Genesis 48:15-16

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 ¹ 

all my life long to this day,

48:16 the Angel ²  who has protected me ³ 

from all harm –

bless these boys.

May my name be named in them, ⁴ 

and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac.

May they grow into a multitude on the earth.”

Genesis 48:1

Manasseh and Ephraim

48:1 After these things Joseph was told, ⁵  “Your father is weakening.” So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim with him.

Genesis 7:12

7:12 And the rain fell ⁶  on the earth forty days and forty nights.

Acts 26:22

26:22 I have experienced ⁷  help from God to this day, and so I stand testifying to both small and great, saying nothing except ⁸  what the prophets and Moses said ⁹  was going to happen:

Acts 26:2

26:2 “Regarding all the things I have been accused of by the Jews, King Agrippa, ¹⁰  I consider myself fortunate that I am about to make my defense before you today,

Colossians 1:10

1:10 so that you may live ¹¹  worthily of the Lord and please him in all respects ¹²  – bearing fruit in every good deed, growing in the knowledge of God,

[48:15]  ¹ tn Heb “shepherded me.” The verb has been translated as an English noun for stylistic reasons.

[48:16]  ² 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]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn Or “be recalled through them.”

[48:1]  ⁵ tn Heb “and one said.” With no expressed subject in the Hebrew text, the verb can be translated with the passive voice.

[7:12]  ⁶ tn Heb “was.”

[26:22]  ⁷ tn Grk “So experiencing…I stand.” The participle τυχών (tucwn) has been translated as a finite verb due to requirements of contemporary English style.

[26:22]  ⁸ tn BDAG 311 s.v. ἐκτός 3.b, “functions as prep. w. gen. οὐδὲν ἐ. ὧν nothing except what (cf. 1 Ch 29:3; 2 Ch 17:19; TestNapht. 6:2) Ac 26:22.”

[26:22]  ⁹ sn What the prophets and Moses said. Paul argued that his message reflected the hope of the Jewish scriptures.

[26:2]  ¹⁰ sn See the note on King Agrippa in 25:13.

[1:10]  ¹¹ tn The infinitive περιπατῆσαι (peripathsai, “to walk, to live, to live one’s life”) is best taken as an infinitive of purpose related to “praying” (προσευχόμενοι, proseucomenoi) and “asking” (αἰτούμενοι, aitoumenoi) in v. 9 and is thus translated as “that you may live.”

[1:10]  ¹² tn BDAG 129 s.v. ἀρεσκεία states that ἀρεσκείαν (areskeian) refers to a “desire to please εἰς πᾶσαν ἀ. to please (the Lord) in all respects Col 1:10.”