Genesis 46 · Verse 20

Genesis 46:20

And unto Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, which Asenath the daughter of Poti–pherah priest of On bare unto him.

Genesis 46:20, King James Version

Genesis 46:20 in other translations

BSB	Manasseh and Ephraim were born to Joseph in the land of Egypt by Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On.
WEB	To Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, bore to him.
ASV	And unto Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera priest of On, bare unto him.
YLT	And born to Joseph in the land of Egypt (whom Asenath daughter of Poti-Pherah, priest of On, hath borne to him) are Manasseh and Ephraim.
DARBY	And to Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asnath bore to him, the daughter of Potipherah the priest in On.
BBE	And Joseph had Manasseh and Ephraim in the land of Egypt, by Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera, priest of On.
Webster	And to Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath the daughter of Poti-pherah priest of On bore to him.

What does Genesis 46:20 mean?

Jamieson-Fausset-Brown on Genesis 46:8-27

8-27. all the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt, were threescore and ten--Strictly speaking, there were only sixty-six went to Egypt; but to these add Joseph and his two sons, and Jacob the head of the clan, and the whole number amounts to seventy. In the speech of Stephen (Ac 7:14) the number is stated to be seventy-five; but as that estimate includes five sons of Ephraim and Manasseh (1Ch…

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Adam Clarke's Commentary

Verse 20 Unto Joseph - were born Manasseh and Ephraim - There is a remarkable addition here in the Septuagint, which must be noticed: Εγενοντο δε υἱοι Μανασση, οὑς ετεκεν αυτῳ ἡ παλλακη ἡ Συρα, τον Μαχιρ· Μαχιρ δε εγεννησε τον Γαλααδ. Υἱοι δε Εφραιμ αδελφου Μανασσῃ, Σουταλααμ και Τααμ. Υἱοι δε Σουταλααμ, Εδεμ· These were the sons of Manasseh whom his Syrian concubine bore unto him: Machir; and Machir begat Galaad. The sons of Ephraim, Manasseh's brother, were Sutalaam and Taam; and the sons of Sutalaam, Edem. These add five persons to the list, and make out the number given by Stephen, Act 7:14, which it seems he had taken from the text of the Septuagint, unless we could suppose that the text of Stephen had been altered to make it correspond to the Septuagint, of which there is not the slightest evidence from ancient MSS. or versions. The addition in the Septuagint is not found in either the Hebrew or the Samaritan at present; and some suppose that it was taken either from Num 26:29, Num 26:35, or 1Chr 7:14-20, but in none of these places does the addition appear as it stands in the Septuagint, thought some of the names are found interspersed. Various means have been proposed to find the seventy persons in the text, and to reconcile the Hebrew with the Septuagint and the New Testament. A table given by Scheuchzer, extracted from the Memoires de Trevoux, gives the following general view: The Twelve Sons of Jacob with Their Children and Grandchildren. Reuben and his four sons 5 Simeon and his six sons 7 Levi and his three sons 4 Judah and his seven sons and grandsons 8 Issachar and his four sons 5 Zebulun and his three sons 4 Total sons of Jacob and Leah 33 Gad and his seven sons 8 Asher and his seven sons and grandsons 8 Total sons of Jacob and Zilpah 16 Joseph and his two sons 3 Benjamin and his ten sons 11 Total sons of Jacob and Rachel 14 Dan and his son 2 Naphtali and his four sons 5 Total sons of Jacob and Bilhah 7 Total sons of Jacob and his four wives 70 "To harmonize this with the Septuagint and St. Stephen, Act 7:14, to the number sixty-six (all the souls that came out of Jacob's loins, Gen 46:26) add nine of the patriarchs' wives, Judah's wife being already dead in Canaan, (Gen 38:12), Benjamin being supposed to be as yet unmarried, and the wife of Joseph being already in Egypt, and therefore out of the case: the number will amount to seventy-five, which is that found in the Acts." - Universal History. Dr. Hales' method is more simple, and I think more satisfactory: "Moses states that all the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt which issued from his loins, (except his sons wives), were sixty-six souls, Gen 46:26; and this number is thus collected: Jacob's Family Jacob's children, eleven sons and one daughter 12 Reuben's sons 4 Simeon's sons 6 Levi's sons 3 Judah's three sons and two grandsons 5 Issachar's sons 4 Zebulun's sons 3 Gad's sons 7 Asher's four sons, one daughter, and two grandsons 7 Dan's son 1 Naphtali's sons 4 Benjamin's sons 10 Total 66 "If to these sixty-six children, and grandchildren, and great grandchildren, we add Jacob himself, Joseph and his two sons, the amount is seventy, the whole amount of Jacob's family which settled in Egypt. "In this statement the wives of Jacob's sons, who formed part of the household, are omitted; but they amounted to nine, for of the twelve wives of the twelve sons of Jacob, Judah's wife was dead, Gen 38:12, and Simeon's also, as we may collect from his youngest son Shaul by a Canannitess, Gen 46:10, and Joseph's wife was already in Egypt. These nine wives, therefore, added to the sixty-six, give seventy-five souls the whole amount of Jacob's household that went down with him to Egypt; critically corresponding with the statement in the New Testament, that 'Joseph sent for his father Jacob and all his kindred, amounting to seventy-five souls.' The expression all his kindred, including the wives which were Joseph's kindred, not only by affinity, but also by consanguinity, being probably of the families of Esau, Ishmael, or Keturah. Thus does the New Testament furnish an admirable comment on the Old." - Analysis, vol. ii., p. 159. It is necessary to observe that this statement, which appears on the whole the most consistent, supposes that Judah was married when about fourteen years of age, his son Er at the same age, Pharez at the same, Asher and his fourth son Beriah under twenty, Benjamin about fifteen, and Joseph's sons and grandsons about twenty. But this is not improbable, as the children of Israel must all have married at a very early age, to have produced in about two hundred and fifteen years no less than six hundred thousand persons above twenty years old, besides women and children.

