translation_id: net-engnet

book_id: GEN

label: NET translator note

text: Heb “and one said.” With no expressed subject in the Hebrew text, the verb can be translated with the passive voice.


text: Heb “and one told and said.” The verbs have no expressed subject and can be translated with the passive voice.


text: Heb “Look, your son Joseph.”


text: Heb “El Shaddai.” See the extended note on the phrase “sovereign God” in Gen 17:1 .


text: Heb “Look, I am making you fruitful.” The participle following הִנֵּה ( hinneh ) has the nuance of a certain and often imminent future.


text: The perfect verbal form with vav consecutive carries on the certain future idea.


text: The Hebrew text adds “after you,” which has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.


text: 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 ).


text: Or “you fathered.”


text: Heb “called” or “named.”


text: Heb “upon me, against me,” which might mean something like “to my sorrow.”


text: For location see Map5-B1 ; Map7-E2 ; Map8-E2 ; Map10-B4 .


text: Heb “my.”


text: Heb “and he”; the referent (Joseph’s father) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: The cohortative with prefixed vav ( ו ) indicates purpose after the imperative.


text: Heb “heavy.” sn The disjunctive clause provides supplemental information that is important to the story. The weakness of Israel’s sight is one of several connections between this chapter and . Here there are two sons, and it appears that the younger is being blessed over the older by a blind old man. While it was by Jacob’s deception in chap. , here it is with Jacob’s full knowledge.


text: Heb “he”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: Heb “them”; the referent (Joseph’s sons) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: On the meaning of the Hebrew verb פָּלַל ( palal ) here, see E. A. Speiser, “The Stem pll in Hebrew,” JBL 82 (1963): 301-6. Speiser argues that this verb means “to estimate” as in Exod 21:22 .


text: Heb “your face.”


text: Heb “offspring.”


text: Heb “and Joseph brought them out from with his knees.” The two boys had probably been standing by Israel’s knees when being adopted and blessed. The referent of the pronoun “his” (Israel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.


text: Heb “and Joseph took the two of them.”


text: 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.


text: The disjunctive clause is circumstantial-concessive here.


text: Heb “shepherded me.” The verb has been translated as an English noun for stylistic reasons.


text: The verb גָּאַל ( ga ’ al ) has the basic idea of “protect” as a near relative might do. It is used for buying someone out of bondage, marrying a deceased brother’s widow, paying off debts, avenging the family, and the like. The meanings of “deliver, protect, avenge” are most fitting when God is the subject (see A. R. Johnson, “The Primary Meaning of √ גאל ,” Congress Volume: Copenhagen, 1953 [VTSup], 67-77).


text: Or “be recalled through them.”


text: Heb “it was bad in his eyes.”


text: Heb “fullness.”


text: 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.


text: Or “pronounce a blessing.”


text: The pronouns translated “you,” “you,” and “your” in this verse are plural in the Hebrew text.


text: The pronouns translated “your” and “you” in this verse are singular in the Hebrew text.


text: The Hebrew word שְׁכֶם ( shÿkhem ) could be translated either as “mountain slope” or “shoulder, portion,” or even taken as the proper name “Shechem.” Jacob was giving Joseph either (1) one portion above his brothers, or (2) the mountain ridge he took from the Amorites, or (3) Shechem. The ambiguity actually allows for all three to be the referent. He could be referring to the land in Shechem he bought in Gen 33:18-19 , but he mentions here that it was acquired by warfare, suggesting that the events of 34:25-29 are in view (even though at the time he denounced it, 34:30 ). Joseph was later buried in Shechem ( Josh 24:32 ).