Genesis 49

Until Shiloh Come

Jacob calls his twelve sons to his bedside and tells each what will befall him. Reuben, Simeon, and Levi are passed over for what they did; the scepter goes to Judah “until Shiloh come,” and Joseph’s branches run over the wall. Jacob then charges them to bury him at Machpelah and dies.

Genesis chaptersChapter 49 of 50

Jacob is a hundred and forty-seven (Gen. 47:28), in Egypt, soon after he adopted and blessed Ephraim and Manasseh (Gen. 48). The text gives no year. Read with footnotes in Gospel Library

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Background

Jacob is dying in Egypt, where his family has lived in Goshen for seventeen years (Gen. 47:27–28).

Jacob is dying in Egypt, where his family has lived in Goshen for seventeen years (Gen. 47:27–28). He has made Joseph swear to bury him in Canaan (Gen. 47:29–31) and has taken Joseph’s two sons as his own (Gen. 48:5; Gen. 48:20). Now he gathers all twelve of his own sons. The narrator calls what follows a “blessing” (verse 28), though it sets rebuke beside promise, and it is a poem, in an older stage of Hebrew than most of the Old Testament, with “obscure and archaic terms and phrases” that make several lines hard to translate.

The poem settles questions the earlier chapters left open: why the line of promise did not run through Reuben, the firstborn (Gen. 35:22), or through Simeon and Levi (Gen. 34:25–26). Chronicles says where the birthright went (1 Chr. 5:1–2). Later scripture returns mostly to the two longest blessings: Judah’s, behind the title “the Lion of the tribe of Juda” (Rev. 5:5) and the Church’s identification of Shiloh as the Messiah, and Joseph’s, whose “branches” the Church applies to the Book of Mormon peoples. Near the end of his own life Moses blessed the tribes again (Deut. 33).

The chapter has seven parts: the gathering (verses 1–2), the three eldest sons (3–7), Judah (8–12), six sons in brief (13–21), Joseph (22–26), Benjamin and the summary (27–28), and Jacob’s burial charge and death (29–33).

The thread through the chapter

Jacob says he will tell his sons “that which shall befall you in the last days” (verse 1), and the poem that follows sorts the twelve by what each has done and what his tribe will become.

Jacob says he will tell his sons “that which shall befall you in the last days” (verse 1), and the poem that follows sorts the twelve by what each has done and what his tribe will become. The sorting does not follow the order of birth. The three eldest are passed over in turn, each for a deed Genesis has already told: Reuben for lying with his father’s concubine (Gen. 35:22), Simeon and Levi for the slaughter at Shechem (Gen. 34:25–26). What the firstborn would have had is then divided among younger sons: “his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph,” while “Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the chief ruler” (1 Chr. 5:1–2). Neither Judah, the fourth of Leah’s sons (Gen. 35:23), nor Joseph (Gen. 35:24) was Jacob’s firstborn.

The two longest blessings are Judah’s (verses 8–12) and Joseph’s (verses 22–26), and they look farthest ahead. Judah’s runs to “Shiloh,” whom the Church identifies as the Messiah, and to the obedience of the peoples. Joseph’s runs to branches that “run over the wall,” which the Church reads as the scattering of his descendants, among them the Book of Mormon peoples. Between them stands one line addressed to God, “I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD” (verse 18).

The chapter ends at the family grave. Jacob’s last charge is not about the tribes’ future but about his burial: at Machpelah, beside Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Leah (verses 29–32).

Tap any highlighted phrase to open a note beneath its versein the margin.

Verses 1–2

Jacob gathers his sons

In plain words

Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather around, and I will tell you what will happen to you in the days to come. Come together and listen, sons of Jacob; listen to Israel, your father.”

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.

Language #

Jacob’s “last days”

The Hebrew is be’acharit hayyamim, “in the end of the days,” and how far it reaches depends on who is speaking.

The Hebrew is be’acharit hayyamim, “in the end of the days,” and how far it reaches depends on who is speaking. It is “a prophetic phrase denoting the final period of the history so far as the speaker’s perspective reaches; the sense thus varies with the context, but it often = the ideal or Messianic future.” Applied to this verse it is glossed more narrowly, “of the period of Israel’s possession of Canaan.” The same Hebrew opens Isaiah’s vision of the Lord’s house in “the last days” (Isa. 2:2), and the Septuagint, the ancient Greek translation, reads “in the last days” here.

Jacob’s poem uses both horizons: “some of the future events will have their fulfillment in Old Testament times while others will occur much later.” Some lines belong to the tribes’ history in the land: Simeon and Levi divided, Zebulun at the sea. Two blessings look past that: Judah’s, which ends in “Shiloh,” and Joseph’s, whose branches “run over the wall.” The notes on verses 10 and 22 give the Church’s reading of each.

Sources: Westminster Leningrad Codex (the Masoretic Hebrew text), Read in the Hebrew–English interlinear on Bible Hub. Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906. The Septuagint (Rahlfs Greek text, with Brenton’s English translation), Elpenor Bilingual Septuagint. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, “How Should We Understand the Rich Symbolism in Jacob’s Blessings of Judah and Joseph?”, KnoWhy OTL12A (Interpreter Foundation, Mar. 19, 2018).

2 Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father.

Context #

A poem in the oldest Hebrew

From verse 2 to verse 27 Genesis stops telling a story and begins to sing: Jacob’s blessing is poetry, and old poetry.

