Jacob, Joseph & Egypt

When Yosef saw that his father was laying his right hand on Efrayim's head, it displeased him, and he lifted up his father's hand to remove it from Efrayim's head and place it instead on M'nasheh's head.

Yosef said to his father, "Don't do it that way, my father; for this one is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head."

But his father refused and said, "I know that, my son, I know it. He too will become a people, and he too will be great; nevertheless his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will grow into many nations."

Then he added this blessing on them that day: "Isra'el will speak of you in their own blessings by saying, 'May God make you like Efrayim and M'nasheh.'"Thus he put Efrayim ahead of M'nasheh.

Isra'el then said to Yosef, "You see that I am dying, but God will be with you and will bring you back to the land of your ancestors.

Moreover, I am giving to you a sh'khem [shoulder, ridge, share, city of Sh'khem] more than to your brothers; I captured it from the Emori with my sword and bow."

Then Ya'akov called for his sons and said, "Gather yourselves together, and I will tell you what will happen to you in the acharit-hayamim.

Assemble yourselves and listen, sons of Ya'akov; pay attention to Isra'el your father.

"Re'uven, you are my firstborn, my strength, the firstfruits of my manhood.

Though superior in vigor and power you are unstable as water, so your superiority will end, because you climbed into your father's bed and defiled it -he climbed onto my concubine's couch!

"Shim'on and Levi are brothers, related by weapons of violence.

Let me not enter their council, let my honor not be connected with their people; for in their anger they killed men, and at their whim they maimed cattle.

Cursed be their anger, for it has been fierce; their fury, for it has been cruel. I will divide them in Ya'akov and scatter them in Isra'el.

"Y'hudah, your brothers will acknowledge you, your hand will be on the neck of your enemies, your father's sons will bow down before you.

Y'hudah is a lion's cub; my son, you stand over the prey. He crouches down and stretches like a lion; like a lioness, who dares to provoke him?

The scepter will not pass from Y'hudah, nor the ruler's staff from between his legs, until he comes to whom [obedience] belongs; and it is he whom the peoples will obey.

Tying his donkey to the vine, or: until Shiloh comes his donkey's colt to the choice grapevine, he washes his clothes in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes.

His eyes will be darker than wine, his teeth whiter than milk.

"Z'vulun will live at the seashore, with ships anchoring along his coast and his border at Tzidon.

"Yissakhar is a strong donkey lying down in the sheep sheds.

On seeing how good is settled life and how pleasant the country, he will bend his back to the burden, and submit to forced labor.

"Dan will judge his people as one of the tribes of Isra'el.

Dan will be a viper on the road, a horned snake in the path that bites the horse's heels so its rider falls off backward.

I wait for your deliverance, ADONAI.

"Gad [troop]- a troop will troop on him, but he will troop on their heel.