⁸ “Judah, your brothers will praise you.
    You will grasp your enemies by the neck.
    All your relatives will bow before you.
⁹ Judah, my son, is a young lion
    that has finished eating its prey.
Like a lion he crouches and lies down;
    like a lioness—who dares to rouse him?
¹⁰ The scepter will not depart from Judah,
    nor the ruler’s staff from his descendants,^[a]
until the coming of the one to whom it belongs,^[b]
    the one whom all nations will honor.
¹¹ He ties his foal to a grapevine,
    the colt of his donkey to a choice vine.
He washes his clothes in wine,
    his robes in the blood of grapes.
¹² His eyes are darker than wine,
    and his teeth are whiter than milk.

¹³ “Zebulun will settle by the seashore
    and will be a harbor for ships;
    his borders will extend to Sidon.

¹⁴ “Issachar is a sturdy donkey,
    resting between two saddlepacks.^[c]
15 When he sees how good the countryside is
    and how pleasant the land,
he will bend his shoulder to the load
    and submit himself to hard labor.

¹⁶ “Dan will govern his people,
    like any other tribe in Israel.
¹⁷ Dan will be a snake beside the road,
    a poisonous viper along the path
that bites the horse’s hooves
    so its rider is thrown off.
¹⁸ I trust in you for salvation, O Lord!

¹⁹ “Gad will be attacked by marauding bands,
    but he will attack them when they retreat.

²⁰ “Asher will dine on rich foods
    and produce food fit for kings.

²¹ “Naphtali is a doe set free
    that bears beautiful fawns.

¹⁵ “In the land of Zebulun and of Naphtali,
    beside the sea, beyond the Jordan River,
    in Galilee where so many Gentiles live,
¹⁶ the people who sat in darkness
    have seen a great light.
And for those who lived in the land where death casts its shadow,
    a light has shined.”^[a]