Genesis 47:31, Jacob's bed, or Jacob's staff?
Genesis 47:31 can describe Jacob bowing on his bed or on the top of his staff. The consonants המטה permit both senses; vowel pointing and the Greek translation divide the readings.
The APB text at this verse
The manuscripts, editions, and versions
The committee record at this verse
The APB's translation committee works blind: it is never told it is translating the Bible, never given a book name or a verse number, and it never sees the witnesses above. Since revision 3.5, the places where the manuscripts disagree are decided before translation by three readers, Grok 4.3, GPT-6 Astra, and Claude Fable 5.1, who see the readings and the witnesses by age and class but never a reference or a manuscript name. Whatever was done at this verse was done on the language and the evidence alone, and the record is public.
The committee’s printed text at Genesis 47:31 says, “And he swore to him, and Israel bowed upon the head of the bed.” Its pericope audit verdict is “clean,” and the record supplies no rationale note matching this crux. The printed wording thus shows a bed rendering at this verse, without a recorded explanation for it.
The argument for each reading
If “staff”
Reading A takes המטה as “staff.” Its principal support here is the LXX, which reads ἐπὶ τὸ ἄκρον τῆς ῥάβδου αὐτοῦ, “on the top of his staff.” That translation presents Israel bowing in relation to a staff rather than a bed. The packet also notes that Hebrews 11:21 quotes exactly this wording, so the staff phrasing is carried into that citation. Because the Hebrew consonants are identical for the two possibilities, the consonantal form itself does not exclude this sense. The case for staff therefore rests on the Greek rendering and its wording in Hebrews 11:21.
If “bed”
Reading B takes המטה as “bed.” The MT reads the same consonants with pointing that yields “bed,” and the packet states that the Masoretes pointed the word in that way. The Hebrew verse ends וישתחו ישראל על ראש המטה, which under this pointing describes Israel bowing upon the head of the bed. This is also the wording represented in the committee’s printed text. The case is not that different consonants demand “bed”: the consonantal text supports either reading. Rather, it is the MT’s vocalized form that supplies the bed sense.
What remains uncertain is which sense of the identical consonants המטה is intended here. The variation changes the object named at the end of Genesis 47:31, not the oath or the burial request in the printed passage. No doctrine is decided by bed or staff in this packet; doctrinal claims ordinarily rest on more than one passage.
Common questions
Why can the same Hebrew word mean bed or staff here?
The consonants are identical, המטה. The packet says that only the vowels, added a millennium later, decide between “bed” and “staff.”
Which witnesses support bed and which support staff in Genesis 47:31?
The MT supports “bed” through its pointing. The LXX supports “staff” with ἐπὶ τὸ ἄκρον τῆς ῥάβδου αὐτοῦ.
Does Hebrews 11:21 use the staff wording?
The packet states that Hebrews 11:21 quotes exactly the LXX wording, ἐπὶ τὸ ἄκρον τῆς ῥάβδου αὐτοῦ.
Related entries
Witness readings for critical editions are quoted from the SBLGNT apparatus (CC BY 4.0); Hebrew text from the Westminster Leningrad Codex (Open Scriptures Hebrew Bible). Readings of ancient manuscripts and versions are cited as published scholarly fact with their sources linked above. The page does not declare which reading is original.
The registry gives no verdict
The registry does not say which reading is original. Each page lists the witnesses, shows what the committee did with the same text, and leaves the judgment to the reader.