Genesis (American Standard Version, 1901) · 70 of 73 · tr. American Standard Version (1901)
48:13-49:9
[48:13] And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them near unto him.
[48:14] And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the first-born.
[48:15] And he blessed Joseph, and said, The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God who hath fed me all my life long unto this day,
[48:16] the angel who hath redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.
[48:17] And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father’s hand, to remove it from Ephraim’s head unto Manasseh’s head.
[48:18] And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father; for this is the first-born; put thy right hand upon his head.
[48:19] And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it; he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: howbeit his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.
[48:20] And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee will Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.
[48:21] And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die: but God will be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers.
[48:22] Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.
[49:1] And Jacob called unto his sons, and said: Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the latter days.
[49:2] Assemble yourselves, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; And hearken unto Israel your father.
[49:3] Reuben, thou art my first-born, my might, and the beginning of my strength; The pre-eminence of dignity, and the pre-eminence of power.
[49:4] Boiling over as water, thou shalt not have the pre-eminence; Because thou wentest up to thy father’s bed; Then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.
[49:5] Simeon and Levi are brethren; Weapons of violence are their swords.
[49:6] O my soul, come not thou into their council; Unto their assembly, my glory, be not thou united; For in their anger they slew a man, And in their self-will they hocked an ox.
[49:7] Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; And their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, And scatter them in Israel.
[49:8] Judah, thee shall thy brethren praise: Thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies; Thy father’s sons shall bow down before thee.
[49:9] Judah is a lion’s whelp; From the prey, my son, thou art gone up: He stooped down, he couched as a lion, And as a lioness; who shall rouse him up?
Attributing human characteristics, emotions, or form to the divine; embodied divine imagery.
God is described in personal, embodied terms: 'the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk,' 'the God who hath fed me,' and 'the angel who hath redeemed me from all evil,' attributing walking, feeding, and redeeming actions to the divine.
A binding agreement or relationship between the divine and a people or individual, establishing mutual obligations.
The blessing explicitly invokes the Abrahamic covenant chain ('the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk') and extends the promise of multiplication and land to the next generation, functioning as a binding divine-human relationship with mutual obligations.
Pronoia — the doctrine that the divine actively orders the unfolding of the cosmos and human affairs toward intelligible ends, against pure chance or blind necessity.
Jacob's blessing explicitly attributes his entire life's sustenance and guidance to God's active ordering ('the God who hath fed me all my life long unto this day'), and promises continued divine guidance for his descendants' return to the promised land.
The divine conceived as active, present, and dynamic—not an abstract principle but a personal responsive reality.
God is portrayed as actively feeding Jacob 'all my life long unto this day' and promising to 'be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers,' presenting the divine as a personal, responsive, and dynamically present reality.
Sacred knowledge transmitted as living speech rather than fixed writing — scripture carried in memory, song, and telling, renewed in each generation; the unwritten canon of a tradition.
Jacob's deathbed prophecy is framed as spoken address ('Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you'), transmitting sacred knowledge of future destinies as living speech to an assembled audience rather than as fixed writing.