Show Bible Commentary For A Bible Verse

Click here to show/hide instructions.

Selected Verse: Genesis 47:31 - Strong Concordance

Verse	Translation	Text
Ge 47:31	Strong Concordance	And he said [0559], Swear [07650] unto me. And he sware [07650] unto him. And Israel [03478] bowed [07812] himself upon the bed's [04296] head [07218].
	King James	And he said, Swear unto me. And he sware unto him. And Israel bowed himself upon the bed's head.

Summary Of Commentaries Associated With The Selected Verse

Open All | Close All Open All | Close All

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]
Israel bowed himself upon the bed's head--Oriental beds are mere mats, having no head, and the translation should be "the top of his staff," as the apostle renders it (Heb 11:21).

A Commentary, Critical, Practical, and Explanatory on the Old and New Testaments, by Robert Jamieson, A.R. Fausset and David Brown [1882]

Israel bowed himself upon the bed's head--Oriental beds are mere mats, having no head, and the translation should be "the top of his staff," as the apostle renders it (Heb 11:21).

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826
And Israel bowed himself upon the bed's head - Jacob was now both old and feeble, and we may suppose him reclined on his couch when Joseph came; that he afterwards sat up erect (see Gen 48:2) while conversing with his son, and receiving his oath and promise; and that when this was finished he bowed himself upon the bed's head - exhausted with the conversation, he again reclined himself on his bed as before. This seems to be the simple meaning, which the text unconnected with any religious system or prejudice, naturally proposes. But because שחה shachah, signifies not only to bow but to worship, because acts of religious worship were performed by bowing or prostration, and because מטה mittah, a bed, by the change of the points, only becomes matteh, a staff, in which sense the Septuagint took it, translating the original words thus: Και προσεκυνησεν Ισραηλ επι το ακρον της ῥαβδου αυτου, and Israel worshipped upon the top of his staff, which the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, Heb 11:21, quotes literatim; therefore some have supposed that Jacob certainly had a carved image on the head or top of his staff, to which he paid a species of adoration; or that he bowed himself to the staff or scepter of Joseph, thus fulfilling the prophetic import of his son's dreams! The sense of the Hebrew text is given above. If the reader prefers the sense of the Septuagint and the Epistle to the Hebrews, the meaning is, that Jacob, through feebleness, supported himself with a staff, and that, when he got the requisite assurance from Joseph that his dead body should be carried to Canaan, leaning on his staff be bowed his head in adoration to God, who had supported him all his life long, and hitherto fulfilled all his promises.

Adam Clarke Commentary on the Whole Bible - Published 1810-1826

And Israel bowed himself upon the bed's head - Jacob was now both old and feeble, and we may suppose him reclined on his couch when Joseph came; that he afterwards sat up erect (see Gen 48:2) while conversing with his son, and receiving his oath and promise; and that when this was finished he bowed himself upon the bed's head - exhausted with the conversation, he again reclined himself on his bed as before. This seems to be the simple meaning, which the text unconnected with any religious system or prejudice, naturally proposes. But because שחה shachah, signifies not only to bow but to worship, because acts of religious worship were performed by bowing or prostration, and because מטה mittah, a bed, by the change of the points, only becomes matteh, a staff, in which sense the Septuagint took it, translating the original words thus: Και προσεκυνησεν Ισραηλ επι το ακρον της ῥαβδου αυτου, and Israel worshipped upon the top of his staff, which the writer of the Epistle to the Hebrews, Heb 11:21, quotes literatim; therefore some have supposed that Jacob certainly had a carved image on the head or top of his staff, to which he paid a species of adoration; or that he bowed himself to the staff or scepter of Joseph, thus fulfilling the prophetic import of his son's dreams! The sense of the Hebrew text is given above. If the reader prefers the sense of the Septuagint and the Epistle to the Hebrews, the meaning is, that Jacob, through feebleness, supported himself with a staff, and that, when he got the requisite assurance from Joseph that his dead body should be carried to Canaan, leaning on his staff be bowed his head in adoration to God, who had supported him all his life long, and hitherto fulfilled all his promises.

Top