Moses' Final Blessing on Israel

¹This is the blessing with which Moses the man of God blessed the people of Israel before his death. ²He said,

“The Lord came from Sinai

and dawned from Seir upon us;1

he shone forth from Mount Paran;

he came from the ten thousands of holy ones,

with flaming fire2 at his right hand.

³Yes, he loved his people,3

all his holy ones were in his4 hand;

so they followed5 in your steps,

receiving direction from you,

⁴when Moses commanded us a law,

as a possession for the assembly of Jacob.

⁵Thus the Lord6 became king in Jeshurun,

when the heads of the people were gathered,

all the tribes of Israel together.

⁶“Let Reuben live, and not die,

but let his men be few.”

⁷And this he said of Judah:

“Hear, O Lord, the voice of Judah,

and bring him in to his people.

With your hands contend7 for him,

and be a help against his adversaries.”

⁸And of Levi he said,

“Give to Levi8 your Thummim,

and your Urim to your godly one,

whom you tested at Massah,

with whom you quarreled at the waters of Meribah;

⁹who said of his father and mother,

‘I regard them not’;

he disowned his brothers

and ignored his children.

For they observed your word

and kept your covenant.

¹⁰They shall teach Jacob your rules

and Israel your law;

they shall put incense before you

and whole burnt offerings on your altar.

¹¹Bless, O Lord, his substance,

and accept the work of his hands;

crush the loins of his adversaries,

of those who hate him, that they rise not again.”

¹²Of Benjamin he said,

“The beloved of the Lord dwells in safety.

The High God9 surrounds him all day long,

and dwells between his shoulders.”

¹³And of Joseph he said,

“Blessed by the Lord be his land,

with the choicest gifts of heaven above,10

and of the deep that crouches beneath,

¹⁴with the choicest fruits of the sun

and the rich yield of the months,

¹⁵with the finest produce of the ancient mountains

and the abundance of the everlasting hills,

¹⁶with the best gifts of the earth and its fullness

and the favor of him who dwells in the bush.

May these rest on the head of Joseph,

on the pate of him who is prince among his brothers.

¹⁷A firstborn bull11—he has majesty,

and his horns are the horns of a wild ox;

with them he shall gore the peoples,

all of them, to the ends of the earth;

they are the ten thousands of Ephraim,

and they are the thousands of Manasseh.”

¹⁸And of Zebulun he said,

“Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out,

and Issachar, in your tents.

¹⁹They shall call peoples to their mountain;

there they offer right sacrifices;

for they draw from the abundance of the seas

and the hidden treasures of the sand.”

²⁰And of Gad he said,

“Blessed be he who enlarges Gad!

Gad crouches like a lion;

he tears off arm and scalp.

²¹He chose the best of the land for himself,

for there a commander's portion was reserved;

and he came with the heads of the people,

with Israel he executed the justice of the Lord,

and his judgments for Israel.”

²²And of Dan he said,

“Dan is a lion's cub

that leaps from Bashan.”

²³And of Naphtali he said,

“O Naphtali, sated with favor,

and full of the blessing of the Lord,

possess the lake12 and the south.”

²⁴And of Asher he said,

“Most blessed of sons be Asher;

let him be the favorite of his brothers,

and let him dip his foot in oil.

²⁵Your bars shall be iron and bronze,

and as your days, so shall your strength be.

²⁶“There is none like God, O Jeshurun,

who rides through the heavens to your help,

through the skies in his majesty.

²⁷The eternal God is your dwelling place,13

and underneath are the everlasting arms.14

And he thrust out the enemy before you

and said, ‘Destroy.’

²⁸So Israel lived in safety,

Jacob lived alone,15

in a land of grain and wine,

whose heavens drop down dew.

²⁹Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you,

a people saved by the Lord,

the shield of your help,

and the sword of your triumph!

Your enemies shall come fawning to you,

and you shall tread upon their backs.”