to call out to (i.e. properly · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
sons
בָּנָ֑יוba.Nav
H1121
a son (as a builder of the family name) · noun, common masculine plural construct + pronominal suffix, 3rd person masculine singular
said
וַיֹּ֗אמֶרvai.Yo.mer
H559
to say (used with great latitude) · conjunction + verb, qal sequential imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
together
הֵאָֽסְפוּ֙he.'a.se.Fu
H622
to gather for any purpose · verb, niphal imperative, 2nd person masculine plural
tell
וְאַגִּ֣ידָהve.'a.Gi.dah
H5046
properly · conjunction + verb, hiphil infinitive construct, 1st person common singular
befall
יִקְרָ֥אyik.Ra'
H7122
to encounter · verb, qal imperfect, 3rd person masculine singular
last
בְּאַחֲרִ֥יתbe.'a.cha.Rit
H319
the last or end · preposition + noun, common feminine singular construct
days
הַיָּמִֽיםhai.ya.Mim
H3117
a day (as the warm hours) · definite article + noun, common masculine plural absolute
Strong's Exhaustive Concordance (James Strong, 1890/1894), public domain; digitized by Open Scriptures (CC BY-SA). KJV word tagging: eBible.org (public domain). Original-language text, parsing and brief lexicon: STEPBible.org data from Tyndale House, Cambridge (CC BY 4.0).
Cross-references
Numbers 24:14 And now, behold, I go unto my people: come therefore, and I will advertise thee what this people shall do to thy people in the latter days.
Jeremiah 23:20 The anger of the LORD shall not return, until he have executed, and till he have performed the thoughts of his heart: in the latter days ye…
Deuteronomy 4:30 When thou art in tribulation, and all these things are come upon thee, even in the latter days, if thou turn to the LORD thy God, and shalt…
Daniel 10:14 Now I am come to make thee understand what shall befall thy people in the latter days: for yet the vision is for many days.
Deuteronomy 31:12 Gather the people together, men, and women, and children, and thy stranger that is within thy gates, that they may hear, and that they may l…
Deuteronomy 33:1-29 And this is the blessing, wherewith Moses the man of God blessed the children of Israel before his death.
Psalms 25:14 The secret of the LORD is with them that fear him; and he will shew them his covenant.
Psalms 105:15 Saying, Touch not mine anointed, and do my prophets no harm.
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Genesis 49:1-4
Here is, I. The preface to the prophecy, in which, 1. The congregation is called together (Gen 49:2): Gather yourselves together; let them all be sent for from their several employments, to see their father die, and to hear his dying words. It was a comfort to Jacob, now that he was dying, to see all his children about him, and none missing, though he had sometimes thought himself bereaved. It was of use to them to attend him in his last moments, that they might learn of him how to die, as well as how to live: what he said to each he said in the hearing of all the rest; for we may profit by the reproofs, counsels, and comforts, that are principally intended for others. His calling upon them…
That which shall befall you in the last days - It is evident from this, and indeed from the whole complexion of these important prophecies, that the twelve sons of Jacob had very little concern in them, personally considered, as they were to be fulfilled in the last days, i. e., in times remote from that period, and consequently to their posterity, and not to themselves, or to their immediate families. The whole of these prophetic declarations, from Genesis 49:2-27 inclusive, is delivered in strongly figurative language, and in the poetic form, which, in every translation, should be preserved as nearly as possible, rendering the version line for line with the original. This order I shall pur…
And Jacob called upon his sons,.... Who either were near at hand, and within call at the time Joseph came to visit him, or if at a distance, and at another time, he sent a messenger or messengers to them to come unto him:
and said, gather yourselves together; his will was, that they should attend him all together at the same time, that he might deliver what he had to say to them in the hearing of them all; for what he after declares was not said to them singly and alone, but when they were all before him:
that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days; not their persons merely, but their posterity chiefly, from that time forward to the coming of the Messiah, who is spoken…
The Church Fathers
And as for the consummation of the world, Jacob is the first to refer to this when, in giving his testament to his sons he says, "Gather to me, you sons of Jacob, that I may tell you what shall be in the last days," or, "after the last days." If then there are "last days," or a time "after the last days," it follows of necessity that the days that had a beginning also come to an end.
