49:19 Gad will be raided by marauding bands,
but he will attack them at their heels. 2
49:21 Naphtali is a free running doe, 3
he speaks delightful words. 4
1 tn Heb “And they were [a source of ] bitterness in spirit to Isaac and to Rebekah.”
2 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.”
3 tn Heb “a doe set free.”
4 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).