Genesis 48:1-4

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 

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

[48:4]  ⁴ 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]  ⁵ tn The perfect verbal form with vav consecutive carries on the certain future idea.

[48:4]  ⁶ tn The Hebrew text adds “after you,” which has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[48:4]  ⁷ 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).