You, O Judah, your brothers shall praise;
Your hand shall be on the nape of your foes;
Your father’s sons shall bow low to you.
Judah is a lion’s whelp;
On prey, my son, have you grown.
He crouches, lies down like a lion,
Like a lioness —who dare rouse him?
The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet;
So that tribute shall come to him
And the homage of peoples be his.
He tethers his ass to a vine,
His ass’s foal to a choice vine;
He washes his garment in wine,
His robe in blood of grapes.
His eyes are darker than wine;
His teeth are whiter than milk.
Yehudah is like a young lion. [He will be a ruler at the beginning, and at the end, a king will be anointed from the house of Yehudah.] You have risen above plunder my son. [For from the judgment of death, my son, you removed yourself.] He crouches, rests like a lion, [He will rest and dwell in strength like a lion.] like an awesome lion, who will rouse him? [there is no kingdom that can make him tremble.] The rod [of the ruler] will not depart from [the house of] Yehudah, nor a law-enforcer from between his feet [nor a scribe from his children’s children forever], until Shiloh Comes [the Moshiach will come, for his is the kingship], and to him shall be an assembly of nations [nations will listen]. He loads his young donkey with grapes of a vine, and his she-donkey’s foal with a vine-branch. [He will bring Israel from all around to his city, the nation who will build his Temple. / The righteous will congregate around the Moshiach, and those who engage in Torah will study with him.] He washes his clothes in wine, [May his garments be of fine purple cloth,] and his cloak in the blood of grapes [and his clothes of fine wool colored in scarlet and other colors]. His eyes are red from wine, [His mountains will become red with his vineyards, / His winepresses will be flowing with wine,] and his teeth are white [from an abundance of] milk [His valleys will appear white from the abundance of grain and sheep].
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.
Rejoice greatly, Fair Zion;
Raise a shout, Fair Jerusalem!
Lo, your king is coming to you.
He is victorious, triumphant,
Yet humble, riding on a donkey,
On a jackass foaled by a jenny.
(1) Who is this coming from Edom,
In crimsoned garments from Bozrah—
Who is this, majestic in attire,
Pressing forward with great might?
“It is I, who contend victoriously,
Powerful to give triumph.” (2) Why is your clothing so red,
Your garments like those of someone who treads grapes? (3) “I trod out a vintage alone;
Of the peoples nobody was with Me.
I trod them down in My anger,
Trampled them in My rage;
Their life-blood bespattered My garments,
And all My clothing was stained. (4) For I had planned a day of vengeance,
And My year of redemption arrived. (5) Then I looked, but there was none to help;
I stared, but there was none to aid—
So My own arm wrought the triumph,
And My own rage was My aid. (6) I trampled peoples in My anger,
I made them drunk with My rage,
And I hurled their glory to the ground.” (7) I will recount GOD’s kind acts,
GOD’s praises—
For all that GOD has wrought for us,
The vast bounty to the House of Israel
That was bestowed upon them
According to God’s mercy and great kindness. (8) [God] thought: Surely they are My people,
Children who will not play false.
So [God] was their Deliverer. (9) In all their troubles [God] was troubled,
And the angel of the divine Presence delivered them.
In love and pity
It was [God] who redeemed them,
Raised them, and exalted them
All the days of old.