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Genesis 48:12
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Yosef brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the eretz.
And Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth.
Then Joseph removed them from his knees and bowed down with his face to the ground.
Then Joseph moved his sons off Israel's lap and bowed facedown to the ground.
So Joseph moved them from Israel's knees and bowed down with his face to the ground.
Then Joseph took them from his knees, and bowed with his face to the ground.
And Ioseph tooke them away from his knees, & did reuerence downe to the ground.
Then Joseph took them from his knees and bowed with his face to the ground.
Then Joseph made his sons move away from Jacob's knees, and Joseph bowed down in front of him with his face to the ground.
Yosef brought them out from between his legs and prostrated himself on the ground.
And Joseph brought them out from his knees, and bowed down with his face to the earth.
Then Joseph took the boys off Israel's lap, and they bowed down in front of his father.
Then Joseph removed them from his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth.
And Joseph removed them from before his knees, and they bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground.
Then Joseph took them from Jacob's lap and bowed down before him with his face to the ground.
Then Joseph took them from his father’s knees and bowed with his face to the ground.
And Joseph brought them out from his knees; and he bowed his face to the earth.
And Ioseph toke them from his lappe, and they fell downe to the grounde vpon their face.
And Joseph brought them out from between his knees; and he bowed himself with his face to the earth.
Then Joseph took them from between his knees, and went down on his face to the earth.
And Ioseph toke them away fro his lappe, and he bowed hym selfe with his face towarde the earth.
And Joseph brought them out from between his knees; and he fell down on his face to the earth.
And Ioseph brought them out from betweene his knees, and hee bowed himselfe with his face to the earth.
And Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and they did reverence to him, with their face to the ground.
And Joseph brought them out from between his knees; and he bowed himself with his face to the earth.
Then Joseph removed his sons from his father's knees and bowed down with his face to the ground.
And whanne Joseph hadde take hem fro `the fadris lappe, he worschipide lowe to erthe.
And Joseph bringeth them out from between his knees, and boweth himself on his face to the earth;
And Joseph brought them out from between his knees; and he bowed himself with his face to the earth.
And Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth.
Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth.
So Joseph brought them from beside his knees, and he bowed down with his face to the earth.
Joseph moved the boys, who were at their grandfather's knees, and he bowed with his face to the ground.
Then Joseph took them from his knees, and bowed to the ground.
Then Joseph removed them from his father's knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth.
And Joseph brought them out from beside his knees, and bowed himself down with his face towards the earth.
And when Joseph had taken them from his father’s lap, he bowed down with his face to the ground.
Then Joseph removed them from his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth.
Joseph took them from Israel's knees and bowed respectfully, his face to the ground. Then Joseph took the two boys, Ephraim with his right hand setting him to Israel's left, and Manasseh with his left hand setting him to Israel's right, and stood them before him. But Israel crossed his arms and put his right hand on the head of Ephraim who was the younger and his left hand on the head of Manasseh, the firstborn. Then he blessed them: The God before whom walked my fathers Abraham and Isaac, The God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this very day, The Angel who delivered me from every evil, Bless the boys. May my name be echoed in their lives, and the names of Abraham and Isaac, my fathers, And may they grow covering the Earth with their children.
Then Joseph took them from his knees, and bowed with his face to the ground.
Contextual Overview
Bible Verse Review
from Treasury of Scripure Knowledge
he bowed himself: Joseph thus shewed that his external greatness did not render him forgetful of the respect due to his father. The Egyptians were remarkable for the reverence paid to old age: "for if a young person meet his senior, he instantly turns aside to make way for him; if an aged person enter an apartment, the youth always rise from their seats;" and Mr. Savary observes, that the same reverence is still paid to old age in Egypt. Genesis 18:2, Genesis 19:1, Genesis 23:7, Genesis 33:3, Genesis 42:6, Exodus 20:12, Exodus 34:8, Leviticus 19:3, Leviticus 19:32, 1 Kings 2:19, 2 Kings 4:37, Proverbs 31:28, Ephesians 6:1
Cross-References
When he raised his eyes and looked up, behold, three men were standing [a little distance] from him. When he saw them, he ran from the tent door to meet them and bowed down [with his face] to the ground,
It was evening when the two angels came to Sodom. Lot was sitting at Sodom's [city] gate. Seeing them, Lot got up to meet them and bowed down with his face to the ground.
