Bible Strands
Genesis 49:22
Joseph is a fruitful vine—a fruitful vine by a spring, whose branches scale the wall.
Berean Standard Bible
Follow its threads on the canvas →
Study note
Setting — Jacob addresses his twelve sons at the end of his life, pronouncing a prophetic blessing over Joseph.
The words — The text employs פֹּרָת (po.Rat), a fruit-bearer, and עָ֑יִן ('A.yin), a spring, to establish the metaphor of cultivated life.
The thread — This motif of divine fruitfulness appears in Genesis 41:52, where Joseph names his son Ephraim for God's fruitfulness in affliction, and Psalm 128:3, which likens a wife to a fruitful vine.
Why it lands — The verse requires the reader to acknowledge that Joseph's prosperity stems from God's provision rather than natural advantage, while the immediate context of Genesis 49:23 forces recognition that this blessing operates under active, hostile opposition.
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
Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well; whose branches run over the wall:
Cross-references
- Genesis 41:52 And the second son he named Ephraim, saying, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”
- Psalms 1:1 Blessed is the man who does not walk in the counsel of the wicked, or set foot on the path of sinners, or sit in the seat of mockers.
- Psalms 128:3 Your wife will be like a fruitful vine flourishing within your house, your sons like olive shoots sitting around your table.
- Genesis 30:22 Then God remembered Rachel. He listened to her and opened her womb,
- Genesis 46:27 And with the two sons who had been born to Joseph in Egypt, the members of Jacob’s family who went to Egypt were seventy in all.
- Joshua 16:1 The allotment for the descendants of Joseph extended from the Jordan at Jericho to the waters of Jericho on the east, through the wilderness that goes up from Jericho into the hill country of Bethel.
- Joshua 17:14 Then the sons of Joseph said to Joshua, “Why have you given us only one portion as an inheritance? We have many people, because the LORD has blessed us abundantly.”
- Genesis 48:1 Some time later Joseph was told, “Your father is ill.” So he set out with his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.
- Genesis 48:5 And 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.
- Genesis 48:16 the angel who has redeemed me from all harm—may He bless these boys. And may they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they grow into a multitude upon the earth.”