Genesis 48:4-6

New English Translation

Footnotes

1. Genesis 48:4 tn Heb “Look, I am making you fruitful.” The participle following הִנֵּה (hinneh) has the nuance of a certain and often imminent future.
2. Genesis 48:4 tn The perfect verbal form with vav consecutive carries on the certain future idea.
3. Genesis 48:4 tn The Hebrew text adds “after you,” which has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.
4. Genesis 48:4 tn The Hebrew word אֲחֻזָּה (ʾakhuzzah), translated “possession,” describes a permanent holding in the land. It is the noun form of the same verb (אָחַז, ʾakhaz) that was used for the land given to them in Goshen (Gen 47:27).
5. Genesis 48:5 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.
6. Genesis 48:6 tn Or “you fathered.”
7. Genesis 48:6 tn Heb “called” or “named.”
8. Genesis 48:6 sn Listed under the names of their brothers in their inheritance. This means that any subsequent children of Joseph will be incorporated into the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh.