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.’

Berean Standard Bible

Follow its threads on the canvas →

Study note

Setting — Jacob speaks to Joseph, relaying the divine declaration God made during His past appearance at Luz in Canaan.

The words — The text emphasizes מַפְרְךָ (mafrəkā, “make you fruitful”) and עַמִּים (ammîm, “peoples”) to mark the expansion of Jacob’s lineage.

The thread — This covenant formula appears in Genesis 17:8, Genesis 35:11, and Genesis 12:2, where God pledges land and numerous descendants to the patriarchs.

Why it lands — The verse requires the reader to track how spoken divine promises regarding fruitfulness and land inheritance are preserved and passed forward through patriarchal generations.

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

וַיֹּ֣אמֶרva/i.Yo.merand/ he said אֵלַ֗י'e.La/ito/ me הִנְנִ֤יhi./Nihere/ I מַפְרְךָ֙maf.re./Kha[am] about to make fruitful/ you וְהִרְבִּיתִ֔ךָve./hir.bi.Ti./khaand/ I will multiply/ you וּנְתַתִּ֖יךָu./ne.ta.Ti./khaand/ I will make/ you לִקְהַ֣לli/k.Hal<into>/ a company of עַמִּ֑ים'a.Mimpeoples וְנָ֨תַתִּ֜יve./Na.ta.Tiand/ I will give אֶת־'et-<obj.>הָאָ֧רֶץha./'A.retzthe/ land הַזֹּ֛אתha./Zot<the>/ this לְזַרְעֲךָ֥le./zar.'a./Khato/ offspring/ your אַחֲרֶ֖יךָ'a.cha.Rei./khaafter/ you אֲחֻזַּ֥ת'a.chu.Zata possession of עוֹלָֽם׃o.Lamperpetuity

King James Version

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.

Cross-references

Genesis 17:8 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 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.
Genesis 12:2 I will make you into a great nation, and I will bless you; I will make your name great, so that you will be a blessing.
Genesis 13:15 for all the land that you see, I will give to you and your offspring forever.
Genesis 17:13 Whether they are born in your household or purchased, they must be circumcised. My covenant in your flesh will be an everlasting covenant.
Genesis 22:17 I will surely bless you, and I will multiply your descendants like the stars in the sky and the sand on the seashore. Your descendants will possess the gates of their enemies.
Genesis 26:4 I will make your descendants as numerous as the stars in the sky, and I will give them all these lands, and through your offspring all nations of the earth will be blessed,
Genesis 28:3 May God Almighty bless you and make you fruitful and multiply you, so that you may become a company of peoples.
Genesis 28:13 And there at the top the LORD was standing and saying, “I am the LORD, the God of your father Abraham and the God of Isaac. I will give you and your descendants the land on which you now lie.
Genesis 32:12 But You have said, ‘I will surely make you prosper, and I will make your offspring like the sand of the sea, too numerous to count.’”