From verse 2 to verse 27 Genesis stops telling a story and begins to sing: Jacob’s blessing is poetry, and old poetry. Its Hebrew is “Archaic Biblical Hebrew,” “the oldest stage of the three” through which the language of the Old Testament passed. The same stage appears in the Song of the Sea (Ex. 15), the Song of Deborah (Judg. 5), and Moses’ blessing of the tribes (Deut. 33). One of its marks is “staircase parallelism,” “in which the first half of a line is repeated in the next line, with the second half of each line being different,” as in verse 22: “A fruitful bough is Joseph, a fruitful bough by a spring.” This language has been argued to be “much older than some might suppose, likely dating from 1000 BC at the latest,” and such poems “were likely held in high regard as some of the earliest material known from ancient Israel,” which would explain why scribes kept them. That is an argument about dating, not a settled fact.

The practical effect for a reader is that the chapter is hard. Its Hebrew “contain[s] several obscure and archaic terms and phrases,” and in some lines, “until Shiloh comes” (verse 10) and “Joseph is a fruitful branch” (verse 22) among them, translators have had “few options outside of ‘conjectural emendation’ to reconstruct the text.” The notes below say where translations differ and what is at stake when they do.

Sources: Scripture Central, “Why Does the Old Testament Contain Poems in the Middle of Stories?”, KnoWhy #853, May 19, 2026. Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, “How Should We Understand the Rich Symbolism in Jacob’s Blessings of Judah and Joseph?”, KnoWhy OTL12A (Interpreter Foundation, Mar. 19, 2018).

Verses 3–7

Reuben, Simeon, and Levi

In plain words

“Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might and the first fruits of my strength, first in rank and first in power. But you are reckless as boiling water, and you will not stay first, because you went up to your father’s bed and defiled it. He went up to my couch!

“Simeon and Levi are brothers; their weapons are tools of violence. May I never enter their council or join their assembly, for in their anger they killed men, and at their whim they hamstrung oxen. A curse on their anger, so fierce, and on their fury, so cruel! I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.”

3 Reuben, thou art my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power:

Context #

What the firstborn would have had

Jacob opens Reuben’s blessing by listing what Reuben was owed. “My might, and the beginning of my strength”: the second phrase is in Hebrew reshit ’oni, the very words the law…

Jacob opens Reuben’s blessing by listing what Reuben was owed. “My might, and the beginning of my strength”: the second phrase is in Hebrew reshit ’oni, the very words the law uses of the firstborn, who is “the beginning of his strength” and must be given “a double portion of all that he hath” (Deut. 21:17). The birthright “generally included a land inheritance as well as the authority to preside” (see the note on Gen. 25:31), and Reuben is named with Esau as one who lost it.

Then Jacob takes it apart, and Chronicles says where the pieces went: “his birthright was given unto the sons of Joseph… For Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the chief ruler; but the birthright was Joseph’s” (1 Chr. 5:1–2). The Targum of Palestine, a loose Aramaic paraphrase of the Pentateuch “variegated with the picturesque traditions of the Jews,” makes the list explicit: “To thee belonged the birthright, and the high priesthood, and the kingdom: but because thou hast sinned, my son, the birthright is given to Joseph, and the kingdom to Jehuda, and the priesthood to Levi.” That is an ancient Jewish reading, not scripture. Chronicles confirms its first two parts, and the Lord later took the Levites to minister in the sanctuary “instead of all the firstborn” (Num. 3:12; see the note on verse 7). For Joseph’s double portion through his two sons, see the note on Gen. 48:5; for what Reuben did, the note on Gen. 35:22.

Sources: Westminster Leningrad Codex (the Masoretic Hebrew text), Read in the Hebrew–English interlinear on Bible Hub. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “Birthright”, Bible Dictionary. J. W. Etheridge, The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch, with the Fragments of the Jerusalem Targum: Genesis and Exodus, London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, 1862; scan on the Internet Archive. “Levites”, Bible Dictionary.

4 Unstable as water, thou shalt not excel; because thou wentest up to thy father’s bed; then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.

Language #

Water that boils over

“Unstable” is paḥaz, a noun found only here, meaning “wantonness, recklessness, unbridled license,” and said of water that boils or overflows.

“Unstable” is paḥaz, a noun found only here, meaning “wantonness, recklessness, unbridled license,” and said of water that boils or overflows. The Septuagint reads “Thou wast insolent like water, burst not forth with violence.” The picture is water boiling over: force without control, which is why the firstborn who should have been Jacob’s strength “shalt not excel.”

The verse also changes person. Jacob says “thou wentest up to thy father’s bed; then defiledst thou it,” and then, in the Hebrew, “he went up to my couch.” The Greek, Syriac, and Aramaic versions read “you” instead; the Hebrew keeps the abrupt third person. In one reading, “the injured father turns away with indignation, and passes to the third person.”

Reuben’s tribe did not disappear, but it dwindled. Moses prays, “Let Reuben live, and not die; and let not his men be few” (Deut. 33:6). Its “numbers gradually diminished, and though it continued to exist as a tribe, it became politically unimportant.”

Sources: Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906. The Septuagint (Rahlfs Greek text, with Brenton’s English translation), Elpenor Bilingual Septuagint. New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition, National Council of Churches, 2021; on BibleGateway. Westminster Leningrad Codex (the Masoretic Hebrew text), Read in the Hebrew–English interlinear on Bible Hub. Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Genesis, In Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “Reuben”, Bible Dictionary.

