Genesis 49:25-26 and blessings of breasts and womb text for HM discussion:
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KJV |
NRSV |
1985 JPS Tanakh |
Lexham Septuagint 2d ed |
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25 Even by the God of thy
father, who shall help thee; and by the Almighty (שַׁדַּי šadday), who shall bless thee with blessings of heaven
above, blessings of the deep that lieth under, blessings of the breasts, and
of the womb: 26 The blessings of thy father
have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of
the everlasting hills: they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown
of the head of him that was separate from his brethren. |
25 by the God of your father, who
will help you, by the Almighty who will bless you with blessings of heaven
above, blessings of the deep that lies beneath, blessings of the breasts and
of the womb. 26 The blessings of your father
are stronger than the blessings of the eternal mountains, the bounties of the
everlasting hills; may they be on the head of Joseph, on the brow of him who
was set apart from his brothers. |
25 The God of your father who
helps you, And Shaddai who blesses you With blessings of heaven above,
Blessings of the deep that couches below, Blessings of the breast and womb. 26 The blessings of
your father Surpass the blessings of my ancestors, To the utmost bounds of
the eternal hills. May they rest on the head of Joseph, On the brow of the
elect of his brothers.
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25 And my God
helped you, and he blessed you with a
blessing of the heavens above and with a blessing of land,
having everything, because of a blessing of
breasts, even mothers, 26 a blessing
of your father and your mother. It prevailed over blessings of
stable boundaries and over blessings of
everlasting hills. They will be upon the head of
Joseph and upon the head-top of whose
brothers he led.
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On et vs el
Shaddai :
TDOT:
In Gen. 49:25 weʾēṯ šadday is frequently emended to weʾēl šadday following several Hebrew mss., Sam., LXX, and Pesh. (cf. BHK, BHS). Deducing an original Hebrew source from the LXX remains an uncertain undertaking, and one must remember that the LXX here, in rendering as theós + an emphatic personal pronoun, deviates from the translation of the reliably attested occurrences of ʾēl šadday in the Pentateuch (so also Vg.: omnipotens without deus). The MT is supported by Tgs. (wyt šdy). The alteration of weʾēṯ to weʾēl in some textual witnesses can be understood as a smoothing out or an accommodation in Genesis. A textual change on the basis of a hypothetical early dating is impermissible. Two explanations have been offered for MT Gen. 49:25: (a) The prep. min in v. 25aα exerts a double effect and is continued by weʾēṯ (= mēʾēṯ); otherwise the second member would lack a preposition. Ibn Ezra already assumes that the preposition continues in force. (b) According to H.-P. Müller, ʾēṯ functions as a “correlative of origin” (cf. Gen. 4:1; 1 Ch. 2:18; 8:9, 11; Job 26:4; Mic. 3:8).
BHQ:
25 וְאֵ֤ת שַׁדַּי֙ The problematic object marker את that precedes שדי breaks the parallelism. This prompted Qimḥi to explain, מאת שדי, actually a slight emendation that restores the equilibrium (cf. 19:24, מאת יהוה). With the exception of the literal rendering of Onqelos, all the versions make necessary changes in order to yield an intelligible translation. Smr and S opt for the frequent אל שדי, which G accepts, substituting ὁ ἐμός for שדי in order to achieve a better parallel to אביך (see comments at 17:1). TNF use the formula אלהי השמים) אלה שמיא occurs eight times in the Bible in solemn speech: 24:3, 7; Jonah 1:9; Ezra 1:2; Neh 1:4, 5; 2:20; 2 Chr 36:23). TJ paraphrases: “He who is called שדי.”
Abraham Tal, Genesis: Critical Apparatus and Notes, Quinta editione, vol. 1, Biblia Hebraica Quinta (Stuttgart: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 2015), 138.
