Genesis 30:22-24

30:22 Then God took note of ¹  Rachel. He paid attention to her and enabled her to become pregnant. ²  30:23 She became pregnant ³  and gave birth to a son. Then she said, “God has taken away my shame.” ⁴  30:24 She named him Joseph, ⁵  saying, “May the Lord give me yet another son.”

Genesis 41:51

41:51 Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, ⁶  saying, ⁷  “Certainly ⁸  God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s house.”

Genesis 48:5

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.

Genesis 48:14-20

48:14 Israel stretched out his right hand and placed it on Ephraim’s head, although he was the younger. ¹⁰  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 ¹¹ 

all my life long to this day,

48:16 the Angel ¹²  who has protected me ¹³ 

from all harm –

bless these boys.

May my name be named in them, ¹⁴ 

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. ¹⁵  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 ¹⁶  of nations.” 48:20 So he blessed them that day, saying,

“By you ¹⁷  will Israel bless, ¹⁸  saying,

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

So he put Ephraim before Manasseh. ¹⁹ 

Joshua 13:29-31

13:29 Moses assigned land to the half-tribe of Manasseh ²⁰  by its clans. 13:30 Their territory started at ²¹  Mahanaim and encompassed all Bashan, the whole realm of King Og of Bashan, including all sixty cities in Havvoth Jair ²²  in Bashan. 13:31 Half of Gilead, Ashtaroth, and Edrei, cities in the kingdom of Og in Bashan, were assigned to the descendants of Makir son of Manasseh, to half the descendants of Makir by their clans.

Joshua 17:1-11

17:1 The tribe of Manasseh, Joseph’s firstborn son, was also allotted land. ²³  The descendants of Makir, Manasseh’s firstborn and the father of Gilead, received land, for they were warriors. ²⁴  They were assigned Gilead and Bashan. ²⁵  17:2 The rest of Manasseh’s descendants were also assigned land ²⁶  by their clans, including the descendants of Abiezer, Helek, Asriel, Shechem, Hepher, and Shemida. These are the male descendants of Manasseh son of Joseph by their clans.

17:3 Now Zelophehad son of Hepher, son of Gilead, son of Makir, son of Manasseh, had no sons, only daughters. These are the names of his daughters: Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. 17:4 They went before Eleazar the priest, Joshua son of Nun, and the leaders and said, “The Lord told Moses to assign us land among our relatives.” ²⁷  So Joshua ²⁸  assigned them land among their uncles, as the Lord had commanded. ²⁹  17:5 Manasseh was allotted ten shares of land, ³⁰  in addition to the land of Gilead and Bashan east of the Jordan, 17:6 for the daughters of Manasseh were assigned land among his sons. The land of Gilead belonged to the rest of the descendants of Manasseh.

17:7 The border of Manasseh went ³¹  from Asher to Micmethath which is near ³²  Shechem. It then went south toward those who live in Tappuah. 17:8 (The land of Tappuah belonged to Manasseh, but Tappuah, located on the border of Manasseh, belonged to the tribe of Ephraim.) 17:9 The border then descended southward to the Valley of Kanah. Ephraim was assigned cities there among the cities of Manasseh, ³³  but the border of Manasseh was north of the valley and ended at the sea. 17:10 Ephraim’s territory was to the south, and Manasseh’s to the north. The sea was Manasseh’s ³⁴  western border and their territory ³⁵  touched Asher on the north and Issachar on the east. 17:11 Within Issachar’s and Asher’s territory Manasseh was assigned Beth Shean, Ibleam, the residents of Dor, En Dor, the residents of Taanach, the residents of Megiddo, ³⁶  the three of Napheth, ³⁷  and the towns surrounding all these cities. ³⁸ 

[30:22]  ¹ tn Heb “remembered.”

[30:22]  ² tn Heb “and God listened to her and opened up her womb.” Since “God” is the subject of the previous clause, the noun has been replaced by the pronoun “he” in the translation for stylistic reasons

[30:23]  ³ tn Or “conceived.”

