Genesis 48:1-22

Manasseh and Ephraim

48:1 After these things Joseph was told, ¹  “Your father is weakening.” So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim with him. 48:2 When Jacob was told, ²  “Your son Joseph has just ³  come to you,” Israel regained strength and sat up on his bed. 48:3 Jacob said to Joseph, “The sovereign God ⁴  appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me. 48:4 He said to me, ‘I am going to make you fruitful ⁵  and will multiply you. ⁶  I will make you into a group of nations, and I will give this land to your descendants ⁷  as an everlasting possession.’ ⁸ 

48:5 “Now, as for your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, they will be mine. ⁹  Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine just as Reuben and Simeon are. 48:6 Any children that you father ¹⁰  after them will be yours; they will be listed ¹¹  under the names of their brothers in their inheritance. ¹²  48:7 But as for me, when I was returning from Paddan, Rachel died – to my sorrow ¹³  – in the land of Canaan. It happened along the way, some distance from Ephrath. So I buried her there on the way to Ephrath” (that is, Bethlehem). ¹⁴ 

48:8 When Israel saw Joseph’s sons, he asked, “Who are these?” 48:9 Joseph said to his father, “They are the ¹⁵  sons God has given me in this place.” His father ¹⁶  said, “Bring them to me so I may bless them.” ¹⁷  48:10 Now Israel’s eyes were failing ¹⁸  because of his age; he was not able to see well. So Joseph ¹⁹  brought his sons ²⁰  near to him, and his father ²¹  kissed them and embraced them. 48:11 Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected ²²  to see you ²³  again, but now God has allowed me to see your children ²⁴  too.”

48:12 So Joseph moved them from Israel’s knees ²⁵  and bowed down with his face to the ground. 48:13 Joseph positioned them; ²⁶  he put Ephraim on his right hand across from Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh on his left hand across from Israel’s right hand. Then Joseph brought them closer to his father. ²⁷  48:14 Israel stretched out his right hand and placed it on Ephraim’s head, although he was the younger. ²⁸  Crossing his hands, he put his left hand on Manasseh’s head, for Manasseh was the firstborn.

48:15 Then he blessed Joseph and said,

“May the God before whom my fathers

Abraham and Isaac walked –

the God who has been my shepherd ²⁹ 

all my life long to this day,

48:16 the Angel ³⁰  who has protected me ³¹ 

from all harm –

bless these boys.

May my name be named in them, ³² 

and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac.

May they grow into a multitude on the earth.”

48:17 When Joseph saw that his father placed his right hand on Ephraim’s head, it displeased him. ³³  So he took his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. 48:18 Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, for this is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head.”

48:19 But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He too will become a nation and he too will become great. In spite of this, his younger brother will be even greater and his descendants will become a multitude ³⁴  of nations.” 48:20 So he blessed them that day, saying,

“By you ³⁵  will Israel bless, ³⁶  saying,

‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’”

So he put Ephraim before Manasseh. ³⁷ 

48:21 Then Israel said to Joseph, “I am about to die, but God will be with you ³⁸  and will bring you back to the land of your fathers. 48:22 As one who is above your ³⁹  brothers, I give to you the mountain slope, ⁴⁰  which I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow.”

Genesis 16:15

16:15 So Hagar gave birth to Abram’s son, whom Abram named Ishmael. ⁴¹ 

Genesis 16:1

The Birth of Ishmael

16:1 Now Sarai, ⁴²  Abram’s wife, had not given birth to any children, ⁴³  but she had an Egyptian servant ⁴⁴  named Hagar. ⁴⁵ 

Genesis 12:3-4

12:3 I will bless those who bless you, ⁴⁶ 

but the one who treats you lightly ⁴⁷  I must curse,

and all the families of the earth will bless one another ⁴⁸  by your name.”

12:4 So Abram left, ⁴⁹  just as the Lord had told him to do, ⁵⁰  and Lot went with him. (Now ⁵¹  Abram was 75 years old ⁵²  when he departed from Haran.)

Acts 20:33

20:33 I have desired ⁵³  no one’s silver or gold or clothing.

