Genesis Chapter 48:
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Genesis Verses, Chapter 48 of the Book of Genesis of the Bible.
Manasseh and Ephraim
- 1. Some time later someone said to Joseph, "Your father is very sick." So Joseph took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.
- 2. When they told Jacob, “Your son Joseph has come to see you,” Israel gathered his strength and sat up in bed.
- 3. Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me in Luz, in the land of Canaan, and blessed me.
- 4. He said to me, 'I will make you fruitful and multiply you. I will make you a community of peoples, and I will give this land to your descendants as an everlasting possession.'
- 5. “Now your two sons who were born in Egypt before I came hither will be considered mine; Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, as will Reuben and Simeon.
- 6. Any children you have after them will be yours and will inherit through your brothers.
- 7. “As for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died in the land of Canaan, on the way, while there was still some time left to reach Ephrata; I buried her there on the way to Ephrathah,” which is Bethlehem.
- 8. Then when the children of Israel saw the children of Joseph, Jacob asked: Who are these?
- 9. Joseph replied to his father: They are my children, which God gave me here. Jacob asked them: I ask you to bring me so that I may bless them.
- 10. Israel's eyes were tired because of old age, and he could hardly see. Then Joseph brought them close to him, and Jacob kissed and embraced them.
- 11. And Jacob said to Joseph, "I did not expect to see your face again, and now God has allowed me to see your children also."
- 12. Joseph took them from his father's knees and bowed with his face to the ground.
- 13. Then Joseph took them, put Ephraim on his right and Manasseh on his left.
- 14. But Jacob crossed his hands, placing his right hand on Ephraim's head, though he was younger, and his left hand on Manasseh's head, though he was older.
- 15. And he blessed Joseph, saying, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life until this day,
- 16. the angel who has delivered me from all evil, bless these boys. Let them be called by my name and by the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they multiply and become many on the earth.”
- 17. When Joseph saw that his father had laid his right hand on Ephraim's head, he was displeased; then he took his father's hand to change it from the head of Ephraim to the head of Manasseh.
- 18. Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, for this is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.”
- 19. But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He too will become a people, and he too will be great. But his younger brother will be greater than he, and his offspring will become a multitude of nations.”
- 20. So that day Jacob blessed them, saying, “For you Israel will bless, saying, 'May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.' And he put Ephraim in front of Manasseh.
- 21. Then Jacob said to Joseph, “Look, I am about to die, but God will be with you and bring you back to the land of your ancestors.
- 22. "I give you a portion more than your brothers, a portion which I took from the hand of the Amorites with my sword and my bow."
