Genesis 48:4 and told me, 'Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you; I will make you a multitude of peoples, and will give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.'

◄ Genesis 48:4 ►

New International Version
and said to me, ‘I am going to make you fruitful and increase your numbers. I will make you a community of peoples, and I will give this land as an everlasting possession to your descendants after you.’

New Living Translation
He said to me, ‘I will make you fruitful, and I will multiply your descendants. I will make you a multitude of nations. And I will give this land of Canaan to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.’

English Standard Version
and said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make of you a company of peoples and will give this land to your offspring after you for an everlasting possession.’

Berean Standard Bible
and told me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you; I will make you a multitude of peoples, and will give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.’

King James Bible
And said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people; and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession.

New King James Version
and said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make of you a multitude of people, and give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.’

New American Standard Bible
and He said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and numerous, and I will make you a multitude of peoples, and will give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.’

NASB 1995
and He said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and numerous, and I will make you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your descendants after you for an everlasting possession.’

NASB 1977
and He said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and numerous, and I will make you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your descendants after you for an everlasting possession.’

Legacy Standard Bible
and He said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply, and I will make you an assembly of peoples, and I will give this land to your seed after you for an everlasting possession.’

Amplified Bible
and said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and numerous, and I will make you a great company of people, and will give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.’

Christian Standard Bible
He said to me, ‘I will make you fruitful and numerous; I will make many nations come from you, and I will give this land as a permanent possession to your future descendants.’

Holman Christian Standard Bible
He said to me, ‘I will make you fruitful and numerous; I will make many nations come from you, and I will give this land as an eternal possession to your future descendants.’

American Standard Version
and said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a company of peoples, and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession.

Contemporary English Version
and promised, "I will give you a large family with many descendants that will grow into a nation. And I am giving you this land that will belong to you and your family forever."

English Revised Version
and said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a company of peoples; and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession.

GOD'S WORD® Translation
He said to me, 'I will make you fertile and increase the number of your descendants so that you will become a community of people. I will give this land to your descendants as a permanent possession.'

Good News Translation
He said to me, 'I will give you many children, so that your descendants will become many nations; I will give this land to your descendants as their possession forever.'"

International Standard Version
He told me, 'Pay attention! I'm going to make you fruitful and numerous. I'm going to build you into a vast nation of people and then I'll give this land to your descendants for an eternal possession.'

Majority Standard Bible
and told me, ?Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you; I will make you a multitude of peoples, and will give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.?

NET Bible
He said to me, 'I am going to make you fruitful and will multiply you. I will make you into a group of nations, and I will give this land to your descendants as an everlasting possession.'

New Heart English Bible
and said to me, 'Look, I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make of you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.'

Webster's Bible Translation
And said to me, Behold I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people; and will give this land to thy seed after thee, for an everlasting possession.

World English Bible
and said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful, and multiply you, and I will make of you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your offspring after you for an everlasting possession.’

Literal Translations

Literal Standard Version
and says to me, Behold, I am making you fruitful, and have multiplied you, and given you for an assembly of peoples, and given this land to your seed after you, a continuous possession.

Young's Literal Translation
and saith unto me, Lo, I am making thee fruitful, and have multiplied thee, and given thee for an assembly of peoples, and given this land to thy seed after thee, a possession age-during.

Smith's Literal Translation
And he will say to me, Behold, I making thee fruitful, and I multiplied thee, and I gave thee for an assembly of people; and I gave this land to thy seed after thee a possession forever.

Catholic Translations

Douay-Rheims Bible
And he said : I will cause thee to increase and multiply, and I will make of thee a multitude of people: and I will give this land to thee, and to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession.

Catholic Public Domain Version
And he said: ‘I will increase and multiply you, and I will make you influential among the people. And I will give this land to you, and to your offspring after you, as an everlasting possession.’

New American Bible
he said, ‘I will make you fertile and multiply you and make you into an assembly of peoples, and I will give this land to your descendants after you as a permanent possession.’

