Targum Jonathan Reader

And Jakob called his sons and said to them, Purify yourselves from uncleanness, and I will show you the hidden mysteries, the ends concealed, the recompense of reward for the righteous, the retribution of the wicked, and the bower of Eden, what it is. And the twelve tribes of Israel gathered themselves together around the golden bed whereon he reclined, and where was revealed to him the Shekina of the Lord, (though) the end for which the king Meshiha is to come had been concealed from him. Then said he, Come, and I will declare to you what shall befall you at the end of the days.

Gather yourselves together and hear, ye sons of Jakob, and receive instruction from Israel your father.

Reuben thou art my firstborn, the beginning of the strength of my generation, and the chief event of my thoughts To thee belonged the birthright, and the high priesthood, and the kingdom: but because thou hast sinned, my son, the birthright is given to Joseph, and the, kingdom to Jehuda, and the priesthood to Levi.

I will liken thee to a little garden in the midst of which there enter torrents swift and strong, which it cannot bear, but is overwhelmed. Be repentant then, Reuben my son, for thou hast sinned, and add not; that wherein thou hast sinned it may be forgiven thee; for it is reckoned to thee as if thou wentest in to have to do with the wife of thy father at the time that thou didst confound my bed upon which thou wentest up.

Shimeon and Levi are brothers of the womb; their thoughts are of sharp weapons for rapine.

In their counsel my soul hath not had pleasure, and in their gathering against Shekem. to destroy it mine honour was not united; for in their anger they slew the prince and his ruler, and in their ill will they demolished the wall of their adversary.

And Jakob said, Accursed was the town of Shekem, when they entered within it to destroy it in their violent wrath; and their hatred against Joseph, for it was relentless. If, said Jakob, they dwell together, no king nor ruler may stand before them. Therefore will I divide the inheritance of the sons of Shimeon into two portions; one part shall come to them out of the inheritance of the sons of Jehuda, and one part from among the rest of the tribes of Jakob; and the tribe of Levi I will disperse among all the tribes of Israel.

Jehuda, thou didst make confession in the matter of Tamar: therefore shall thy brethren confess thee, and shall be called Jehudain from thy name. Thy hand shall avenge thee of thy adversaries, in throwing arrows upon them when they turn their backs before thee; and the sons of thy fathers shall come before thee with salutations.

I will liken thee, my son Jehuda, to a whelp, the young of a lion; for from the killing of Joseph my son thou didst uplift thy soul, and from the judgment of Tamar thou wast free. He dwelleth quietly and in strength, as a lion; and as an old lion when he reposeth, who may stir him up?

Kings shall not cease, nor rulers, from the house of Jehuda, nor sapherim teaching the law from his seed, till the time that the King the Meshiha, shall come, the youngest of his sons; and on account of him shall the peoples flow together.

How beauteous is the King, the Meshiha who will arise from the house of Jehuda! He hath girded his loins, and descended, and arrayed the battle against his adversaries, Slaying kings with their rulers; neither is there any king or ruler who shall stand before him. The mountains become red with the blood of their slain; his garments, dipped in blood, are like the outpressed juice of grapes.

How beautiful are the eyes of the king Meshiha, as the pure wine! He cannot look upon what is unclean, nor on the shedding of the blood of the innocent; and his teeth, purer than milk, cannot eat that which is stolen or torn; and therefore his mountains are red with wine, and his hills white with corn, and with the cotes of flocks.

Zebulon shall dwell upon the banks of the sea, and have dominion over the havens; he will surmount the breakers of the sea with ships and his border will extend unto Zidon.

Issakar is an ass in the law; a strong tribe, knowing the order of the times; and he lieth down between the limits of his brethren.

And he saw the rest of the world to come that it is good, and the portion of the land of Israel that it is pleasant; therefore bowed he his shoulders to labour in the law, and unto him shall come his brethren bearing presents.

From the house of Dan there is to arise a man who will judge his people with the judgment of truth. All the tribes of Israel will hearken to him together.

A chosen man shall arise from the house of Dan, like the basilisk which lieth at the dividing of the way, and the serpent's head which lurketh by the way, that biteth the horse in his heel, and the master from his terror is thrown backward. Even thus will Shimshon bar Manovach slay all the heroes of Philistia, the horsemen and the foot; he will hamstring their horses and hurl their riders backwards.

When Jakob saw Gideon bar Joash and Shimshon bar Manovach, who were established to be deliverers, he said, I expect not the salvation of Gideon, nor look I for the salvation of Shimshon; for their salvation will be the salvation of an hour; but for Thy salvation have I waited, and will look for, O Lord; for Thy salvation is the salvation of eternity.