Samaritan
Pentateuch of Gen 49:25:
מאל אביך
ויעזרך ואל
שדי ויברכך ברכת שמים ממעל ברכת תהום רבצת תחת ברכת שדים ורחם
August
Freiherr von Gall, ed., Der Hebräische Pentateuch Der Samaritaner (Gießen:
Verlag von Alfred Töpelmann, 1918), Ge 49:25.
Some
evidence suggests that the fertility blessings reflected in Genesis derive from
Canaanite fertility traditions. Significant among this evidence is the
description of the Canaanite fertility goddess. Asherah was depicted with
prominent breasts, and the Ugaritic record contains references to "the
divine breasts, the breasts of Asherah and Raḥam, a phrase noticeably similar
to the biblical ‘blessings of breasts and womb (רָחַם)’” (Gen 49:25). (Biale, “El
Shaddai in the Bible,” 253-54) Accordingly, Biale concludes: “Hence
there is abundant evidence of the fertility tradition of El Shaddai may have
originated with the Israelite interest in the figure of Asherah, the fertility
goddess represented by breasts.” (Ibid., 254)
In
accordance with this discussion, Biale observes that the blessing which Jacob
recounts before Ephraim and Manasseh (Gen 48:3-5) and Joseph’s blessing within
the Testament of Jacob (49:22-26) prompt the speculation that they represent
traditions reflecting a bias for the northern tribes. A northern tradition
attached to fertility imagery is further reflected in the fertility images of
the Ephraimite prophet Hosea (Hos 9:14). (Ibid., 250, 253) (Thomas J.
King, The Realignment of the Priestly Literature: The Priestly
Narrative in Genesis and its Relation to Priestly Legislation and the Holiness
School [Princeton Theological Monograph Series; Eugene, Oreg.:
Pickwick Publications, 2009], 114)
4. Genesis 49:25. Jacob's blessings to his sons
includes an invocation to Yahweh (v. 18), followed by an invocation to El (v.
25) including the common El epithet Shaddai ("almighty") used in
parallel with "El." This verse also bestows the blessings of
Breasts-and-Womb, which was known as an epithet of Asherah (Mark S.
Smith, The Early History of God: Yahweh and Other Deities in Ancient
Israel [San Francisco: Harper and Row, 1990], 16).
With the Jacob/Israel pairing of verse 24, along with
“the tribes of Israel” for Dan in verse 16 and the geographical range indicated
by the seven sayings together, I am inclined to locate the text in greater
Israel, when the kingdom embraced peoples from north of the Jazreel Valley and
east of the Jordan River. Note that Gad is in the list to represent the east,
without Reuben and Manasseh (not a son of Jacob), and recalling 9th-century
reference to Gad in the Mesha inscription. Maachi dates his set of six to
roughly the same period. Note also that Genesis 49 could be invoked to
prove that Israel could still identify specially with El rather than Yahweh. If
Yahweh came to be “god of Israel” through the greater Israel monarchy, then the
role of El in Jacob’s sayings would attach more narrowly to Joseph, who may
represent Israel in its older and more modest scope (so “little”). (Daniel
E. Fleming, Yahweh Before Israel: Glimpses of History in a Divine
Name [Cambridge: Cambridge University Press, 2021], 118 n. 17,
emphasis added)
39 sn Jacob envisions God imparting both
agricultural (blessings from the sky
above, blessings from the deep that lies below) and human fertility (blessings of the breasts and womb) to
Joseph and his family.
Biblical Studies Press, The NET Bible First Edition Notes
(Biblical Studies Press, 2006), Ge 49:25.
The story with Asherah is quite different. She is part
of the biblical story of idolatry, but her name also becomes part of the story
of the monotheistic god. Asherah’s husband was the god El, and two are known
from both extrabiblical and biblical texts. Mostly in the Bible, El is
identified as a name for YHWH, for example, El Shadday, translated “God
Almighty,” in Exodus 6:2-3. The evidence for Asherah as a goddess in early
Israel is cryptic, but Asherah seems to be known in early Israel, as seen in the
title “Breasts and Womb” in Gen 49:25-26. (Mark S. Smith, “The Sexuality of God
in the Hebrew Bible,” in Biblical Essays in Honor of Daniel J.
