5-6 Simeon and Levi are two of a kind,
    ready to fight at the drop of a hat.
I don’t want anything to do with their vendettas,
    want no part in their bitter feuds;
They kill men in fits of temper,
    slash oxen on a whim.
A curse on their uncontrolled anger,
    on their indiscriminate wrath.
I’ll throw them out with the trash;
    I’ll shred and scatter them like confetti throughout Israel.

8-12 You, Judah, your brothers will praise you:
    Your fingers on your enemies’ throat,
    while your brothers honor you.
You’re a lion’s cub, Judah,
    home fresh from the kill, my son.
Look at him, crouched like a lion, king of beasts;
    who dares mess with him?
The scepter shall not leave Judah;
    he’ll keep a firm grip on the command staff
Until the ultimate ruler comes
    and the nations obey him.
He’ll tie up his donkey to the grapevine,
    his purebred prize to a sturdy branch.
He will wash his shirt in wine
    and his cloak in the blood of grapes,
His eyes will be darker than wine,
    his teeth whiter than milk.

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Let me not enter their council,
    let me not join their assembly,(A)
for they have killed men in their anger(B)
    and hamstrung(C) oxen as they pleased.
Cursed be their anger, so fierce,
    and their fury,(D) so cruel!(E)
I will scatter them in Jacob
    and disperse them in Israel.(F)

“Judah,[a](G) your brothers will praise you;
    your hand will be on the neck(H) of your enemies;
    your father’s sons will bow down to you.(I)

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Footnotes

  1. Genesis 49:8 Judah sounds like and may be derived from the Hebrew for praise.