So Abraham stood up and bowed to the people of the land, the Hittites.
Then Jacob crossed over [the stream] ahead of them and bowed himself to the ground seven times [bowing and moving forward each time], until he approached his brother.
Now Joseph was the ruler over the land, and he was the one who sold [grain] to all the people of the land; and Joseph's [half] brothers came and bowed down before him with their faces to the ground.
"Honor (respect, obey, care for) your father and your mother, so that your days may be prolonged in the land the LORD your God gives you.
Moses bowed to the earth immediately and worshiped [the Lord].
'Each of you shall respect his mother and his father, and you shall keep My Sabbaths; I am the LORD your God.
'You shall rise before the gray-headed and honor the aged, and you shall fear your God [with profound reverence]; I am the LORD.
So Bathsheba went to King Solomon to speak to him for Adonijah. And the king rose to meet her, bowed before her, and sat down on his throne; then he had a throne set for her, the king's mother, and she sat on his right.
Gill's Notes on the Bible
And Joseph brought them out from between his knees,.... Either from between his own, where they were kneeling, as he was sitting, in order that they might be nearer his father, to receive his blessing by the putting on of his hands; or rather from between his father's knees, he, as Aben Ezra observes, sitting on the bed, having kissed and embraced them, they were still between his knees; and that they might not be burdensome to his aged father, leaning on his breast, and especially, in order to put them in a proper position for his benediction, he took them from thence, and placed them over against him to his right and left hand:
and he bowed himself with his face to the earth; in a civil way to his father, and in reverence of him; in a religious way to God, expressing his thankfulness for all favours to him and his, and as supplicating a blessing for his sons through his father, under a divine influence and direction.
Barnes' Notes on the Bible
- Joseph Visits His Sick Father
The right of primogeniture has been forfeited by Reuben. The double portion in the inheritance is now transferred to Joseph. He is the first-born of her who was intended by Jacob to be his first and only wife. He has also been the means of saving all his fatherâs house, even after he had been sold into slavery by his brethren. He has therefore, undeniable claims to this part of the first-bornâs rights.
Genesis 48:1-7
After these things. - After the arrangements concerning the funeral, recorded in the chapter. âMenasseh and Ephraim.â They seem to have accompanied their father from respectful affection to their aged relative. âIsrael strengthened himselfâ - summoned his remaining powers for the interview, which was now to him an effort. âGod Almighty appeared unto me at Luz.â From the terms of the blessing received it is evident that Jacob here refers to the last appearance of God to him at Bethel Genesis 35:11. âAnd now thy sons.â After referring to the promise of a numerous offspring, and of a territory which they are to inherit, he assigns to each of the two sons of Joseph, who were born in Egypt, a place among his own sons, and a separate share in the promised land. In this way two shares fall to Joseph. âAnd thy issue.â We are not informed whether Joseph had any other sons. But all such are to be reckoned in the two tribes of which Ephraim and Menasseh are the heads. These young men are now at least twenty and nineteen years of age, as they were born before the famine commenced. Any subsequent issue that Joseph might have, would be counted among the generations of their children. âRachel died upon meâ - as a heavy affliction falling upon me. The presence of Joseph naturally leads the fatherâs thoughts to Rachel, the beloved mother of his beloved son, whose memory he honors in giving a double portion to her oldest son.
Genesis 48:8-16
He now observes and proceeds to bless the two sons of Joseph. âWho are these?â The sight and the observant faculties of the patriarch were now failing. âBring them now unto me, and I will bless them.â Jacob is seated on the couch, and the young men approach him. He kisses and folds his arms around them. The comforts of his old age come up before his mind. He had not expected to see Joseph again in the flesh, and now God had showed him his seed. After these expressions of parental fondness, Joseph drew them back from between his knees, that he might present them in the way that was distinctive of their age. He then bowed with his face to the earth, in reverential acknowledgment of the act of worship about to be performed. Joseph expected the blessing to be regulated by the age of his sons, and is therefore, careful to present them so that the right hand of his dim-sighted parent may, without any effort, rest on the head of his first-born. But the venerable patriarch, guided by the Spirit of him who doth according to his own will, designedly lays his right hand on the head of the younger, and thereby attributes to him the greater blessing.
