Gn 48:1Now after these things Joseph was told, Your father is sick. So he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.
Gn 48:2And someone told Jacob and said, Your son Joseph is coming to you. So Israel strengthened himself and sat up on his bed.
Gn 48:3And Jacob said to Joseph, The All-sufficient God appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me.
Gn 48:4And He said to me, Behold, I am going to make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make of you a company of peoples and will give this land to your seed after you for an everlasting possession.
Gn 48:5And now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are.
Gn 48:6And your offspring whom you beget after them will be yours; they will be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance.
Gn 48:7And as for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died to my sorrow in the land of Canaan on the way, while there was still some distance to go to Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).
Gn 48:8And when Israel saw Joseph’s sons, he said, Who are these?
Gn 48:9And Joseph said to his father, They are my sons, whom God has given to me here. And he said, Bring them to me, please, that I may bless them.
Gn 48:10Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age, and he could not see. So Joseph brought them near to him, and he kissed them and embraced them.
Gn 48:11And Israel said to Joseph, I never expected to see your face, and now God has let me see your seed also.
Gn 48:12And Joseph brought them out from between his knees and bowed himself with his face to the ground.
Gn 48:13And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel’s left hand and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them near to him.
Gn 48:14But Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it upon Ephraim’s head — although he was the younger — and his left hand upon Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands with insight, even though Manasseh was the firstborn.
Gn 48:15And he blessed Joseph and said, / The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, / The God who has shepherded me all my life to this day,
Gn 48:16The Angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys; / And may my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; / And may they be a teeming multitude in the midst of the earth.
Gn 48:17And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him; and he took hold of his father’s hand to remove it from Ephraim’s head onto Manasseh’s head.
Gn 48:18And Joseph said to his father, Not so, my father, for this is the firstborn. Put your right hand upon his head.
Gn 48:19But his father refused and said, I know, my son, I know. He also will become a people, and he also will be great. However, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his seed will become a multitude of nations.
Gn 48:20And he blessed them that day, saying,
By you Israel will pronounce blessings, saying, / God make you like Ephraim and like Manasseh.
Thus he set Ephraim before Manasseh.
Gn 48:21And Israel said to Joseph, Now I am about to die, but God will be with you and will bring you again to the land of your fathers.
Gn 48:22Moreover I have given to you one portion more than your brothers, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.
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