Text -- Genesis 49:13-33 (NET)

49:13 Zebulun will live by the haven of the sea and become a haven for ships; his border will extend to Sidon. 49:14 Issachar is a strong-boned donkey lying down between two saddlebags. 49:15 When he sees a good resting place, and the pleasant land, he will bend his shoulder to the burden and become a slave laborer. 49:16 Dan will judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. 49:17 May Dan be a snake beside the road, a viper by the path, that bites the heels of the horse so that its rider falls backward. 49:18 I wait for your deliverance, O Lord. 49:19 Gad will be raided by marauding bands, but he will attack them at their heels. 49:20 Asher’s food will be rich, and he will provide delicacies to royalty. 49:21 Naphtali is a free running doe, he speaks delightful words. 49:22 Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough near a spring whose branches climb over the wall. 49:23 The archers will attack him, they will shoot at him and oppose him. 49:24 But his bow will remain steady, and his hands will be skillful; because of the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, because of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel, 49:25 because of the God of your father, who will help you, because of the sovereign God, who will bless you with blessings from the sky above, blessings from the deep that lies below, and blessings of the breasts and womb. 49:26 The blessings of your father are greater than the blessings of the eternal mountains or the desirable things of the age-old hills. They will be on the head of Joseph and on the brow of the prince of his brothers. 49:27 Benjamin is a ravenous wolf; in the morning devouring the prey, and in the evening dividing the plunder.” 49:28 These are the twelve tribes of Israel. This is what their father said to them when he blessed them. He gave each of them an appropriate blessing. 49:29 Then he instructed them, “I am about to go to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite. 49:30 It is the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought for a burial plot from Ephron the Hittite. 49:31 There they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah; there they buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah; and there I buried Leah. 49:32 The field and the cave in it were acquired from the sons of Heth.” 49:33 When Jacob finished giving these instructions to his sons, he pulled his feet up onto the bed, breathed his last breath, and went to his people.

Commentary -- Verse Notes / Footnotes

NET Notes: Gen 49:13

¹ tn The verb שָׁכַן (shakhan) means “to settle,” but not necessarily as a permanent dwelling place. The tribal settlements by the sea would have been temporary and not the tribe’s territory.

² map For location see Map1 A1; JP3 F3; JP4 F3.

NET Notes: Gen 49:15

¹ tn The verb forms in this verse (“sees,” “will bend,” and “[will] become”) are preterite; they is used in a rhetorical manner, describing the future as if it had already transpired.

² sn The oracle shows that the tribe of Issachar will be willing to trade liberty for the material things of life. Issachar would work (become a slave laborer) for the Canaanites, a reversal of the oracle on Canaan. See C. M. Carmichael, “Some Sayings in Genesis 49,” JBL 88 (1969): 435-44; and S. Gevirtz, “The Issachar Oracle in the Testament of Jacob,” ErIsr 12 (1975): 104-12.

NET Notes: Gen 49:16

¹ sn The name Dan (דָּן, dan) means “judge” and forms a wordplay with the following verb.

² tn Or “govern.”

NET Notes: Gen 49:17

¹ sn The comparison of the tribe of Dan to a venomous serpent is meant to say that Dan, though small, would be potent, gaining victory through its skill and shrewdness. Jewish commentators have linked the image in part with Samson. That link at least illustrates the point: Though a minority tribe, Dan would gain the upper hand over others.

NET Notes: Gen 49:18

¹ sn I wait for your deliverance, O Lord. As Jacob sees the conflicts that lie ahead for Dan and Gad (see v. 19), he offers a brief prayer for their security.

NET Notes: Gen 49:19

¹ tc Heb “heel.” The MT has suffered from misdivision at this point. The initial mem on the first word in the next verse should probably be taken as a plural ending on the word “heel.”

sn In Hebrew the name Gad (גָּד, gad ) sounds like the words translated “raided” (יְגוּדֶנּוּ, yÿgudennu) and “marauding bands” (גְּדוּד, gÿdud).

NET Notes: Gen 49:20

¹ tc Heb “from Asher,” but the initial mem (מ) of the MT should probably be moved to the end of the preceding verse and taken as a plural ending on “heel.”

