48:1And after these things Joseph was told,¹ “Your father is ill.” So he took his two sons with him, Manasseh and Ephraim. 48:2 When Jacob was told,² “Your son Joseph has just³ come to you,” Israel strengthened himself and sat up on his bed. 48:3 And Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty⁴ appeared to me in Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me, 48:4 and he said to me , `I am going to make you fruitful⁵ and will multiply you⁶; and I will make you into a company of nations; and I will give this land to your descendants⁷ after you as an everlasting possession.’⁸

48:5 And now, your two sons who were born to you in the land of Egypt, before I came to you to Egypt, they will be mine; Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine even as Reuben and Simeon.⁹ 48:6 Any children that you father after them will be yours; they will be listed¹⁰ under the names of their brothers in their inheritance.¹¹ 48:7 But as for me, when I was returning from Paddan Rachel died to my sorrow¹² in the land of Canaan on the way when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath. So I buried her there on the way to Ephrath” (which is Bethlehem).

48:8 When Israel saw¹³ the sons of Joseph, he said, “Who are these?” 48:9 And Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons whom God has given me in this place.”

And he said, “Bring them to me that I may bless them.”¹⁴ 48:10 Now the eyes of Israel were failing¹⁵ because of old age; he was not able to see. So Joseph¹⁶ brought them near to him; and he kissed them and embraced them. 48:11 And Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected¹⁷ to see your face, but now God has allowed me to see your children¹⁸ also.”

48:12 So Joseph brought them from his knees¹⁹ and bowed down with his face to the ground. 48:13 And Joseph took the two of them, Ephraim on his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh on his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them near to him. 48:14 And Israel stretched out his right hand and placed it on the head of Ephraim, although he was the younger,²⁰ and his left hand on the head of Manasseh, crossing his hands, for Manasseh was the firstborn.

48:15 Then he blessed Joseph and said,
“May the God before whom my fathers
Abraham and Isaac walked,
the God who has shepherded²¹ me
all my life long until this day,
48:16 the Angel who has redeemed me²²
from all harm, bless the lads.
And may my name be named in them,²³
and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac;
And may they grow into a multitude in the earth.”

48:17 When Joseph saw²⁴ that his father placed his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him;²⁵ so he grasped his father’s hand to move it from on the head of Ephraim to the head of Manasseh. 48:18 And Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, for this is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head.”

48:19 But his father refused, and said, “I know, my son, I know. He also will become a great nation, and he also will become great. Nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants²⁶ will become a multitude²⁷ of nations.” 48:20 So he blessed them that day, saying,

“In you will Israel bless,²⁸ saying,
`May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh’.”

So he put Ephraim before Manasseh.²⁹

48:21 Then Israel said to Joseph, “I am about to die; but God will be with you,³⁰ and bring you³¹ back to the land of your³² fathers. 48:22 And I give to you the mountain slope³³ as one above your brothers, which I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow.”