• 1 And it came to pass after these things, that one told Joseph, Behold, your father is sick: and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.
  • 2 And one told Jacob, and said, Behold, your son Joseph comes to you: and Israel strengthened himself, and sat on the bed.
  • 3 And Jacob said to Joseph, God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me,
  • 4 And said to me, Behold, I will make you fruitful, and multiply you, and I will make of you a multitude of people; and will give this land to your seed after you for an everlasting possession.
  • 5 And now your two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you into Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine.
  • 6 And your issue, which you beget after them, shall be yours, and shall be called after the name of their brothers in their inheritance.
  • 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 to Ephrath: and I buried her there in the way of Ephrath; the same 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 in this place. And he said, Bring them, I pray you, to me, and I will bless them.
  • 10 Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he could not see.  And he brought them near to him; and he kissed them, and embraced them.
  • 11 And Israel said to Joseph, I had not thought to see your face: and, see, God has showed me also your seed.
  • 12 And Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself 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 And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it on Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn.
  • 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 to this day,
  • 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 middle of the earth.
  • 17 And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up 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 your right hand on his head.
  • 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.
  • 20 And he blessed them that day, saying, In you shall Israel bless, saying, God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.
  • 21 And Israel said to Joseph, Behold, I die: but God shall be with you, and bring you again to the land of your fathers.
  • 22 Moreover I have given to you one portion above your brothers, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.