Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth.
Parallel Translations
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Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth.
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And Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth.
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And Joseph brought them out from between his knees; and he fell down on his face to the earth.
Cross-references (13)
Passages linked to Genesis 48:12 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Genesis 42:6 Joseph was the governor over the land. It was he who sold to all the people of the land. Joseph’s brothers came, and bowed themselves down to him with their faces to the earth.
- Genesis 18:2 He lifted up his eyes and looked, and saw that three men stood near him. When he saw them, he ran to meet them from the tent door, and bowed himself to the earth,
- Genesis 19:1 The two angels came to Sodom at evening. Lot sat in the gate of Sodom. Lot saw them, and rose up to meet them. He bowed himself with his face to the earth,
- Genesis 23:7 Abraham rose up, and bowed himself to the people of the land, to the children of Heth.
- Genesis 33:3 He himself passed over in front of them, and bowed himself to the ground seven times, until he came near to his brother.
- Exodus 20:12 “Honor your father and your mother, that your days may be long in the land which Yahweh your God gives you.
- Exodus 34:8 Moses hurried and bowed his head toward the earth, and worshiped.
- Leviticus 19:3 “ ‘Each one of you shall respect his mother and his father. You shall keep my Sabbaths. I am Yahweh your God.
- Leviticus 19:32 “ ‘You shall rise up before the gray head and honor the face of the elderly; and you shall fear your God. I am Yahweh.
- 1 Kings 2:19 Bathsheba therefore went to king Solomon, to speak to him for Adonijah. The king rose up to meet her, and bowed himself to her, and sat down on his throne, and caused a throne to be set for the king’s mother; and she sat on his right hand.
- 2 Kings 4:37 Then she went in, fell at his feet, and bowed herself to the ground; then she picked up her son, and went out.
- Proverbs 31:28 Her children rise up and call her blessed. Her husband also praises her:
- Ephesians 6:1 Children, obey your parents in the Lord, for this is right.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (11 sources)
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John Calvin 1540 · Public Domain 12. And Joseph brought them out. Moses explains more…
12. And Joseph brought them out. Moses explains more fully what he had touched upon in a single word. Joseph brings forth his sons from his own lap to his father’s knees, not only for the sake of honor, but that he may present them to receive a blessing from the prophet of God; for he was certainly persuaded, that holy Jacob did not desire to embrace his grandsons after the common manner of men; but inasmuch as he was the interpreter of God, he wished to impart to them the blessing deposited with himself. And although, in dividing the land of Canaan, he assigned them equal portions with his sons, yet the imposition of his hands had respect to something higher; namely, that they should be two of the patriarchs of the Church, and should hold an honorable preeminence in the spiritual kingdom of God.
John Calvin's Commentaries (1540-1563) — public domain. Text from the Calvin Translation Society English edition (1840s-50s) via the Christian Classics Ethereal Library (ccel.org). Calvin's coverage is partial (roughly two-thirds of the Bible); uncommented books and verses are honest gaps, never fabricated. The 19th-century editor's footnotes and remarks are omitted so the notes are faithfully Calvin's own voice.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain Hebrew, his face to the ground.
Hebrew, his face to the ground.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Gen 48:12 And Joseph brought them out from between…
Gen 48:12 And Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth.
Ver. 12. From between his knees.] That is, From between his father’s knees, that he might place them right to receive the blessing, presenting them again according to their age. This he did for the best; but "God only wise" had otherwise ordered it. We many times think we do well, when it proves much otherwise. "Lean not therefore to thine own understanding," saith the wise man; {Pro 3:5} but make out to him that "dwells with prudence." {Pro 8:12}
John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Matthew Poole 1685 · Public Domain From between his knees; not his own knees, from…
From between his knees; not his own knees, from which they had been taken before, but Jacob’s knees, between which they stood whilst Jacob kissed and embraced them; from which Joseph removed them, partly that they might not be burdensome to their aged and weak grandfather, and principally that he might place them in fit order and reverent posture to receive the blessing for which he longed.
He bowed himself, testifying thereby his reverence to his father, his thankfulness for the favour which he had now showed to him and his, and his humble and earnest request for his blessing upon them.
Matthew Poole's English Annotations on the Holy Bible (1683–1685) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
John Gill 1763 · Public Domain And Joseph brought them out from between his knees,....…
And Joseph brought them out from between his knees,.... Either from between his own, where they were kneeling, as he was sitting, in order that they might be nearer his father, to receive his blessing by the putting on of his hands; or rather from between his father's knees, he, as Aben Ezra observes, sitting on the bed, having kissed and embraced them, they were still between his knees; and that they might not be burdensome to his aged father, leaning on his breast, and especially, in order to put them in a proper position for his benediction, he took them from thence, and placed them over against him to his right and left hand:
and he bowed himself with his face to the earth; in a civil way to his father, and in reverence of him; in a religious way to God, expressing his thankfulness for all favours to him and his, and as supplicating a blessing for his sons through his father, under a divine influence and direction.
John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.
Adam Clarke 1810 · Public Domain Verse 12. Joseph - bowed himself with his face…
Verse 12. Joseph - bowed himself with his face to the earth.] This act of Joseph has been extravagantly extolled by Dr. Delaney and others. "When I consider him on his knees to God," says Dr. Delaney, "I regard him as a poor mortal in the discharge of his duty to his CREATOR. When I behold him bowing before Pharaoh, I consider him in the dutiful posture of a subject to his prince. But when I see him bending to the earth before a poor, old, blind, decrepit father, I behold him with admiration and delight. How doth that humiliation exalt him!" This is insufferable! For it in effect says that it is a wondrous condescension in a young man, who, in the course of God's providence, with scarcely any efforts of his own, was raised to affluence and worldly grandeur, to show respect to his father! And that respect was the more gratuitous and condescending, because that father was poor, old, blind, and decrepit! The maxim of this most exceptionable flight of admiration is, that "children who have risen to affluence are not obliged to reverence their parents when reduced in their circumstances, and brought down by the weight of years and infirmities to the sides of the grave; and should they acknowledge and reverence them, it would be a mark of singular goodness, and be highly meritorious." Should positions of this kind pass without reprehension? I trow not. By the law of God and nature Joseph was as much bound to pay his dying father this filial respect, as he was to reverence his king, or to worship his God. As to myself, I must freely confess that I see nothing peculiarly amiable in this part of Joseph's conduct; he simply acquitted himself of a duty which God, nature, decency, and common sense, imperiously demanded of him, and all such in his circumstances, to discharge. To the present day children in the east, next to God, pay the deepest reverence to their parents.
Besides, before whom was Joseph bowing? Not merely his father, but a most eminent PATRIARCH; one highly distinguished by the Lord, and one of the three of whom the Supreme Being speaks in the most favourable and affectionate manner; the three who received and transmitted the true faith, and kept unbroken the Divine covenant; I AM the GOD of ABRAHAM, the GOD of ISAAC, and the GOD of JACOB. He has never said, I am the GOD of JOSEPH. And if we compare the father and the son as men, we shall find that the latter was exceeded by the former in almost endless degrees. Joseph owed his advancement and his eminence to what some would call good fortune, and what we know to have been the especial providence of God working in his behalf, wholly independent of his own industry, c., every event of that providence issuing in his favour. Jacob owed his own support and preservation, and the support and preservation of his numerous family, under God, to the continual exercise of the vast powers of a strong and vigorous mind, to which the providence of God seemed ever in opposition because God chose to try to the uttermost the great gifts which he had bestowed. If therefore the most humble and abject inferior should reverence dignity and eminence raised to no common height, so should Joseph bow down his face to the earth before JACOB.
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Besides, Joseph, in thus reverencing his father, only followed the customs of the Egyptians among whom he lived, who, according to Herodotus, (Euterpe, c. 80,) were particularly remarkable for the reverence they paid to old age. "For if a young person meet his senior, he instantly turns aside to make way for him; if an aged person enter an apartment, the youth always rise from their seats;" and Mr. Savary observes that the reverence mentioned by Herodotus is yet paid to old age on every occasion in Egypt. In Mohammedan countries the children sit as if dumb in the presence of their parents, never attempting to speak unless spoken to. Among the ancient Romans it was considered a crime worthy of death not to rise up in the presence of an aged person, and acting a contrary part was deemed an awful mark of the deep degeneracy of the times. Thus the satirist: -
Credebant hoc grande nefas, et morte piandum,
Si Juvenis VETULO non assurrexerat; et si
Barbato cuicumque puer. Juv. Sat. xiii., v. 54.
