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in Egypt to Joseph, and all the days of his life were measured out to 147 years. Therefore, the day of his death was drawing near, and he, calling Joseph, entreated him to place his hand under his thigh, as was the custom, and to swear to him not to bury him in Egypt, but to carry him up to the tomb of his fathers. And when he had agreed and sworn, immediately Israel worshipped upon the top of Joseph's staff. After these things, Joseph, having heard that his father was ailing, taking his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, came to visit him. But Israel sat up, and opening his mouth, he reminds him of the blessings of God and of the promises, which He had promised him, speaking to him in the land of Canaan. And he makes his own his two sons, who were born to him in the land 1.68 of Egypt, I mean Ephraim and Manasseh, saying, "these will be mine, as Reuben and Simeon, but their offspring will be yours." For Israel was about to tithe his sons to God, just as other things (for after this Levi was also set apart as an inheritance to God), so that the number of the twelve tribes would not be diminished, for this reason, I think, Israel, considering Joseph as two sons, arranged his sons into two tribes, namely Ephraim and Manasseh. And the eyes of Israel were heavy from old age, and seeing dimly, they see the sons of Joseph, and he asked who they might be. And when they had drawn near, he embraced and kissed them, and says to Joseph, "Behold, God has not deprived me of your face, but has shown me your seed also." And Joseph, having brought them out from Israel's knees to worship him, then Manasseh on the right and Ephraim on the left, he himself, crossing his hands, placing his right on the head of the younger and his left on the elder, in the mystery of a cruciform type, thus he blessed them so that they might be multiplied upon the earth and so that his name and the name of his fathers might be called upon them. But this seemed grievous to Joseph, and he took hold of his father's right hand, wishing to remove it from Ephraim's head and to place it upon the head of Manasseh, 1.69 saying, "this one is the elder, father, and on him place your right hand, as is fitting." But he answered, "I know, child, I know; he will become a people and will be exalted, but his younger brother will be greater than he," just as the new Israel in spirit is admittedly greater than the elder Israel according to the flesh. After these things, Israel, calling all his sons together, disposed