Adam Clarke, 1831 · public domain

Matthew Henry's Concise Commentary on Genesis 46:5-27

We have here a particular account of Jacob's family. Though the fulfilling of promises is always sure, yet it is often slow. It was now 215 years since God had promised Abraham to make of him a great nation, ch. 12:2; yet that branch of his seed, to which the promise was made sure, had only increased to seventy, of whom this particular account is kept, to show the power of God in making these seventy become a vast…

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Genesis 46:20 in the original Hebrew

Word-by-word with transliteration, English gloss and Strong's number. Tap a number for the full definition and every place the word is used.

וַיִּוָּלֵ֣דvai.yi.va.Ledand it was bornH3205

לְיוֹסֵף֮le.yo.Sefto JosephH3130

בְּאֶ֣רֶץbe.'E.retzin [the] land ofH776

מִצְרַיִם֒mitz.ra.YimEgyptH4714

אֲשֶׁ֤ר'a.Sher[those] whomH834

יָֽלְדָה\־Yal.dah-she boreH3205

לּוֹ֙loto him

אָֽסְנַ֔ת'a.se.NatAsenathH621

בַּת\־bat-[the] daughter ofH1323

פּ֥וֹטִיPo.tiPoti-H6319

פֶ֖רַעFe.ra'-pheraH6319

כֹּהֵ֣ןko.Hen[the] priest ofH3548

אֹ֑ן'OnOnH204

אֶת\־'et-<obj.>H853

מְנַשֶּׁ֖הme.na.ShehManassehH4519

וְאֶת\־ve.'Etand <obj.>H853

אֶפְרָֽיִם\׃'ef.Ra.yimEphraimH669

Source: STEPBible TAHOT/TAGNT (Tyndale House, CC BY 4.0).

Cross references for Genesis 46:20

Genesis 41:50-52
And unto Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, which Asenath the daughter of Poti–pherah priest of On bare unto him. And Joseph called the name of the firstborn Manasseh: For God, said he, hath made me forget all my toil, and all my father’s house. And the name of the second called he Ephraim: For God hath caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.
Genesis 41:45
And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphnath–paaneah; and he gave him to wife Asenath the daughter of Poti–pherah priest of On. And Joseph went out over all the land of Egypt.
Deuteronomy 33:13-17
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, And for the precious fruits brought forth by the sun, and for the precious things put forth by the moon, And for the chief things of the ancient mountains, and for the precious things of the lasting hills, And for the precious things of the earth and fulness thereof, and for the good will of him that dwelt in the bush: let the blessing come upon the head of Joseph, and upon the top of the head of him that was separated from his brethren. …
1 Chronicles 7:14-29
The sons of Manasseh; Ashriel, whom she bare: (but his concubine the Aramitess bare Machir the father of Gilead: And Machir took to wife the sister of Huppim and Shuppim, whose sister’s name was Maachah;) and the name of the second was Zelophehad: and Zelophehad had daughters. And Maachah the wife of Machir bare a son, and she called his name Peresh; and the name of his brother was Sheresh; and his sons were Ulam and Rakem. And the sons of Ulam; Bedan. These were the sons of Gilead, the son of Machir, the son of Manasseh. …
Numbers 1:32-35
Of the children of Joseph, namely, of the children of Ephraim, by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war; Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Ephraim, were forty thousand and five hundred. Of the children of Manasseh, by their generations, after their families, by the house of their fathers, according to the number of the names, from twenty years old and upward, all that were able to go forth to war; Those that were numbered of them, even of the tribe of Manasseh, were thirty and two thousand and two hundred.
Genesis 48:4-5
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. And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine.
Numbers 26:28-37
The sons of Joseph after their families were Manasseh and Ephraim. Of the sons of Manasseh: of Machir, the family of the Machirites: and Machir begat Gilead: of Gilead come the family of the Gileadites. These are the sons of Gilead: of Jeezer, the family of the Jeezerites: of Helek, the family of the Helekites: And of Asriel, the family of the Asrielites: and of Shechem, the family of the Shechemites: …
Genesis 48:20
And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.
Genesis 48:13-14
And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them near unto him. And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn.
1 Chronicles 5:23-26
And the children of the half tribe of Manasseh dwelt in the land: they increased from Bashan unto Baal–hermon and Senir, and unto mount Hermon. And these were the heads of the house of their fathers, even Epher, and Ishi, and Eliel, and Azriel, and Jeremiah, and Hodaviah, and Jahdiel, mighty men of valour, famous men, and heads of the house of their fathers. And they transgressed against the God of their fathers, and went a whoring after the gods of the people of the land, whom God destroyed before them. And the God of Israel stirred up the spirit of Pul king of Assyria, and the spirit of Tilgath–pilneser king of Assyria, and he carried them away, even the Reubenites, and the Gadites, and the half tribe of Manasseh, and brought them unto Halah, and Habor, and Hara, and to the river Gozan, unto this day.

Ranked by reader votes · OpenBible.info cross references (CC BY).

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge

Manasseh.
41:50-52; 48:4,5,13,14,20; Nu 1:32-35; 26:28-37; De 33:13-17
1Ch 5:23-26; 7:14-29
priest. or, prince.
41:45,50; *marg:

Treasury of Scripture Knowledge (Samuel Bagster, c. 1836) · public domain

Context

Genesis 46:19
The sons of Rachel Jacob’s wife; Joseph, and Benjamin.
Genesis 46:20
And unto Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, which Asenath the daughter of Poti–pherah priest of On bare unto him.
Genesis 46:21
And the sons of Benjamin were Belah, and Becher, and Ashbel, Gera, and Naaman, Ehi, and Rosh, Muppim, and Huppim, and Ard.

Read all of Genesis 46

Genesis 46:20 in other languages

Spanish Reina-Valera 1909	Y nacieron á José en la tierra de Egipto Manasés y Ephraim, los que le parió Asenath, hija de Potipherah, sacerdote de On.
French Bible J.N. Darby 1885	Et il naquit à Joseph, dans le pays d’Égypte, Manassé et Éphraïm, que lui enfanta Asnath, fille de Poti-Phéra, sacrificateur d’On.
German Elberfelder 1871	Und dem Joseph wurden im Lande Ägypten Manasse und Ephraim geboren, welche Asnath ihm gebar, die Tochter Potipheras, des Priesters von On.
Latin Clementine Vulgate	Natique sunt Joseph filii in terra Ægypti, quos genuit ei Aseneth filia Putiphare sacerdotis Heliopoleos: Manasses et Ephraim.