“Gilead is Mine, Manasseh is Mine; Ephraim also is the helmet of My head; Judah is My scepter.
Parallel translations
- WEB Gilead is mine. Manasseh is mine. Ephraim also is my helmet. Judah is my scepter.
- KJV Gilead is mine; Manasseh is mine; Ephraim also is the strength of mine head; Judah is my lawgiver;
- BSB Gilead is Mine, and Manasseh is Mine; Ephraim is My helmet, Judah is My scepter.
- NKJV Gilead is Mine; Manasseh is Mine; Ephraim also is the helmet for My head; Judah is My lawgiver.
- NLT Gilead is mine, and Manasseh, too. Ephraim, my helmet, will produce my warriors, and Judah, my scepter, will produce my kings.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
God claims Gilead and Manasseh, with Ephraim as helmet and Judah as scepter.
Overview
Using vivid imagery, God asserts ownership over the tribal territories, with Ephraim representing military strength and Judah royal rule. The scepter belonging to Judah recalls the promise that the ruler would come from that tribe. This points forward to the Lion of Judah, Jesus Christ, in whom God's royal rule is finally established.
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 7
- Gen 49:10The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs. To him will the obedience of the peoples be.
- Ps 122:5For there are set thrones for judgment, the thrones of David’s house.
- 2 Sam 2:8Now Abner the son of Ner, captain of Saul’s army, had taken Ishbosheth the son of Saul, and brought him over to Mahanaim;
- Josh 13:8–11With him the Reubenites and the Gadites received their inheritance, which Moses gave them, beyond the Jordan eastward, even as Moses the servant of Yahweh gave them:
- 1 Sam 28:4The Philistines gathered themselves together, and came and encamped in Shunem; and Saul gathered all Israel together, and they encamped in Gilboa.
- Deut 33:17The firstborn of his herd, majesty is his. His horns are the horns of the wild ox. With them he will push all the peoples, to the ends of the earth. They are the ten thousands of Ephraim. They are the thousands of Manasseh.”
- 2 Sam 5:5In Hebron he reigned over Judah seven years and six months; and in Jerusalem he reigned thirty-three years over all Israel and Judah.
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Christ at the center
The Psalms are Christ's own prayer book and a gallery of his portraits — the suffering one of Psalm 22, the risen Lord of Psalm 16, the priest-king of Psalm 110, the Son to whom the nations are given.
How Psalms 108:8 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
Each word below is tagged with its Strong’s number — tap one to see the underlying Hebrew word, its meaning, and every verse that uses it.