Chapter .xlix.
And Iacob called for his sons and said: come together, that I may
tell you what shall happen you in the last days. Gather you
together and hear ye sons of Iacob, and hearken unto Israel your
father. Ruben, thou art mine eldest son, my might and the
beginning of my strength, chief in receiving and chief in power.
As unstable as water wast thou: thou shalt therefore not be the
chiefest, for thou wentest up upon thy father's bed, and then
defiledest thou my couch with going up. The brethren Simeon and
Levi, wicked instruments are their weapons. Into their secrets
come not my soul, and unto their congregation be my honour not
coupled: for in their wrath they slew a man, and in their self
will they houghed an ox. Cursed be their wrath for it was strong,
and their fierceness for it was cruel. I will therefore divide
them in Iacob, and scatter them in Israel. Iuda, thy brethren
shall praise thee, and thine hand shall be in the neck of thine
enemies, and thy father's children shall stoop unto thee. Iuda is
a lion's whelp. From spoil my son thou art come on high: {an hye}
he laid him down and couched himself as a lion, and as a lioness.
Who dare stir him up? The sceptre shall not depart from Iuda, nor
a ruler from between his legs, until Silo come, unto whom the
people shall hearken.
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