14:20 Worthy of praise is 1 the Most High God,
who delivered 2 your enemies into your hand.”
Abram gave Melchizedek 3 a tenth of everything.
“Our sister, may you become the mother 5 of thousands of ten thousands!
May your descendants possess the strongholds 6 of their enemies.”
49:8 Judah, 7 your brothers will praise you.
Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies,
your father’s sons will bow down before you.
1 tn Heb “blessed be.” For God to be “blessed” means that is praised. His reputation is enriched in the world as his name is praised.
2 sn Who delivered. The Hebrew verb מִגֵּן (miggen, “delivered”) foreshadows the statement by God to Abram in Gen 15:1, “I am your shield” (מָגֵן, magen). Melchizedek provided a theological interpretation of Abram’s military victory.
3 tn Heb “him”; the referent (Melchizedek) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
4 tn Heb “and said to her.”
5 tn Heb “become thousands of ten thousands.”
sn May you become the mother of thousands of ten thousands. The blessing expresses their prayer that she produce children and start a family line that will greatly increase (cf. Gen 17:16).
6 tn Heb “gate,” which here stands for a walled city. In an ancient Near Eastern city the gate complex was the main area of defense (hence the translation “stronghold”). A similar phrase occurs in Gen 22:17.
7 sn There is a wordplay here; the name Judah (יְהוּדָה, yÿhudah) sounds in Hebrew like the verb translated praise (יוֹדוּךָ, yodukha). The wordplay serves to draw attention to the statement as having special significance.