Discovery BoxGenesis 49:27-33
Context49:27 Benjamin is a ravenous wolf;
in the morning devouring the prey,
and in the evening dividing the plunder.”
49:28 These 1 are the twelve tribes of Israel. This is what their father said to them when he blessed them. He gave each of them an appropriate blessing. 2
49:29 Then he instructed them, 3 “I am about to go 4 to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite. 49:30 It is the cave in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought for a burial plot from Ephron the Hittite. 49:31 There they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah; there they buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah; and there I buried Leah. 49:32 The field and the cave in it were acquired from the sons of Heth.” 5
49:33 When Jacob finished giving these instructions to his sons, he pulled his feet up onto the bed, breathed his last breath, and went 6 to his people.
[49:28] 2 tn Heb “and he blessed them, each of whom according to his blessing, he blessed them.”
[49:29] 3 tn The Hebrew text adds “and he said to them,” which is not included in the translation because it is redundant in English.
[49:29] 4 tn Heb “I am about to be gathered” The participle is used here to describe what is imminent.
[49:32] 5 tn Some translate the Hebrew term “Heth” as “Hittites” here (see also Gen 23:3), but this gives the impression that these people were the classical Hittites of Anatolia. However, there is no known connection between these sons of Heth, apparently a Canaanite group (see Gen 10:15), and the Hittites of Asia Minor. See H. A. Hoffner, Jr., “Hittites,” Peoples of the Old Testament World, 152-53.