Acts 20:1

Paul Travels Through Macedonia and Greece

20:1 After the disturbance had ended, Paul sent for the disciples, and after encouraging ⁵⁴  them and saying farewell, ⁵⁵  he left to go to Macedonia. ⁵⁶ 

Colossians 1:12

1:12 giving thanks to the Father who has qualified you to share ⁵⁷  in the saints’ ⁵⁸  inheritance in the light.

Colossians 1:1-2

Salutation

1:1 From Paul, ⁵⁹  an apostle of Christ Jesus by the will of God, and Timothy our brother, 1:2 to the saints, the faithful ⁶⁰  brothers and sisters ⁶¹  in Christ, at Colossae. Grace and peace to you ⁶²  from God our Father! ⁶³ 

[48:1]  ¹ tn Heb “and one said.” With no expressed subject in the Hebrew text, the verb can be translated with the passive voice.

[48:2]  ² tn Heb “and one told and said.” The verbs have no expressed subject and can be translated with the passive voice.

[48:2]  ³ tn Heb “Look, your son Joseph.”

[48:3]  ⁴ tn Heb “El Shaddai.” See the extended note on the phrase “sovereign God” in Gen 17:1.

[48:4]  ⁵ tn Heb “Look, I am making you fruitful.” The participle following הִנֵּה (hinneh) has the nuance of a certain and often imminent future.

[48:4]  ⁶ tn The perfect verbal form with vav consecutive carries on the certain future idea.

[48:4]  ⁷ tn The Hebrew text adds “after you,” which has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[48:4]  ⁸ tn The Hebrew word אֲחֻזָּה (’akhuzzah), translated “possession,” describes a permanent holding in the land. It is the noun form of the same verb (אָחַז, ’akhaz) that was used for the land given to them in Goshen (Gen 47:27).

[48:5]  ⁹ sn They will be mine. Jacob is here adopting his two grandsons Manasseh and Ephraim as his sons, and so they will have equal share with the other brothers. They will be in the place of Joseph and Levi (who will become a priestly tribe) in the settlement of the land. See I. Mendelsohn, “A Ugaritic Parallel to the Adoption of Ephraim and Manasseh,” IEJ (1959): 180-83.

[48:6]  ¹⁰ tn Or “you fathered.”

[48:6]  ¹¹ tn Heb “called” or “named.”

[48:6]  ¹² sn Listed under the names of their brothers in their inheritance. This means that any subsequent children of Joseph will be incorporated into the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh.

[48:7]  ¹³ tn Heb “upon me, against me,” which might mean something like “to my sorrow.”

[48:7]  ¹⁴ map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[48:9]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “my.”

[48:9]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Joseph’s father) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[48:9]  ¹⁷ tn The cohortative with prefixed vav (ו) indicates purpose after the imperative.

[48:10]  ¹⁸ tn Heb “heavy.”

[48:10]  ¹⁹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[48:10]  ²⁰ tn Heb “them”; the referent (Joseph’s sons) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[48:10]  ²¹ tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Joseph’s father) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[48:11]  ²² tn On the meaning of the Hebrew verb פָּלַל (palal) here, see E. A. Speiser, “The Stem pll in Hebrew,” JBL 82 (1963): 301-6. Speiser argues that this verb means “to estimate” as in Exod 21:22.

[48:11]  ²³ tn Heb “your face.”

[48:11]  ²⁴ tn Heb “offspring.”

[48:12]  ²⁵ tn Heb “and Joseph brought them out from with his knees.” The two boys had probably been standing by Israel’s knees when being adopted and blessed. The referent of the pronoun “his” (Israel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[48:13]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and Joseph took the two of them.”

[48:13]  ²⁷ tn Heb “and he brought near to him.” The referents of the pronouns “he” and “him” (Joseph and his father respectively) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[48:14]  ²⁸ tn The disjunctive clause is circumstantial-concessive here.

[48:15]  ²⁹ tn Heb “shepherded me.” The verb has been translated as an English noun for stylistic reasons.

[48:16]  ³⁰ sn The Samaritan Pentateuch reads “king” here, but the traditional reading (“angel”) may be maintained. Jacob closely associates God with an angelic protective presence. This does not mean that Jacob viewed his God as a mere angel, but it does suggest that he was aware of an angelic presence sent by God to protect him. Here he so closely associates the two that they become virtually indistinguishable. In this culture messengers typically carried the authority of the one who sent them and could even be addressed as such. Perhaps Jacob thought that the divine blessing would be mediated through this angelic messenger.

