Deuteronomy Chapter 33

Moses before his death blesses the tribes of Israel.

English (Douay-Rheims)

1 This is the blessing, wherewith the man of God, Moses, blessed the children of Israel, before his death. 2 And he said:

The Lord came from Sinai, and from Seir he rose up to us: he hath appeared from mount Pharan, and with him thousands of saints. In his right hand a fiery law.
3 He hath loved the people, all the saints are in his hand: and they that approach to his feet, shall receive of his doctrine.
4 Moses commanded us a law, the inheritance of the multitude of Jacob.
5 He shall be king with the most right, the princes of the people, being assembled with the tribes of Israel.
6 Let Ruben live, and not die, and be he small in number.

7 This is the blessing of Juda.

Hear, O Lord, the voice of Juda, and bring him in unto his people: his hands shall fight for him, and he shall be his helper against his enemies.

8 To Levi also he said:

Thy perfection, and thy doctrine be to thy holy man, whom thou hast proved in the temptation, and judged at the waters of contradiction: Holy man... Aaron and his successors in the priesthood.
9 Who hath said to his father, and to his mother: I do not know you; and to his brethren: I know you not: and their own children they have not known. These have kept thy word, and observed thy covenant, Who hath said, etc... It is the duty of the priestly tribe to prefer God's honour and service before all considerations of flesh and blood: in such manner as to behave as strangers to their nearest akin, when these would withdraw them from the business of their calling.
10 Thy judgments, O Jacob, and thy law, O Israel: they shall put incense in thy wrath and holocaust upon thy altar.
11 Bless, O Lord, his strength, and receive the works of his hands. Strike the backs of his enemies, and let not them that hate him rise.

12 And to Benjamin he said:

The best beloved of the Lord shall dwell confidently in him: as in a bride chamber shall he abide all the day long, and between his shoulders shall be rest. Shall dwell, etc... This seems to allude to the temple being built in the confines of the tribe of Benjamin.

13 To Joseph also he said:

Of the blessing of the Lord be his land, of the fruits of heaven, and of the dew, and of the deep that lieth beneath.
14 Of the fruits brought forth by the sun and by the moon.
15 Of the tops of the ancient mountains, of the fruits of the everlasting hills:
16 And of the fruits of the earth, and of the fulness thereof. The blessing of him that appeared in the bush, come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the crown of the Nazarite among his brethren. The Nazarite... This word signifies one separated; and agrees to Joseph, as being separated from, and more eminent than, his brethren. As the ancient Nazarites were so called from their being set aside for God, and vowed to him.
17 His beauty as of the firstling of a bullock, his horns as the horns of a rhinoceros: with them shall he push the nations even to the ends of the earth. These are the multitudes of Ephraim and these the thousands of Manasses.

18 And to Zabulon he said:

Rejoice, O Zabulon, in thy going out; and Issachar in thy tabernacles.
19 They shall call the people to the mountain: there shall they sacrifice the victims of justice. Who shall suck as milk the abundance of the sea, and the hidden treasures of the sands.

20 And to Gad he said:

Blessed be Gad in his breadth: he hath rested as a lion, and hath seized upon the arm and the top of the head.
21 And he saw his pre-eminence, that in his portion the teacher was laid up: who was with the princes of the people, and did the justices of the Lord, and his judgment with Israel. He saw, etc... The pre-eminence of the tribe of Gad, to which this alludeth, was their having the lawgiver Moses buried in their borders; though the particular place was not known.

22 To Dan also he said:

Dan is a young lion, he shall flow plentifully from Basan.

23 And to Nephtali he said:

Nephtali shall enjoy abundance, and shall be full of the blessings of the Lord: he shall possess the sea and the south. The sea... The lake of Genesareth.

24 To Aser also he said:

Let Aser be blessed with children, let him be acceptable to his brethren, and let him dip his foot in oil.
25 His shoe shall be iron and brass. As the days of thy youth, so also shall thy old age be.
26 There is no other god like the God of the rightest: he that is mounted upon the heaven is thy helper. By his magnificence the clouds run hither and thither.
27 His dwelling is above, and underneath are the everlasting arms: he shall cast out the enemy from before thee, and shall say: Be thou brought to nought. Underneath are the everlasting arms... Though the dwelling of God be above in heaven, his arms are always stretched out to help us here below.
28 Israel shall dwell in safety, and alone. The eye of Jacob in a land of corn and wine, and the heavens shall be misty with dew.
29 Blessed art thou, Israel: who is like to thee, O people, that art saved by the Lord? the shield of thy help, and the sword of thy glory: thy enemies shall deny thee, and thou shalt tread upon their necks.

