33:18 Of Zebulun he said:
Rejoice, Zebulun, when you go outside,
and Issachar, when you are in your tents.
33:22 Of Dan he said:
Dan is a lion’s cub;
he will leap forth from Bashan. 1
33:13 Of Joseph he said:
May the Lord bless his land
with the harvest produced by the sky, 2 by the dew,
and by the depths crouching beneath;
33:20 Of Gad he said:
Blessed be the one who enlarges Gad.
Like a lioness he will dwell;
he will tear at an arm – indeed, a scalp. 3
33:23 Of Naphtali he said:
O Naphtali, overflowing with favor,
and full of the Lord’s blessing,
possess the west and south.
33:24 Of Asher he said:
Asher is blessed with children,
may he be favored by his brothers
and may he dip his foot in olive oil. 4
9:25 I lay flat on the ground before the Lord for forty days and nights, 5 for he 6 had said he would destroy you.
10:1 At that same time the Lord said to me, “Carve out for yourself two stone tablets like the first ones and come up the mountain to me; also make for yourself a wooden ark. 7
33:8 Of Levi he said:
Your Thummim and Urim 8 belong to your godly one, 9
whose authority you challenged at Massah, 10
and with whom you argued at the waters of Meribah. 11
33:12 Of Benjamin he said:
The beloved of the Lord will live safely by him;
he protects him all the time,
and the Lord 12 places him on his chest. 13
1 sn He will leap forth from Bashan. This may refer to Dan’s conquest of Laish, a region just to the west of Bashan (Judg 18:27-28).
1 tn Heb “from the harvest of the heavens.” The referent appears to be good crops produced by the rain that falls from the sky.
1 tn Heb “forehead,” picturing Gad attacking prey.
1 sn Dip his foot in olive oil. This is a metaphor for prosperity, one especially apt in light of the abundance of olive groves in the area settled by Asher. The Hebrew term refers to olive oil, which symbolizes blessing in the OT. See R. Way, NIDOTTE 4:171-73.
1 tn The Hebrew text includes “when I prostrated myself.” Since this is redundant, it has been left untranslated.
2 tn Heb “the
1 tn Or “chest” (so NIV, CEV); NLT “sacred chest”; TEV “wooden box.” This chest was made of acacia wood; it is later known as the ark of the covenant.
1 sn Thummim and Urim. These terms, whose meaning is uncertain, refer to sacred stones carried in a pouch on the breastplate of the high priest and examined on occasion as a means of ascertaining God’s will or direction. See Exod 28:30; Lev 8:8; Num 27:21; 1 Sam 28:6. See also C. Van Dam, NIDOTTE 1:329-31.
2 tn Heb “godly man.” The reference is probably to Moses as representative of the whole tribe of Levi.
3 sn Massah means “testing” in Hebrew; the name is a wordplay on what took place there. Cf. Exod 17:7; Deut 6:16; 9:22; Ps 95:8-9.
4 sn Meribah means “contention, argument” in Hebrew; this is another wordplay on the incident that took place there. Cf. Num 20:13, 24; Ps 106:32.
1 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the
2 tn Heb “between his shoulders.” This suggests the scene in John 13:23 with Jesus and the Beloved Disciple.
1 tn Heb “in order to multiply horses.” The translation uses “do so” in place of “multiply horses” to avoid redundancy (cf. NAB, NIV).
1 tn Or “am no longer able to lead you” (NIV, NLT); Heb “am no longer able to go out and come in.”