Harrington, SJ, and Richard J. Clifford, SJ: Opportunity For No Little
Instruction, ed. Christopher G. Frechette, Christopher R. Matthews, and
Thomas D. Stegman [New York: Paulist Press, 2014], 8)
Beginning
with two animal images, the next, long section (vv. 22-26) represents Joseph as
a figure of warfare, blessing, and superior status relative to his brothers (as
in the blessings of Joseph in Deut 33:13-17). The blessing is a marked
departure for this poem. The divine epithets attached to these blessings (v.
25) include three parallel pairs: “the God of your father” (again the family or
clan god; see 48:15) identified as “God Almighty” (‘ēl šadday); “heavens
and earth;” “breasts and womb” (aka Asherah) parallel to “your father.”
Probably El (not “fresh grain and blossoms,” so NABRE). With Yahweh absent from
this poem, this section suggests devotion to the divine pair, El and Asherah.
Elsewhere Yahweh is identified with the male titles in this section, and the
female title follows suit; it is hardly nontheistic (cf. Deut 33:13-16 for
nontheistic, natural elements, including “Heavens” and “Deeps”). The poem ends
with the youngest brother, Joseph’s only full brother, Benjamin (cf. the
opposite order in Deut 33;12-17). The pithy animal-image used for Benjamin, the
“ravenous wolf,” heads the reference to his success in warfare and war spoils
(v. 27). (Mark S. Smith, “Genesis,” in The Jerome Biblical Commentary
for the Twenty-First Century, ed. John J. Collins, Gina Hens-Piazza,
Barbara Reid, and Donald Senior [3d ed.; London: T&T Clark,
2022], 255)
. . . a glimpse of the true nature of the divine
couple’s relationship can be found in an ancient poem in Genesis. It recycles
an even older incantation into a ritual song conveying Yahweh’s blessings upon
the legendary ancestor Joseph. The incantation invokes a series of deities to
bestow sexual masculinity the fruitfulness upon Joseph’s penis, euphemistically
described as his ‘taut bow’ and ‘strong hand’. Included in the divine roll-call
is a goddess bearing the title ‘Breasts-and-Womb” – a likely epithet of
Asherah, given it is used of Athirat, her older incarnation at Ugarit. She is
paired in the poem with a deity called ‘Father’ and ‘Most High’ – ritual titles
of the God of the Bible, inherited from Athirat’s husband, El:
From the God of your ancestor, who supports you,
from Shadday who blesses you:
the blessings of Heaven above,
the blessings of Deep crouching below;
the blessings of Breasts-and-Womb,
the blessings of your Father, warrior Most High;
the blessings of the Everlasting Mountains,
[the blessings] of the outlying Eternal Hills. (Genesis 49:25-26)
The coupling of ‘Father, warrior Most High’ and
‘Breasts-and-Womb’ points to the sexualized collaboration of these deities,
paralleling the pairing of ‘Heaven’ and ‘Deep – the divinized, primeval parts
of the universe, whose union birthed and built the very cosmos. The poem hints
at an ancient pantheon, in which the coupling of the high god and high goddess
is set within the frame of an ordered, fertile creation. (Francesca
Stavrakopoulou, God: An Anatomy [London: Picador, 2021], 153)
A second tradition attached
to שׁדי in the Bible, distinct from that associated with storm or
military imagery. The second tradition appears exclusively in relation to the
compound אל שׁדי. We have already observed that the occurrences
of אל שׁדי in Genesis appear in conjunction with the theme of
abundance (all within PN). Koch has affirmed this phenomenon in pointing out
that every occurrence of אל שׁדי in Genesis appears in
conjunction with the verbs פרו ורבו (“be fruitful and multiply”)
(13). In light of the same evidence, Biale understands these passages as
fertility blessings (Gen 17:1b-6; 28:3; 35:11; 48:3-4). The only passage
in PN containing אל שׁדי which does not
explicitly appear as this type of fertility blessing is Gen 43:14a.