5 Simeon and Levi are brethren; instruments of cruelty are in their habitations.

6 O my soul, come not thou into their secret; unto their assembly, mine honour, be not thou united: for in their anger they slew a man, and in their selfwill they digged down a wall.

Language #

A wall, or an ox?

The last line of verse 6 probably says that Simeon and Levi “hamstrung an ox,” not that they “digged down a wall.”

The last line of verse 6 probably says that Simeon and Levi “hamstrung an ox,” not that they “digged down a wall.” The Hebrew verb ‘iqqeru means “hamstring,” and the clause is ‘iqqeru shor, “they hamstrung an ox.” The Septuagint reads “they houghed a bull,” and the NRSVUE, “at their whim they hamstrung oxen.” But an old Aramaic translation, the Targum of Palestine, read “wall” (“they demolished the wall of their adversary”), and its English translator added in a note, “Or, ‘destroyed the oxen.’” So both readings are ancient, and the KJV prints the one about the wall.

Genesis 34 tells of neither a wall nor lamed cattle. It says only that the brothers took the city’s flocks and herds, “their sheep, and their oxen, and their asses” (Gen. 34:28). Either way, what Jacob condemns is the temper behind the deed: “in their selfwill,” which the NRSVUE renders “at their whim.”

Sources: Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906. The Septuagint (Rahlfs Greek text, with Brenton’s English translation), Elpenor Bilingual Septuagint. New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition, National Council of Churches, 2021; on BibleGateway. J. W. Etheridge, The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch, with the Fragments of the Jerusalem Targum: Genesis and Exodus, London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, 1862; scan on the Internet Archive. Westminster Leningrad Codex (the Masoretic Hebrew text), Read in the Hebrew–English interlinear on Bible Hub. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

7 Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.

Context #

How Levi’s curse became a calling

Both tribes were scattered as Jacob said, but Levi’s scattering turned into a calling.

Both tribes were scattered as Jacob said, but Levi’s scattering turned into a calling. Simeon’s land lay “within the inheritance of the children of Judah” (Josh. 19:1), and Levi’s forty-eight cities lay “within the possession of the children of Israel” (Josh. 21:41); the note on Gen. 34:31 follows that out.

When Israel worshiped the calf at Sinai, Moses asked, “Who is on the Lord’s side?” and “all the sons of Levi gathered themselves together unto him”; he told them, “Consecrate yourselves to day to the Lord… that he may bestow upon you a blessing this day” (Ex. 32:26, 29). The Lord said, “I have taken the Levites from among the children of Israel instead of all the firstborn” (Num. 3:12), and gave them the tithes in place of land (Num. 18:23–24): “The work of ministering in the sanctuary was assigned to this tribe,” and “They had no inheritance in Canaan.” Moses’ blessing of Levi says, “They shall teach Jacob thy judgments, and Israel thy law” (Deut. 33:10). So “the scattering of Levi in Israel was changed into a blessing for the other tribes through its election to the priesthood,” though of this there is “not the slightest intimation” in Jacob’s address.

Jacob’s curse, in his own words, falls on their anger, not on the tribes: “Cursed be their anger.”

Sources: The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “Levites”, Bible Dictionary. Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Genesis, In Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub.

Verses 8–12

Judah

In plain words

“Judah, your brothers will praise you. Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons will bow down to you. Judah is a young lion. You have gone up, my son, from the prey. He crouches and lies down like a lion, like a lioness; who will dare to rouse him? The scepter will not leave Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh comes, and the peoples give him their obedience. He ties his donkey to the vine, his donkey’s colt to the choice vine; he washes his clothes in wine, his robe in the blood of grapes. His eyes are red with wine, and his teeth are white with milk.”

8 Judah, thou art he whom thy brethren shall praise: thy hand shall be in the neck of thine enemies; thy father’s children shall bow down before thee.

Language #

Judah and “praise”

Jacob’s blessing of Judah opens with his name. In Hebrew, Yehudah, attah yodukha achekha, “Judah, you, your brothers shall praise you,” the verb yadah, “praise,” is the one Leah…

Jacob’s blessing of Judah opens with his name. In Hebrew, Yehudah, attah yodukha achekha, “Judah, you, your brothers shall praise you,” the verb yadah, “praise,” is the one Leah used when she named him: “Now will I praise the Lord: therefore she called his name Judah” (Gen. 29:35). The line is a “poetic play on name.” Leah’s praise went to God; Jacob says the brothers’ praise will go to Judah.

The next promise, that his father’s sons “shall bow down” to him, uses the verb of Joseph’s dreams, in which the sun, moon, and stars “made obeisance” and Jacob asks, “Shall I and thy mother and thy brethren indeed come to bow down ourselves to thee?” (Gen. 37:9–10), and of the day the brothers “bowed down themselves” before Joseph in Egypt (Gen. 42:6). The two promises do not collide. The words to Judah have been read as “the legal transfer of clan leadership to Judah,” while Joseph has “the double portion of the inheritance”; as Chronicles puts it, “Judah prevailed above his brethren, and of him came the chief ruler; but the birthright was Joseph’s” (1 Chr. 5:2).

With Reuben, Simeon, and Levi passed over, Judah, the fourth son, becomes “something of an ‘honorary’ firstborn.” For Judah’s own story, see the notes on Gen. 38:26 and Gen. 44:33.

