Genesis 41:50
Translations
King James Version (KJV)
And to Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, which Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On bore to him.
American King James Version (AKJV)
And to Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, which Asenath the daughter of Potipherah priest of On bore to him.
American Standard Version (ASV)
And unto Joseph were born two sons before the year of famine came, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bare unto him.
Basic English Translation (BBE)
And before the time of need, Joseph had two sons, to whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera, priest of On, gave birth.
Webster's Revision
And to Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came: which Asenath the daughter of Poti-pherah priest of On bore to him.
World English Bible
To Joseph were born two sons before the year of famine came, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore to him.
English Revised Version (ERV)
And unto Joseph were born two sons before the year of famine came, which Asenath the daughter of Poti-phera priest of On bare unto him.
Clarke's Genesis 41:50 Bible Commentary
Two sons - Whom he called by names expressive of God's particular and bountiful providence towards him. Manasseh, מנשה menashsheh, signifies forgetfulness, from נשה nashah, to forget; and Ephraim, אפרים ephrayim, fruitfulness, from פרה parah, to be fruitful; and he called his sons by these names, because God had enabled him to forget all his toil, disgrace, and affliction, and had made him fruitful in the very land in which he had suffered the greatest misfortune and indignities.
Barnes's Genesis 41:50 Bible Commentary
Two sons were born to Joseph during the seven years of plenty. "Menasseh." God made him forget his toil and his father's house. Neither absolutely. He remembered his toils in the very utterance of this sentence. And he tenderly and intensely remembered his father's house. But he is grateful to God, who builds him a home, with all its soothing joys, even in the land of his exile. His heart again responds to long untasted joys. "Fruitful in the land of my affliction." It is still, we perceive, the land of his affliction. But why does no message go from Joseph to his mourning father? For many reasons. First, he does not know the state of things at home. Secondly, he may not wish to open up the dark and bloody treachery of his brothers to his aged parent. But, thirdly, he bears in mind those early dreams of his childhood. All his subsequent experience has confirmed him in the belief that they will one day be fulfilled. But that fulfillment implies the submission not only of his brothers, but of his father. This is too delicate a matter for him to interfere in. He will leave it entirely to the all-wise providence of his God to bring about that strange issue. Joseph, therefore, is true to his life-long character. He leaves all in the hand of God, and awaits in anxious, but silent hope, the days when he will see his father and his brethren.
Wesley's Genesis 41:50 Bible Commentary
41:50 Two sons - In the names he gave them, he owned the divine Providence giving this happy turn to his affairs. He was made to forget his misery, but could he be so unnatural as to forget all his father's house? And he was made fruitful in the land of his affliction. It had been the land of his affliction, and, in some sense, it was still so, for his distance from his father was still his affliction.Ephraim signifies fruitfulness, and Manasseh forgetfulness.
