Genesis 48

Manasseh and Ephraim

48Some time later Joseph was told, “Your father is ill.” So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim^p along with him. ²When Jacob was told, “Your son Joseph has come to you,” Israel^q rallied his strength and sat up on the bed.

³Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty^ar appeared to me at Luz^s in the land of Canaan, and there he blessed me^{t 4}and said to me, ‘I am going to make you fruitful and increase your numbers.^u I will make you a community of peoples, and I will give this land^v as an everlasting possession to your descendants after you.’^w

⁵“Now then, your two sons born to you in Egypt^x before I came to you here will be reckoned as mine; Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine,^y just as Reuben^z and Simeon^a are mine. ⁶Any children born to you after them will be yours; in the territory they inherit they will be reckoned under the names of their brothers. ⁷As I was returning from Paddan,^bb to my sorrow^c Rachel died in the land of Canaan while we were still on the way, a little distance from Ephrath. So I buried her there beside the road to Ephrath” (that is, Bethlehem).^d

⁸When Israel^e saw the sons of Joseph,^f he asked, “Who are these?”

⁹“They are the sons God has given me here,”^g Joseph said to his father.

Then Israel said, “Bring them to me so I may bless^h them.”

¹⁰Now Israel’s eyes were failing because of old age, and he could hardly see.ⁱ So Joseph brought his sons close to him, and his father kissed them^j and embraced them.^k

¹¹Israel^l said to Joseph, “I never expected to see your face again,^m and now God has allowed me to see your children too.”ⁿ

¹²Then Joseph removed them from Israel’s knees^o and bowed down with his face to the ground.^{p 13}And Joseph took both of them, Ephraim on his right toward Israel’s left hand and Manasseh on his left toward Israel’s right hand,^q and brought them close to him. ¹⁴But Israel^r reached out his right hand and put it on Ephraim’s head,^s though he was the younger,^t and crossing his arms, he put his left hand on Manasseh’s head, even though Manasseh was the firstborn.^u

¹⁵Then he blessed^v Joseph and said,

“May the God before whom my fathers

Abraham and Isaac walked faithfully,^w

the God who has been my shepherd^x

all my life to this day,

¹⁶the Angel^y who has delivered me from all harm^z

—may he bless^a these boys.^b

May they be called by my name

and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac,^c

and may they increase greatly

on the earth.”^d

¹⁷When Joseph saw his father placing his right hand^e on Ephraim’s head^f he was displeased; so he took hold of his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. ¹⁸Joseph said to him, “No, my father, this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.”^g

¹⁹But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He too will become a people, and he too will become great.^h Nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he,ⁱ and his descendants will become a group of nations.^j” ²⁰He blessed^k them that day^l and said,

“In your^c name will Israel^m pronounce this blessing:ⁿ

‘May God make you like Ephraim^o and Manasseh.^p’ ”

So he put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh.

²¹Then Israel said to Joseph, “I am about to die, but God will be with you^dq and take you^e back to the land of your^f fathers.^{r 22}And to you I give one more ridge of land^gs than to your brothers,^t the ridge I took from the Amorites with my sword^u and my bow.”