Sources: Westminster Leningrad Codex (the Masoretic Hebrew text), Read in the Hebrew–English interlinear on Bible Hub. Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, “How Should We Understand the Rich Symbolism in Jacob’s Blessings of Judah and Joseph?”, KnoWhy OTL12A (Interpreter Foundation, Mar. 19, 2018). Scripture Central, “Why is Judah Blessed with a Scepter Until Shiloh Comes?”, KnoWhy #843, Mar. 10, 2026.

9 Judah is a lion’s whelp: from the prey, my son, thou art gone up: he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?

Related Scriptures #

The lion of Judah

Judah is pictured as a lion, first young and then full grown, and the image becomes a title of Christ.

Judah is pictured as a lion, first young and then full grown, and the image becomes a title of Christ. He is first a “lion’s whelp” that has gone up from the prey; then “he stooped down, he couched as a lion, and as an old lion; who shall rouse him up?” The tribe is like a young lion that “has grown strong on the animals it has eaten over the years and who will eventually be strong enough that nobody will dare disturb it, just as nobody would dare to disturb a lion who is stretched out on the ground, resting.”

Balaam later spoke of all Israel in nearly the same words: “He couched, he lay down as a lion, and as a great lion: who shall stir him up?” (Num. 24:9). Revelation “employs imagery from this blessing” when it gives Christ a title: “Weep not: behold, the Lion of the tribe of Juda, the Root of David, hath prevailed to open the book” (Rev. 5:5).

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.

Context #

The sceptre and the lawgiver’s staff

Both words name an emblem of rule. Shevet, “sceptre,” is a “rod, staff, club, sceptre,” and the word also means “tribe.”

Both words name an emblem of rule. Shevet, “sceptre,” is a “rod, staff, club, sceptre,” and the word also means “tribe.” The KJV’s “lawgiver” is mechoqeq, a participle from chaqaq, “inscribe (as a law)”; in this verse it is the “commander’s staff,” the partner of “sceptre,” and the NIV, ESV, and NRSVUE print “the ruler’s staff.” In one reading the picture is of a king whose “long staff,” when he sat on his throne, “he rested in between his feet.”

The Church reads the promise as kingship: the sceptre “signifies the right or authority of Judah’s descendants to rule,” a line that ran through David and Solomon to Jesus Christ, the “King of kings.” President Ezra Taft Benson traced it through Israel’s history: Judah “came to power when David was exalted to the throne”; after the exile “lawgivers” such as Zerubbabel, Ezra, and Nehemiah served the returned Jews, and then the Sanhedrin ruled “until the destruction of Jerusalem and the scattering of the Jews.” Genesis itself does not say when Judah’s rule begins.

Sources: Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906. New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition, National Council of Churches, 2021; on BibleGateway. New International Version, Biblica, 2011; on BibleGateway. English Standard Version, Crossway, 2016; on BibleGateway. Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Genesis, In Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub. Genesis 42–50, Scripture Helps: Old Testament (2025). Ezra Taft Benson, “A Message to Judah from Joseph”, Ensign, Dec. 1976.

Witness of Christ #

Shiloh

The Hebrew word shiloh has no certain meaning, and the Church’s reading rests on revelation rather than on the Hebrew.

The Hebrew word shiloh has no certain meaning, and the Church’s reading rests on revelation rather than on the Hebrew. Proposals include a word for “his son”; the place-name Shiloh; and shello, “he whose it is,” the “reading best, but exact translation not certain.” Ancient translators took the last view in some form. The Septuagint reads “until there come the things stored up for him,” and the Aramaic Targum Onkelos, a translation valued for its “close adherence to the Hebrew text,” has “until the Meshiha come, whose is the kingdom.” Ezekiel has “such a phrase referring to the Messiah”: “until he come whose right it is; and I will give it him” (Ezek. 21:27). Modern translations divide: the NIV prints “until he to whom it belongs shall come,” the ESV and NRSVUE “until tribute comes to him,” and the NRSVUE notes the alternative “Or until Shiloh comes.”

The Church’s own reading is firm: the name “can mean ‘He to whom it belongs’ and refers to Jesus Christ, a descendant of Judah.” It “has been regarded by many biblical scholars as a prophecy of the coming of Messiah. This interpretation is confirmed by JST Gen. 50:24.” There Joseph, speaking of a prophet who will deliver Israel from Egypt, adds “(not the Messiah who is called Shilo;)”: Shilo is the Messiah. Joseph Smith “made no significant changes to Genesis 49” itself; his word on Shiloh comes in that parenthesis. President Ezra Taft Benson: “The interpretation given this passage by the … Church is one based on revelation to modern prophets, not on scholarly commentary. It was revealed to Joseph Smith that Shiloh is the Messiah.” He saw the sceptre’s promise met in Christ: “Shiloh had come. He was Jesus of Nazareth, who was later crucified as ‘King of the Jews.’” Hebrews says simply that “our Lord sprang out of Juda” (Heb. 7:14).

