Genesis · 33 verses
Genesis 49
Every verse links to the people and places named in it, and to the passages readers connect it with.
The chapter
What happens here
Atlas's own reading, written from this chapter and nothing else, and published only once a person has approved it. Each scene names the verses it covers; the names inside it link to the people and places they name.
Judah’s rule is given a turning point with a name the text does not explain: Shiloh. “The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes and the allegiance of the nations is his.”
A father speaks over his sonsvv. 1–28
Jacob gathers his sons for what will happen “in the days to come,” and the speech proceeds by names, animals, weapons, harvests, borders, burdens, and blessings. Reuben loses his firstborn precedence for going up to his father’s bed; Simeon and Levi are dispersed for violent anger. Judah receives the lion’s share of the grandeur, including the unexplained arrival of Shiloh, while Zebulun is given the seashore, Issachar the burden, Dan the roadside ambush, and Gad the attack at the heels. Then, oddly and briefly, comes the prayer: “I await Your salvation, O LORD.” Joseph is a vine under attack whose bow is steadied by the Mighty One of Jacob, and Benjamin ends the sequence as a wolf dividing the plunder. These are twelve tribes, and Jacob blesses each with a suitable blessing.
The burial instruction and the quiet endvv. 29–33
Jacob turns from what will happen to his sons to what is to happen to his body. He gives precise directions: the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite, in Machpelah near Mamre, in Canaan—the same field where Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Leah are buried. Then, after all the speeches and instructions, Jacob pulls his feet into bed and breathes his last. The grand farewell has, at its final moment, a household detail.
The text
Read it
Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.
Gen 49:1Then Jacob called for his sons and said, “Gather around so that I can tell you what will happen to you in the days to come:
Gen 49:2Come together and listen, O sons of Jacob; listen to your father Israel.
Gen 49:3Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, excelling in honor, excelling in power.
Gen 49:4Uncontrolled as the waters, you will no longer excel, because you went up to your father’s bed, onto my couch, and defiled it.
Gen 49:5Simeon and Levi are brothers; their swords are weapons of violence.
Gen 49:6May I never enter their council; may I never join their assembly. For they kill men in their anger, and hamstring oxen on a whim.
Gen 49:7Cursed be their anger, for it is strong, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will disperse them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.
Gen 49:8Judah, your brothers shall praise you. Your hand shall be on the necks of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down to you.
Gen 49:9Judah 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?
Gen 49:10The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes and the allegiance of the nations is his.
Gen 49:11He ties his donkey to the vine, his colt to the choicest branch. He washes his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes.
Gen 49:12His eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth are whiter than milk.
Gen 49:13Zebulun shall dwell by the seashore and become a harbor for ships; his border shall extend to Sidon.
Gen 49:14Issachar is a strong donkey, lying down between the sheepfolds.
Gen 49:15He saw that his resting place was good and that his land was pleasant, so he bent his shoulder to the burden and submitted to labor as a servant.
Gen 49:16Dan shall provide justice for his people as one of the tribes of Israel.
Gen 49:17He will be a snake by the road, a viper in the path that bites the horse’s heels so that its rider tumbles backward.
Gen 49:18I await Your salvation, O LORD.
Gen 49:19Gad will be attacked by raiders, but he will attack their heels.
Gen 49:20Asher’s food will be rich; he shall provide royal delicacies.
Gen 49:21Naphtali is a doe set free that bears beautiful fawns.
Gen 49:22Joseph is a fruitful vine—a fruitful vine by a spring, whose branches scale the wall.
Gen 49:23The archers attacked him with bitterness; they aimed at him in hostility.
Gen 49:24Yet he steadied his bow, and his strong arms were tempered by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, in the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,
Gen 49:25by the God of your father who helps you, and by the Almighty who blesses you, with blessings of the heavens above, with blessings of the depths below, with blessings of the breasts and womb.
Gen 49:26The blessings of your father have surpassed the blessings of the ancient mountains and the bounty of the everlasting hills. May they rest on the head of Joseph, on the brow of the prince of his brothers.
Gen 49:27Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning he devours the prey, in the evening he divides the plunder.”
Gen 49:28These are the tribes of Israel, twelve in all, and this was what their father said to them. He blessed them, and he blessed each one with a suitable blessing.
Gen 49:29Then Jacob instructed them, “I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite.
Gen 49:30The cave is in the field of Machpelah near Mamre, in the land of Canaan. This is the field Abraham purchased from Ephron the Hittite as a burial site.
Gen 49:31There Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried, there Isaac and his wife Rebekah are buried, and there I buried Leah.
Gen 49:32The field and the cave that is in it were purchased from the Hittites.”
Gen 49:33When Jacob had finished instructing his sons, he pulled his feet into the bed and breathed his last, and he was gathered to his people.
01 — Also here
Who else the chapter reaches
Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.
Named in the Hebrew or Greek somewhere in this chapter, under a form the English renders differently — the registry's Ludim against the translation's Ludites — so there is no word in the sentence to hang the link on.
Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.
02 — Read alongside
Where this is echoed
Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 443 passages were voted onto 32 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.
- 10Numbers 24:17I see him, but not now; I behold him, but not near. A star will come forth from Jacob, and a scepter will arise from Israel. He will crush the skulls of Moab and strike down all the sons of Sheth.
- 10Luke 1:32–33He will be great and will be called the Son of the Most High. The Lord God will give Him the throne of His father David,
- 4Genesis 35:22While Israel was living in that region, Reuben went in and slept with his father’s concubine Bilhah, and Israel heard about it. Jacob had twelve sons:
- 10Psalms 60:7Gilead is Mine, and Manasseh is Mine; Ephraim is My helmet, Judah is My scepter.
- 10Isaiah 9:6For unto us a child is born, unto us a son is given, and the government will be upon His shoulders. And He will be called Wonderful Counselor, Mighty God, Everlasting Father, Prince of Peace.
- 9Numbers 24:9He crouches, he lies down like a lion, like a lioness—who dares to rouse him? Blessed are those who bless you and cursed are those who curse you.”
- 10Isaiah 33:22For the LORD is our Judge, the LORD is our lawgiver, the LORD is our King. It is He who will save us.
- 10Jeremiah 23:5–6Behold, the days are coming, declares the LORD, when I will raise up for David a righteous Branch, and He will reign wisely as King and will administer justice and righteousness in the land.
- 4Deuteronomy 27:20‘Cursed is he who sleeps with his father’s wife, for he has violated his father’s marriage bed.’ And let all the people say, ‘Amen!’
- 41 Chronicles 5:1These were the sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel. Though he was the firstborn, his birthright was given to the sons of Joseph son of Israel, because Reuben defiled his father’s bed. So he is not reckoned according to birthright.
- 9Revelation 5:5Then one of the elders said to me, “Do not weep! Behold, the Lion of the tribe of Judah, the Root of David, has triumphed to open the scroll and its seven seals.”
- 9Numbers 23:24Behold, the people rise like a lioness; they rouse themselves like a lion, not resting until they devour their prey and drink the blood of the slain.”
- 25Genesis 35:11And God told him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation—even a company of nations—shall come from you, and kings shall descend from you.
- 26Deuteronomy 33:15–16with the best of the ancient mountains and the bounty of the everlasting hills,
- 6Genesis 34:30Then Jacob said to Simeon and Levi, “You have brought trouble upon me by making me a stench to the Canaanites and Perizzites, the people of this land. We are few in number; if they unite against me and attack me, I and my household will be destroyed.”
- 18Psalms 119:166I wait for Your salvation, O LORD, and I carry out Your commandments.
Onward