Nevertheless, in relation to this verse, Biale points out the possibility that
the writer may have sensed “the association between raḥaimim (mercy)
and reḥem (womb)” (Biale, “The God with Breasts: El
Shaddai in the Bible,” History of Religions 20
[1982]:247).
The key to understanding this
tradition regarding אל שׁדי appears in the Joseph blessing of the
Testament of Jacob. Genesis 49:25 not only associates אל שׁדי with
a fertility blessing by attributing the term שַׁדַּי by means of wordplay
with the term שָׁדַיִם (breasts). This wordplay may reveal the
meaning according to which the author of the blessing and the previous
fertility blessings in Genesis, understood אל שׁדי, that is, “El with
breasts” (Ibid., 248) . . . Some evidence suggests that the fertility blessings
reflected in Genesis derive from Canaanite fertility traditions. Significant
among this evidence is the description of the Canaanite fertility goddess.
Asherah was depicted with prominent breasts, and the Ugaritic record contains
references to “the divine breasts, the breasts of Asherah and Raḥam, a phrase
noticeably similar to the biblical ‘blessings of breasts and womb (רָחַם)’”
(Gen 49:25) (Ibid., 253-54). Accordingly, Biale concludes: “Hence, there is
abundant evidence that the fertility tradition of El Shaddai may have
originated with the Israelite interest in the figure of Asherah, the fertility
goddess represented by breasts” (Ibid., 254). (Thomas J. King, The
Realignment of the Priestly Literature: The Priestly Narrative in Genesis and
its Relation to Priestly Legislation and the Holiness School [Princeton
Theological Monograph Series; Eugene, Oreg.: Pickwick Publications, 2009],
112-13, 114)
In his translation of Gen 49:25, David Calabro renders
the verse as “from God your father, who will help you / and the Father
Almighty, who will bless you.” This is based on replacing the particle את with אל.
Commenting on this, Calabro notes that:
The text is susceptible to multiple interpretations based
on the reading in some manuscripts and versions. O. Eißfeldt assumes that ‘et here
is a mistake for ‘el, “God.” See Otto Eißfeldt, prep., Biblia
Hebraica Stuttgartensia: Liber Genesis, ed. Karl Ellinger et al.
(Stuttgart: DEU: Deutsche Bibelgesellschaft, 1969), 83. The first part of the
verse is usually translated as “by the God of your father,” but whether the
first two nouns are in a genitive relationship or in an apposition cannot be
determined from the forms alone. The relationship is likewise unclear in the
Septuagint, in which both noun phrases are in the genitive case. The Common
English Bible (2011), unlike modern translations, render the first part of the
verse as “by God, your father,” which agrees with my suggested translation.
(David Calabro, “Ancient Israelite Temple Ritual Through the Telescope of
Restoration Scripture,” in The Temple: Plates, Patterns, and
Patriarchs [Temple on Mount Zion Series 7; Orem, Utah: the Interpreter
Foundation; Salt Lake City: Eborn Books, 2024], 373 n. 12)
His bow remains taut;
By the hand of the Bull of Jacob--
there the shepherd, Stone of Israel--
)El, your father, who helps you,
And Shaddai.
You are blessed by sky blessings above,
blessings of Tehom, lurking below,
blessings of breast and womb (vv. 24-25)
There are echoes of sexualized imagery in the beginning of
the first stich, and the end of the last. The Imagery in v. 24 is unmistakably
masculine—the bull, the stone, “)El, your father who helps you.”
Most translations render that first line similar to my wording, but I cannot
help but wonder if we are missing something in the innuendo. (Kipp Davis, God’s
Propaganda: Pulling Back the Curtain On What the Bible Wants You To See [Chilliwack,
British Columbia: Paleographers Press, 2025], 316)
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