The tribe of Gad with the rest of the tribes will, armed, pass over the streams of Arnona and subdue before them the pillars of the earth, and armed will they return into their limits with much substance and dwell in peace beyond the passage of Jardena; for so will they choose, and it shall be to them to receive their inheritance.

Happy is Asher whose fruitage is plenteous, and whose land aboundeth in balsams and costly perfumes.

Naphatali is a swift messenger, like a hind that runneth on the tops of the mountains, bringing good tidings: he it was who announced that Joseph was living; he it was who hasteneth to go into Mizraim, and bring the contract of the double field in which Esau had no portion; and when he shall open his mouth in the congregation of Israel to give praise, he shall be the chosen of all tongues.

Joseph, my son, thou hast become great; Joseph, my son, thou hast become great and mighty; the end (determined) on thee was (that thou shouldst) be mighty, because thou didst subdue thy inclination in the matter of thy mistress, and in the work of thy brethren. Thee will I liken to a vine planted by fountains of water, which sendeth forth her roots, and overrunneth the ridges of stone, and covereth by her branches all unfruitful trees; even so didst thou my son Joseph subject by thy wisdom and thy good works all the magicians of Mizraim; and when, celebrating thy praises, the daughters of princes walking on the high places cast before thee bracelets and chains of gold, that thou shouldst lift up thine eyes upon them, thine eyes thou wouldst not lift up on one of them, to become guilty in the great day of judgment.

And all the magicians of Mizraim were bitter and angry against him, and brought accusations against him before Pharoh, expecting to bring him down from his honour They spake against him with the slanderous tongue which is severe as arrows.

But he returned to abide in his early strength, and would not yield himself unto sin, and subdued his inclinations by the strong discipline he had received from Jakob, and thence became worthy of being a ruler, and of being joined in the engraving of the names upon the stones of Israel.

From the Word of the Lord shall be thy help; and He who is called the All--Sufficient shall bless thee with the blessings which descend with the dew of heaven from above, and with the good blessing of the fountains of the deep which ascend and clothe the herbage from beneath. The breasts are blessed at which thou wast suckled, and the womb in which thou didst lie.

The blessings of thy father be added to the blessings wherewith my fathers Abraham and Izhak have blessed me, and which the princes of the world Ishmael and Esau and all the sons of Keturah have desired: let all these blessings be united, and form a diadem of majesty for the head of Joseph, and for the brow of the man who became chief and ruler in Mizraim, and the brightness of the glory of his brethren.

Benjamin is a strong tribe, (like) the wolf (with) his prey. In his land will dwell the Shekina of the Lord of the world, and the house of the sanctuary be builded in his inheritance. In the morning will the priests offer the lamb continually until the fourth hour, and between the evenings the second lamb, and at eventide will they divide the residue remaining of the offering, and eat, every man, his portion.

All these Tribes of Israel are twelve: they are all righteous together, and this it is which their father spake to them, and blessed them; according to his blessing blessed be each man.

And he commanded them and said to them, I am to be gathered to my people; bury me with my fathers in the cavern which is in the field of Ephron the Hitah,

in the cave that is in the Double Field over against Mamre in the land of Kenaan; for Abraham bought the field of Ephron the Hitah for an inheritance of burial.

There they buried Abraham, and Sarah his wife; there they buried Izhak, and Rivekah his wife; and there I buried Leah:

the purchase of the field, and the cave that it is in, of the sons of Hitah.

And Jakob ceased to command his sons. And he gathered up his feet into the midst of the bed, and expired, and was gathered unto his people

And Jakob called his sons and said to them, Purify yourselves from uncleanness, and I will show you the hidden mysteries, the ends concealed, the recompense of reward for the righteous, the retribution of the wicked, and the bower of Eden, what it is. And the twelve tribes of Israel gathered themselves together around the golden bed whereon he reclined, and where was revealed to him the Shekina of the Lord, (though) the end for which the king Meshiha is to come had been concealed from him. Then said he, Come, and I will declare to you what shall befall you at the end of the days.

And Joseph laid his father upon a couch of ivory which was framed with pure gold, and inlaid with precious stones, and secured with cords of byssus. There they poured out fervid wines, and there burned they most costly perfumes: there stood the chiefs of the house of Esau and the chiefs of the house of Ishmael; there stood the Lion of Jehuda, the strength of his brethren. He answered and said to his brethren, Come, and let as raise up to our father a tall cedar whose head shall reach to the top of heaven, and its branches overshadow all the inhabitants of the earth, and its roots extend to the depths of the abyss: from it have arisen the twelve tribes, and from it will arise kings, princes, and priests in their divisions, to offer oblations, and from it the Levites in their appointments for singing. Then, behold, Joseph bowed himself upon his father's face, and wept over him, and kissed him.

