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Moses’ Final Blessing on Israel

This is the blessing with which Moses, the man of God, blessed the Israelites before his death. ²He said:

The L ord came from Sinai,

and dawned from Seir upon us;

he shone forth from Mount Paran.

With him were myriads of holy ones;

at his right, a host of his own.

Indeed, O favorite among peoples,

all his holy ones were in your charge;

they marched at your heels,

accepted direction from you.

Moses charged us with the law,

as a possession for the assembly of Jacob.

There arose a king in Jeshurun,

when the leaders of the people assembled—

the united tribes of Israel.

May Reuben live, and not die out,

even though his numbers are few.

⁷ And this he said of Judah:

O L ord, give heed to Judah,

and bring him to his people;

strengthen his hands for him,

and be a help against his adversaries.

⁸ And of Levi he said:

Give to Levi your Thummim,

and your Urim to your loyal one,

whom you tested at Massah,

with whom you contended at the waters of Meribah;

who said of his father and mother,

“I regard them not”;

he ignored his kin,

and did not acknowledge his children.

For they observed your word,

and kept your covenant.

They teach Jacob your ordinances,

and Israel your law;

they place incense before you,

and whole burnt offerings on your altar.

Bless, O L ord, his substance,

and accept the work of his hands;

crush the loins of his adversaries,

of those that hate him, so that they do not rise again.

¹² Of Benjamin he said:

The beloved of the L ord rests in safety—

the High God surrounds him all day long—

the beloved rests between his shoulders.

¹³ And of Joseph he said:

Blessed by the L ord be his land,

with the choice gifts of heaven above,

and of the deep that lies beneath;

with the choice fruits of the sun,

and the rich yield of the months;

with the finest produce of the ancient mountains,

and the abundance of the everlasting hills;

with the choice gifts of the earth and its fullness,

and the favor of the one who dwells on Sinai.

Let these come on the head of Joseph,

on the brow of the prince among his brothers.

A firstborn bull—majesty is his!

His horns are the horns of a wild ox;

with them he gores the peoples,

driving them to the ends of the earth;

such are the myriads of Ephraim,

such the thousands of Manasseh.

¹⁸ And of Zebulun he said:

Rejoice, Zebulun, in your going out;

and Issachar, in your tents.

They call peoples to the mountain;

there they offer the right sacrifices;

for they suck the affluence of the seas

and the hidden treasures of the sand.

²⁰ And of Gad he said:

Blessed be the enlargement of Gad!

Gad lives like a lion;

he tears at arm and scalp.

He chose the best for himself,

for there a commander’s allotment was reserved;

he came at the head of the people,

he executed the justice of the L ord,

and his ordinances for Israel.

²² And of Dan he said:

Dan is a lion’s whelp

that leaps forth from Bashan.

²³ And of Naphtali he said:

O Naphtali, sated with favor,

full of the blessing of the L ord,

possess the west and the south.

²⁴ And of Asher he said:

Most blessed of sons be Asher;

may he be the favorite of his brothers,

and may he dip his foot in oil.

Your bars are iron and bronze;

and as your days, so is your strength.

There is none like God, O Jeshurun,

who rides through the heavens to your help,

majestic through the skies.

He subdues the ancient gods,

shatters the forces of old;

he drove out the enemy before you,

and said, “Destroy!”

So Israel lives in safety,

untroubled is Jacob’s abode

in a land of grain and wine,

where the heavens drop down dew.

Happy are you, O Israel! Who is like you,

a people saved by the L ord,

the shield of your help,

and the sword of your triumph!

Your enemies shall come fawning to you,

and you shall tread on their backs.

New Revised Standard Version Bible, copyright 1989, Division of Christian Education of the National Council of the Churches of Christ in the United States of America. Used by permission. All rights reserved.