² tn The Hebrew word translated “rich,” when applied to products of the ground, means abundant in quantity and quality.

³ tn The word translated “delicacies” refers to foods that were delightful, the kind fit for a king.

NET Notes: Gen 49:21

¹ tn Heb “a doe set free.”

² tn Heb “the one who gives words of beauty.” The deer imagery probably does not continue into this line; Naphtali is the likely antecedent of the substantival participle, which is masculine, not feminine, in form. If the animal imagery is retained from the preceding line, the image of a talking deer is preposterous. For this reason some read the second line “the one who bears beautiful fawns,” interpreting אִמְרֵי (’imre) as a reference to young animals, not words (see HALOT 67 s.v. *אִמֵּר).

sn Almost every word in the verse is difficult. Some take the imagery to mean that Naphtali will be swift and agile (like a doe), and be used to take good messages (reading “words of beauty”). Others argue that the tribe was free-spirited (free running), but then settled down with young children.

NET Notes: Gen 49:22

¹ tn The Hebrew text appears to mean “[is] a son of fruitfulness.” The second word is an active participle, feminine singular, from the verb פָּרָה (parah, “to be fruitful”). The translation “bough” is employed for בֵּן (ben, elsewhere typically “son”) because Joseph is pictured as a healthy and fruitful vine growing by the wall. But there are difficulties with this interpretation. The word “son” nowhere else refers to a plant and the noun translated “branches” (Heb “daughters”) in the third line is a plural form whereas its verb is singular. In the other oracles of Gen 49 an animal is used for comparison and not a plant, leading some to translate the opening phrase בֵּן פָּרָה (ben parah, “fruitful bough”) as “wild donkey” (JPS, NAB). Various other interpretations involving more radical emendation of the text have also been offered.

² tn Heb “daughters.”

NET Notes: Gen 49:23

¹ tn The verb forms in vv. 23-24 are used in a rhetorical manner, describing future events as if they had already taken place.

NET Notes: Gen 49:24

¹ tn Heb “the arms of his hands.”

² tn Heb “from there,” but the phrase should be revocalized and read “from [i.e., because of] the name of.”

³ tn Or “Stone.”

NET Notes: Gen 49:25

¹ tn Heb “and he will help you.”

² tn Heb “Shaddai.” See the note on the title “sovereign God” in Gen 17:1. The preposition אֵת (’et) in the Hebrew text should probably be emended to אֵל (’el, “God”).

³ tn Heb “and he will bless you.”

⁴ sn Jacob envisions God imparting both agricultural (blessings from the sky above, blessings from the deep that lies below) and human fertility (blessings of the breasts and womb) to Joseph and his family.

NET Notes: Gen 49:26

¹ tn Heb “have prevailed over.”

² tn One could interpret the phrase הוֹרַי (horay) to mean “my progenitors” (literally, “the ones who conceived me”), but the masculine form argues against this. It is better to emend the text to הַרֲרֵי (harare, “mountains of”) because it forms a better parallel with the next clause. In this case the final yod (י) on the form is a construct plural marker, not a pronominal suffix.

³ tn For further discussion of this passage, see I. Sonne, “Genesis 49:24-26,” JBL 65 (1946): 303-6.

NET Notes: Gen 49:28

¹ tn Heb “All these.”

² tn Heb “and he blessed them, each of whom according to his blessing, he blessed them.”

NET Notes: Gen 49:29

¹ tn The Hebrew text adds “and he said to them,” which is not included in the translation because it is redundant in English.

² tn Heb “I am about to be gathered” The participle is used here to describe what is imminent.

NET Notes: Gen 49:32

¹ tn Some translate the Hebrew term “Heth” as “Hittites” here (see also Gen 23:3), but this gives the impression that these people were the classical Hittites of Anatolia. However, there is no known connection between these sons of Heth, apparently a Canaanite group (see Gen 10:15), and the Hittites of Asia Minor. See H. A. Hoffner, Jr., “Hittites,” Peoples of the Old Testament World, 152-53.

NET Notes: Gen 49:33

¹ tn Heb “was gathered.”