49:24 But his bow will remain steady,
and his hands 1 will be skillful;
because of the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob,
because of 2 the Shepherd, the Rock 3 of Israel,
49:25 because of the God of your father,
who will help you, 4
because of the sovereign God, 5
who will bless you 6
with blessings from the sky above,
blessings from the deep that lies below,
and blessings of the breasts and womb. 7
49:26 The blessings of your father are greater
than 8 the blessings of the eternal mountains 9
or the desirable things of the age-old hills.
They will be on the head of Joseph
and on the brow of the prince of his brothers. 10
1 tn Heb “the arms of his hands.”
2 tn Heb “from there,” but the phrase should be revocalized and read “from [i.e., because of] the name of.”
3 tn Or “Stone.”
4 tn Heb “and he will help you.”
5 tn Heb “Shaddai.” See the note on the title “sovereign God” in Gen 17:1. The preposition אֵת (’et) in the Hebrew text should probably be emended to אֵל (’el, “God”).
6 tn Heb “and he will bless you.”
7 sn Jacob envisions God imparting both agricultural (blessings from the sky above, blessings from the deep that lies below) and human fertility (blessings of the breasts and womb) to Joseph and his family.
8 tn Heb “have prevailed over.”
9 tn One could interpret the phrase הוֹרַי (horay) to mean “my progenitors” (literally, “the ones who conceived me”), but the masculine form argues against this. It is better to emend the text to הַרֲרֵי (harare, “mountains of”) because it forms a better parallel with the next clause. In this case the final yod (י) on the form is a construct plural marker, not a pronominal suffix.
10 tn For further discussion of this passage, see I. Sonne, “Genesis 49:24-26,” JBL 65 (1946): 303-6.