to them from the first to the last, to some rebuke and blame for things done, to others a prophecy of the future and a revelation of things to come, and to others a blessing and praise; and as the Spirit gave, having spoken what was fitting to each, the blessed one thus died. And he utters the first saying, not of blessing but of blame and rebuke, to the firstborn Reuben, calling him his strength and the beginning of his children, but also that he behaved harshly and arrogantly, being insolent in many other things and in going up to his father's bed and defiling his couch with Bilhah his concubine. He commands him, therefore, no longer to boil over like water with licentious desire and to add lawlessness upon lawlessness. Secondly, he curses the anger of Simeon and Levi and their wrath, decrying as insolent and harsh the bloody murder against the Shechemites and all their violence against the innocent, and the injustice of their purpose, just as that which they brought upon the guiltless because of their sister Dinah, praying that his inwards never rest upon or consent to their counsel. But to Judah he clearly, because of Christ 1.70 who was to spring from him, proclaims praise and worship and victory over all his enemies; whom also as a lion's whelp because of the naturally royal nature of the only-begotten, and as having come up from his shoot because of the birth from a virgin or

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Αἰγύπτῳ τῷ Ἰωσήφ, τῆς ζωῆς δὲ αὐτῷ αἱ πᾶσαι ἡμέραι εἰς ρμζʹ ἔτη ἐξεμε τρήθησαν. ἤγγιζε μὲν οὖν ἡ ἡμέρα τῆς αὐτοῦ τελευτῆς, αὐτὸς δὲ τὸν Ἰωσὴφ προσκαλούμενος θεῖναι τὴν χεῖρα ὑπὸ τὸν μηρόν, ὡς ἔθος, καὶ ὀμόσαι αὐτῷ κατεδυσώπει μὴ θάψαι αὐτὸν ἐν Αἰ γύπτῳ, ἀλλ' ἐν τῷ τάφῳ τῶν πατέρων αὐτοῦ ἀναγαγεῖν. αὐτοῦ δὲ καταθεμένου καὶ ὀμωμοκότος εὐθὺς προσκυνῆσαι τὸν Ἰσραὴλ ἐπὶ τὸ ἄκρον τῆς ῥάβδου Ἰωσήφ. μετὰ ταῦτα ἀκούσας ὁ Ἰωσὴφ ὅτι ἐνοχλεῖται ὁ πατήρ, τοὺς δύο υἱοὺς Μανασσῆν καὶ Ἐφραῒμ ἀναλαβόμενος ἧκεν εἰς ἐπίσκεψιν. Ἰσραὴλ δὲ ἀνεκάθισε, καὶ ἀνοίξας τὸ στόμα τῶν εὐλογιῶν τοῦ θεοῦ καὶ τῶν ἐπαγγελιῶν, ὧν αὐτῷ ἐν γῇ Χαναὰν χρηματίζων ἐπήγγελται, ὑπομιμνήσκει. ἰδιο ποιεῖται δὲ τοὺς δύο υἱοὺς αὐτοῦ, τοὺς γενομένους αὐτῷ ἐν γῇ 1.68 Αἰγύπτου, Ἐφραῒμ λέγω καὶ Μανασσῆν, εἰπών "ὡς Ῥουβεὶμ καὶ Συμεὼν οὗτοί μοι ἔσονται, τὰ δέ γε ἔκγονα τούτων σοὶ ἔσον ται." ὅτι γὰρ ἔμελλεν ὥσπερ τἆλλα οὕτω καὶ τοὺς υἱοὺς τῷ θεῷ ἀποδεκατοῦν ὁ Ἰσραὴλ (καὶ γὰρ ὁ Λευὶ εἰς κλῆρον ἀφώρι σται μετὰ ταῦτα τῷ θεῷ), ἵνα μὴ ὁ τῶν δώδεκα φυλῶν ἀριθμὸς ἐλαττωθῇ, τούτου χάριν οἶμαι ὁ Ἰσραὴλ τὸν Ἰωσὴφ ἀντὶ δύο υἱῶν ἡγησάμενος τοὺς υἱοὺς αὐτοῦ εἰς