Gen 48
1
And it came to pass after these things, that one said to Joseph, Behold, your father
is sick: and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.
2
And one told Jacob, and said, Behold, your son Joseph comes to you: and Israel strengthened
himself, and sat upon the bed.
3
And Jacob said to Joseph, God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan,
and blessed me,
4
and said to me, Behold, I will 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.
5
And now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to
you into Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh, even as Reuben and Simeon, shall be
mine.
6
And your issue, that you engender after them, shall be yours; they shall be called
after the name of their brethren in their inheritance.
7
And as for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in
the way, when there was still some distance to come to Ephrath: and I buried her there
in the way to Ephrath (the same is Beth-lehem).
8
And Israel beheld Joseph`s sons, and said, Who are these?
9
And Joseph said to his father, They are my sons, whom God has given me here. And he
said, Bring them, I pray you, to me, and I will bless them.
10
Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he could not see. And he brought
them near to him; and he kissed them, and embraced them.
11
And Israel said to Joseph, I had not thought to see your face: and, behold, God has
let me see your seed also.
12
And Joseph brought them out from between his knees; and he bowed himself with his
face to the earth.
13
And 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.
14
And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim`s head, who was
the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh`s head, guiding his hands wittingly;
for Manasseh was the first-born.
15
And he blessed Joseph, and said, The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac
did walk, the God who has fed me all my life long to this day,
16
the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named
on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude
in the midst of the earth.
17
And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim,
it displeased him: and he held up 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 first-born; put
your right hand upon his head.
19
And his father refused, and said, I know [it], my son, I know [it]. He also shall
become a people, and he also shall be great: nevertheless his younger brother shall
be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.
20
And he blessed them that day, saying, In you will Israel bless, saying, God make you
as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.
21
And Israel said to Joseph, Behold, I die: but God will be with you, and bring you
again to the land of your fathers.
22
Moreover I have given to you one portion above your brethren, which I took out of
the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.