- 48:1Now after these things Joseph was told, Your father is sick. So he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.
- 48:2And someone told Jacob and said, Your son Joseph is coming to you. So Israel strengthened himself and sat up on his bed.
- 48:3And Jacob said to Joseph, The All-sufficient God appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me.
- 48:4And He said to me, Behold, I am going to make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make of you a company of peoples and will give this land to your seed after you for an everlasting possession.
- 48:5And 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, as Reuben and Simeon are.
- 48:6And your offspring whom you beget after them will be yours; they will be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance.
- 48:7And as for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died to my sorrow in the land of Canaan on the way, while there was still some distance to go to Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).
- 48:8And when Israel saw Joseph's sons, he said, Who are these?
- 48:9And Joseph said to his father, They are my sons, whom God has given to me, please, here. And he said, Bring them to me, that I may bless them.
- 48:10Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age, and he could not see. So Joseph brought them near to him, and he kissed them and embraced them.
- 48:11And Israel said to Joseph, I never expected to see your face, and now God has let me see your seed also.
- 48:12And Joseph brought them out from between his knees and bowed himself with his face to the ground.
- 48:13And 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, and brought them near to him.
- 48:14But Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it upon Ephraim's head-although he was the younger-and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding his hands with insight, even though Manasseh was the firstborn.
- 48:15And he blessed Joseph and said, / The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, / The God who has shepherded me all my life to this day,
- 48:16The Angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the boys; / And may my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; / And may they be a teeming multitude in the midst of the earth.
- 48:17And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him; and he took hold of his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head onto Manasseh's head.
- 48:18And Joseph said to his father, Not so, my father, for this is the firstborn. Put your right hand upon his head.
- 48:19But his father refused and said, I know, my son, I know. He also will become a people, and he also will be great. However, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his seed will become a multitude of nations.
- 48:20And he blessed them that day, saying, By you Israel will pronounce blessings, saying, / God make you like Ephraim and like Manasseh. Thus he set Ephraim before Manasseh.
- 48:21And Israel said to Joseph, Now I am about to die, but God will be with you and will bring you again to the land of your fathers.
- 48:22Moreover I have given to you one portion more than your brothers, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.