Genesis_Chapter 48
After this, someone told Joseph, ‘Your father is sick.’. He took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim with him.
Someone told Jacob, “Look, your son Joseph has come to you.”. Israel reluctantly sat up on the bed.
Jacob said to Joseph, “The Almighty God appeared to me in Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me.”,
And he said to me, I will make you fruitful and multiply, and make you a people, and I will give this land to your descendants for an inheritance forever.
Before I came to Egypt to see you, the two sons of Ephraim and Manasseh that you gave birth to in the land of Egypt were mine, just as Reuben and Simeon were mine.
What you give birth to after them is yours, and they can inherit it in the name of their brothers.
As for me, when I came from Badan, Rachel died in front of me on the road to the land of Canaan, and there was still some way to go before Ephrath. So I buried her on the way to Ephrath. Ephraim is Bethlehem.
When Israel saw Joseph’s two sons, it said, Who are these?
Joseph said to his father, “This is the son God has given me here.”. Israel said, Bring them to me, and I will bless them.
Israel is old and has dim eyes, unable to see. Joseph brought them to him, and he kissed them and hugged them.
Israel said to Joseph, “I did not expect to see your face, but God made me see your son again.”.
Joseph took his two sons out of Israel’s knees and bowed with his face to the ground.
Then Joseph took them both, with Ephraim in his right hand, facing Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand, facing Israel’s right hand, and led them to Israel.
Israel extended his right hand and placed it on the head of Ephraim, who was the second son. Then he cut his left hand and placed it on Manasseh’s head, who was the eldest son.
And he blessed Joseph, saying, May the God whom my father Abraham and my father Isaac serve be the God who has shepherded me all my life to this day,
The messenger who redeemed me from all afflictions blessed these two young children. May they be named in my name and in the names of my father Abraham and my father Isaac. May they give birth to many in the world.
Joseph was displeased when he saw his father placing his right hand on Ephraim’s head. He picked up his father’s hand and wanted to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head.
Joseph said to his father, “My father, it’s not like this.”. This is the eldest son, please place your right hand on his head.
His father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know.”. He will also become a clan and prosper. But his brothers will be even older than him in the future. His brother’s descendants will become multiracial.
On that day he blessed them, saying, The Israelites will bless you, saying, May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh. So Ephraim was established above Manasseh.
And Israel said to Joseph, I am about to die, but God will be with you and bring you back to the land of your ancestors.
And I have given you the land that I took from the hands of the Amorites with a bow and a sword, so that you may have one more share than your brothers.