Sources: Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906. The Septuagint (Rahlfs Greek text, with Brenton’s English translation), Elpenor Bilingual Septuagint. J. W. Etheridge, The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch, with the Fragments of the Jerusalem Targum: Genesis and Exodus, London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, 1862; scan on the Internet Archive. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. New International Version, Biblica, 2011; on BibleGateway. English Standard Version, Crossway, 2016; on BibleGateway. New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition, National Council of Churches, 2021; on BibleGateway. “Shiloh”, Bible Dictionary. Joseph Smith Translation, Genesis 50, Joseph Smith Translation Appendix, Gospel Library. Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, “How Should We Understand the Rich Symbolism in Jacob’s Blessings of Judah and Joseph?”, KnoWhy OTL12A (Interpreter Foundation, Mar. 19, 2018). Ezra Taft Benson, “A Message to Judah from Joseph”, Ensign, Dec. 1976. Genesis 42–50, Scripture Helps: Old Testament (2025).

Language #

Gathering, or obedience?

The KJV’s “gathering” is not what most translations print. The Hebrew noun yiqqehat occurs only here and in Prov. 30:17, and means “obedience.”

The KJV’s “gathering” is not what most translations print. The Hebrew noun yiqqehat occurs only here and in Prov. 30:17, and means “obedience.” The ESV and NRSVUE read “the obedience of the peoples,” and the NIV “the obedience of the nations.” The Septuagint reads “he is the expectation of nations.” The word is plural, “peoples,” and so reaches past Israel’s twelve tribes. President Benson read the line of gathering: “the coming of Shiloh who would gather his people to him.” The two belong together. The prophecy looks to the day when “people all over the world will gather as they acknowledge Him as their Messiah” and “give their obedience to Him, just as Jacob declared.”

Sources: Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906. English Standard Version, Crossway, 2016; on BibleGateway. New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition, National Council of Churches, 2021; on BibleGateway. New International Version, Biblica, 2011; on BibleGateway. The Septuagint (Rahlfs Greek text, with Brenton’s English translation), Elpenor Bilingual Septuagint. Westminster Leningrad Codex (the Masoretic Hebrew text), Read in the Hebrew–English interlinear on Bible Hub. Ezra Taft Benson, “A Message to Judah from Joseph”, Ensign, Dec. 1976. Scripture Central, “Why is Judah Blessed with a Scepter Until Shiloh Comes?”, KnoWhy #843, Mar. 10, 2026.

11 Binding his foal unto the vine, and his ass’s colt unto the choice vine; he washed his garments in wine, and his clothes in the blood of grapes:

Imagery #

Garments washed in wine

The image is plenty: so much wine that a man washes his clothes in it.

The image is plenty: so much wine that a man washes his clothes in it. The vines are “so thick and luxurious that one could tie a donkey” to them, and the Hebrew for “choice vine,” sorek, “is also the name of a valley in Judah which is good for grape-growing.” “Blood of grapes” is the red juice of the grape: Moses says Israel “didst drink the pure blood of the grape” (Deut. 32:14).

The Church’s edition of the Bible also sets the line beside the Messiah’s red garments. Its footnote to “blood” points to Isaiah’s question to the one who comes in red, “Wherefore art thou red in thine apparel, and thy garments like him that treadeth in the winefat?” (Isa. 63:2), and to the Lord’s coming in glory: “the Lord shall be red in his apparel, and his garments like him that treadeth in the wine-vat” (D&C 133:48). In one Latter-day Saint reading the garments belong to the blessing’s royal picture, a “king appareled in a red robe washed as if in ‘blood,’” and “the same idea” returns in Isaiah 63 “as part of a messianic passage.” Genesis itself speaks only of the wine; the fuller picture comes from Isaiah and the Doctrine and Covenants.

Sources: Scripture Central, “Why is Judah Blessed with a Scepter Until Shiloh Comes?”, KnoWhy #843, Mar. 10, 2026. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Westminster Leningrad Codex (the Masoretic Hebrew text), Read in the Hebrew–English interlinear on Bible Hub. Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, “How Should We Understand the Rich Symbolism in Jacob’s Blessings of Judah and Joseph?”, KnoWhy OTL12A (Interpreter Foundation, Mar. 19, 2018).

12 His eyes shall be red with wine, and his teeth white with milk.

Verses 13–21

Zebulun, Issachar, Dan, Gad, Asher, and Naphtali

In plain words

“Zebulun will live by the seashore and be a harbor for ships, with his border at Sidon.

“Issachar is a strong donkey lying down between his loads. He saw that rest was good and the land pleasant, so he bent his shoulder to the load and became a servant under tribute.

“Dan will judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan will be a snake by the road, a viper on the path, that bites the horse’s heels so that its rider falls backward.

“I wait for your salvation, O Lord.

“Gad: a raiding troop will raid him, but he will raid at their heels.

“Asher’s food will be rich, and he will provide royal delicacies.

“Naphtali is a doe let loose; he gives beautiful words.”

13 Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; and he shall be for an haven of ships; and his border shall be unto Zidon.

14 Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens:

15 And he saw that rest was good, and the land that it was pleasant; and bowed his shoulder to bear, and became a servant unto tribute.

16 Dan shall judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.

Language #

Dan and Gad, names that become sentences

Jacob reads two of his sons’ names as promises. Rachel named Dan when she said “God hath judged me” (Gen. 30:6); here Dan yadin ‘ammo puts the name and its verb side by side, “Dan…

Jacob reads two of his sons’ names as promises. Rachel named Dan when she said “God hath judged me” (Gen. 30:6); here Dan yadin ‘ammo puts the name and its verb side by side, “Dan shall judge his people.” Leah named Gad with “A troop cometh” (Gen. 30:11), and Jacob answers with a play on sound: Gad gedud yegudennu ve-hu yagud ‘aqev, “Gad, a troop shall assault him, and he will attack the heel,” a line built on “alliteration with” the name Gad.

