Genesis 49:25 — meaning, Hebrew and Greek word study, commentary
Genesis 49:25
Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb:
strength · preposition + noun, common masculine singular construct
father
אָבִ֜יךָ'a.Vi.kha
H1
father · noun, common masculine singular construct + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
help
וְיַעְזְרֶ֗ךָּve.ya'.ze.Re.ka
H5826
to surround · conjunction + verb, qal, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
by
אֵתʼêth
H854
properly
Almighty
שַׁדַּי֙sha.Dai
H7706
the Almighty · proper noun, a title
bless
וִיבָ֣רְכֶ֔ךָּvi.Va.re.Khe.ka
H1288
to kneel · conjunction + verb, piel, 3rd person masculine singular + pronominal suffix, 2nd person masculine singular
blessings
בִּרְכֹ֤תbir.Khot
H1293
benediction · noun, common feminine plural construct
heaven
שָׁמַ֙יִם֙sha.Ma.yim
H8064
the sky (as aloft · noun, common masculine plural absolute
above
עַלʻal
H5920
properly
blessings
בִּרְכֹ֥תbir.Khot
H1293
benediction · noun, common feminine plural construct
deep
תְּה֖וֹםte.Hom
H8415
an abyss (as a surging mass of water) · noun, common feminine singular absolute
lieth
רֹבֶ֣צֶתro.Ve.tzet
H7257
to crouch (on all four legs folded · verb, qal active participle, feminine singular absolute
blessings
בִּרְכֹ֥תbir.Khot
H1293
benediction · noun, common feminine plural construct
breasts
שָׁדַ֖יִםsha.Da.yim
H7699
the breast of a woman or animal (as bulging) · noun, common masculine dual absolute
womb
וָרָֽחַםva.Ra.cham
H7356
compassion (in the plural) · conjunction + noun, common masculine singular 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
Genesis 28:13 And, behold, the LORD stood above it, and said, I am the LORD God of Abraham thy father, and the God of Isaac: the land whereon thou liest,…
Genesis 35:11 And God said unto him, I am God Almighty: be fruitful and multiply; a nation and a company of nations shall be of thee, and kings shall come…
Philippians 4:19 But my God shall supply all your need according to his riches in glory by Christ Jesus.
Genesis 43:23 And he said, Peace be to you, fear not: your God, and the God of your father, hath given you treasure in your sacks: I had your money. And h…
Deuteronomy 8:17 And thou say in thine heart, My power and the might of mine hand hath gotten me this wealth.
Deuteronomy 28:2-12 And all these blessings shall come on thee, and overtake thee, if thou shalt hearken unto the voice of the LORD thy God.
Deuteronomy 33:13-17 And of Joseph he said, Blessed of the LORD be his land, for the precious things of heaven, for the dew, and for the deep that coucheth benea…
Genesis 27:28 Therefore God give thee of the dew of heaven, and the fatness of the earth, and plenty of corn and wine:
Cross-references from OpenBible.info (CC BY), in the lineage of the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (public domain).
Commentary
Matthew Henry on Genesis 49:22-27
He closes with the blessings of his best beloved sons, Joseph and Benjamin; with these he will breathe his last.
I. The blessing of Joseph, which is very large and full. He is compared (Gen 49:22) to a fruitful bouth, or young tree; for God had made him fruitful in the land of his affliction; he owned it. Gen 41:52. His two sons were as branches of a vine, or other spreading plant, running over the wall. Note, God can make those fruitful, great comforts to themselves and others, who have been looked upon as dry and withered. More is recorded in the history concerning Joseph than concerning any other of Jacob's sons; and therefore what Jacob says of him is historical as well as prophetical. O…
JOSEPH-- (Gen 49:22-26)
a fruitful bough, &c.--denotes the extraordinary increase of that tribe (compare Num 1:33-35; Jos 17:17; Deu 33:17). The patriarch describes him as attacked by envy, revenge, temptation, ingratitude; yet still, by the grace of God, he triumphed over all opposition, so that he became the sustainer of Israel; and then he proceeds to shower blessings of every kind upon the head of this favorite son. The history of the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh shows how fully these blessings were realized.
Adam Clarke on Genesis 49:25
The God of thy father - How frequently God is called the God of Jacob none needs be told who reads the Bible.
God All-sufficient - Instead of את שדי Eth Shaddai, The Almighty or All-sufficient; I read אל שדי El Shaddai, God All-sufficient; which is the reading of the Samaritan, Septuagint, Syriac, and Coptic, and of three reputable MSS. In the collections of Kennicott and De Rossi. The copies used by those ancient versions had evidently אל El, God, and not את eth, The, a mistake produced in later times. On the word אל שדי El Shaddai, See Clarke on Gen 17:1 (note).
The blessing of the heavens from above - A generally pure, clear, serene sky, frequently dropping down fertilizing showers and de…
And therefore, in that seemingly contemptible body, you have prevailed, he said, because of the blessings of breasts and womb, the blessings of your father and mother. He called them either breasts or two Testaments, of which one was announced and the other was shown. And breasts are good, because they have nourished us with spiritual milk, and the Son offered himself to God: or he speaks of Mary's breasts, which were truly blessed, by which the holy Virgin gave the people of the Lord the drink of milk. And that woman in the Gospel said: Blessed is the womb that bore you, and the breasts that you nursed!
