Moses Blesses the Tribes

Deuteronomy 33

ca. 1200–332 BCE

About This Entry

These blessings appear in Deuteronomy just before The Death of Moses.

¹This is the blessing with which Moses, the man of God, bade the Israelites farewell before he died. ²He said:

The Lord came from Sinai;

He shone upon them from Seir;

He appeared from Mount Paran,

And approached from Ribeboth-kodesh,

Lightning flashing at them from His right.

³Lover, indeed, of the people,

Their hallowed are all in Your hand.

They followed in Your steps,

Accepting Your pronouncements,

⁴When Moses charged us with the Teaching

As the heritage of the congregation of Jacob.

⁵Then He became King in Jeshurun,

When the heads of the people assembled,

The tribes of Israel together.

⁶May Reuben live and not die,

Though few be his numbers.

⁷And this he said of Judah:

Hear, O Lord the voice of Judah

And restore him to his people.

Though his own hands strive for him,

Help him against his foes.

⁸And of Levi he said:

Let Your Thummim and Urim

Be with Your faithful one,

Whom You tested at Massah,

Challenged at the waters of Meribah;

⁹Who said of his father and mother,

“I consider them not.”

His brothers he disregarded,

Ignored his own children.

Your precepts alone they observed,

And kept Your covenant.

¹⁰They shall teach Your laws to Jacob

And Your instructions to Israel.

They shall offer You incense to savor

And whole-offerings on Your altar.

¹¹Bless, O Lord, his substance,

And favor his undertakings.

Smite the loins of his foes;

Let his enemies rise no more.

¹²Of Benjamin he said:

Beloved of the Lord,

He rests securely beside Him;

Ever does He protect him,

As he rests between His shoulders.

¹³And of Joseph he said:

Blessed of the Lord be his land

With the bounty of dew from heaven,

And of the deep that couches below;

¹⁴With the bounteous yield of the sun,

And the bounteous crop of the moons;

¹⁵With the best from the ancient mountains,

And the bounty of hills immemorial;

¹⁶With the bounty of earth and its fullness,

And the favor of the Presence in the Bush.

May these rest on the head of Joseph,

On the crown of the elect of his brothers.

¹⁷Like a firstling bull in his majesty,

He has horns like the horns of the wild-ox;

With them he gores the peoples,

The ends of the earth one and all.

These are the myriads of Ephraim,

Those are the thousands of Manasseh.

¹⁸And of Zebulun he said:

Rejoice, O Zebulun, on your journeys,

And Issachar, in your tents.

¹⁹They invite their kin to the mountain,

Where they offer sacrifices of success.

For they draw from the riches of the sea

And the hidden hoards of the sand.

²⁰And of Gad he said:

Blessed be He who enlarges Gad!

Poised is he like a lion

To tear off arm and scalp.

²¹He chose for himself the best,

For there is the portion of the revered chieftain,

Where the heads of the people come.

He executed the Lord’s judgments

And His decisions for Israel.

²²And of Dan he said:

Dan is a lion’s whelp

That leaps forth from Bashan.

²³And of Naphtali he said:

O Naphtali, sated with favor

And full of the Lord’s blessing,

Take possession on the west and south.

²⁴And of Asher he said:

Most blessed of sons be Asher;

May he be the favorite of his brothers,

May he dip his foot in oil.

²⁵May your doorbolts be iron and copper,

And your security last all your days.

²⁶O Jeshurun, there is none like God,

Riding through the heavens to help you,

Through the skies in His majesty.

²⁷The ancient God is a refuge,

A support are the arms everlasting.

He drove out the enemy before you

By His command: Destroy!

²⁸Thus Israel dwells in safety,

Untroubled is Jacob’s abode,^a

In a land of grain and wine,

Under heavens dripping dew.

²⁹O happy Israel! Who is like you,

A people delivered by the Lord,

Your protecting Shield, your Sword triumphant!

Your enemies shall come cringing before you,

And you shall tread on their backs.

We’re sorry. The Posen Library’s licensing agreements prevent this text from being printed or downloaded.

Notes

Others “fountain.”

Credits

Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 1.

Moses Blesses the Tribes

About This Entry

Notes

Credits

You may also like

Language:

Places:

Subjects:

Ancient Corpus:

You may also like

Moses Blesses the Tribes

About This Entry

Notes

Credits

You may also like

Language:

Places:

Subjects:

Ancient Corpus:

Related Guide

Related Guide

Related Guide

You may also like