And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father; and the physicians embalmed Israel.

And the forty days of embalming were completed to him; for so fulfil they the days of embalming; and the Mizraee lamented him seventy days; saying one to another, Come, let us lament over Jakob the Holy, whose righteousness turned away the famine from the land of Mizraim. For it had been decreed that there should be forty and two years of famine, but through the righteousness of Jakob forty years are withheld from Mizraim, and there came famine but for two years only.

And the days of his mourning passed. And Joseph spake with the lords of the house of Pharoh, saying If I may find favour in your eyes, speak now in the hearing of Pharoh, saying,

My father made me swear, saying, Behold, I die, in the sepulchre which I have prepared for me in the land of Kenaan there shalt thou bury me. And now let me go up and bury my father, and I will return.

And Pharoh said, Go up, and bury thy father, according as he made thee swear.

And Joseph went up to bury his father; and all the servants of Pharoh, the elders of his house, and all the elders of the land of Mizraim, went up with him.

And all the men of Joseph's house, and his brethren, and his father's household: only their children, and their sheep and oxen, left they in the land of Goshen.

And there went up with him chariots and horsemen and a very great host.

And they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jardena, and there they lamented with a great and mighty lamentation. And he made there a mourning for his father seven days.

And the inhabitants of the land of Kenaan beheld the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, and they loosed the girdles of their loins in honour of Jakob, and spread forth their hands, and said, This is a mighty mourning of the Mizraee. Therefore he called the name of the, place Abel Mizraim, which is on the other side of Jardena.

And his sons did for him as he had commanded them.

But when his sons had brought him into the land of Kenaan, and the thing was heard by Esau the Wicked, he journeyed from the mountain of Gebala with many legions, and came to Hebron, and would not suffer Joseph to bury his father in the Double Cave. Then forthwith went Naphtali and ran, and went down to Mizraim, and came in that day, and brought the Instrument that Esau had written for Jakob his brother in the controversy of the Double Cave. And immediately he beckoned to Hushim the son of Dan, who unsheathed the sword and struck off the head of the Wicked Esau, and the head of Esau rolled into the midst of the cave, and rested upon the bosom of Izhak his father; and the sons of Esau buried his body in the double field, and afterward the sons of Jakob buried him in the cave of the double field; in the field which Abraham bought for an inheritance--sepulchre, of Ephron the Hitah, over against Mamre.

And Joseph returned to Mizraim, he and his brethren, and all who went up with him to bury his father, after they had buried his father.

And Joseph's brethren saw that their father was dead, and that he (Joseph) did not return to eat together with them, and they said, Perhaps Joseph ill bring upon us all retaineth enmity against us, and will bring upon us all the evil that we did him.

And they instructed Bilhah to say to Joseph, Thy father commanded before his death to speak to thee,

Thus shall you say to Joseph, Forgive now the guilt of thy brethren and their sin, for they committed evil against thee; but forgive, I beseech thee, the guilt of the servants of the God of thy father. And Joseph wept when they spake with him.

And his brethren came also, and bowed themselves before him, and said, Behold, we are thy servants.

And Joseph said to them, Fear not, for I will not do you evil, but good; for I fear and humble myself before the Lord.

You indeed imagined against me evil thoughts, that when I did not recline with you to eat it was because I retained enmity against you. But the Word of the Lord thought on me for good; for my father hath caused me to sit at the head, and on account of his honour I received; but now not for the sake of my (own) righteousness or merit was it given me to work out for you deliverance this day for the preservation of much people of the house of Jakob.

And now fear not; I will sustain you and your little ones. And he comforted them, and spake consolation to their heart.

And Joseph dwelt in Mizraim, he and his father's house. And Joseph lived a hundred and ten years.

And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation; also the sons of Makir the son of Menasheh, when they were born, were circumcised by Joseph.

And Joseph said to his Brethren Behold, I die; but the Lord remembering will remember you and will bring you up from this land, into the land which He sware to Abraham, to Izhak, and to Jakob.

And Joseph adjured the sons of Israel to say to their sons Behold, you will be brought into servitude in Mizraim; but you shall not presume to go up out of Mizraim until the time that two Deliverers shall come, and say to you, Remembering, remember ye the Lord. And at the time when ye go up ye shall carry up my bones from hence.

And Joseph died, the son of a hundred and ten years. And they embalmed him with perfumes, and laid him in an ark, and submerged him in the midst of the Nilos of Mizraim.

And Joseph died, the son of a hundred and ten years. And they embalmed him with perfumes, and laid him in an ark, and submerged him in the midst of the Nilos of Mizraim.