[30:23]  ⁴ tn Heb “my reproach.” A “reproach” is a cutting taunt or painful ridicule, but here it probably refers by metonymy to Rachel’s barren condition, which was considered shameful in this culture and was the reason why she was the object of taunting and ridicule.

[30:24]  ⁵ sn The name Joseph (יוֹסֵף, yoseph) means “may he add.” The name expresses Rachel’s desire to have an additional son. In Hebrew the name sounds like the verb (אָסַף,’asasf) translated “taken away” in the earlier statement made in v. 23. So the name, while reflecting Rachel’s hope, was also a reminder that God had removed her shame.

[41:51]  ⁶ sn The name Manasseh (מְנַשֶּׁה, mÿnasheh) describes God’s activity on behalf of Joseph, explaining in general the significance of his change of fortune. The name is a Piel participle, suggesting the meaning “he who brings about forgetfulness.” The Hebrew verb נַשַּׁנִי (nashani) may have been used instead of the normal נִשַּׁנִי (nishani) to provide a closer sound play with the name. The giving of this Hebrew name to his son shows that Joseph retained his heritage and faith; and it shows that a brighter future was in store for him.

[41:51]  ⁷ tn The word “saying” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[41:51]  ⁸ tn Or “for.”

[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.

[48:14]  ¹⁰ tn The disjunctive clause is circumstantial-concessive here.

[48:15]  ¹¹ tn Heb “shepherded me.” The verb has been translated as an English noun for stylistic reasons.

[48:16]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ 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]  ¹⁴ tn Or “be recalled through them.”

[48:17]  ¹⁵ tn Heb “it was bad in his eyes.”

[48:19]  ¹⁶ tn Heb “fullness.”

[48:20]  ¹⁷ 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]  ¹⁸ tn Or “pronounce a blessing.”

[48:20]  ¹⁹ 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.

[13:29]  ²⁰ tn Heb “assigned to the half-tribe of Manasseh, and it belonged to the half-tribe of Manasseh.”

[13:30]  ²¹ tn The words “their territory started at” are not in the Hebrew text, but have been supplied for clarification.

[13:30]  ²² sn The Hebrew name Havvoth Jair means “the tent villages of Jair.”

[17:1]  ²³ tn Heb “and the lot belonged to the tribe of Manasseh, for he was the firstborn of Joseph.”

[17:1]  ²⁴ tn Heb “to Makir, the firstborn of Manasseh, the father of Gilead, for he was a man of war.”

[17:1]  ²⁵ tn Heb “Gilead and Bashan belonged to him.”

[17:2]  ²⁶ tn Heb “and it belonged to the sons of Manasseh who remained.”

[17:4]  ²⁷ tn Heb “The Lord commanded Moses to assign to us an inheritance in the midst of our brothers.” Since Zelophehad had no sons, “brothers” must refer to their uncles, as the next sentence makes clear.

[17:4]  ²⁸ tn Heb “he.” The referent is probably Joshua, although Eleazar is mentioned first in the preceding list.

[17:4]  ²⁹ tn Heb “and he assigned to them in accordance with the mouth [i.e., command] of the Lord an inheritance in the midst of the brothers of their father.”

[17:5]  ³⁰ tn Heb “and the allotted portions of Manasseh fell out ten.”

[17:7]  ³¹ tn Heb “was.”

[17:7]  ³² tn Heb “in front of”; perhaps “east of.”

[17:9]  ³³ tn Heb “these cities belonged to Ephraim in the midst of the cities of Manasseh.”

[17:10]  ³⁴ tn Heb “his”; the referent (Manasseh) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:10]  ³⁵ tn Heb “they”; the referent (their territory) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[17:11]  ³⁶ map For location see Map1 D4; Map2 C1; Map4 C2; Map5 F2; Map7 B1.

[17:11]  ³⁷ tn Or “the third [is] Napheth”; or “Napheth-dor.” The meaning of the Hebrew phrase is uncertain.

[17:11]  ³⁸ tn Heb “Beth Shean and its surrounding towns, Ibleam and its surrounding towns, the residents of Dor and its surrounding towns, the residents of En Dor and its surrounding towns, the residents of Taanach and its surrounding towns, the residents of Megiddo and its surrounding towns, three of Nepheth.”