He blessed them that day, saying, “Israel will bless in you, saying, ‘God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh’ ” He set Ephraim before Manasseh.
Parallel Translations
-
He blessed them that day, saying, “Israel will bless in you, saying, ‘God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh’ ” He set Ephraim before Manasseh.
-
And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.
-
And he blessed them that day, saying: 'By thee shall Israel bless, saying: God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh.' And he set Ephraim before Manasseh.
Cross-references (9)
Passages linked to Genesis 48:20 in the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge, ordered by reader-vote popularity; verse text shown in World English Bible.
- Ruth 4:11-12 All the people who were in the gate, and the elders, said, “We are witnesses. May Yahweh make the woman who has come into your house like Rachel and like Leah, which both built the house of Israel; and treat you worthily in Ephrathah, and be famous in Bethlehem. Let your house be like the house of Perez, whom Tamar bore to Judah, of the offspring which Yahweh will give you by this young woman.”
- Genesis 24:60 They blessed Rebekah, and said to her, “Our sister, may you be the mother of thousands of ten thousands, and let your offspring possess the gate of those who hate them.”
- Genesis 28:3 May God Almighty bless you, and make you fruitful, and multiply you, that you may be a company of peoples,
- Numbers 2:18-21 “On the west side shall be the standard of the camp of Ephraim according to their divisions. The prince of the children of Ephraim shall be Elishama the son of Ammihud. His division, and those who were counted of them, were forty thousand five hundred. “Next to him shall be the tribe of Manasseh. The prince of the children of Manasseh shall be Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur. His division, and those who were counted of them, were thirty-two thousand two hundred.
- Numbers 7:48 On the seventh day Elishama the son of Ammihud, prince of the children of Ephraim,
- Numbers 7:54 On the eighth day Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur, prince of the children of Manasseh,
- Numbers 10:22-23 The standard of the camp of the children of Ephraim set forward according to their armies. Elishama the son of Ammihud was over his army. Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur was over the army of the tribe of the children of Manasseh.
- Numbers 13:11 Of the tribe of Joseph, of the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi.
- Numbers 13:16 These are the names of the men who Moses sent to spy out the land. Moses called Hoshea the son of Nun Joshua.
Cross-references from openbible.info (CC BY 4.0)
Explain this verse (10 sources)
Historical commentary, presented as a primary source — not an endorsement.
Private notes
Saved on this device only — never synced or sent anywhere.
Geneva Bible translators 1599 · Public Domain In whom God’s graces should manifestly appear.
In whom God’s graces should manifestly appear.
Geneva Bible (1599) marginal notes — public domain.
John Trapp 1656 · Public Domain Gen 48:20 And he blessed them that day, saying,…
Gen 48:20 And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.
Ver. 20. And he set Ephraim before.] God many times sets the younger before the elder; makes the last to be first, and the first last; to show the freedom of his grace, and that "he seeth not as man seeth." {1Sa 16:7} The maids were first purified and perfmned, before Ahasuerus chose one. But Christ first loves, and then purifies his Church, {Eph 5:25-26} and loves, because he loves. {Deu 7:7-8} "And hath mercy on whom he will have mercy." {Rom 9:18}
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 In thee, i.e. in thy seed, as appears both…
In thee, i.e. in thy seed, as appears both from the relative
them here, and from Gen 48:15, where his blessing of them is called the blessing of Joseph; and from the following words, where this is interpreted of
Read full note →
Ephraim and
Manasseh. And
in thee, or in thy seed, i.e. using their names in the form or words of blessing, as eminent examples of blessedness.
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 he blessed them that day,.... That Joseph visited…
And he blessed them that day,.... That Joseph visited him, and this be did "by faith"; believing that what he had said concerning them would be accomplished, as the apostle observes, Heb 11:21,
saying, in thee shall Israel bless; in Joseph, as the Targum of Jonathan, that is, in his seed, in his sons Ephraim and Manasseh, when the Israelites blessed any, they should make use of their names:
Read full note →
saying, God make thee as Ephraim and Manasseh: as great and honourable, as rich and wealthy, as fruitful and prosperous as they; and the Targum says, this custom continues with the Jews to this day, to put their hands on persons to bless them; if a son, they say,"God make thee as Ephraim and Manasseh;''if a daughter,"God make thee as Sarah and Rebekah:"
and he set Ephraim before Manasseh; not only in this form of benediction, but in all that he had said and done before; he preferred him to Manasseh by putting his right hand upon him, and giving him the superior blessing: and it is no unusual thing for the younger to be set before the elder, both by God and man, but especially by the Lord, who seeth not as man seeth, and proceeds not according to carnal descent, or those rules men go by: there had been many instances before this, as Abel was preferred to Cain, Shem to Japheth, Abraham to Nahor, Isaac to Ishmael, and Jacob to Esau; as there were after it, as Moses to Aaron, and David to his brethren.
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 20. In thee shall Israel bless] That is,…
Verse 20. In thee shall Israel bless] That is, in future generations the Israelites shall take their form of wishing prosperity to any nation or family from the circumstance of the good which it shall be known that God has done to Ephraim and Manasseh: May God make thee as fruitful as Ephraim, and multiply thee as Manasseh! So, to their daughters when married, the Jewish women are accustomed to say, God make thee as Sarah and Rebekah! The forms are still in use.
Adam Clarke's Commentary on the Bible (1810–1826) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword/MySword module.
Haydock's Catholic Bible Commentary 1859 · Public Domain In thee, Joseph. Septuagint, "in you," Ephraim and Manasses.…
In thee, Joseph. Septuagint, "in you," Ephraim and Manasses. The Israelites shall wish the same happiness to their greatest friends, as that which you have enjoyed. (Menochius)
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).
Daniel D. Whedon 1874 · Public Domain 20. He set Ephraim before Manasseh — “Manasseh outnumbered…
20. He set Ephraim before Manasseh — “Manasseh outnumbered Ephraim at the Exodus, (Num_26:34; Num_26:37,) yet the Ephraimite Joshua led Israel into Canaan, and after the conquest Ephraim was the leading tribe of the northern nation, as Judah was of the southern.” — Newhall.
Daniel D. Whedon (gen. ed.), Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1874–1909) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.
The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges 1878 · Public Domain 20. In] Better, as marg., By. The meaning is…
20. In] Better, as marg., By. The meaning is that the blessing upon Ephraim and Manasseh shall be quoted as a formula for the invocation of Divine favour. Compare the blessing in Rth_4:11-12.
bless] The versions, LXX, Vulg., and Syriac, give the passive “shall be blessed.”
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 (20) In thee shall Israel bless.—In conformity with these…
(20) In thee shall Israel bless.—In conformity with these words, the Israelites to this day use Jacob’s formula in blessing their children.
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 he (i.e. Jacob) blessed them that day, saying,…
And he (i.e. Jacob) blessed them that day, saying, In thee (i.e. in Joseph, who is still identified with his sons) shall Israel (the nation) bless, saying, God (Elohim, the supreme source of all blessing) make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim Before Manasseh the position of his hands, and the terms of the blessing" (Keil).
The Pulpit Commentary (1880–1919), ed. H.D.M. Spence-Jones & Joseph S. Exell — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.