[48:16]  ³¹ tn The verb גָּאַל (ga’al) has the basic idea of “protect” as a near relative might do. It is used for buying someone out of bondage, marrying a deceased brother’s widow, paying off debts, avenging the family, and the like. The meanings of “deliver, protect, avenge” are most fitting when God is the subject (see A. R. Johnson, “The Primary Meaning of √גאל,” Congress Volume: Copenhagen, 1953 [VTSup], 67-77).

[48:16]  ³² tn Or “be recalled through them.”

[48:17]  ³³ tn Heb “it was bad in his eyes.”

[48:19]  ³⁴ tn Heb “fullness.”

[48:20]  ³⁵ tn The pronoun is singular in the Hebrew text, apparently elevating Ephraim as the more prominent of the two. Note, however, that both are named in the blessing formula that follows.

[48:20]  ³⁶ tn Or “pronounce a blessing.”

[48:20]  ³⁷ sn On the elevation of Ephraim over Manasseh see E. C. Kingsbury, “He Set Ephraim Before Manasseh,” HUCA 38 (1967): 129-36; H. Mowvley, “The Concept and Content of ‘Blessing’ in the Old Testament,” BT 16 (1965): 74-80; and I. Mendelsohn, “On the Preferential Status of the Eldest Son,” BASOR 156 (1959): 38-40.

[48:21]  ³⁸ tn The pronouns translated “you,” “you,” and “your” in this verse are plural in the Hebrew text.

[48:22]  ³⁹ tn The pronouns translated “your” and “you” in this verse are singular in the Hebrew text.

[48:22]  ⁴⁰ tn The Hebrew word שְׁכֶם (shÿkhem) could be translated either as “mountain slope” or “shoulder, portion,” or even taken as the proper name “Shechem.” Jacob was giving Joseph either (1) one portion above his brothers, or (2) the mountain ridge he took from the Amorites, or (3) Shechem. The ambiguity actually allows for all three to be the referent. He could be referring to the land in Shechem he bought in Gen 33:18-19, but he mentions here that it was acquired by warfare, suggesting that the events of 34:25-29 are in view (even though at the time he denounced it, 34:30). Joseph was later buried in Shechem (Josh 24:32).

[16:15]  ⁴¹ tn Heb “and Abram called the name of his son whom Hagar bore, Ishmael.”

[16:1]  ⁴² tn The disjunctive clause signals the beginning of a new episode in the story.

[16:1]  ⁴³ sn On the cultural background of the story of Sarai’s childlessness see J. Van Seters, “The Problem of Childlessness in Near Eastern Law and the Patriarchs of Israel,” JBL 87 (1968): 401-8.

[16:1]  ⁴⁴ tn The Hebrew term שִׁפְחָה (shifkhah, translated “servant” here and in vv. 2, 3, 5, 6, and 8) refers to a menial female servant.

[16:1]  ⁴⁵ sn The passage records the birth of Ishmael to Abram through an Egyptian woman. The story illustrates the limits of Abram’s faith as he tries to obtain a son through social custom. The barrenness of Sarai poses a challenge to Abram’s faith, just as the famine did in chap. 12. As in chap. 12, an Egyptian figures prominently. (Perhaps Hagar was obtained as a slave during Abram’s stay in Egypt.)

[12:3]  ⁴⁶ tn The Piel cohortative has as its object a Piel participle, masculine plural. Since the Lord binds himself to Abram by covenant, those who enrich Abram in any way share in the blessings.

[12:3]  ⁴⁷ tn In this part of God’s statement there are two significant changes that often go unnoticed. First, the parallel and contrasting participle מְקַלֶּלְךָ (mÿqallelkha) is now singular and not plural. All the versions and a few Masoretic mss read the plural. But if it had been plural, there would be no reason to change it to the singular and alter the parallelism. On the other hand, if it was indeed singular, it is easy to see why the versions would change it to match the first participle. The MT preserves the original reading: “the one who treats you lightly.” The point would be a contrast with the lavish way that God desires to bless many. The second change is in the vocabulary. The English usually says, “I will curse those who curse you.” But there are two different words for curse here. The first is קָלַל (qalal), which means “to be light” in the Qal, and in the Piel “to treat lightly, to treat with contempt, to curse.” The second verb is אָרַר (’arar), which means “to banish, to remove from the blessing.” The point is simple: Whoever treats Abram and the covenant with contempt as worthless God will banish from the blessing. It is important also to note that the verb is not a cohortative, but a simple imperfect. Since God is binding himself to Abram, this would then be an obligatory imperfect: “but the one who treats you with contempt I must curse.”