The imposition of the hand is a primitive custom which here for the first time comes into notice. It is the natural mode of marking out the object of the benediction, signifying its conveyance to the individual, and implying that it is laid upon him as the destiny of his life. It may be done by either hand; but when each is laid on a different object, as in the present case, it may denote that the higher blessing is conveyed by the right hand. The laying on of both hands on one person may express the fulness of the blessing conveyed, or the fullness of the desire with which it is conveyed.
Genesis 48:15-16
And he blessed Joseph. - In blessing his seed he blesses himself. In exalting his two sons into the rank and right of his brothers, he bestows upon them the double portion of the first-born. In the terms of the blessing Jacob first signalizes the threefold function which the Lord discharges in effecting the salvation of a sinner. âThe God before whom walked my fathers,â is the Author of salvation, the Judge who dispenses justice and mercy, the Father, before whom the adopted and regenerate child walks. From him salvation comes, to him the saved returns, to walk before him and be perfect. âThe God, who fed me from my being unto this day,â is the Creator and Upholder of life, the Quickener and Sanctifier, the potential Agent, who works both to will and to do in the soul. âThe Angel that redeemed me from all evil,â is the all-sufficient Friend, who wards off evil by himself satisfying the demands of justice and resisting the devices of malice. There is a beautiful propriety of feeling in Jacob ascribing to his fathers the walking before God, while he thankfully acknowledges the grace of the Quickener and Justifier to himself. The Angel is explicitly applied to the Supreme Being in this ministerial function. The God is the emphatic description of the true, living God, as contradistinguished from all false gods. âBless the lads.â The word bless is in the singular number. For Jacobâs threefold periphrasis is intended to describe the one God who wills, works, and wards. âAnd let my name be put upon them.â Let them be counted among my immediate sons, and let them be related to Abraham and Isaac, as my other sons are. This is the only thing that is special in the blessing. âLet them grow into a multitude.â The word grow in the original refers to the spawning or extraordinary increase of the finny tribe. The after history of Ephraim and Menasseh will be found to correspond with this special prediction.
Genesis 48:17-22
Joseph presumes that his father has gone astray through dulness of perception, and endeavors to rectify his mistake. He finds, however, that on the other hand a supernatural vision is now conferred on his parent, who is fully conscious of what he is about, and therefore, abides by his own act. Ephraim is to be greater than Menasseh. Joshua, the successor of Moses, was of the tribe of Ephraim, as Kaleb his companion was of Judah. Ephraim came to designate the northern kingdom of the ten tribes, as Judah denoted the southern kingdom containing the remaining tribes; and each name was occasionally used to denote all Israel, with a special reference to the prominent part. âHis seed shall be the fullness of the nations.â This denotes not only the number but the completeness of his race, and accords with the future pre-eminence of his tribe. In thee, in Joseph, who is still identified with his offspring.
At the point of death Jacob expresses his assurance of the return of his posterity to the land of promise, and bestows on Joseph one share or piece of ground above his brethren, which, says he, I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow. This share is, in the original, ש××× shekem, Shekem, a shoulder or tract of land. This region included âthe parcel of the field where he had spread his tentâ Genesis 33:19. It refers to the whole territory of Shekem, which was conquered by his sword and his bow, inasmuch as the city itself was sacked, and its inhabitants put to the sword by his sons at the head of his armed retainers, though without his approval Genesis 34:0. Though he withdrew immediately after to Bethel Genesis 35:0, yet he neither fled nor relinquished possession of this conquest, as we find his sons feeding his flocks there when he himself was residing at Hebron Genesis 37:13. The incidental conquest of such a tract was no more at variance with the subsequent acquisition of the whole country than the purchase of a field by Abraham or a parcel of ground by Jacob himself. In accordance with this gift Josephâs bones were deposited in Shekem, after the conquest of the whole land by returning Israel. The territory of Shekem was probably not equal in extent to that of Ephraim, but was included within its bounds.