Dan’s second image is a snake “that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward” (verse 17). The verse names no one. The Targum of Palestine applies it to Samson, who was a Danite (Judg. 13:2): “Even thus will Shimshon bar Manovach slay all the heroes of Philistia, the horsemen and the foot.” That is an ancient reading, not something the verse says. Dan’s district “was small in area,” and the Danites later “made for themselves a settlement in the north of Palestine,” as Judg. 18 tells.

Sources: Westminster Leningrad Codex (the Masoretic Hebrew text), Read in the Hebrew–English interlinear on Bible Hub. Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. J. W. Etheridge, The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch, with the Fragments of the Jerusalem Targum: Genesis and Exodus, London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, 1862; scan on the Internet Archive. “Dan”, Bible Dictionary.

17 Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that biteth the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward.

18 I have waited for thy salvation, O LORD.

Language #

A prayer in the middle of the blessings

In the middle of the list of sons, Jacob speaks to God; it is the one line of the poem addressed to the LORD.

In the middle of the list of sons, Jacob speaks to God; it is the one line of the poem addressed to the LORD. The word is yeshu‘ah, “salvation by God, primarily from external evils, but often with added spiritual idea.” The verse does not say why Jacob breaks off here. The Targum of Palestine, an ancient Jewish paraphrase, supplies a reason. Having just described a deliverer from Dan, it says: “When Jakob saw Gideon bar Joash and Shimshon bar Manovach, who were established to be deliverers, he said, I expect not the salvation of Gideon, nor look I for the salvation of Shimshon; for their salvation will be the salvation of an hour; but for Thy salvation have I waited, and will look for, O Lord; for Thy salvation is the salvation of eternity.” That is one ancient reader’s reason, not something the verse says.

Sources: Westminster Leningrad Codex (the Masoretic Hebrew text), Read in the Hebrew–English interlinear on Bible Hub. Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906. J. W. Etheridge, The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch, with the Fragments of the Jerusalem Targum: Genesis and Exodus, London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, 1862; scan on the Internet Archive.

19 Gad, a troop shall overcome him: but he shall overcome at the last.

20 Out of Asher his bread shall be fat, and he shall yield royal dainties.

21 Naphtali is a hind let loose: he giveth goodly words.

Verses 22–26

Joseph

In plain words

“Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a spring; his branches run over the wall. Archers attacked him bitterly, shot at him, and hated him. But his bow stayed firm, and his arms were made strong by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob (from there comes the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel), by the God of your father, who will help you, and by the Almighty, who will bless you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep below, blessings of the breasts and of the womb. The blessings of your father are greater than the blessings of my ancestors, reaching to the boundary of the everlasting hills. May they rest on the head of Joseph, on the crown of the one set apart from his brothers.”

22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:

Language #

Son of fruitfulness

Joseph’s blessing begins with a word he had used himself. Hebrew has ben porat Yosef, “Joseph is a son of fruitfulness”: from the verb parah, “bear fruit,” he is “son of a fruit-bearer, i.e.

Joseph’s blessing begins with a word he had used himself. Hebrew has ben porat Yosef, “Joseph is a son of fruitfulness”: from the verb parah, “bear fruit,” he is “son of a fruit-bearer, i.e. a fruitful bough.” It is the verb Joseph used when he named his second son: “God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction” (Gen. 41:52), and the one in “be fruitful, and multiply” (Gen. 1:22). The line is doubled, “a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well,” the staircase parallelism noted at verse 2, and “well” is ‘ayin, a spring.

The standard translation is not secure. The NRSVUE footnotes “Meaning of Heb uncertain,” and the Septuagint reads the line differently: “Joseph is a son increased; my dearly loved son is increased; my youngest son, turn to me.” Whatever the right reading, the sense of increase is common to both.

Sources: Westminster Leningrad Codex (the Masoretic Hebrew text), Read in the Hebrew–English interlinear on Bible Hub. Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Scripture Central, “Why Does the Old Testament Contain Poems in the Middle of Stories?”, KnoWhy #853, May 19, 2026. New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition, National Council of Churches, 2021; on BibleGateway. The Septuagint (Rahlfs Greek text, with Brenton’s English translation), Elpenor Bilingual Septuagint.

Latter-day Prophets #

Over the wall

The Church reads this image as Joseph’s descendants spreading beyond the land of promise.

The Church reads this image as Joseph’s descendants spreading beyond the land of promise. In Hebrew the “branches” are banot, “daughters,” here “the twigs and branches, formed by the young fruit-tree,” and the verb is singular: in one reading it pictures “the rising up of the different branches above the wall,” one after another. The phrase “can refer to the scattering of Joseph’s descendants across the earth,” and “Lehi and his family, who migrated from Jerusalem to the Americas, played a key role in the fulfillment”; Amulek says Lehi was “a descendant of Manasseh” (Alma 10:3). President Benson reads the wall as “a barrier”: “the great ocean between the continents of Asia and the Americas.”

The Book of Mormon speaks of its own people as such a branch. Nephi asks, “are we not broken off from the house of Israel, and are we not a branch of the house of Israel?” (1 Ne. 15:12), and the Lord says, “I have led this people forth out of the land of Jerusalem… that I might raise up unto me a righteous branch from the fruit of the loins of Joseph” (Jacob 2:25). The Hebrew says only that shoots climb a wall; the application to the Book of Mormon peoples rests on revelation and the Church’s teaching, not on the Hebrew.