New Revised Standard Version
and said to me, ‘I am going to make you fruitful and increase your numbers; I will make of you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your offspring after you for a perpetual holding.’

Translations from Aramaic

Lamsa Bible
And he said to me, Behold, I will bless you, and multiply you, and I will make of you a multitude of peoples; and I will give this land to your descendants after you for an everlasting possession.

Peshitta Holy Bible Translated
And he said to me, ‘Behold, I am blessing you and I am multiplying you, and I shall give you the multitudes of the nations, and I shall give this land to your seed after you as an inheritance for eternity.’

OT Translations

JPS Tanakh 1917
and said unto me: Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a company of peoples; and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession.

Brenton Septuagint Translation
and said to me, Behold, I will increase thee, and multiply thee, and will make of thee multitudes of nations; and I will give this land to thee, and to thy seed after thee, for an everlasting possession.

Additional Translations ...

Audio Bible

Context

Jacob Blesses Ephraim and Manasseh
…3Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and there He blessed me 4and told me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you; I will make you a multitude of peoples, and will give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.’ 5And now your two sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you here shall be reckoned as mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are mine.…

Berean Standard Bible · Download

Cross References

Genesis 17:6-8
I will make you exceedingly fruitful; I will make nations of you, and kings will descend from you. / I will establish My covenant as an everlasting covenant between Me and you and your descendants after you, to be your God and the God of your descendants after you. / And to you and your descendants I will give the land where you are residing—all the land of Canaan—as an eternal possession; and I will be their God.”

Genesis 35:11-12
And God told him, “I am God Almighty. Be fruitful and multiply. A nation—even a company of nations—shall come from you, and kings shall descend from you. / The land that I gave to Abraham and Isaac I will give to you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you.”

Exodus 1:7
but the Israelites were fruitful and increased rapidly; they multiplied and became exceedingly numerous, so that the land was filled with them.

Leviticus 26:9
I will turn toward you and make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will establish My covenant with you.

Deuteronomy 1:10
The LORD your God has multiplied you, so that today you are as numerous as the stars in the sky.

Deuteronomy 7:13
He will love you and bless you and multiply you. He will bless the fruit of your womb and the produce of your land—your grain, new wine, and oil, the young of your herds and the lambs of your flocks—in the land that He swore to your fathers to give you.

Deuteronomy 28:4
The fruit of your womb will be blessed, as well as the produce of your land and the offspring of your livestock—the calves of your herds and the lambs of your flocks.

Deuteronomy 28:11
The LORD will make you prosper abundantly—in the fruit of your womb, the offspring of your livestock, and the produce of your land—in the land that the LORD swore to your fathers to give you.

1 Chronicles 16:17-18
He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant: / ‘I will give you the land of Canaan as the portion of your inheritance.’

Psalm 105:9-11
the covenant He made with Abraham, and the oath He swore to Isaac. / He confirmed it to Jacob as a decree, to Israel as an everlasting covenant: / “I will give you the land of Canaan as the portion of your inheritance.”

Isaiah 51:2
Look to Abraham your father, and to Sarah who gave you birth. When I called him, he was but one; then I blessed him and multiplied him.

Jeremiah 30:19
Thanksgiving will proceed from them, a sound of celebration. I will multiply them, and they will not be decreased; I will honor them, and they will not be belittled.

Ezekiel 36:10-11
I will multiply the people upon you—the house of Israel in its entirety. The cities will be inhabited and the ruins rebuilt. / I will fill you with people and animals, and they will multiply and be fruitful. I will make you as inhabited as you once were, and I will make you prosper more than before. Then you will know that I am the LORD.

Acts 7:5
He gave him no inheritance here, not even a foot of ground. But God promised to give possession of the land to Abraham and his descendants, even though he did not yet have a child.

Romans 4:13
For the promise to Abraham and his offspring that he would be heir of the world was not given through the law, but through the righteousness that comes by faith.

