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Genesis 49:19-21
New English Translation
Genesis 49:19-21
New English Translation
19 Gad will be raided by marauding bands,
but he will attack them at their heels.[a]
20 Asher’s[b] food will be rich,[c]
and he will provide delicacies[d] to royalty.
21 Naphtali is a free running doe,[e]
he speaks delightful words.[f]
Footnotes
- Genesis 49:19 tc Heb “heel.” The MT has suffered from misdivision at this point. The initial mem on the first word in the next verse should probably be taken as a plural ending on the word “heel.”sn In Hebrew the name Gad (גָּד, gad) sounds like the words translated “raided” (יְגוּדֶנּוּ, yegudennu) and “marauding bands” (גְּדוּד, gedud).
- Genesis 49:20 tc Heb “from Asher,” but the initial mem (מ) of the MT should probably be moved to the end of the preceding verse and taken as a plural ending on “heel.”
- Genesis 49:20 tn The Hebrew word translated “rich,” when applied to products of the ground, means abundant in quantity and quality.
- Genesis 49:20 tn The word translated “delicacies” refers to foods that were delightful, the kind fit for a king.
- Genesis 49:21 tn Heb “a doe set free.”
- Genesis 49:21 tn Heb “the one who gives words of beauty.” The deer imagery probably does not continue into this line; Naphtali is the likely antecedent of the substantival participle, which is masculine, not feminine, in form. If the animal imagery is retained from the preceding line, the image of a talking deer is preposterous. For this reason some read the second line “the one who bears beautiful fawns,” interpreting אִמְרֵי (ʾimre) as a reference to young animals, not words (see HALOT 67 s.v. *אִמֵּר).sn Almost every word in the verse is difficult. Some take the imagery to mean that Naphtali will be swift and agile (like a doe), and be used to take good messages (reading “words of beauty”). Others argue that the tribe was free-spirited (free running), but then settled down with young children.
New English Translation (NET)
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