Sources: Westminster Leningrad Codex (the Masoretic Hebrew text), Read in the Hebrew–English interlinear on Bible Hub. Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Genesis, In Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub. Genesis 42–50, Scripture Helps: Old Testament (2025). Ezra Taft Benson, “A Message to Judah from Joseph”, Ensign, Dec. 1976. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

23 The archers have sorely grieved him, and shot at him, and hated him:

24 But his bow abode in strength, and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; (from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel:)

Witness of Christ #

The Shepherd, the Stone of Israel

The verse ends by naming where Joseph’s strength comes from, and the names are God’s.

The verse ends by naming where Joseph’s strength comes from, and the names are God’s. The Hebrew is ro‘eh ’even Yisra’el, “the Shepherd, the Stone of Israel.” Jacob used the same word of God one chapter earlier, when he blessed Joseph’s sons: “the God which fed me all my life long unto this day” (ha-ro‘eh, “who has been shepherd to me,” Gen. 48:15).

In latter-day revelation the Lord takes both titles as His own: “I am the good shepherd, and the stone of Israel” (D&C 50:44). Since “Jehovah is the premortal Jesus Christ,” the God who shepherded Jacob is, in the Church’s teaching, the Son. The Church’s edition of the Bible explains “from thence” this way: “It is from the lineage of Jacob that the Messiah comes.” The Hebrew behind the words is mi-sham, “from there”; some manuscripts read mi-shem, “by the name of,” the reading in the NRSVUE: “by the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel.” Either way, the strength of Joseph’s arms comes from the Shepherd of Israel.

Sources: Westminster Leningrad Codex (the Masoretic Hebrew text), Read in the Hebrew–English interlinear on Bible Hub. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. “Jehovah”, Bible Dictionary. Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, “How Should We Understand the Rich Symbolism in Jacob’s Blessings of Judah and Joseph?”, KnoWhy OTL12A (Interpreter Foundation, Mar. 19, 2018). New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition, National Council of Churches, 2021; on BibleGateway.

25 Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:

26 The blessings of thy father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.

Language #

Progenitors, or mountains?

Where the KJV has “the blessings of my progenitors,” following the Hebrew (horay), the Septuagint and some modern translations have mountains.

Where the KJV has “the blessings of my progenitors,” following the Hebrew (horay), the Septuagint and some modern translations have mountains. The Septuagint reads “the lasting mountains,” the NIV “the ancient mountains,” and the NRSVUE “the eternal mountains,” with a footnote that points to the Greek and gives the Hebrew as “of my progenitors to the boundaries.” Either way the blessing exceeds something very high: what Abraham and Isaac gave Jacob, or the oldest mountains. “Utmost bound” (ta’avat) is also uncertain: “boundary” is the meaning the KJV follows, but most derive the word from “desire,” giving “desirable things,” and modern versions read “bounty” or “bounties.”

Moses repeats the blessing: “the chief things of the ancient mountains, and… the precious things of the lasting hills” (Deut. 33:15). President Benson took the “everlasting hills” to be the Americas, “a land ‘of everlasting hills.’” Latter-day revelation uses the same words of the gathering of the tribes to Zion: “the boundaries of the everlasting hills shall tremble at their presence… this is the blessing of the everlasting God upon the tribes of Israel, and the richer blessing upon the head of Ephraim and his fellows” (D&C 133:31–34).

Sources: Westminster Leningrad Codex (the Masoretic Hebrew text), Read in the Hebrew–English interlinear on Bible Hub. Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906. The Septuagint (Rahlfs Greek text, with Brenton’s English translation), Elpenor Bilingual Septuagint. New International Version, Biblica, 2011; on BibleGateway. New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition, National Council of Churches, 2021; on BibleGateway. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints. Ezra Taft Benson, “A Message to Judah from Joseph”, Ensign, Dec. 1976.

Verses 27–28

Benjamin, and the twelve tribes

In plain words

“Benjamin is a ravening wolf; in the morning he devours the prey, and in the evening he divides the spoil.”

All these are the twelve tribes of Israel. This is what their father said to them when he blessed them; he blessed each with the blessing that suited him.

27 Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf: in the morning he shall devour the prey, and at night he shall divide the spoil.

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.

Context #

Why Genesis calls it a blessing

Genesis calls Jacob’s words a “blessing” even though much of it is rebuke.

Genesis calls Jacob’s words a “blessing” even though much of it is rebuke. In them “Jacob gave warnings, described the consequences of some of his sons’ past actions, and prophesied of future events,” and the Church counts the chapter among patriarchal blessings, each of which “contains the Lord’s counsel for the person receiving the blessing.”

The verse also says “All these are the twelve tribes of Israel.” Even Reuben, Simeon, and Levi are counted among the twelve, and in one reading that is why their words too can be called a blessing: “though put down through their own fault,” they “received a share in the promised blessing.” Moses later opens his own words to the tribes with the same label, “this is the blessing” (Deut. 33:1).

Sources: Genesis 42–50, Scripture Helps: Old Testament (2025). “Patriarchal Blessings”, Guide to the Scriptures. Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Genesis, In Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub. The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Verses 29–33

Jacob’s burial charge and death

In plain words

Then he charged 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, the cave in the field of Machpelah, facing Mamre in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite as a burial place. There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah. The field and the cave in it were bought from the Hittites.” When Jacob had finished giving these orders to his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed, breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.

