Bible Strands
Deuteronomy 33:13
Concerning Joseph he said: “May his land be blessed by the LORD with the precious dew from heaven above and the deep waters that lie beneath,
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Moses pronounces this declaration over the tribe of Joseph as part of the sequential tribal blessings in Deuteronomy 33, situated between the pronouncement over Benjamin and the description of solar and seasonal abundance.
The words — מְבֹרֶ֥כֶת (me.vo.re.khet) = [be] blessed of, and אַרְצ֑/וֹ ('ar.tz/o) = land/ his. The text states the territory itself receives the blessing rather than the people alone.
The thread — Genesis 27:28 pairs the dew of heaven with the richness of the earth for patriarchal provision. Genesis 49:22 depicts Joseph as a fruitful vine near water. Micah 5:7 compares the remnant of Jacob to dew from the LORD.
Why it lands — The verse prays for subterranean and atmospheric water sources to sustain Joseph’s inheritance. It asks the reader to observe how the covenant blessing is distributed geographically and ecologically across the tribes.
Drafted by a language model from the text, its original words and its cross-references, then checked against them. It can still be wrong: open the verse in the app to report it.
The Hebrew words
King James Version
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 beneath,
Cross-references
- Genesis 49:22 Joseph is a fruitful vine—a fruitful vine by a spring, whose branches scale the wall.
- Micah 5:7 Then the remnant of Jacob will be in the midst of many peoples like dew from the LORD, like showers on the grass, which do not wait for man or linger for mankind.
- Genesis 27:28 May God give to you the dew of heaven and the richness of the earth—an abundance of grain and new wine.
- Proverbs 3:20 By His knowledge the watery depths were broken open, and the clouds dripped with dew.
- Proverbs 19:12 A king’s rage is like the roar of a lion, but his favor is like dew on the grass.
- Isaiah 18:4 For this is what the LORD has told me: “I will quietly look on from My dwelling place, like shimmering heat in the sunshine, like a cloud of dew in the heat of harvest.”
- Hosea 14:5 I will be like the dew to Israel; he will blossom like the lily and take root like the cedars of Lebanon.
- Genesis 48:9 Joseph said to his father, “They are the sons God has given me in this place.” So Jacob said, “Please bring them to me, that I may bless them.”
- Genesis 48:15 Then he blessed Joseph and said: “May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day,
- Deuteronomy 32:2 Let my teaching fall like rain and my speech settle like dew, like gentle rain on new grass, like showers on tender plants.