Clarke's Notes on the Bible
Verse Genesis 48:12. Joseph - bowed himself with his face to the earth. — This act of Joseph has been extravagantly extolled by Dr. Delaney and others. "When I consider him on his knees to God," says Dr. Delaney, "I regard him as a poor mortal in the discharge of his duty to his CREATOR. When I behold him bowing before Pharaoh, I consider him in the dutiful posture of a subject to his prince. But when I see him bending to the earth before a poor, old, blind, decrepit father, I behold him with admiration and delight. How doth that humiliation exalt him!" This is insufferable! For it in effect says that it is a wondrous condescension in a young man, who, in the course of God's providence, with scarcely any efforts of his own, was raised to affluence and worldly grandeur, to show respect to his father! And that respect was the more gratuitous and condescending, because that father was poor, old, blind, and decrepit! The maxim of this most exceptionable flight of admiration is, that "children who have risen to affluence are not obliged to reverence their parents when reduced in their circumstances, and brought down by the weight of years and infirmities to the sides of the grave; and should they acknowledge and reverence them, it would be a mark of singular goodness, and be highly meritorious." Should positions of this kind pass without reprehension? I trow not. By the law of God and nature Joseph was as much bound to pay his dying father this filial respect, as he was to reverence his king, or to worship his God. As to myself, I must freely confess that I see nothing peculiarly amiable in this part of Joseph's conduct; he simply acquitted himself of a duty which God, nature, decency, and common sense, imperiously demanded of him, and all such in his circumstances, to discharge. To the present day children in the east, next to God, pay the deepest reverence to their parents.
Besides, before whom was Joseph bowing? Not merely his father, but a most eminent PATRIARCH; one highly distinguished by the Lord, and one of the three of whom the Supreme Being speaks in the most favourable and affectionate manner; the three who received and transmitted the true faith, and kept unbroken the Divine covenant; I AM the GOD of ABRAHAM, the GOD of ISAAC, and the GOD of JACOB. He has never said, I am the GOD of JOSEPH. And if we compare the father and the son as men, we shall find that the latter was exceeded by the former in almost endless degrees. Joseph owed his advancement and his eminence to what some would call good fortune, and what we know to have been the especial providence of God working in his behalf, wholly independent of his own industry, c., every event of that providence issuing in his favour. Jacob owed his own support and preservation, and the support and preservation of his numerous family, under God, to the continual exercise of the vast powers of a strong and vigorous mind, to which the providence of God seemed ever in opposition because God chose to try to the uttermost the great gifts which he had bestowed. If therefore the most humble and abject inferior should reverence dignity and eminence raised to no common height, so should Joseph bow down his face to the earth before JACOB.
Besides, Joseph, in thus reverencing his father, only followed the customs of the Egyptians among whom he lived, who, according to Herodotus, (Euterpe, c. 80,) were particularly remarkable for the reverence they paid to old age. "For if a young person meet his senior, he instantly turns aside to make way for him; if an aged person enter an apartment, the youth always rise from their seats;" and Mr. Savary observes that the reverence mentioned by Herodotus is yet paid to old age on every occasion in Egypt. In Mohammedan countries the children sit as if dumb in the presence of their parents, never attempting to speak unless spoken to. Among the ancient Romans it was considered a crime worthy of death not to rise up in the presence of an aged person, and acting a contrary part was deemed an awful mark of the deep degeneracy of the times. Thus the satirist: -
Credebant hoc grande nefas, et morte piandum,
Si Juvenis VETULO non assurrexerat; et si
Barbato cuicumque puer. Juv. Sat. xiii., v. 54.
And had not men the hoary heads revered,
Or boys paid reverence when a man appear'd.
Both must have died. DRYDEN.
Indeed, though Dr. Delaney is much struck with what he thinks to be great and meritorious condescension and humility on the part of Joseph; yet we find the thing itself, the deepest reverence to parents and old age, practised by all the civilized nations in the world, not as a matter of meritorious courtesy, but as a point of rational and absolute duty.
