myBibleHistory

Journey of a Passage

Genesis 47:31

Bed or staff? Same letters, two readings

Israel bowed "upon the bed's head" in the Hebrew, but "upon the top of his staff" in the Greek, which Hebrews 11:21 quotes. The Hebrew consonants are the same; the vowels differ.

Same letters, different readings: the consonants agree, but ancient readers vocalized or interpreted them differently

The family tree

Each row is a language or text tradition. Witnesses in the same row may share ancestry, revise one another, or have an uncertain relationship; the line under each box says which. A solid arrow appears only where direct copying or a documented revised edition is established. Order by date never implies copying. Scroll sideways on a phone.

✓ contains it · ✕ does not · ❝ quotes part of it · ⓘ reports on manuscripts · ▢ pages lost · – no copy survives

  • Same line, through lost copies
  • Translation
  • Related (shared ancestry)
Hebrew
  1. Original GenesisUnknown (debated)
  2. Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)AD 1008Descends, through lost copies, from Original Genesis
  3. Samaritan PentateuchAncient tradition; medieval copiesDescends, through lost copies, from Original Genesis
Greek
  1. SeptuagintTranslated c. 250 BCTranslated from a consonantal Hebrew text, read as "staff"
  2. Hebrews 11:211st century ADRelated witness to Septuagint
Latin
  1. Jerome's Vulgatec. AD 400Translated from Hebrew texts and Jewish reading tradition of Jerome's day
English
  1. King James Bible1611Translated from printed Masoretic Hebrew (and the Greek in Hebrews)

One word, two vowel patterns

Consonants (as originally written)
מטה (m-ṭ-h)
Read as mittah
"bed": Masoretic Text, Vulgate, KJV and most English translations of Genesis
Read as matteh
"staff": Septuagint, Hebrews 11:21

Every witness, in order

  1. Unknown (debated)

    Original Genesis

    – No copy survives

    Written in consonants only. Ancient Hebrew did not write vowels.

  2. Translated c. 250 BC

    Septuagint

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from a consonantal Hebrew text, read as "staff"

    How the site knows this: Reported in scholarship; not checked by the site.

    Israel bowed in worship upon the top of his staff.

    The translators read the word as matteh, "staff" (Greek rhabdos).

  3. 1st century AD

    Hebrews 11:21

    ❝ Quotes or alludes to part of itRelated witness to Septuagint

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: the Greek New Testament editions in the library (Textus Receptus, Byzantine Textform, Statistical Restoration).

    προσεκύνησεν ἐπὶ τὸ ἄκρον τῆς ῥάβδου αὐτοῦ

    …worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff.

    The letter to the Hebrews quotes the Greek reading.

  4. c. AD 400

    Jerome's Vulgate

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from Hebrew texts and Jewish reading tradition of Jerome's day

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Clementine Vulgate (1592 edition).

    adoravit Israel Deum, conversus ad lectuli caput

    Israel worshipped God, turning to the head of the bed.

    Jerome follows the Jewish reading tradition, "bed," centuries before the Masoretes wrote vowels down.

  5. AD 1008

    Masoretic Text (Leningrad Codex)

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from Original Genesis

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Westminster Leningrad Codex, a digital transcription of the Leningrad Codex.

    וַיִּשְׁתַּחוּ יִשְׂרָאֵל עַל־רֹאשׁ הַמִּטָּה

    And Israel bowed himself upon the head of the bed.

    The Masoretes' vowel points read mittah, "bed." Their vowels record a reading tradition much older than the codex, as Jerome's translation shows.

  6. Ancient tradition; medieval copies

    Samaritan Pentateuch

    ✓ Contains this passageDescends, through lost copies, from Original Genesis

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: Samaritan Pentateuch, Kennicott's 1780 text digitized by A. Sigalov.

    וישתחוי ישראל על ראש המטה

    And Israel bowed upon the head of the mṭh

    The same consonants, mṭh, without vowels. They can be read mittah, "bed," or matteh, "staff."

    A Samaritan Torah scroll
    Historical manuscriptImage credit

    Pictured: a Samaritan Torah scroll, not this verse.

  7. 1611

    King James Bible

    ✓ Contains this passageTranslated from printed Masoretic Hebrew (and the Greek in Hebrews)

    How the site knows this: Read in the site's library text: King James Version (1769 text).

    Israel bowed himself upon the bed's head.

    "Bed" in Genesis 47:31; "staff" in Hebrews 11:21, faithfully translating each source.

What changed, and why

Ancient Hebrew was written without vowels. Readers supplied them from knowledge and tradition. The Masoretes, between about AD 600 and 1000, added vowel marks to preserve the traditional pronunciation. Here, the same three letters can mean two different things.

Neither reading changes the story: a dying man bowing in worship. But it shows how the New Testament could quote a reading that differs from the standard Hebrew without anyone altering the letters.

What the evidence shows

  • Independently documentedThe Hebrew consonants mṭh can be read "bed" or "staff."

    Source: NET Bible translators' note on Genesis 47:31 ↗

  • Independently documentedThe Septuagint and Hebrews 11:21 read "staff"; the Masoretic vowels and the Vulgate read "bed."
  • Not independently verifiedWhich reading the author intended. Both are grammatically possible.

Sources

Related lessons

  • Joseph Reveals Himself →Joseph reveals himself and forgives his brothers. Jacob's whole family, seventy in the Hebrew count, settles in Goshen, while Joseph's policies bring Egypt's land under Pharaoh.
  • Scribes, Jerome, and the Masoretes →Jerome gave the West its Latin Bible; Jewish scholars called the Masoretes guarded the Hebrew text letter by letter.