[12:3]  ⁴⁸ tn Theoretically the Niphal can be translated either as passive or reflexive/reciprocal. (The Niphal of “bless” is only used in formulations of the Abrahamic covenant. See Gen 12:2; 18:18; 28:14.) Traditionally the verb is taken as passive here, as if Abram were going to be a channel or source of blessing. But in later formulations of the Abrahamic covenant (see Gen 22:18; 26:4) the Hitpael replaces this Niphal form, suggesting a translation “will bless [i.e., “pronounce blessings on”] themselves [or “one another”].” The Hitpael of “bless” is used with a reflexive/reciprocal sense in Deut 29:18; Ps 72:17; Isa 65:16; Jer 4:2. Gen 12:2 predicts that Abram will be held up as a paradigm of divine blessing and that people will use his name in their blessing formulae. For examples of blessing formulae utilizing an individual as an example of blessing see Gen 48:20 and Ruth 4:11.

[12:4]  ⁴⁹ sn So Abram left. This is the report of Abram’s obedience to God’s command (see v. 1).

[12:4]  ⁵⁰ tn Heb “just as the Lord said to him.”

[12:4]  ⁵¹ tn The disjunctive clause (note the pattern conjunction + subject + implied “to be” verb) is parenthetical, telling the age of Abram when he left Haran.

[12:4]  ⁵² tn Heb “was the son of five years and seventy year[s].”

[20:33]  ⁵³ tn Traditionally, “coveted.” BDAG 371 s.v. ἐπιθυμέω 1 has “to have a strong desire to do or secure someth., desire, long for w. gen. of the thing desired…silver, gold, clothing Ac 20:33.” The traditional term “covet” is not in common usage and difficult for many modern English readers to understand. The statement affirms Paul’s integrity. He was not doing this for personal financial gain.

[20:1]  ⁵⁴ tn Or “exhorting.”

[20:1]  ⁵⁵ tn Or “and taking leave of them.”

[20:1]  ⁵⁶ sn Macedonia was the Roman province of Macedonia in Greece.

[1:12]  ⁵⁷ tn BDAG 473 s.v. ἱκανόω states, “τινὰ εἴς τι someone for someth. Col 1:12.” The point of the text is that God has qualified the saints for a “share” or “portion” in the inheritance of the saints.

[1:12]  ⁵⁸ tn Grk “the inheritance of the saints.” The genitive noun τῶν ἁγίων (twn Jagiwn) is a possessive genitive: “the saints’ inheritance.”

[1:1]  ⁵⁹ tn Grk “Paul.” The word “from” is not in the Greek text, but has been supplied to indicate the sender of the letter.

[1:2]  ⁶⁰ tn Grk “and faithful.” The construction in Greek (as well as Paul’s style) suggests that the saints are identical to the faithful; hence, the καί (kai) is best left untranslated (cf. Eph 1:1). See ExSyn 281-82.

[1:2]  ⁶¹ tn Grk “brothers,” but the Greek word may be used for “brothers and sisters” or “fellow Christians” as here (cf. BDAG 18 s.v. ἀδελφός 1, where considerable nonbiblical evidence for the plural ἀδελφοί [adelfoi] meaning “brothers and sisters” is cited).

[1:2]  ⁶² tn Or “Grace to you and peace.”

[1:2]  ⁶³ tc Most witnesses, including some important ones (א A C F G I [P] 075 Ï it bo), read “and the Lord Jesus Christ” at the end of this verse, no doubt to conform the wording to the typical Pauline salutation. However, excellent and early witnesses (B D K L Ψ 33 81 1175 1505 1739 1881 al sa) lack this phrase. Since the omission is inexplicable as arising from the longer reading (otherwise, these mss would surely have deleted the phrase in the rest of the corpus Paulinum), it is surely authentic.