12:2 Then I will make you 1 into a great nation, and I will bless you, 2
and I will make your name great, 3
so that you will exemplify divine blessing. 4
27:34 When Esau heard 5 his father’s words, he wailed loudly and bitterly. 6 He said to his father, “Bless me too, my father!”
32:26 Then the man 19 said, “Let me go, for the dawn is breaking.” 20 “I will not let you go,” Jacob replied, 21 “unless you bless me.” 22
“By you 26 will Israel bless, 27 saying,
‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’”
So he put Ephraim before Manasseh. 28
1 tn The three first person verbs in v. 2a should be classified as cohortatives. The first two have pronominal suffixes, so the form itself does not indicate a cohortative. The third verb form is clearly cohortative.
2 sn I will bless you. The blessing of creation is now carried forward to the patriarch. In the garden God blessed Adam and Eve; in that blessing he gave them (1) a fruitful place, (2) endowed them with fertility to multiply, and (3) made them rulers over creation. That was all ruined at the fall. Now God begins to build his covenant people; in Gen 12-22 he promises to give Abram (1) a land flowing with milk and honey, (2) a great nation without number, and (3) kingship.
3 tn Or “I will make you famous.”
4 tn Heb “and be a blessing.” The verb form הְיֵה (hÿyeh) is the Qal imperative of the verb הָיָה (hayah). The vav (ו) with the imperative after the cohortatives indicates purpose or consequence. What does it mean for Abram to “be a blessing”? Will he be a channel or source of blessing for others, or a prime example of divine blessing? A similar statement occurs in Zech 8:13, where God assures his people, “You will be a blessing,” in contrast to the past when they “were a curse.” Certainly “curse” here does not refer to Israel being a source of a curse, but rather to the fact that they became a curse-word or byword among the nations, who regarded them as the epitome of an accursed people (see 2 Kgs 22:19; Jer 42:18; 44:8, 12, 22). Therefore the statement “be a blessing” seems to refer to Israel being transformed into a prime example of a blessed people, whose name will be used in blessing formulae, rather than in curses. If the statement “be a blessing” is understood in the same way in Gen 12:2, then it means that God would so bless Abram that other nations would hear of his fame and hold him up as a paradigm of divine blessing in their blessing formulae.
5 tn The temporal clause is introduced with the temporal indicator and has the infinitive as its verb.
6 tn Heb “and he yelled [with] a great and bitter yell to excess.”
7 tn Heb “Bless me, me also, my father.” The words “my father” have not been repeated in the translation for stylistic reasons.
8 tn Heb “and Esau lifted his voice and wept.”
9 tn Heb “El Shaddai.” See the extended note on the phrase “sovereign God” in Gen 17:1.
10 tn Heb “and make you fruitful and multiply you.” See Gen 17:6, 20 for similar terminology.
11 tn The perfect verbal form with vav (ו) consecutive here indicates consequence. The collocation הָיָה + preposition לְ (hayah + lÿ) means “become.”
12 tn Heb “an assembly of peoples.”
13 tn Heb “said to him.”
14 tn Heb “watch yourself,” which is a warning to be on guard against doing something that is inappropriate.
15 tn Heb “lest you speak with Jacob from good to evil.” The precise meaning of the expression, which occurs only here and in v. 29, is uncertain. Since Laban proceeded to speak to Jacob at length, it cannot mean to maintain silence. Nor does it seem to be a prohibition against criticism (see vv. 26-30). Most likely it refers to a formal pronouncement, whether it be a blessing or a curse. Laban was to avoid saying anything to Jacob that would be intended to enhance him or to harm him.
16 tn Heb “there is to my hand.”
17 tn Heb “watch yourself,” which is a warning to be on guard against doing something that is inappropriate.
18 tn Heb “from speaking with Jacob from good to evil.” The precise meaning of the expression, which occurs only here and in v. 24, is uncertain. See the note on the same phrase in v. 24.
19 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the man) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
20 tn Heb “dawn has arisen.”
21 tn Heb “and he said, ‘I will not let you go.’” The referent of the pronoun “he” (Jacob) has been specified for clarity, and the order of the introductory clause and the direct discourse has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.
22 sn Jacob wrestled with a man thinking him to be a mere man, and on that basis was equal to the task. But when it had gone on long enough, the night visitor touched Jacob and crippled him. Jacob’s request for a blessing can only mean that he now knew that his opponent was supernatural. Contrary to many allegorical interpretations of the passage that make fighting equivalent to prayer, this passage shows that Jacob stopped fighting, and then asked for a blessing.
23 tn Heb “my.”
24 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Joseph’s father) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
25 tn The cohortative with prefixed vav (ו) indicates purpose after the imperative.
26 tn 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.
27 tn Or “pronounce a blessing.”
28 sn On the elevation of Ephraim over Manasseh see E. C. Kingsbury, “He Set Ephraim Before Manasseh,” HUCA 38 (1967): 129-36; H. Mowvley, “The Concept and Content of ‘Blessing’ in the Old Testament,” BT 16 (1965): 74-80; and I. Mendelsohn, “On the Preferential Status of the Eldest Son,” BASOR 156 (1959): 38-40.