- 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.
- 2
- And one told Jacob and said, Behold, thy son Joseph is coming to thee.
And Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed.
- 3
- And Jacob said to Joseph, The Almighty God appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me,
- 4
- and he said to me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a company of peoples;
and will give this land to thy seed after thee [for] an everlasting possession.
- 5
- And now thy two sons, who were born to thee in the land of Egypt before I came to thee into Egypt, shall be mine: Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon.
- 6
- And thy family which thou hast begotten after them shall be thine: they shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance.
- 7
- And as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan on the way, when there was yet a certain distance to come to Ephrath;
and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem.
- 8
- And Israel beheld Joseph's sons, and said, Who are these?
- 9
- And Joseph said to his father, They are my sons, whom God has given me here.
And he said, Bring them, I pray thee, to me, that I may bless them.
- 10
- But the eyes of Israel were heavy from age: he could not see.
And he brought them nearer to him; and he kissed them, and embraced them.
- 11
- And Israel said to Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face;
and behold, God has let me see also thy seed.
- 12
- And Joseph brought them out from his knees, and bowed down with his face to the earth.
- 13
- And 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.
- 14
- But Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid [it] on Ephraim's head — now he was the younger — and his left hand on Manasseh's head;
guiding his hands intelligently, for Manasseh was the firstborn.
- 15
- And he blessed Joseph, and said, The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God that shepherded me all my life long to this day,
- 16
- the Angel that redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads;
and let my name be named upon them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the land!
- 17
- When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it was evil in his eyes;
and he took hold of 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 firstborn: put thy right hand on his head.
- 19
- But his father refused and said, I know, my son, I know: he also will become a people, and he also will be great;
but truly his younger brother will be greater than he; and his seed will become the fulness of nations.
- 20
- And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee will Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and Manasseh!
And he set Ephraim before Manasseh.
- 21
- And Israel said to Joseph, Behold, I die;
and God will be with you, and bring you again to the land of your fathers.
- 22
- And *I* have given to thee one tract [of land] above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.
|