Paragraph 17:14–18
17:14a
Then the sons of Joseph said to Joshua: The clan of Joseph includes both the clans of Ephraim and Manasseh. Ephraim and Manasseh were the two sons of Joseph.
Here are some other ways to translate this part of the verse:
The people of the clan of Joseph went to Joshua and asked him
-or-
One day the descendants of Joseph said to Joshua
17:14b
Why have you given us only one portion as an inheritance: The Hebrew text considers the clan of Joseph as a single entity. Because the clan of Joseph included many people, it is more natural to translate the Hebrew pronoun “me” with a plural pronoun us.
only one portion: In the phrase one portion refers to the area of land that Joshua had assigned to the clan of Joseph. In some languages it may be clearer to translate this phrase as:
one piece of land
Here are some other ways to translate this part of the verse:
Why did you (sing.) give us (excl.) only one share of land to be our own?
-or-
Why have you given just one area of land for our clan to own?
17:14c
We have many people: The clause We have many people indicates that the clan of Joseph had many people in it.
Here is another way to translate this phrase:
even though there are many of us
because the LORD has blessed us abundantly: The clause the LORD has blessed us indicates that Yahweh gave the clan of Joseph many descendants.
Here are some other ways to translate this part of the verse:
We (excl.) have many people in our clan because Yahweh has blessed us
-or-
Yahweh has blessed our clan with many descendants. So now we are a large group of people
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