29 And he charged them, and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people: bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,

Context #

The family grave at Machpelah

Jacob’s last words are about where he will be buried. He had already made Joseph swear to it (Gen. 47:29–31); now he gives the charge to all twelve sons, and names the place and…

Jacob’s last words are about where he will be buried. He had already made Joseph swear to it (Gen. 47:29–31); now he gives the charge to all twelve sons, and names the place and who lies there: Abraham and Sarah, Isaac and Rebekah, and Leah. Rachel is not among them, for she “was buried in the way to Ephrath” (Gen. 35:19). The purchase of the cave is told in Gen. 23 and the burial in Gen. 50:13; the note on Gen. 47:30 says why Jacob would not lie in Egypt. On “gathered unto his people” (verses 29 and 33), see the note on Gen. 25:8.

Sources: The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

30 In the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a buryingplace.

31 There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife; there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife; and there I buried Leah.

32 The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth.

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.

Seeing Christ in Genesis 49

Judah’s blessing carries the chapter’s clearest line to Christ. Shiloh “has been regarded by many biblical scholars as a prophecy of the coming of Messiah,” an interpretation “confirmed by JST Gen. 50:24.” “Our Lord sprang out of Juda” (Heb. 7:14), and in Revelation He is “the Lion of the tribe of Juda” (Rev. 5:5). The promise also looks to His coming in glory, when “the Lord shall be red in his apparel, and his garments like him that treadeth in the wine-vat” (D&C 133:48), the verse the Church’s footnotes set beside the wine-washed garments of verse 11, and when the peoples “give their obedience to Him, just as Jacob declared.”

Joseph’s blessing names Him too. The Lord takes the titles of verse 24 as His own: “I am the good shepherd, and the stone of Israel” (D&C 50:44).

Worth exploring next

Moses’ blessing of the tribes. Deut. 33:6–25, read beside Jacob’s words: Reuben (verse 6), Levi (verses 8–11), Joseph (verses 13–17).
Where the birthright went. 1 Chr. 5:1–2; Gen. 48:5–20.
Joseph’s prophecy in the Joseph Smith Translation. Gen. 50:24 with its appendix entry, and 2 Ne. 3:4–22.
The records of Judah and Joseph. Ezek. 37:15–20. President Ezra Taft Benson’s “A Message to Judah from Joseph” (Ensign, Dec. 1976) takes Jacob’s blessings of Judah and Joseph together, and is the best single thing to read on verses 8–12 and 22–26.
The lion of Judah. Rev. 5:1–10; Heb. 7:11–17.
Moroni’s banner. Alma 46:12–27; KnoWhy #154, “Why Did Moroni Quote the Patriarch Jacob about a Piece of Joseph’s Coat?”
Judah’s turn. Gen. 38:12–30; Gen. 44:14–34. KnoWhy #843 (Scripture Central) sets the blessings of Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah side by side.

Sources & further reading

The Holy Scriptures (Latter-day Saint editions), text and chapter headings, The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.
Westminster Leningrad Codex (the Masoretic Hebrew text), Read in the Hebrew–English interlinear on Bible Hub.
Francis Brown, S. R. Driver, and Charles A. Briggs, A Hebrew and English Lexicon of the Old Testament, Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1906.
The Septuagint (Rahlfs Greek text, with Brenton’s English translation), Elpenor Bilingual Septuagint.
New Revised Standard Version Updated Edition, National Council of Churches, 2021; on BibleGateway.
New International Version, Biblica, 2011; on BibleGateway.
English Standard Version, Crossway, 2016; on BibleGateway.
J. W. Etheridge, The Targums of Onkelos and Jonathan ben Uzziel on the Pentateuch, with the Fragments of the Jerusalem Targum: Genesis and Exodus, London: Longman, Green, Longman, and Roberts, 1862; scan on the Internet Archive.
Carl Friedrich Keil and Franz Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament: Genesis, In Keil and Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament, online at Bible Hub.
Genesis 42–50, Scripture Helps: Old Testament (2025).
Ezra Taft Benson, “A Message to Judah from Joseph”, Ensign, Dec. 1976.
Scripture Central, “Why is Judah Blessed with a Scepter Until Shiloh Comes?”, KnoWhy #843, Mar. 10, 2026.
Scripture Central, “Why Does the Old Testament Contain Poems in the Middle of Stories?”, KnoWhy #853, May 19, 2026.
Scripture Central, “Why Did Moroni Quote the Patriarch Jacob about a Piece of Joseph’s Coat?”, KnoWhy #154, Aug. 14, 2020.
Jeffrey M. Bradshaw, “How Should We Understand the Rich Symbolism in Jacob’s Blessings of Judah and Joseph?”, KnoWhy OTL12A (Interpreter Foundation, Mar. 19, 2018).
Joseph Smith Translation, Genesis 50, Joseph Smith Translation Appendix, Gospel Library.
“Patriarchal Blessings”, Guide to the Scriptures.
“Birthright”, Bible Dictionary.
“Reuben”, Bible Dictionary.
“Levites”, Bible Dictionary.
“Shiloh”, Bible Dictionary.
“Dan”, Bible Dictionary.
“Jehovah”, Bible Dictionary.
Genesis 37–50: Joseph: The Power of Preparation, Old Testament Student Manual: Genesis–2 Samuel (Church Educational System, 2003).

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