2  “Assemble and listen, O sons of Jacob,

listen to Israel your father.

3  “Reuben, you are ^ymy firstborn,

my might, and the ^zfirstfruits of my strength,

preeminent in dignity and preeminent in power.

4  Unstable as water, you shall not have preeminence,

because you ^awent up to your father’s bed;

then you defiled it—he went up to my couch!

5  ^b“Simeon and Levi are brothers;

weapons ^cof violence are their swords.

6  Let my soul come not into their council;

^dO my glory, ^ebe not joined to their company.

For in their anger they killed men,

and in their willfulness they ^fhamstrung oxen.

7  Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce,

and their wrath, for it is cruel!

I will ^gdivide them in Jacob

and scatter them in Israel.

8  “Judah, ^hyour brothers shall praise you;

ⁱyour hand shall be on the neck of your enemies;

^jyour father’s sons shall bow down before you.

9  Judah is ^ka lion’s cub;

from the prey, my son, you have gone up.

^lHe stooped down; he crouched as a lion

and as a lioness; who dares rouse him?

10  The ^mscepter shall not depart from Judah,

nor the ruler’s staff ⁿfrom between his feet,

until tribute comes to him;¹

and to him shall be the obedience of the peoples.

11  Binding his foal to the vine

and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine,

he has washed his garments in wine

and his vesture in the blood of grapes.

12  His ^oeyes are darker than wine,

and his teeth whiter than milk.