Treasury of Scripture

And said to me, Behold, I will make you fruitful, and multiply you, and I will make of you a multitude of people; and will give this land to your seed after you for an everlasting possession.

Behold I.

Genesis 12:2
And I will make of thee a great nation, and I will bless thee, and make thy name great; and thou shalt be a blessing:

Genesis 13:15,16
For all the land which thou seest, to thee will I give it, and to thy seed for ever…

Genesis 22:17
That in blessing I will bless thee, and in multiplying I will multiply thy seed as the stars of the heaven, and as the sand which is upon the sea shore; and thy seed shall possess the gate of his enemies;

will give.

Deuteronomy 32:8
When the most High divided to the nations their inheritance, when he separated the sons of Adam, he set the bounds of the people according to the number of the children of Israel.

Amos 9:14,15
And I will bring again the captivity of my people of Israel, and they shall build the waste cities, and inhabit them; and they shall plant vineyards, and drink the wine thereof; they shall also make gardens, and eat the fruit of them…

everlasting.

Genesis 17:8,13
And I will give unto thee, and to thy seed after thee, the land wherein thou art a stranger, all the land of Canaan, for an everlasting possession; and I will be their God…

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Age-During Community Company Descendants Everlasting Family Fertile Fruitful Great Heritage Increase Making Multiplied Multiply Multitude Nations Numbers Numerous Peoples Possession Seed

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Age-During Community Company Descendants Everlasting Family Fertile Fruitful Great Heritage Increase Making Multiplied Multiply Multitude Nations Numbers Numerous Peoples Possession Seed

Genesis 48

1. Joseph with his sons visits his sick father.
2. Jacob strengthens himself to bless them.
3. He repeats God's promise.
5. He takes Ephraim and Manasseh as his own sons.
7. He tells Joseph of his mother's grave.
8. He blesses Ephraim and Manasseh.
17. He prefers the younger before the elder.
21. He prophesies their return to Canaan.

Berean Study Bible

and said to me
This phrase introduces a direct communication from God to Jacob, emphasizing the personal and intimate nature of divine revelation. In the Hebrew context, the word for "said" (אָמַר, 'amar) often conveys not just speech but a declaration or promise. This highlights the authority and certainty of God's words to Jacob, underscoring the importance of divine communication in the patriarchal narratives.

Behold
The term "behold" (הִנֵּה, hinneh) is a call to attention, urging the listener to focus on what follows. It serves as a divine exclamation point, drawing attention to the significance of the message. In biblical literature, "behold" often precedes a revelation or important announcement, indicating that what follows is of great importance and worthy of contemplation.

I will make you fruitful
The promise of fruitfulness (פָּרָה, parah) is a recurring theme in the Abrahamic covenant, reflecting God's blessing and favor. This assurance of fruitfulness is not merely about physical progeny but also spiritual and covenantal blessings. It echoes God's original command to humanity in Genesis 1:28 to "be fruitful and multiply," linking Jacob's lineage to the broader divine plan for creation.

and multiply your descendants
The multiplication of descendants (רָבָה, rabah) signifies not only numerical growth but also the expansion of influence and legacy. This promise connects Jacob to the covenantal promises given to Abraham and Isaac, ensuring the continuation of God's chosen people. Historically, this multiplication is seen in the growth of the Israelite nation, fulfilling God's promise through the generations.

into a multitude of nations
The phrase "multitude of nations" (קְהַל עַמִּים, qahal ammim) suggests a diverse and expansive future for Jacob's descendants. This prophecy points to the formation of the twelve tribes of Israel and their eventual impact on the world. It also foreshadows the inclusion of Gentiles into the spiritual family of God, as seen in the New Testament, where the gospel extends beyond ethnic Israel.

