Genesis 48

Revised Geneva Translation

48 Again, after this, one said to Joseph, “Lo, your father is sick.” Then, he took his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, with him.

² Also, one told Jacob, and said, “Behold, your son, Joseph, has come to you.” And Israel gathered his strength and sat upon the bed.

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

⁴ “and said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful, and will multiply you, and will make a great number of people from you and will give this land to your seed after you, for an everlasting possession.’

⁵ “And now, your two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim (who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you into Egypt) shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are mine.

⁶ “But your lineage which you have begotten after them shall be yours. They shall be called after the names of their brothers in their inheritance.

⁷ “Now, when I came from Padan, Rachel died beside me on the way (in the land of Canaan, when there was but a half day’s journey left to Ephrath). And I buried her there, on the way to Ephrath.” The same is Bethlehem.

⁸ Then Israel beheld Joseph’s sons and said, “Whose are these?”

⁹ And Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons whom God has given me here.” Then he said, “Please bring them to me, so that I may bless them.”

¹⁰ (For the eyes of Israel were dim from age, so that he could not see well.) Then he caused them to come to him. And he kissed them and embraced them.

¹¹ And Israel said to Joseph, “I had not thought I would see your face. Yet, lo, God has also shown me your seed.”

¹² And Joseph took them away from his knees and did reverence down to the ground.

¹³ Then 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). So, he brought them to him.

¹⁴ But Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on Ephraim’s head (who was the younger) and his left hand upon Manasseh’s head (directing his hands intentionally, for Manasseh was the elder).

¹⁵ Also, he blessed Joseph, and said, “The God before Whom my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, walked—the God Who has fed me all my life long, until this day—bless you.

¹⁶ “The Angel, who has delivered me from all evil, bless the children; and let my name be named upon them, and the name of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, so 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 displeased him. And he held up his father’s hand, to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head.

¹⁸ And Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father. For this is the eldest. Put your right hand upon his head.”

¹⁹ But his father refused, and said, “I know well, my son. I know well. He shall also be a people; and he shall likewise be great. 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 you, Israel shall bless and say, ‘God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh.” And he set Ephraim before Manasseh.

²¹ Then Israel said to Joseph, “Behold, I die. And God shall be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers.

²² “Moreover, I have given to you one portion more than your brothers, which I got out of the hand of the Amorite, by my sword and by my bow.”