13. And of Joseph he said. Moses repeats some portions of the blessing of Jacob; nor with respect to any other tribe does he approach so closely to the words of the Patriarch. And, although the family of Joseph was already divided into two tribes or nations, still he begins by the head itself, and at the conclusion declares that what had been given to their fathers pertains to Ephraim and Manasseh. First, he celebrates the exceeding fertility of the land, in which the descendants of Joseph were to dwell; and then ratifies his testimony by the authority of God. He promises them, then, that their land shall be fertile, from the best treasures of heaven; for מגד, meged, signifies whatever is best and most precious. I do not, therefore, approve of their translation, who render it fruits, although I know not whether Moses speaks of the excellency of the climate, or commends the beneficence of God; the latter, however, accords best with the context, in which he makes mention of the external means of fertility, viz., the dew, and the deep, by which word I understand the depth of the soil itself. In the next verse I admit that by the word מגד, meged, the choicest fruits are indicated, but without any change of its meaning. Others render it delicacies: others sweet fruits, on account of the peculiar excellency of the fruits. But I do not see why some translate the word גרש, geresh, “influence.” It literally means thrusting out; and is used metaphorically for the fruit, which arises and breaks forth from the earth. But it is not very clear to me what fruits he speaks of respectively as “of the sun, and the moon;” for I cannot tell whether there are any grounds for assigning, as some do, to the sun the produce which springs from seed and the vintage; and to the moon, cucumbers and gourds; nor do I attempt to decide whether their idea is more correct who suppose the latter to be flowers or fruits which appear every month.

15. And for the chief things of the ancient mountains. In these words he shows that no part of the land would be barren. We know that the tops of mountains are generally and uncultivated, or at any rate bear nothing but trees that have no fruit. But Moses affirms that even there also there shall be the richest produce, for which reason, at least in my opinion, he calls the mountains ancient, and the hills lasting, as if being very highly renowned; for their antiquity is not praised, as if they were created before the rest of the world, but these mountains are honorably distinguished as the first-born, because God’s blessing eminently rests upon them. Thus in the blessing of Jacob it is said, “unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills,” as much as to say, that no corner of these most celebrated mountains should be devoid of fertility. (Genesis 49:26.)

In the next verse he extends generally to the whole land what he had said of the mountains.

Those are wide of the meaning of Moses, who translate what follows: “On account of the good-will of the dweller in the bush the blessing shall come;” and his rendering is altogether barbarous who gives it, “On account of the piety,” etc. My opinion is that the word רצון, retzon, is in the nominative case; for it is quite in accordance with the context that the “favor of God would come upon the head of Joseph;” for, after Moses had magnified His bounty, he now points out its source or cause, viz., that this extraordinary fertility was the result of God’s gratuitous favor. The words of Jacob, “by the God of thy father,” and “by the Almighty,” exactly correspond with these; where also I have explained why Joseph was called a Nazarene among his brethren. ³²¹³²¹ A. V., “Separated from his brethren.” See on Genesis 49:26, C. Soc. Edit., vol. 2, p. 470.

God is called “the dweller in the bush” by periphrasis, with reference to the vision which was presented to Moses on Mount Sinai; for God then appeared a second time as the Redeemer and Father of His people; after having made His covenant with Abraham and Jacob. And this serves by way of confirmation; as if it were said, that the same God who had formerly blessed Joseph by the mouth of His servant Jacob, now repeated the same prophecy, in order to give fuller assurance of its truth.

17 His glory is like the firstling. Translators obscure the meaning by translating the word firstling in the nominative case. I have no doubt, however, but that he compares the glory of Joseph to the size of a very fine bullock, as if He had said, “His beauty is as of the most choice bullocks in his herds.” At least it is very consistent that the word firstling should be used for pre-eminent. He says, then, that no more magnificent or glorious bullocks should be found in the land of Joseph than the people itself would be. And to beauty he adds strength and vigor, so that they should be victorious over all their enemies.

At the end of the verse (as I have before stated,) he declares that what he had prophesied of Joseph should be common to the two families of Ephraim and Manasseh. At the same time he confirms the declaration of Jacob, whereby he had preferred Ephraim the younger to the elder. Manasseh, therefore, only reckons his thousands, but Ephraim his tell thousands, a proof of which fact God had given in the census which has been already recorded, in which the tribe of Ephraim was found to be the more numerous.

³²¹ A. V., “Separated from his brethren.” See on Genesis 49:26, C. Soc. Edit., vol. 2, p. 470.