and I will give this land
The land (אֶרֶץ, eretz) is central to the Abrahamic covenant, representing not just a physical territory but a place of divine promise and blessing. The gift of land is a tangible sign of God's faithfulness and commitment to His people. Archaeologically, the land of Canaan is rich with evidence of ancient civilizations, underscoring its historical and theological significance.

to your descendants
The inheritance of the land by Jacob's descendants (זֶרַע, zera) is a fulfillment of God's covenant promises. This inheritance is both a privilege and a responsibility, as the land is to be a place where God's people live out His commandments and reflect His glory. The continuity of this promise is seen throughout the biblical narrative, culminating in the eschatological hope of a new heaven and new earth.

after you as an everlasting possession
The term "everlasting possession" (אֲחֻזָּה עוֹלָם, achuzzah olam) emphasizes the perpetual nature of God's promise. This eternal aspect points to the unbreakable nature of God's covenant and His unwavering commitment to His people. In a spiritual sense, it foreshadows the eternal inheritance believers have in Christ, as described in the New Testament, where the promises to Abraham are fulfilled in a spiritual and eternal dimension.

Ellicott's Commentary for English Readers

(4) A multitude of people.--In Genesis 35:11 the words are "a congregation (or church) of nations;" here "a congregation (same word) of peoples." (See Note there.)

Parallel Commentaries ...

Hebrew

and told
וַיֹּ֣אמֶר (way·yō·mer)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Consecutive imperfect - third person masculine singular
Strong's 559: To utter, say

me,
אֵלַ֗י (’ê·lay)
Preposition | first person common singular
Strong's 413: Near, with, among, to

‘Behold,
הִנְנִ֤י (hin·nî)
Interjection | first person common singular
Strong's 2005: Lo! behold!

I will make you fruitful
מַפְרְךָ֙ (map̄·rə·ḵā)
Verb - Hifil - Participle - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 6509: To bear fruit, be fruitful

and multiply you;
וְהִרְבִּיתִ֔ךָ (wə·hir·bî·ṯi·ḵā)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Hifil - Conjunctive perfect - first person common singular | second person masculine singular
Strong's 7235: To be or become much, many or great

I will make you
וּנְתַתִּ֖יךָ (ū·nə·ṯat·tî·ḵā)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - first person common singular | second person masculine singular
Strong's 5414: To give, put, set

a multitude
לִקְהַ֣ל (liq·hal)
Preposition-l | Noun - masculine singular construct
Strong's 6951: Assembly, convocation, congregation

of peoples,
עַמִּ֑ים (‘am·mîm)
Noun - masculine plural
Strong's 5971: A people, a tribe, troops, attendants, a flock

and will give
וְנָ֨תַתִּ֜י (wə·nā·ṯat·tî)
Conjunctive waw | Verb - Qal - Conjunctive perfect - first person common singular
Strong's 5414: To give, put, set

this
הַזֹּ֛את (haz·zōṯ)
Article | Pronoun - feminine singular
Strong's 2063: Hereby in it, likewise, the one other, same, she, so much, such deed, that,

land
הָאָ֧רֶץ (hā·’ā·reṣ)
Article | Noun - feminine singular
Strong's 776: Earth, land

to your descendants
לְזַרְעֲךָ֥ (lə·zar·‘ă·ḵā)
Preposition-l | Noun - masculine singular construct | second person masculine singular
Strong's 2233: Seed, fruit, plant, sowing-time, posterity

after you
אַחֲרֶ֖יךָ (’a·ḥă·re·ḵā)
Preposition | second person masculine singular
Strong's 310: The hind or following part

as an everlasting
עוֹלָֽם׃ (‘ō·w·lām)
Noun - masculine singular
Strong's 5769: Concealed, eternity, frequentatively, always

possession.’
אֲחֻזַּ֥ת (’ă·ḥuz·zaṯ)
Noun - feminine singular construct
Strong's 272: Something seized, a possession

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OT Law: Genesis 48:4 And said to me 'Behold I will (Gen. Ge Gn)