Genesis 49:1

Summary

Jacob summons his sons and instructs them to gather so that he may declare to them what will happen to them "in the end of days." This verse serves as the introduction to the poetic blessings that follow in the rest of the chapter.

Key words

• va-yikra ("and he summoned", H7121G) — qal narrative verb form, marking the sequential action that opens the scene: Jacob's call precedes his speech.
• he'asefu ("gather yourselves", H0622) — niphal imperative, plural masculine; the niphal stem gives the command a reflexive/passive sense, "gather yourselves together," addressed to the sons collectively.
• 'aggidah ("let me tell", H5046) — hiphil form, expressing a causative nuance ("cause to be told/declared"), tied grammatically to the imperative by the conjunction ve ("and so"), showing purpose: gathering leads to the telling.
• 'asher ("that/which", H0834A) — relative particle introducing the content of what will be told, functioning as the object of 'aggidah.
• be-'acharit ha-yamim ("at the end of the days", H0319 + H9009 + H3117G) — construct phrase, 'acharit ("end of") governs ha-yamim ("the days"), forming a temporal expression that closes the verse.

What the text says

The Hebrew sentence is built from two paired narrative verbs, va-yikra ("and he summoned", H7121G) and va-yomer ("and he said", H0559), both in the qal narrative form typical of Biblical Hebrew storytelling: each marks a sequential step — first the summoning, then the speech. The object of the first verb is marked by the preposition 'el ("to", H0413) attached to banai ("his sons", H1121A), a construct noun with pronominal suffix meaning "his sons."

The reported speech itself contains two verbal forms in different stems: the niphal imperative he'asefu ("gather yourselves", H0622) and the hiphil form 'aggidah ("let me tell", H5046). The niphal stem of the imperative gives it a reflexive/collective coloring — the sons are told to bring themselves together — while the hiphil of the second verb carries a causative sense, "let me cause [this] to be declared." The conjunction ve ("so", H9002) links the two commands as cause and purpose: gathering enables the telling.

The content of what will be told is introduced by the relative particle 'asher ("that/which", H0834A), followed by a qal imperfect verb yikra ("it will happen to", H7122I) — note this is a different lexical entry (H7122I) from the earlier yikra ("he summoned", H7121G), though the consonantal form is identical, since Hebrew commonly distinguishes homographs by vocalization and context. The imperfect aspect indicates future or ongoing unfolding action, fitting the temporal phrase that ends the verse, be-'acharit ha-yamim ("at the end of the days", H0319/H3117G), a construct phrase pairing "end" with "the days."

Differences between versions

The LXX renders he'asefu as Synachthēte ("be gathered"), matching the collective sense of the niphal imperative. Where the Hebrew reads be-'acharit ha-yamim ("at the end of the days"), the LXX has ep' eschatōn tōn [hēmerōn] ("at the last of the [days]"), and the Vulgate gives in diebus novissimis ("in the newest/last days") — both render the construct phrase with a superlative-type expression for "last/end," rather than a strict construct "end of the days."