 | VaYechi |  |
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| | 48:22 |
In addition to what your brothers shall share, I am giving you Shechem, which I took from the Amorite with my sword and bow.'
Va'ani natati lecha Shchem achad al-acheycha asher lakachti miyad ha'Emori becharbi uvekashti. |
| 49:1 |
Fourth Reading
Jacob called for his sons. [When they came,] he said, 'Come together, and I will tell you what will happen in the course of time.
Vayikra Ya'akov el-banav vayomer he'asefu ve'agidah lachem et asher-yikra etchem be'acharit hayamim. |
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Commentary:
Shechem
See Genesis 12:6, 33:18. (Targum Yonathan; Rashi; Ibn Ezra). See Joshua 24:32. Others translate the word shechem here as 'a portion' (Onkelos; Rashi). The word literally means a 'shoulder,' and some interpret it to mean a hill.
| Amorite
See Genesis 10:16, 14:7, 15:16, 15:21. Some take 'Amorite' as a generic term for all the tribes of Canaan (Ibn Ezra).
| sword and bow
This may allude to the wars that Jacob's sons fought against the Amorites after the Shechem massacre (Targum Yonathan; Bereshith Rabbah 97. Cf. Yov'loth 34; Tzavaath Yehudah 3; Sefer HaYashar, p. 98ff; Midrash VaYisu; MeAm Lo'ez/The Torah Anthology 3:219ff.). According to others, it may allude to the Shechem massacre itself (Sh'muel ben Chofni Gaon; Ibn Ezra). Others render the Hebrew as 'with my prayer and supplication' (Onkelos; Mekhilta, BeShalach 2; Rashi).
| in the course of time
Literally, 'at the end of days.' Compare Moses' blessing; Deuteronomy 33.
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