49:23 The archers will attack him, 1
they will shoot at him and oppose him.
49:1 Jacob called for his sons and said, “Gather together so I can tell you 2 what will happen to you in the future. 3
22:1 Some time after these things God tested 4 Abraham. He said to him, “Abraham!” “Here I am!” Abraham 5 replied.
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.
2 tn After the imperative, the cohortative with prefixed vav (ו) indicates purpose/result.
3 tn The expression “in the future” (אַחֲרִית הַיָּמִים, ’akharit hayyamim, “in the end of days”) is found most frequently in prophetic passages; it may refer to the end of the age, the eschaton, or to the distant future. The contents of some of the sayings in this chapter stretch from the immediate circumstances to the time of the settlement in the land to the coming of Messiah. There is a great deal of literature on this chapter, including among others C. Armerding, “The Last Words of Jacob: Genesis 49,” BSac 112 (1955): 320-28; H. Pehlke, “An Exegetical and Theological Study of Genesis 49:1-28” (Th.D. dissertation, Dallas Theological Seminary, 1985); and B. Vawter, “The Canaanite Background of Genesis 49,” CBQ 17 (1955): 1-18.
4 sn The Hebrew verb used here means “to test; to try; to prove.” In this passage God tests Abraham to see if he would be obedient. See T. W. Mann, The Book of the Torah, 44-48. See also J. L. Crenshaw, A Whirlpool of Torment (OBT), 9-30; and J. I. Lawlor, “The Test of Abraham,” GTJ 1 (1980): 19-35.
5 tn Heb “he”; the referent (Abraham) has been specified in the translation for clarity.