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Genesis 48

1After these things Joseph was told, “Look, your father is ill.” He took his two sons with him, Manasseh and Ephraim. 2Jacob was told, “Look, your son Joseph is coming to you.” Israel gathered his strength and sat up on the bed. 3Jacob said to Joseph, “El Shaddai appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me. 4He said to me, ‘Look, I will make you fruitful and multiply you. I will make you an assembly of peoples, and I will give this land to your seed after you as a lasting possession.’ 5Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine. Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are. 6But children born to you after them will be yours. They will be called by their brothers' names in their inheritance. 7As for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died to my sorrow in the land of Canaan on the road, while there was still some distance to go to Ephrath. I buried her there on the road to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem.”

8Israel saw Joseph's sons and said, “Who are these?” 9Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons, whom God has given me here.” He said, “Please bring them to me, so that I may bless them.” 10Israel's eyes were heavy with age, and he could not see. Joseph brought them near him, and he kissed them and embraced them. 11Israel said to Joseph, “I had not expected to see your face, and look, God has let me see your seed as well.” 12Joseph brought them out from beside his knees and bowed with his face to the ground. 13Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right, and brought them near him. 14Israel stretched out his right hand and put it on the head of Ephraim, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh's head. He crossed his hands, though Manasseh was the firstborn. 15He blessed Joseph and said, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has shepherded me all my life to this day, 16the messenger who has redeemed me from all harm—may he bless the boys. May my name and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac be called upon them, and may they multiply abundantly in the midst of the earth.”

17Joseph saw that his father had placed his right hand on Ephraim's head, and it was wrong in his eyes. He took his father's hand to move it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. 18Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, because this one is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head.” 19His father refused. He 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 is, and his seed will become a fullness of nations.” 20He blessed them that day, saying, “By you Israel will pronounce blessings, saying, ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’” So he put Ephraim before Manasseh. 21Israel said to Joseph, “Look, I am dying. But God will be with you and will bring you back to the land of your fathers. 22I give you one portion more than your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow.”

Translation notes 5

48:5–6 — Sons and inheritance. Jacob claims Ephraim and Manasseh as his own sons for inheritance purposes. Any further children of Joseph will be counted under those two lines. The translation does not add further children to the account.

48:12–14 — Knees and hands. The scene preserves the bodily placement and the deliberate reversal of the expected birth-order blessing. “Crossed” describes the arrangement of the hands; the Hebrew verb can also stress acting knowingly or skillfully.

48:15–16 — God, shepherd, and messenger. Jacob's blessing brings these descriptions together and uses a singular verb for blessing the boys. Their relationship is retained without inserting a later theological identification of the messenger. The verb for multiplying is associated with fish, suggesting abundant increase.

48:19–20 — Nations and blessing. “A fullness of nations” expresses a multitude of peoples. The explicit formula in verse 20 shows how names may be used when pronouncing blessings; it does not reduce the two sons to examples without inheritance.

48:22 — Portion and Shechem. The Hebrew word for “portion” also means “shoulder” and sounds exactly like the place-name Shechem. A reference to Shechem may be intended. The claim about sword and bow is preserved even though Genesis does not separately narrate such a conquest by Jacob himself.