By adding and saying "Because of the blessing of the womb of your father and your mother" the prophet proclaims in advance a spiritual mystery. He could have said, "Because of the blessing of the womb of your mother," in order to indicate with this expression Mary, in whose womb the Word was borne for nine months. Well, this is not what he said; on the contrary he said, "Because of the blessing of the womb of your father and your mother." By uniting these two things, he made them one, in order that it might be clearly understood that to this person belongs what is according to spirit and what is according to flesh. The Word took his origin from a father's heart; … rightly the Father said through the prophet, "My heart has uttered a good Word." On the other hand, according to flesh he took his origin in the latter times from a virginal womb after he was borne in it for nine months, so that he might appear to be visible as he was born a second time from a mother's womb. And therefore he himself said through the prophet, "And thus said the Lord that formed me from the womb to be his own servant." And through Jeremiah [the Father] said, "Before I formed you in the womb [of your mother], I knew you, and before you came forth from the womb, I sanctified you." Since the Word was begotten both according to spirit and flesh and was actually both God and man, with good reason the prophet [Jacob] has used the word womb for a father and a mother; and this might seem to be ridiculous to somebody, if it were not understood this way. In fact, the term womb can be suitably referred only to the female nature. But here he has said, "Because of the blessing of the womb of your father and mother," so that you might correctly understand that the Word is begotten from two substances, that of God and that of the Virgin.
Dictionary and topics
Children · Male: Received the blessing of their father before his death — Male: Received the blessing of their father before his death
Manasseh, The Tribe Of · Predictions respecting — Predictions respecting
Patriarchal Government · Exercised in: Blessing and cursing their children — Exercised in: Blessing and cursing their children
Prosperity · From God — From God
Protection · Exemplified: Joseph — Exemplified: Joseph
Tribes Of Israel, The · Predictions respecting each of — Predictions respecting each of
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).
John Gill on Genesis 49:25
Even by the God of thy father, who shall help thee,.... The same with the mighty God of Jacob, by whom his hands had been made strong, and he would be still helped, protected, and defended against his powerful enemies; and by whom Christ, the antitype, was helped as man and Mediator against his enemies, and to do all the work he engaged in; and by whom all the Lord's people are helped to fight his battles with their spiritual enemies, to withstand temptations, exercise every grace, and do the will and work of God:
and by the Almighty, who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven above; with those blessings which may be ascribed to the sun, moon, and stars, and their influences as means, an…
Even by the God of thy father. Again, he more fully affirms that Joseph had been delivered from death, and exalted to such great dignity, not by his own industry, but by the favor of God: and there is not the least doubt that he commends to all the pious, the mere goodness of God, lest they should arrogate anything to themselves, whether they may have escaped from dangers, or whether they may have risen to any rank of honor. By the God of thy father. In designating God by this title, he again traces whatever good Joseph has received, to the covenant, and to the fountain of gratuitous adoption; as if he had said, "Whereas thou hast proved the paternal care of God in helping thee, I desire tha…
Turning to Joseph, the patriarch's heart swelled with grateful love, and in the richest words and figures he implored the greatest abundance of blessings upon his head.
Gen 49:22
"Son of a fruit-tree is Joseph, son of a fruit-tree at the well, daughters run over the wall." Joseph is compared to the branch of a fruit-tree planted by a well (Psa 1:3), which sends it shoots over the wall, and by which, according to Ps 80, we are probably to understand a vine. בּן an unusual form of the construct state for בּן, and פּרת equivalent to פּריּה with the old feminine termination ath, like זמרת, Exo 15:2. - בּנות are the twigs and branches, formed by the young fruit-tree. The singular צעדה is to be re…
The blessings of the heavens above meant rain for crops. • The blessings of the watery depths were streams and wells of water. • The blessings of the breasts and womb were abundant offspring.
Rashi on Genesis 49:25
שדים BREASTS (SHADAYIM) — "He will surely be cast down" (Exodus 19:13), we translate (in Onkelos) as eeshtedaah yishtedi. Also shadayim here is [to be understood that way,] because the seed shoots out like an arrow.
But why did she say: Blessed is the womb of your father and mother, if we want to understand the womb alone of Mary, the reason will be hidden. For she could have said it concerning the womb of the mother alone. But I think it is more beautiful to understand both the generation of the Lord Jesus according to the spiritual mystery, and according to divinity, and according to the flesh, because he was begotten from the Father before the ages. And the Father says: My heart has uttered a word; because it proceeded from that most intimate and incomprehensible substance of the Father, and it is always in Him. Therefore the evangelist also says: No one has ever seen God, except the only-begotten Son who is in the bosom of the Father, He has declared Him. Just as the spiritual bosom of the Father is understood as a certain inner secret of paternal love and nature, in which the Son is always present, so also the spiritual bosom of the Father is the womb, the secret of the innermost mystery, from which the Son has proceeded as though from a generative womb. Finally, we read in diverse ways, sometimes the womb of the Father, sometimes his heart from which he uttered a word, sometimes his mouth from which justice proceeded, from which wisdom came forth, as he himself says: From the mouth of the Most High, I came forth. Thus, just as we understand that generation from the Father, let us also understand the generation of Mary, the mother, when the womb of the mother is blessed, certainly the virginal womb of Mary, who gave birth to the Lord Jesus for us. Concerning which the Father says through the prophet Jeremiah: Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you; and before you came forth from the womb, I sanctified you. Therefore, the prophet declared the dual substance in Christ, of divinity and flesh: one from the Father, the other from the Virgin; in such a way, however, that he did not lack his divinity when he was born of the Virgin and was in the body.
The Church Fathers: public-domain translations (Ante-Nicene and Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers), verse-indexed by SermonIndex (CC BY 4.0).
