Blessed above sons be Asher: or “May God bless the tribe of Asher more than all the other tribes.” Sons here are the twelve sons of Jacob, that is, the twelve tribes. Another way to express this is “People of the tribe of Asher, may the LORD love you and be kinder to you than to the other tribes.”

Be the favorite of his brothers: that is, God’s favorite among the twelve brothers—not his brothers’ favorite.

Let him dip his foot in oil: this is a picture of prosperity; it is talking about olive oil, not petroleum, and means an abundance of productive olive trees. The tribe of Asher occupied rich land along the Mediterranean coastline. A possible model for this line is “May your olive trees bear abundantly [or, have many olives]”; but some translators will wish to keep the poetic picture: “May your olive trees bear so many olives that you will have enough oil even to dip your feet in.”

Quoted with permission from Bratcher, Robert G. and Hatton, Howard A. A Handbook on Deuteronomy. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 2000. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .