Discovery BoxDeuteronomy 33:12-17 
Context33:12 Of Benjamin he said:
The beloved of the Lord will live safely by him;
he protects him all the time,
and the Lord 1 places him on his chest. 2
33:13 Of Joseph he said:
May the Lord bless his land
with the harvest produced by the sky, 3 by the dew,
and by the depths crouching beneath;
33:14 with the harvest produced by the daylight 4
33:15 with the best 7 of the ancient mountains
and the harvest produced by the age-old hills;
33:16 with the harvest of the earth and its fullness
and the pleasure of him who resided in the burning bush. 8
May blessing rest on Joseph’s head,
and on the top of the head of the one set apart 9 from his brothers.
33:17 May the firstborn of his bull bring him honor,
and may his horns be those of a wild ox;
with them may he gore all peoples,
all the far reaches of the earth.
They are the ten thousands of Ephraim, 10
and they are the thousands of Manasseh.
1 tn Heb “he”; the referent (the
2 tn Heb “between his shoulders.” This suggests the scene in John 13:23 with Jesus and the Beloved Disciple.
3 tn Heb “from the harvest of the heavens.” The referent appears to be good crops produced by the rain that falls from the sky.
4 tn Heb “goings forth of the sun.”
5 tn Heb “and from the harvest of the yield of.” This has been simplified in the translation to avoid redundancy.
6 tn Heb “the moon.” Many English versions regard this as a reference to “months” (“moons”) rather than the moon itself (cf. NAB, NASB, NRSV, NLT).
7 tn Heb “head” or “top.”
8 tn The expression “him who resided in the bush” is frequently understood as a reference to the appearance of the Lord to Moses at Sinai from a burning bush (so NIV, NCV, TEV, CEV, NLT; cf. Exod 2:2-6; 3:2, 4). To make this reference clear the word “burning” is supplied in the translation.
9 sn This apparently refers to Joseph’s special status among his brothers as a result of his being chosen by God to save the family from the famine and to lead Egypt.
10 sn Ephraim and Manasseh were the sons of Joseph who became founders of the two tribes into which Joseph’s descendants were split (Gen 48:19-20). Jacob’s blessing granted favored status to Ephraim; this is probably why Ephraim is viewed here as more numerous than Manasseh.