φυλὰς διετάξατο δύο, Ἐφραῒμ δηλαδὴ καὶ Μανασσῆν. καὶ οἱ μὲν ὀφθαλμοὶ τοῦ Ἰσραὴλ βαρυωποῦντες ἀπὸ τοῦ γήρως ἦσαν, ἀμυδρὰ δὲ ὁρῶντες ὁρῶσι τοὺς υἱοὺς Ἰωσήφ, καὶ ἐπυνθάνετο τίνες ἂν εἶεν. οὓς καὶ προσεγγίσαντας περιέλαβε καὶ κατεφίλησεν, καὶ φησὶ πρὸς Ἰωσήφ "ἰδοὺ τοῦ προσώπου σου οὐκ ἐστέρησέ με ὁ θεός, ἀλλ' ἔδειξέ μοι καὶ τὸ σπέρμα σου." ἐξαγαγὼν δὲ Ἰωσὴφ αὐτοὺς ἀπὸ τῶν γο νάτων Ἰσραὴλ τοῦ προσκυνῆσαι αὐτῷ, εἶτα τὸν Μανασσῆν μὲν ἐν τῇ δεξιᾷ ἐξ ἀριστερῶν δὲ τὸν Ἐφραΐμ, αὐτὸς τὰς χεῖρας ἀμείβων τὴν μὲν δεξιὰν ἐπὶ τοῦ νεωτέρου τὴν ἀριστερὰν δὲ ἐπὶ τοῦ πρεσ βυτέρου τὴν κεφαλὴν τιθείς, εἰς μυστήριον σταυρικοῦ τύπου, οὕ τως εὐλόγησεν αὐτοὺς ὥστε πληθυνθῆναι αὐτοὺς ἐπὶ τῆς γῆς καὶ ὥστε αὐτοὺς ἐπικληθῆναι τὸ ὄνομα αὐτοῦ καὶ τῶν πατέρων αὐτοῦ. βαρὺ δὲ κατεφάνη τοῦτο τῷ Ἰωσήφ, καὶ τῆς πατρικῆς δεξιᾶς ἀντελάβετο, ἀφελεῖν βουλόμενος ἀπὸ τῆς κεφαλῆς Ἐφραῒμ καὶ ἐπιθεῖναι ἐπὶ τὴν κεφαλὴν Μανασσῆ, "οὗτός ἐστι, πάτερ," εἰ 1.69 πών, "ὁ πρεσβύτερος, καὶ τούτῳ ἐπίθες, ὡς καθήκει, τὴν δε ξιάν." αὐτὸς δέ "οἶδα, τέκνον, οἶδα" ἀπεκρίθη· "αὐτὸς ἔσται εἰς λαὸν καὶ ὑψωθήσεται, ἀλλ' ὁ ἀδελφὸς αὐτοῦ ὁ νεώτερος μεί ζων αὐτοῦ ἔσται," καθάπερ ὁ νέος καὶ ἐν πνεύματι Ἰσραὴλ τοῦ πρεσβυτέρου καὶ κατὰ σάρκα Ἰσραὴλ ὁμολογουμένως μείζων ἐστί. μετὰ ταῦτα τοὺς πάντας υἱοὺς ὁ Ἰσραὴλ συγκαλούμενος διετίθετο αὐτοῖς ἀπὸ τοῦ πρώτου ἕως τοῦ ἐσχάτου, οἷς μὲν ἐπὶ τοῖς πε πραγμένοις διέλεγξιν καὶ μέμψιν, οἷς δὲ προφητείαν τοῦ μέλλον τος καὶ τῶν ἐσομένων δήλωσιν, οἷς δὲ εὐλογίαν καὶ ἔπαινον· καὶ καθὼς ἐδίδου τὸ πνεῦμα, ἑκάστῳ τὸ δέον ἐπιφθεγξάμενος ὁ μα κάριος οὕτως ἐτελεύτα. καὶ πρώτην μὲν ῥῆσιν, οὐκ εὐλογίας ἀλλὰ μέμψεως καὶ ἐλέγξεως, τῷ πρωτοτόκῳ Ῥουβεὶμ ἐπιφωνεῖ, ἰσχὺν μὲν αὐτὸν καὶ τῶν τέκνων ἀρχὴν ἀποκαλῶν, σκληρῶς δὲ καὶ αὐθαδῶς φερόμενον ὑβρίζειν ἔν τε ἄλλοις πλείστοις καὶ ἐν τῷ ἐπὶ τὴν κοίτην ἀναβαίνειν καὶ μιαίνειν τοῦ πατρὸς τὴν στρωμνὴν μετὰ Βάλας τῆς αὐτοῦ παλλακῆς. παραγγέλλει τοίνυν μηκέτι ὡς ὕδωρ ἐκζέσαι τοῦτον ἀσελγεῖ πόθῳ καὶ ἐπ' ἀνομίᾳ προσθεῖναι ἀνο μίαν. δεύτερον δὲ τὸν θυμὸν Συμεὼν καὶ Λευὶ καὶ τὴν μῆνιν ἐπικαταρᾶται, ὡς αὐθάδη τε καὶ σκληρὰν τὴν εἰς τοὺς Σιχιμίτας μιαιφονίαν καὶ πᾶσαν αὐτῶν τὴν κατὰ ἀθώων ὕβριν διασύρων, καὶ τὴν ἀδικίαν τῆς αὐτῶν προαιρέσεως, ὥσπερ καὶ ἣν διὰ τὴν ἀδελφὴν αὐτῶν ∆ίναν ἀναιτίοις ἐπήγαγον, μήποτε ἐπερεῖσαι τὰ σπλάγχνα ἤτοι συναινέσαι τῇ βουλῇ αὐτῶν ἐπευχόμενος. τῷ Ἰούδα δὲ σαφῶς, διὰ τὸν ἐξ αὐτοῦ μέλλοντα βλαστάνειν Χρι 1.70 στόν, αἴνεσιν καὶ προσκύνησιν καὶ νίκην κατὰ τῶν ἐχθρῶν αὐτοῦ πάντων εὐαγγελίζεται· ὃν καὶ ὡς σκύμνον λέοντος διὰ τὸ φύσει βασιλικὸν τοῦ μονογενοῦς, ὡς ἐκ βλαστοῦ δὲ αὐτοῦ ἀναβῆναι διὰ τὴν ἐκ παρθένου γέννησιν ἢ