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Genesis 47:31

The New Testament’s use of Genesis

2 places · 2 kinds of echo

The source

He said, “Swear to me,” and he swore to him. Israel bowed himself on the bed’s head.

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Where this passage surfaces again, sorted by the strength of the link. Each kind of reuse — formal quotation, deliberate allusion, faint echo, figural pattern — carries its own mark. Follow any reference to read it in place.

Allusion1

A deliberate verbal borrowing without a citation formula.

Heb 11:8–22 ?

‘Jacob… worshiped, leaning on the top of his staff’ (v. 21) follows the Greek of Gen 47:31, which reads ‘staff’ (matteh) where the Hebrew has ‘bed’ (mittah) — the same unpointed consonants. Availability again (Hays): the author's Septuagint gave him the staff. The blessing of Joseph's sons (Gen 48) is alluded to in the same breath.

High confidence

Echo1

A fainter, low-volume reuse, carried by recurrence or thematic coherence.

Mark 5:35-43 ?

Death-as-sleep language (e.g., the patriarchs 'sleeping with their fathers,' a recurrent OT idiom) underlies Jesus' 'she is asleep' (v.39), prompting the mourners' ridicule because they hear only literal sleep. Faint, depending on the broader idiom rather than a single text; cited to register the OT availability of the metaphor.

Low confidence