Chapter 48
1
After these events, they said to Joseph, "Look, your father is ill." So he took his two sons with him, Manasseh and Ephraim.
2
Someone told Jacob and said, "Look, your son Joseph has come to you." And Israel strengthened himself and sat on the bed.
3
And Jacob said to Joseph, "God Shaddai appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me."
4
He said to me, "Look, I am making you fruitful and multiplying you, and I will give you to an assembly of peoples, and I will give this land to your Seed after you as an eternal holding."
5
Now your two sons who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt—they are mine. Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, like Reuben and Simeon.
6
And your offspring which you fathered after them—they will be yours; they will be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance.
7
And as I was coming from Paddan, Rachel died on me in the land of Canaan, on the way, when there was still some distance of land to come to Ephrathah. And I buried her there, on the way to Ephrath; it is Bethlehem.
8
Israel saw Joseph's sons and said, "Who are these?"
9
Joseph said to his father, "These are my sons whom God has given me here." He said, "Please bring them to me, and I will bless them."
10
And the eyes of Israel were heavy from old age; he could not see. So he brought them near to him, and he kissed them and embraced them.
11
And Israel said to Joseph, "I have seen your face—I did not expect to—and behold, God has shown me your offspring too."
12
And Joseph brought them out from his knees, and he bowed with his face to the ground.
13
Joseph took them both—Ephraim on his right hand across from Israel's left, and Manasseh on his left hand across from Israel's right—and brought them near to him.
14
And Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim, though he was the younger, and his left hand on the head of Manasseh. He crossed his hands, for Manasseh was the firstborn.
15
He blessed Joseph and said, "The God before whom my fathers walked, Abraham and Isaac—the God who has shepherded me from my youth until this day."
16
the angel who redeemed me from all evil may bless the boys, and may my name and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac be called in them, and may they grow into a multitude in the midst of the Earth.
17
And Joseph saw that his father was placing his right hand on Ephraim's head, and it was evil in his eyes. And he took hold of his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head.
18
And Joseph said to his father, "Not so, my father, for this is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head."
19
And his father refused and said, "I know, my son, I know. He too will become a people, and he too will grow great. But his younger brother will grow greater than him, and his Seed will become fullness of the Nations."
20
And he blessed them that day, saying, "By you Israel will bless one another, saying, 'May God make you like Ephraim and like Manasseh.'" And he put Ephraim before Manasseh.
21
And Israel said to Joseph, "Behold, I am dying, and God will be with you, and he will bring you back to the land of your fathers."
22
And I have given to you one Shechem over your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.