Genesis 48
1 After these things, Joseph was told, “Your father is ill.” He took his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, with him.
2 Jacob was told, “Your son Joseph has come to you.” Israel gathered his strength and sat up in bed.
3 Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz, in the land of Canaan, and blessed me.
4 He said to me, ‘I will make you fruitful and multiply you; I will make you a community of peoples, and I will give this land to your descendants after you as a permanent possession.’
5 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, just like Reuben and Simeon.
6 But the children you father after them will be yours; they will be called by their brothers’ names in their inheritance.
7 As for me, when I was coming from Paddan, Rachel died beside me in the land of Canaan, on the way, while there was still some distance to go before reaching Ephrath. I buried her there on the way to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem.”
8 Israel saw Joseph’s sons and asked, “Who are these?”
9 Joseph answered his father, “They are my sons, whom God has given me here.” He said, “Bring them to me, so I can bless them.”
10 Israel’s eyes were heavy with age, and he could not see. Joseph brought them close to him, and he kissed and embraced them.
11 Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected to see your face, and now God has let me see your children too.”
12 Joseph took them from beside his father’s knees and bowed with his face to the ground.
13 Then Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand, to Israel’s left, and Manasseh in his left hand, to Israel’s right, and brought them close to him.
14 But Israel reached out his right hand and placed it on Ephraim’s head, though he was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head. He crossed his hands, for Manasseh was the firstborn.
15 He blessed Joseph and said, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd from the day I was born until today:
16 May the angel who rescued me from all harm bless these boys. May my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac be remembered in them, and may they multiply greatly throughout the land.”
17 When Joseph saw that his father had placed his right hand on Ephraim’s head, it displeased him. He took hold of his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head.
18 Joseph said to his father, “Not like this, my father. This one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.”
19 But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He too will become a people, and he too will become great. Yet his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become a multitude of nations.”
20 That day he blessed them: “By you, Israel will give this blessing: ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’” And he placed Ephraim ahead of Manasseh.
21 Israel said to Joseph, “I am about to die, but God will be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers.
22 And I give you one portion more than your brothers, the portion I took from the hand of the Amorites with my sword and my bow.”
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