Genesis 48
1599 Geneva Bible
48 1 Joseph with his two sons visiteth his sick father. 3 Jacob rehearseth God’s promise. 5 He receiveth Joseph’s sons as his. 19 He preferreth the younger.
1 Again after this, one said to Joseph, Lo, thy father is sick: then he took with him his [a]two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.
2 Also one told Jacob, and said, Behold thy son Joseph is come to thee, and Israel took his strength unto him and sat upon the bed.
3 Then Jacob said unto Joseph, God [b]almighty appeared unto me at (A)Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me,
4 And said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and will multiply thee, and will make a great number of people of thee, and will give this land unto thy seed after thee for an [c]everlasting possession.
5 ¶ And now thy (B)two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, which are born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came to thee into Egypt, shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are mine.
6 But thy lineage, which thou hast begotten after them, shall be thine: they shall be called after the names of their brethren in their inheritance.
7 Now when I came from Padan, Rachel (C)died upon mine hand in the land of Canaan, by the way when there was but half a day’s journey of ground to come to Ephrath: and I buried her there in the way to Ephrath: the same is Bethlehem.
8 Then Israel beheld Joseph’s sons and said, Whose are these?
9 And Joseph said unto his father, They are my sons, which [d]God hath given me here. Then he said, I pray thee, bring them to me, that I may bless them:
10 ( For the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he could not well see) Then he caused them to come to him, and he kissed them and embraced them.
11 And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to have seen thy face: yet lo, God hath showed me also thy seed.
12 And Joseph took them away from his knees, and did reverence [e]down to the ground.
13 Then took Joseph them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, so he brought them unto him.
14 But Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it on [f]Ephraim’s head which was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh’s head (directing his hands of purpose) for Manasseh was the elder.
15 ¶ (D)Also he blesseth Joseph, and said, The God, before whom my fathers, Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which hath fed me all my life long, unto this day, bless thee.
16 The [g]Angel, which hath delivered me from all evil, bless the children, and let my [h]name be named upon them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, that they may grow as fish into a multitude in the midst of the earth.
17 But when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it [i]displeased him: and he stayed his father’s hand to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head.
18 And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the eldest: put thy right hand upon his head.
19 But his father refused, and said, I know well, my son, I know well: he shall be also a people, and he shall be great likewise: but his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall be full of nations.
20 So he blessed them that day, and said, In thee Israel shall bless, and say, God make thee as [j]Ephraim and as Manasseh, and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.
21 Then Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die, and God shall be with you, and bring you again unto the land of [k]your fathers.
22 Moreover, I have given unto thee one portion above thy brethren, which [l]I got out of the hand of the Amorite by my (E)sword and by my bow.
Footnotes
- Genesis 48:1 Joseph more esteemeth that his children should be received into Jacob’s family, which was the Church of God, than to enjoy all the treasures of Egypt.
- Genesis 48:3 Or, all sufficient.
- Genesis 48:4 Which is true in the carnal Israel unto the coming of Christ, and in the spiritual forever.
- Genesis 48:9 The faithful acknowledge all benefits come of God’s free mercies.
- Genesis 48:12 Hebrew, his face to the ground.
- Genesis 48:14 God’s judgments is oft times contrary to man’s, and he preferreth that, which man despiseth.
- Genesis 48:16 This Angel must be understood of Christ, as Gen. 31:13 and 32:1.
- Genesis 48:16 Let them be taken as my children.
- Genesis 48:17 Joseph faileth in binding God’s grace to the order of nature.
- Genesis 48:20 In whom God’s graces should manifestly appear.
- Genesis 48:21 Which they had by faith in the promise.
- Genesis 48:22 By my children whom God spared for my sake.
Geneva Bible, 1599 Edition. Published by Tolle Lege Press. All rights reserved. No part of this publication may be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, without written permission from the publisher, except in the case of brief quotations in articles, reviews, and broadcasts.
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