Genesis 41:50-52

41:50 Two sons were born to Joseph before the famine came. ¹  Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, was their mother. ²  41:51 Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, ³  saying, ⁴  “Certainly ⁵  God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s house.” 41:52 He named the second child Ephraim, ⁶  saying, ⁷  “Certainly ⁸  God has made me fruitful in the land of my suffering.”

Genesis 48:4-5

48:4 He said to me, ‘I am going to make you fruitful ⁹  and will multiply you. ¹⁰  I will make you into a group of nations, and I will give this land to your descendants ¹¹  as an everlasting possession.’ ¹² 

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. ¹³  Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine just as Reuben and Simeon are.

Genesis 48:13-14

48:13 Joseph positioned them; ¹⁴  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. ¹⁵  48:14 Israel stretched out his right hand and placed it on Ephraim’s head, although he was the younger. ¹⁶  Crossing his hands, he put his left hand on Manasseh’s head, for Manasseh was the firstborn.

Genesis 48:20

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 

Numbers 1:32-35

1:32 From the sons of Joseph:

From the descendants of Ephraim: According to the records of their clans and families, all the males twenty years old or older who could serve in the army were listed by name. 1:33 Those of them who were numbered from the tribe of Ephraim were 40,500. 1:34 From the descendants of Manasseh: According to the records of their clans and families, all the males twenty years old or older who could serve in the army were listed by name. 1:35 Those of them who were numbered from the tribe of Manasseh were 32,200.

Numbers 26:28-37

Manasseh

26:28 The descendants of Joseph by their families: Manasseh and Ephraim. 26:29 The Manassehites: from Machir, the family of the Machirites (now Machir became the father of Gilead); from Gilead, the family of the Gileadites. 26:30 These were the Gileadites: from Iezer, the family of the Iezerites; from Helek, the family of the Helekites; 26:31 from Asriel, the family of the Asrielites; from Shechem, the family of the Shechemites; 26:32 from Shemida, the family of the Shemidaites; from Hepher, the family of the Hepherites. 26:33 Now Zelophehad son of Hepher had no sons, but only daughters; and the names of the daughters of Zelophehad were Mahlah, Noah, Hoglah, Milcah, and Tirzah. 26:34 These were the families of Manasseh; those numbered of them were 52,700. ²⁰ 

Ephraim

26:35 These are the Ephraimites by their families: from Shuthelah, the family of the Shuthelahites; from Beker, the family of the Bekerites; from Tahan, the family of the Tahanites. 26:36 Now these were the Shuthelahites: from Eran, the family of the Eranites. 26:37 These were the families of the Ephraimites, according to those numbered of them, 32,500. ²¹  These were the descendants of Joseph by their families.

Deuteronomy 33:13-17

Blessing on Joseph

33:13 Of Joseph he said:

May the Lord bless his land

with the harvest produced by the sky, ²²  by the dew,

and by the depths crouching beneath;

33:14 with the harvest produced by the daylight ²³ 

and by ²⁴  the moonlight; ²⁵ 

33:15 with the best ²⁶  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. ²⁷ 

May blessing rest on Joseph’s head,

and on the top of the head of the one set apart ²⁸  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, ²⁹ 

and they are the thousands of Manasseh.

Deuteronomy 33:1

Introduction to the Blessing of Moses

33:1 This is the blessing Moses the man of God pronounced upon the Israelites before his death.

Deuteronomy 5:23-26

5:23 Then, when you heard the voice from the midst of the darkness while the mountain was ablaze, all your tribal leaders and elders approached me. 5:24 You said, “The Lord our God has shown us his great glory ³⁰  and we have heard him speak from the middle of the fire. It is now clear to us ³¹  that God can speak to human beings and they can keep on living. 5:25 But now, why should we die, because this intense fire will consume us! If we keep hearing the voice of the Lord our God we will die! 5:26 Who is there from the entire human race ³²  who has heard the voice of the living God speaking from the middle of the fire as we have, and has lived?

Deuteronomy 7:14

7:14 You will be blessed beyond all peoples; there will be no barrenness ³³  among you or your livestock.

[41:50]  ¹ tn Heb “before the year of the famine came.”

[41:50]  ² tn Heb “gave birth for him.”

[41:51]  ³ 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]  ⁴ tn The word “saying” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[41:51]  ⁵ tn Or “for.”

[41:52]  ⁶ sn The name Ephraim (אֶפְרַיִם, ’efrayim), a form of the Hebrew verb פָּרָה (parah), means “to bear fruit.” The theme of fruitfulness is connected with this line of the family from Rachel (30:2) on down (see Gen 49:22, Deut 33:13-17, and Hos 13:15). But there is some difficulty with the name “Ephraim” itself. It appears to be a dual, for which F. Delitzsch simply said it meant “double fruitfulness” (New Commentary on Genesis, 2:305). G. J. Spurrell suggested it was a diphthongal pronunciation of a name ending in -an or -am, often thought to be dual suffixes (Notes on the text of the book of Genesis, 334). Many, however, simply connect the name to the territory of Ephraim and interpret it to be “fertile land” (C. Fontinoy, “Les noms de lieux en -ayim dans la Bible,” UF 3 [1971]: 33-40). The dual would then be an old locative ending. There is no doubt that the name became attached to the land in which the tribe settled, and it is possible that is where the dual ending came from, but in this story it refers to Joseph’s God-given fruitfulness.

[41:52]  ⁷ tn The word “saying” has been supplied in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[41:52]  ⁸ tn Or “for.”

[48:4]  ⁹ 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]  ¹⁰ tn The perfect verbal form with vav consecutive carries on the certain future idea.

[48:4]  ¹¹ tn The Hebrew text adds “after you,” which has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[48:4]  ¹² 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]  ¹³ 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.

[48:13]  ¹⁴ tn Heb “and Joseph took the two of them.”

[48:13]  ¹⁵ 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]  ¹⁶ tn The disjunctive clause is circumstantial-concessive here.

[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.

[26:34]  ²⁰ sn The Manassehites increased from 32,200 to 52,700.

[26:37]  ²¹ sn This is a significant reduction from the first count of 40,500.

[33:13]  ²² 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]  ²³ tn Heb “goings forth of the sun.”

[33:14]  ²⁴ tn Heb “and from the harvest of the yield of.” This has been simplified in the translation to avoid redundancy.

[33:14]  ²⁵ 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]  ²⁶ tn Heb “head” or “top.”

[33:16]  ²⁷ 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]  ²⁸ 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]  ²⁹ 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.

[5:24]  ³⁰ tn Heb “his glory and his greatness.”

[5:24]  ³¹ tn Heb “this day we have seen.”

[5:26]  ³² tn Heb “who is there of all flesh.”

[7:14]  ³³ sn One of the ironies about the promises to the patriarchs concerning offspring was the characteristic barrenness of the wives of the men to whom these pledges were made (cf. Gen 11:30; 25:21; 29:31). Their affliction is in each case described by the very Hebrew word used here (עֲקָרָה, ’aqarah), an affliction that will no longer prevail in Canaan.