After this blessing was celebrated, he also called his sons (Gen. XLIX, 1). And the one who had preferred the younger to the elder began with the first, so that he might bestow favor upon him in that mystery, and observe the order of age in this. At the same time, he who had previously blessed them both, along with all their posterity and future offspring, lest the repeated blessing of the people should appear superfluous, or the former be considered weak, rightly declares that he is repeating more of an announcement of things that would happen in later times, rather than conferring a blessing.
This is a prophecy and not a blessing. In fact, the blessing is concerned with someone who is blessed, while the prophecy is fulfilled when a certain action is accomplished. How will the explanation proposed above agree with these words of the Scripture: "All these are the twelve tribes of Israel; and this is what their father said to them as he blessed them, blessing each with the blessing suitable to him." At one time are they clearly prophecies, at another prophecies called blessings? In this explanation it must be understood that exactly in the things said are the prophecies and the blessings, so that the blessings fall on the one who was born from Judah, on the one who was prefigured by Joseph, on the one who, coming from Levi, finds himself being the priest of the Father, while the prophecies fall on those who acted as enemies and had no consideration for the Son of God.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
Dictionary and topics
Father — A name applied (1) to any ancestor (Deut. 1:11; 1 Kings 15:11; Matt. 3:9; 23:30, etc.); and (2) as a title of respect to a chief, ruler, or elder, etc. (Judg. 17:10; 18:19; 1 Sam. 10:12; 2 Kings…
Children · Male: Received the blessing of their father before his death — Male: Received the blessing of their father before his death
Patriarchal Government · Exercised in: Blessing and cursing their children — Exercised in: Blessing and cursing their children
Prophecy · Is the foretelling of future events — Is the foretelling of future events
Prophets · Mentioned in scripture: Jacob — Mentioned in scripture: Jacob
Dictionary: Easton's (1897) and Smith's (1863), public domain. Topics: Nave's Topical Bible (1896) and Torrey's Topical Textbook (1897), public domain. Both as parsed by NEUU (CC BY 4.0).
And Jacob called. In the former chapter, the blessing on Ephraim and Manasseh was related Genesis 48:1, because, before Jacob should treat of the state of the whole nation about to spring from him, it was right that these two grandsons should be inserted into the body of his sons. Now, as if carried above the heavens, he announces, not in the character of a man, but as from the mouth of God, what shall be the condition of them all, for a long time to come. And it will be proper first to remark, that as he had then thirteen sons, he sets before his view, in each of their persons, the same number of nations or tribes: in which act the admirable lustre of his faith is conspicuous. For since he…
The Blessing. - Gen 49:1, Gen 49:2. When Jacob had adopted and blessed the two sons of Joseph, he called his twelve sons, to make known to them his spiritual bequest. In an elevated and solemn tone he said, "Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you (יקרא for יקרה, as in Gen 42:4, Gen 42:38) at the end of the days! Gather yourselves together and hear, ye sons of Jacob, and hearken unto Israel your father!" The last address of Jacob-Israel to his twelve sons, which these words introduce, is designated by the historian (Gen 49:28) "the blessing," with which "their father blessed them, every one according to his blessing." This blessing is at the same time a pr…
Jacob, by faith and as God’s spokesman, looked forward to Israel’s settlement in the land, and beyond that to the glorious future. Here at the end of the patriarchal age, he foretold what would happen to each tribe as he evaluated his sons one by one, just as Noah had done at the end of the primeval era (cp. 9:25-27). The character and acts of each ancestor affected the lives of his descendants (Exod 20:5-6; 34:6-7; Num 14:18; Jer 32:18).
49:1-2 Jacob’s words were deliberately chosen prophetic oracles. The days to come refer to the conquest and settlement of the Promised Land, and beyond that to the messianic age. They would all share in the blessing; all the tribes would enter the land wit…
