Deuteronomy 33:12-17

Blessing on Benjamin

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 ¹  places him on his chest. ² 

Blessing on Joseph

33:13 Of Joseph he said:

May the Lord bless his land

with the harvest produced by the sky, ³  by the dew,

and by the depths crouching beneath;

33:14 with the harvest produced by the daylight ⁴ 

and by ⁵  the moonlight; ⁶ 

33:15 with the best ⁷  of the ancient mountains

and the harvest produced by the age-old hills;

33:16 with the harvest of the earth and its fullness

and the pleasure of him who resided in the burning bush. ⁸ 

May blessing rest on Joseph’s head,

and on the top of the head of the one set apart ⁹  from his brothers.

33:17 May the firstborn of his bull bring him honor,

and may his horns be those of a wild ox;

with them may he gore all peoples,

all the far reaches of the earth.

They are the ten thousands of Ephraim, ¹⁰ 

and they are the thousands of Manasseh.

[33:12]  ¹ tn Heb “he”; the referent (the Lord) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[33:12]  ² tn Heb “between his shoulders.” This suggests the scene in John 13:23 with Jesus and the Beloved Disciple.

[33:13]  ³ tn Heb “from the harvest of the heavens.” The referent appears to be good crops produced by the rain that falls from the sky.

[33:14]  ⁴ tn Heb “goings forth of the sun.”

[33:14]  ⁵ tn Heb “and from the harvest of the yield of.” This has been simplified in the translation to avoid redundancy.

[33:14]  ⁶ tn Heb “the moon.” Many English versions regard this as a reference to “months” (“moons”) rather than the moon itself (cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT).

[33:15]  ⁷ tn Heb “head” or “top.”

[33:16]  ⁸ tn The expression “him who resided in the bush” is frequently understood as a reference to the appearance of the Lord to Moses at Sinai from a burning bush (so NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT; cf. Exod 2:2-6; 3:2, 4). To make this reference clear the word “burning” is supplied in the translation.

[33:16]  ⁹ sn This apparently refers to Joseph’s special status among his brothers as a result of his being chosen by God to save the family from the famine and to lead Egypt.

[33:17]  ¹⁰ sn Ephraim and Manasseh were the sons of Joseph who became founders of the two tribes into which Joseph’s descendants were split (Gen 48:19-20). Jacob’s blessing granted favored status to Ephraim; this is probably why Ephraim is viewed here as more numerous than Manasseh.