Genesis 48:1–7

Jacob Blesses Ephraim and Manasseh

48Some time later Joseph was told that his father was ill. So he took his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, and went to see Jacob. ²When Jacob was told that his son Joseph had come to see him, he gathered his strength and sat up in bed. ^3*Jacob said to Joseph, “Almighty God appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me. ^4*He said to me, ‘I will give you many children, so that your descendants will become many nations; I will give this land to your descendants as their possession for ever.’ ”

⁵Jacob continued, “Joseph, your two sons, who were born to you in Egypt before I came here, belong to me; Ephraim and Manasseh are just as much my sons as Reuben and Simeon. ⁶If you have any more sons, they will not be considered mine; the inheritance they get will come through Ephraim and Manasseh. ^7*I am doing this because of your mother Rachel. To my great sorrow she died in the land of Canaan, not far from Ephrath, as I was returning from Mesopotamia. I buried her there beside the road to Ephrath.” (Ephrath is now known as Bethlehem.)