Genesis 49:2

Gen 49:2 Gather yourselves together, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken unto Israel your father.

Ver. 2. Hear, ye sons of Jacob; and hearken.] Draw up the ears of your souls to the ears of your bodies, that one sound may pierce both at once. "Let him that hath an ear to hear, hear": not only with that outward gristle that grows upon his head, but with his utmost intention of mind, attention of body, and retention of memory, and of practice also, He that hears the word of God, must hear as ff he did, for so he doth, hear for life and death; he must, as Jacob bids his sons, "hear and hearken."

John Trapp, A Commentary or Exposition upon All the Books of the Old and New Testament (1647–1656) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Gen 49:2. Hearken, unto Israel your father — This chapter calls for our strictest attention, for it contains a number of predictions which were to be fulfilled at distant periods, through a long succession of ages; things depending upon so many various circumstances, upon such remote causes, so hid to all human view, so contrary to all appearances at the time they were spoken of, that it was impossible for any foresight or sagacity of man so much as to conjecture or imagine them. And yet they were all exactly and fully accomplished; many of them in distant ages, long after both the prophet and the recorder of the prophecies were dead. And surely nothing can give us a higher idea of the Scriptures, or more confirm our faith in them, than to observe events foretold in them, and spoken of with the most certain assurance, ages before they happened, and then to see all these things taking place accordingly. But what makes this chapter of still more value to us, and more worthy of our closest attention, is, that we have here a sure word prophecy, marking out the time and some peculiar circumstances of the coming of the Messiah so particularly as will furnish us with an invincible argument, that not only the Messiah is come, but also that Jesus, in whom we believe, is that Messiah: so that, being fully convinced in our hearts, as Peter was, (Joh 6:68-69,) we may say with him, “Lord, to whom shall we go? Thou hast the words of eternal life; and we believe and are sure thou art the Christ, the Son of the living God.”

Joseph Benson's Commentary on the Old and New Testaments (1811–1818) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

2. Assemble yourselves] This verse forms a kind of introduction to the main subject of the song.

and hear] The occurrence of the same Hebrew word for “hear” in the first clause, and for “hearken” in the second, is metrically a violation of the parallelism of Hebrew poetry. In English it is not apparent, as our rendering “hearken” avoids the repetition. Either “and hear” is a gloss, or another Hebrew word stood for “hearken.” Cf. Deu_32:1; Isa_1:10.

Jacob … Israel] The use of these proper names concurrently is frequent in Israelite poetry. Here it is evidence of the somewhat formal poetical prelude to the main song. Cf. Psa_105:23. The names emphasize the national character of the oracle, which is put into the mouth of the patriarch, and has reference to the fortunes of the twelve tribes.

The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (gen. ed. J. J. S. Perowne; Cambridge University Press, 1878–1918) — public domain. Text from a community e-Sword module.

Gather yourselves together,.... This is repeated to hasten them, and to suggest that he had something of importance to make known unto them, which he chose to do, when they were together:

and hear, ye sons of Jacob, and hearken to Israel your father: these words are used and doubled to excite their attention to what he was about to say, and which is urged from the near relation there was between them.

John Gill's Exposition of the Whole Bible (1746–1763) — public domain (CC PDM 1.0). Text via the HelloAO Bible API.

Hearken to Israel your father - Let Israel that has prevailed with God, prevail with you.

John Wesley, Explanatory Notes Upon the Whole Bible (1754–1765) — public domain. Text via the GEBible commentary corpus.

הקבצו ושמעו, this was the introduction to his prophetic utterances, just as in Moses’ parting speech to the nation the words האזינו השמים והארץ (Deut. 32,1) were the opening line. The prophetess Devorah in her victory song extolling G’d, (Judges 5,3) also began with a similar opening, i.e. שמעו מלכים, “listen, pay attention, kings!”

Radak on the Tanakh — English translations: “Sefaria Community Translation” (CC0 1.0 (public-domain dedication)); “Eliyahu Munk, HaChut Hameshulash” (CC BY 4.0); “Rabbi Mike Feuer, Jerusalem Anthology” (CC BY 4.0); and “R. David Kimhi on the first book of Psalms, Translated by R.G. Finch, London, 1919” (public domain). Text via Sefaria.