Old Testament first published 1609 by the English College at Douay
New Testament first published 1582 by the English College at Rheims
Revised and Annotated 1749 by Bishop Richard Challoner
Imprimatur. +James Cardinal Gibbons, Archbishop of Baltimore, September 1, 1899

Latin (Clementine Vulgate)

1 Hæc est benedictio, qua benedixit Moyses, homo Dei, filiis Israël ante mortem suam. 2 Et ait:

Dominus de Sinai venit,
et de Seir ortus est nobis:
apparuit de monte Pharan,
et cum eo sanctorum millia.
In dextera ejus ignea lex.
3 Dilexit populos,
omnes sancti in manu illius sunt:
et qui appropinquant pedibus ejus,
accipient de doctrina illius.
4 Legem præcepit nobis Moyses,
hæreditatem multitudinis Jacob.
5 Erit apud rectissimum rex,
congregatis principibus populi cum tribubus Israël.
6 Vivat Ruben, et non moriatur,
et sit parvus in numero.

7 Hæc est Judæ benedictio:

Audi, Domine, vocem Judæ,
et ad populum suum introduc eum:
manus ejus pugnabunt pro eo,
et adjutor illius contra adversarios ejus erit.

8 Levi quoque ait:

Perfectio tua, et doctrina tua viro sancto tuo,
quem probasti in tentatione,
et judicasti ad aquas contradictionis.
9 Qui dixit patri suo et matri suæ: Nescio vos:
et fratribus suis: Ignoro vos:
et nescierunt filios suos.
Hi custodierunt eloquium tuum,
et pactum tuum servaverunt.
10 Judicia tua, o Jacob,
et legem tuam, o Israël:
ponent thymiama in furore tuo,
et holocaustum super altare tuum.
11 Benedic, Domine, fortitudini ejus:
et opera manuum illius suscipe.
Percute dorsa inimicorum ejus:
et qui oderunt eum, non consurgant.

12 Et Benjamin ait:

Amantissimus Domini habitabit confidenter in eo:
quasi in thalamo tota die morabitur,
et inter humeros illius requiescet.

13 Joseph quoque ait:

De benedictione Domini terra ejus,
de pomis cæli, et rore, atque abysso subjacente.
14 De pomis fructuum solis ac lunæ,
15 de vertice antiquorum montium,
de pomis collium æternorum:
16 et de frugibus terræ, et de plenitudine ejus.
Benedictio illius qui apparuit in rubo,
veniat super caput Joseph,
et super verticem nazaræi inter fratres suos.
17 Quasi primogeniti tauri pulchritudo ejus,
cornua rhinocerotis cornua illius:
in ipsis ventilabit gentes usque ad terminos terræ.
Hæ sunt multitudines Ephraim:
et hæc millia Manasse.

18 Et Zabulon ait:

Lætare, Zabulon, in exitu tuo,
et Issachar in tabernaculis tuis.
19 Populos vocabunt ad montem:
ibi immolabunt victimas justitiæ.
Qui inundationem maris quasi lac sugent,
et thesauros absconditos arenarum.

20 Et Gad ait:

Benedictus in latitudine Gad:
quasi leo requievit,
cepitque brachium et verticem.
21 Et vidit principatum suum,
quod in parte sua doctor esset repositus:
qui fuit cum principibus populi,
et fecit justitias Domini,
et judicium suum cum Israël.

22 Dan quoque ait:

Dan catulus leonis, fluet largiter de Basan.

23 Et Nephthali dixit:

Nephthali abundantia perfruetur,
et plenus erit benedictionibus Domini:
mare et meridiem possidebit.

24 Aser quoque ait:

Benedictus in filiis Aser,
sit placens fratribus suis,
et tingat in oleo pedem suum:
25 ferrum et æs calceamentum ejus.
Sicut dies juventutis tuæ, ita et senectus tua.
26 Non est deus alius ut Deus rectissimi,
ascensor cæli, auxiliator tuus.
Magnificentia ejus discurrunt nubes,
27 habitaculum ejus sursum,
et subter brachia sempiterna
ejiciet a facie tua inimicum,
dicetque: Conterere.
28 Habitabit Israël confidenter, et solus.
Oculus Jacob in terra frumenti et vini,
cælique caligabunt rore.
29 Beatus es tu, Israël:
quis similis tui, popule, qui salvaris in Domino?
Scutum auxilii tui,
et gladius gloriæ tuæ:
negabunt te inimici tui,
et tu eorum colla calcabis.

Transcribed as part of the Clementine Vulgate Project
Please notify the original transcriber (little.mouth@soon.com) of any errors in this Latin edition