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; he shone forth from Mount Paran; he came from the ten thousands of holy ones, with flaming fire at his right hand.

3Yes, he loved his people, all his holy ones were in his hand; so they followed in your steps, receiving direction from you,

4when Moses commanded us a law, as a possession for the assembly of Jacob.

5Thus the LORD 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 contend for him, and be a help against his adversaries."

8And of Levi he said, "Give to Levi 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 God 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, 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 bull--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."