Bible Chapter Summary
Genesis 49 Summary
Jacob Blesses His Twelve Sons
Jacob gathers his twelve sons and delivers individual prophetic pronouncements about the destiny of each son and the tribe that will descend from him. The blessings and rebukes vary greatly: Reuben is censured for his instability and violation of his father's bed; Simeon and Levi are rebuked for their fierce, violent anger and sentenced to be divided and scattered; Judah receives a prominent blessing, being likened to a lion and promised the enduring scepter of rulership until Shiloh comes; and the remaining sons—Zebulun, Issachar, Dan, Gad, Asher, Naphtali, Joseph, and Benjamin—each receive pronouncements fitting their character or future lot. After completing his blessings, Jacob charges his sons to bury him in the cave of Machpelah in Canaan, where Abraham, Sarah, Isaac, Rebekah, and Leah are already buried; he then draws his feet into the bed and dies.
Key themes
Key verses
Genesis 49:1
“And Jacob called unto his sons, and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.”
Genesis 49:10
“The 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.”
Genesis 49:28
“All 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.”
Genesis 49:33
“And 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.”
Read Genesis 49 in full
Study the complete chapter with interlinear Hebrew & Greek, verse-by-verse, in the Gospel Daily reader.
Open the full chapter