Assemble and hear, O sons of Jacob: Assemble translates a different verb than “gather” in verse 1, but the sense is the same. In the poetic parallelism of this verse, hear is repeated in the second line, where Revised Standard Version translates it as hearken. See Good News Translation, which has “listen … listen.” In the expression O sons of Jacob, O is used by Revised Standard Version to express poetically that he is addressing them formally. Note that Good News Translation does not use this form. In some languages it will be necessary to make clear that Jacob is speaking to his own sons; for example, “you [plural] my sons” or “you [plural] who are my sons.”

The second line repeats not only hear (hearken) but also Jacob (Israel). If Jacob is replaced by “my” in the first line, it may be best to omit Israel in the second line or say “listen to your father.”

Quoted with permission from Reyburn, William D. and Fry, Euan McG. A Handbook on Genesis. (UBS Helps for Translators). New York: UBS, 1997. For this and other handbooks for translators see here .