Genesis 49:10

Summary

Genesis 49:10 states that a shevet ("scepter", H7626) will not depart from Judah, nor a mechoqeq ("ruler's staff", H2710) from between his feet, until an entity or figure called Shiloh (H7886) arrives, at which point the yiqqehat ("obedience/gathering", H3349) of 'ammim ("peoples", H5971A) will belong to him.

Key words

• shevet ("a scepter", H7626) — masculine singular noun, a concrete object symbolizing tribal or royal authority, subject of the negated verb "will not depart."
• mechoqeq ("a ruler's staff", H2710) — piel participle, masculine singular; the participial form denotes an ongoing function or office ("the one who decrees/rules") rather than a fixed title, paired with shevet via the conjunction u- ("and", H9002).
• raglav ("his feet", H7272) — feminine dual noun in construct with the suffix -o ("his", H9023), forming the idiom "from between his feet," locating the staff physically/symbolically at Judah.
• Shiloh (H7886) — proper name, grammatically unmarked beyond being the subject of yavo' ("he will come", H0935G); the text gives no further grammatical clue to its referent (place, title, or person).
• yiqqehat 'ammim ("obedience of peoples", H3349 + H5971A) — a construct chain: yiqqehat is feminine singular construct, linked directly to the plural noun 'ammim, producing the genitive relation "the obedience/gathering belonging to peoples."

What the text says

The verse is built on a negated imperfect verb, lo' yasur ("it will not depart", H3808 + H5493H), governing two parallel subjects — shevet and mechoqeq — both associated with Judah through the preposition mi- ("from", H9006). This creates a two-part image: a scepter removed "from Judah" and a staff removed "from between his feet," the latter using a dual-construct noun for "feet" with a possessive suffix, an idiom tying the staff physically to the tribal figure.

The clause is limited by the temporal-conditional marker 'ad ki ("until", H5704 + H3588A), which introduces the imperfect verb yavo' ("he will come", H0935G) with Shiloh as its subject. The final clause uses the construct pair yiqqehat 'ammim, where the construct noun yiqqehat directly governs the plural 'ammim ("peoples"), expressing a relationship of belonging — "the obedience/gathering of peoples" — assigned to the referent via the preposition-plus-suffix lo ("to him", H9005+H9033).

Differences between versions

The LXX renders mechoqeq as ἡγούμενος ("leader"), a general term rather than a staff-object, and translates Shiloh not as a proper name but as τὰ ἀποκείμενα αὐτῷ ("the things stored up for him"). The Vulgate keeps sheVet as "sceptrum" but renders Shiloh as "qui mittendus est" ("he who is to be sent"), an interpretive gloss absent from the Hebrew's bare proper name. For the final clause, the Vulgate uses "expectatio gentium" ("expectation of the nations"), while RV1909 has "se congregarán" ("will gather") and BSB "allegiance... is his" — all differing renderings of the construct yiqqehat 'ammim.