GE-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.

GE-48:2  And [one] told Jacob, and said, Behold, thy son Joseph

cometh unto

thee: and Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed.

GE-48:3  And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto

me at Luz in

the land of Canaan, and blessed me,

GE-48:4  And said unto 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.

GE-48:5  And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were

born unto thee

in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, [are]

mine; as Reuben

and Simeon, they shall be mine.

GE-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.

GE-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 unto

Ephrath: and I buried her there in the way of Ephrath; the same

[is]

Bethlehem.

GE-48:8  And Israel beheld Joseph's sons, and said, Who [are]

these?

GE-48:9  And Joseph said unto his father, They [are] my sons,

whom God hath

given me in this [place]. And he said, Bring them, I pray thee,

unto me, and I

will bless them.

GE-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.

GE-48:11  And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see

thy face: and,

lo, God hath showed me also thy seed.

GE-48:12  And Joseph brought them out from between his knees,

and he bowed

himself with his face to the earth.

GE-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.

GE-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 wittingly; for Manasseh [was] the firstborn.

GE-48:15  And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my

fathers Abraham

and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto

this day,

GE-48:16  The Angel which 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.

GE-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.

GE-48:18  And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father:

for this [is]

the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head.

GE-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.

GE-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.

GE-48:21  And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die: but God

shall be with

you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers.

GE-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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