48:1 And it came to pass after these things, that [one] told
Joseph, Behold, thy father [is] sick: and he took with him his
two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.
48:2 And [one] told Jacob, and said, Behold, thy son Joseph
cometh to thee: and Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon
the bed.
48:3 And Jacob said to Joseph, God Almighty appeared to me at
Luz, in the land of Canaan, and blessed me,
48:4 And said to me, Behold I will make thee fruitful, and
multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people;
and will give this land to thy seed after thee, [for] an
everlasting possession.
48:5 And now, thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born
to thee in the land of Egypt, before I came to thee into Egypt,
[are] mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine.
48:6 And thy issue, which thou begettest after them, shall be
thine, [and] shall be called after the name of their brethren
in their inheritance.
48:7 And as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died by me in
the land of Canaan, in the way, when yet [there was] but a
little way to come to Ephrath: and I buried her there in the
way of Ephrath, the same [is] Beth-lehem.
48:8 And Israel beheld Joseph's sons, and said, Who [are] these?
48:9 And Joseph said to his father, They [are] my sons, whom God
hath given me in this [place]. And he said, Bring them, I pray
thee, to me, and I will bless them.
48:10 (Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, [so that] he
could not see:) And he brought them near to him; and he kissed
them, and embraced them.
48:11 And Israel said to Joseph, I had not thought to see thy
face: and lo, God hath shown me also thy seed.
48:12 And Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he
bowed himself with his face to the earth.
48:13 And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand
towards Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand
towards Israel's right hand, and brought [them] near to him.
48:14 And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid [it]
upon Ephraim's head, who [was] the younger, and his left hand
upon Manasseh's head, guiding his hands by design; for Manasseh
[was] the first-born.
48:15 And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my
fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God who hath fed me all
my life long to this day,
48:16 The angel who hath redeemed me from all evil, bless the
lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my
fathers Abraham and Isaac: and let them grow into a multitude
in the midst of the earth.
48:17 And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand
upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he lifted his
father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's
head.
48:18 And Joseph said to his father, Not so, my father; for this
[is] the first-born; put thy right hand upon his head.
48:19 And his father refused, and said, I know [it], my son, I
know [it]; he also shall become a people, and he also shall be
great; but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he,
and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.
48:20 And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel
bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he
set Ephraim before Manasseh.
48:21 And Israel said to Joseph, Behold, I die; but God shall be
with you, and bring you again to the land of your fathers.
48:22 Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy
brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my
sword and with my bow.
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