu-DAHH3063G
Judah

יְהוּד (ye.hud) A man of the tribe of Judah living at the time of the Patriarchs, first mentioned at Gen.29.35; son of: Israel (H3478) and Leah (H3812); brother of: Reuben (H7205), Simeon (H8095), Levi (H3878), Issachar (H3485), Zebulun (H2074) and Dinah (H1783); half-brother of: Dan (H1835H), Naphtali (H5321), Gad (H1410), Asher (H0836), Joseph (H3130) and Benjamin (H1144); married to Bath-shua (H1323I) and Tamar (H8559); father of: Er (H6147), Onan (H0209), Shelah (H7956), Perez (H6557) and Zerah (H2226I) Aramaic of ye.hu.dah (יְהוּדָה "Judah" H3063) Judah-the territory of the tribe of Judah

from preyמִטֶּ֖רֶףmi-TE-refH2964
prey

טֶ֫רֶף (te.reph) 1) prey, food, leaf 1a) prey 1b) food 1c) leaf

O son myבְּנִ֣יbe-NIH1121A
son: child

בֵּן (ben) : child/son

you have gone upעָלִ֑יתָ'a-LI-taH5927G
to ascend: rise

עָלָה (a.lah) : rise/go 1) to go up, ascend, climb 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to go up, ascend 1a2) to meet, visit, follow, depart, withdraw, retreat 1a3) to go up, come up (of animals) 1a4) to spring up, grow, shoot forth (of vegetation) 1a5) to go up, go up over, rise (of natural phenomenon) 1a6) to come up (before God) 1a7) to go up, go up over, extend (of boundary) 1a8) to excel, be superior to 1b) (Niphal) 1b1) to be taken up, be brought up, be taken away 1b2) to take oneself away 1b3) to be exalted 1c) (Hiphil) 1c1) to bring up, cause to ascend or climb, cause to go up 1c2) to bring up, bring against, take away …

he bows downכָּרַ֨עka-RA'H3766
to bow

כָּרַע (ka.ra) 1) to bend, kneel, bow, bow down, sink down to one's knees, kneel down to rest (of animals), kneel in reverence 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to bow 1a2) to bow down, crouch 1a3) to bow down over 1a4) to tilt, lean 1b) (Hiphil) to cause to bow

he lies downרָבַ֧ץra-VATZH7257
to stretch

רָבַץ (ra.vats) 1) to stretch oneself out, lie down, lie stretched out 1a) (Qal) to lie down, lie 1b)(Hiphil) to cause to lie down 1b1) laying (stones)

like a lionכְּאַרְיֵ֛הke-'ar-YEHH0738B
lion

אַרְיֵה (ar.yeh) 1) lion 1a) pictures or images of lions Aramaic equivalent: ar.yeh (אַרְיֵה "lion" H0744)

and like a lionוּכְלָבִ֖יאu-khe-la-VI'H3833C
lioness

לְבִיָּא (le.viy.ya) lioness Another spelling of la.vi (לָבִיא "lion" H3833C)

who?מִ֥יmiH4310
who?

מִי (mi) who?, whose?, whom?, would that, whoever, whosoever

will he rouse himיְקִימֶֽנּוּ׃ye-ki-ME-nuH6965B
to arise: rise

קוּם (qum) : rise/get_going 1) to rise, arise, stand, rise up, stand up 1a) (Qal) 1a1) to arise 1a2) to arise (hostile sense) 1a3) to arise, become powerful 1a4) to arise, come on the scene 1a5) to stand 1a5a) to maintain oneself 1a5b) to be established, be confirmed 1a5c) to stand, endure 1a5d) to be fixed 1a5e) to be valid 1a5f) to be proven 1a5g) to be fulfilled 1a5h) to persist 1a5i) to be set, be fixed 1b) (Piel) 1b1) to fulfil 1b2) to confirm, ratify, establish, impose 1c) (Polel) to raise up 1d) (Hithpael) to raise oneself, rise up 1e) (Hiphil) 1e1) to cause to arise, raise …

Words and meanings from STEPBible data (Tyndale House, Cambridge, CC BY 4.0). The capitalized syllable is the stressed one.