Genesis 48

¹After this , Joseph was told , Behold , your father is ill . So he took with him his two sons , Manasseh and Ephraim .

²And it was told to Jacob , Your son Joseph has come to you. Then Israel summoned his strength and sat up in bed .

³And Jacob said to Joseph , God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me,

⁴and 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 offspring after you for an everlasting possession .

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 shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are.

⁶And the children that you fathered after them shall be yours. They shall be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance .

⁷As for me, when I came from Paddan , to my sorrow Rachel died in the land of Canaan on the way , when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath , and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem ).

⁸When Israel saw Joseph’s sons , he said , Who are these ?

⁹Joseph said to his father , They are my sons , whom God has given me here . And he said , Bring them to me , please , that I may bless them.

¹⁰Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age , so that he could not see . So Joseph brought them near him, and he kissed them and embraced them.

¹¹And Israel said to Joseph , I never expected to see your face ; and behold , God has let me see your offspring also .

¹²Then Joseph removed them from his knees , and he bowed himself with his face to the earth .

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 him.

¹⁴And Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim , who was the younger , and his left hand on the head of Manasseh , crossing his hands (for Manasseh was the firstborn ).

¹⁵And he blessed Joseph and said , The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked , the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day ,

¹⁶the angel who has redeemed me from all evil , bless the boys ; and in them let my name be carried on , and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac ; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth .

¹⁷When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim , it displeased him, and he took his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head .

¹⁸And Joseph said to his father , Not this way , my father ; since this one is the firstborn , put your right hand on his head .

¹⁹But his father refused and said , I know , my son , I know . He also shall become a people , and he also shall be great . Nevertheless , his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations .

²⁰So he blessed them that day , saying , By you Israel will pronounce blessings , saying , God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh . Thus he put Ephraim before Manasseh .

²¹Then Israel said to Joseph , Behold , I am about to die , but God will be with you and will bring you again to the land of your fathers .

²²Moreover, I have given to you rather than to your brothers one mountain slope that I took from the hand of the Amorites with my sword and with my bow .