48: 2 And one told Jacob, and said, Behold, thy son Joseph cometh unto thee: and Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed.
48: 3 And Jacob said unto Joseph, 462God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me,
462Hb. El Shaddai
48: 4 and said unto 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.
48: 5 And now thy two sons, who were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh, even as Reuben and Simeon, shall be mine.
48: 6 And thy issue, that thou 463begettest after them, shall be thine; they shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance.
463Or, hast begotten after them,
48: 7 And as for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died 464by me in the land of Canaan in the way, when there was still some distance to come unto Ephrath: and I buried her there in the way to Ephrath (the same is Bethlehem).
464Or, to my sorrow
48: 8 And Israel beheld Joseph’s sons, and said, Who are these?
48: 9 And Joseph said unto his father, They are my sons, whom God hath given me here. And he said, Bring them, I pray thee, unto 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 unto him; and he kissed them, and embraced them.
48: 11 And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face: and, lo, God hath let me see thy seed also.
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 toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them near unto 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, 465guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn.
465Or, crossing his hands;
48: 15 And he blessed Joseph, and said, The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God who hath fed me all my life long unto this day,
48: 16 the angel who hath ransomed 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 held up his father’s hand, to remove it from Ephraim’s head unto Manasseh’s head.
48: 18 And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father; for this is the firstborn; 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: howbeit his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become 466a multitude of nations.
466Hb. fulness of the nations.
48: 20 And he blessed them that day, saying, 467In thee will Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.
467Or, By
48: 21 And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die: but God will be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers.
48: 22 Moreover I have given to thee one 468portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.
468Or, mountain slope Hb. shechem, shoulder
