Isaac Blesses Levi and Judah
13He turned to Levi first and began to bless him first. He said to him, “May the Lord of everything—he is the Lord of all ages—bless you and your sons throughout all ages.
14May the Lord give you and your descendants greatness and honor;
may he make you and your descendants [alone] out of all humanity approach him
to serve in his temple like the angels of the presence and like the holy ones.
The descendants of your sons will be like them in honor, greatness, and holiness.
May he make them great throughout all the ages.
15They will be princes, judges, and leaders of all the descendants of Jacob’s sons.
They will declare the word of the Lord justly
and will justly judge all his verdicts.
They will tell my ways to Jacob
and my paths to Israel.
The blessing of the Lord will be placed in their mouth,
so that they may bless all the descendants of the beloved.
16Your mother named you Levi,
and she has given you the right name.
You will become one who is joined to the Lord
and a companion of all Jacob’s sons.1
His table is to belong to you;
you and your sons are to eat [from] it.
May your table be filled throughout all history;
may your food not be lacking throughout all ages.
17May all who hate you fall before you,
and all your enemies be uprooted and perish.
May the one who blesses you be blessed,
and any nation who curses you be cursed.”
18Then he said to Judah:
“May the Lord give you the power and strength to trample on all who hate you.
Be a prince—you and one of your sons—for Jacob’s sons.
May your name and the name of your sons be one
that goes and travels around in the entire earth and the regions.
Then the nations will be frightened before you;
all the nations will be disturbed;
all peoples will be disturbed.
19May Jacob’s help be in you;
May Israel’s safety be found in you.
20At the time when you sit on the honorable throne that is rightly yours,
there will be great peace for all the descendants of the beloved’s sons.
The one who blesses you will be blessed,
and all who hate and trouble you,
and those, too, who curse you
will be uprooted and destroyed from the earth
and are to be cursed.”
Translated by James C. VanderKam.
We’re sorry. The Posen Library’s licensing agreements prevent this text from being printed or downloaded.
Notes
Words in brackets appear in the original translation.
[The text relates the name Levi to the Hebrew root lvh, “be joined.”—Ed.]
Credits
Jubilees 31:13–20, trans. James C. VanderKam, in James C. VanderKam, Jubilees: A Commentary in Two Volumes, vol. 1, ed. Sidnie White Crawford, Hermeneia: A Critical and Historical Commentary on the Bible (Minneapolis: Fortress Press, 2018), pp. 843–44. Used with permission of 1517 Media.
Published in: The Posen Library of Jewish Culture and Civilization, vol. 2: Emerging Judaism.
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