And had not men the hoary heads revered,
Or boys paid reverence when a man appear'd.
Both must have died. DRYDEN.
Indeed, though Dr. Delaney is much struck with what he thinks to be great and meritorious condescension and humility on the part of Joseph; yet we find the thing itself, the deepest reverence to parents and old age, practised by all the civilized nations in the world, not as a matter of meritorious courtesy, but as a point of rational and absolute duty.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Joseph Benson 1811 · Public Domain Gen 48:12. From between his knees — Not his…
Gen 48:12. From between his knees — Not his own, but Jacob’s, between which they stood, while Jacob kissed and embraced them, and from which Joseph removed them, that they might not be burdensome to their aged and weak grandfather, and especially that he might place them in a fit order and a reverent posture to receive the blessing which he earnestly desired. He bowed himself — To testify his reverence for his father, his gratitude for the favour now shown to him and his children, and his humble request for his blessing upon them.
Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain Lap, (gremio, breast,) after Jacob had embraced them; or…
Lap, (gremio, breast,) after Jacob had embraced them; or from between his knees, where they knelt to receive his blessing. --- Bowed down, out of reverence to his father, and to beg of God that he would put words of comfort into the mouth of his father, on this solemn and important occasion. Then, in order that his children might not lean upon, or incommode Jacob, he placed them, the elder at his right-hand, the other at his left. (Haydock)
George Leo Haydock (1774–1849), Haydock's Catholic Family Bible and Commentary, 1859 edition — public domain. Excludes Psalms (Douay-Rheims chapter numbering differs from Protestant) and Deuterocanonical books (Catholic canon only).
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 12. Joseph brought … his knees] To set a…
12. Joseph brought … his knees] To set a child upon the knees was to symbolize reception or adoption into the family: see note on Gen_30:3. From this passage it would appear that Joseph had set Ephraim and Manasseh upon, or against, the knees of their grandfather, so that they might receive the formal symbol (not here described) of adoption. This being done, he then removes them from between the knees of Jacob.
he bowed himself] For “bowed himself,” see note on Gen_47:31. Who bowed himself? (1) Either Joseph, who thus threw himself on the ground to receive the blessing described in Gen_48:15. (2) Or Jacob, who thus rendered thanks to God for enabling him to adopt into his family the children of Joseph. According to (2), Jacob would be represented as able to prostrate himself with his face to the earth (see note on Gen_47:31). According to (1), Gen_48:13-14 are interposed between Joseph’s prostration in Gen_48:12 and the imposition of Jacob’s blessing in Gen_48:15. But, if we may regard this story as independent of Gen_47:29-31 (J), it seems simplest to refer the act to Jacob.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers 1878 · Public Domain (12) He bowed himself.—The Samaritan, Syriac, and LXX. Versions…
(12) He bowed himself.—The Samaritan, Syriac, and LXX. Versions regard the Hebrew verb as a contracted plural, and many modern commentators adopt this view. It would thus be Manasseh and Ephraim who stood before Jacob with faces bent towards the ground. The pronoun, however, is in favour of the verb being singular, and the sense it gives is equally satisfactory.
A Bible Commentary for English Readers, edited by Charles John Ellicott (1878–1897) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Pulpit Commentary 1880 · Public Domain And Joseph brought them out from between his knees…
And Joseph brought them out from between his knees (literally, from near his knees, i.e. the knees of his father, who while in the act of embracing had drawn them into that position), and he (viz. Joseph) bowed himself with his face to the earth. The reading "and they bowed themselves," i.e. Ephraim and Manasseh (Samaritan, Michaelis), and the rendering kainhsan aujtw (LXX), are incorrect.
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.