Mwanzo 48

¹After these events, word came to Joseph that his father was sick, and he went, bringing his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. ²Jacob heard that his son Joseph had come to him, and Israel pulled himself together and sat up on his bed. ³Jacob said to Joseph, “At Luz, in the land of Canaan, God Almighty appeared to me and blessed me. ⁴He said to me, ‘I am about to make you bear fruit and grow many; I will form an assembly of peoples from you, and I will give this land to your descendants after you, to hold as their own for all time.’ ⁵So your two sons, who were born to you in Egypt before I came to join you, are now mine. Ephraim and Manasseh will count as my sons, no less than Reuben and Simeon. ⁶The children you have after them will belong to you; when the inheritance is shared out, they will be counted under their brothers’ names. ⁷As for me, when I was coming back from Paddan, Rachel died on me in the land of Canaan, on the road, while we were still some way from Ephrath, and I buried her there by the road that leads to Ephrath” (that is, Bethlehem). ⁸Israel caught sight of Joseph’s sons and said, “Who are these?” ⁹“These are my sons,” Joseph told his father, “the ones God has given me in this place.” Jacob said, “Bring them here to me, please, and I will bless them.” ¹⁰Age had dimmed Israel’s eyes, and he could not see. Joseph led the boys up to him, and he kissed them and held them in his arms. ¹¹Israel said to Joseph, “I had given up hope of ever seeing your face, and look, God has shown me your children as well.” ¹²Joseph then moved the boys from beside his father’s knees, and he bowed low with his face to the ground. ¹³Joseph set the two of them before his father: Ephraim, held in his right hand, at Israel’s left, and Manasseh, held in his left hand, at Israel’s right. Then he brought them up close to him. ¹⁴Israel, though, stretched out his right hand and set it on the head of Ephraim, the younger boy, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head. He crossed his hands knowingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn. ¹⁵Then he blessed Joseph: “May the God in whose presence my fathers Abraham and Isaac lived, the God who has tended me like a shepherd from my birth until today, ¹⁶the angel who has rescued me from every harm, bless these boys. Through them may my name be remembered, and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and may they teem and grow many on the earth.” ¹⁷Joseph saw that his father had laid his right hand on Ephraim’s head, and he did not like it. He took his father’s hand, meaning to shift it off Ephraim’s head and onto Manasseh’s. ¹⁸Joseph said to his father, “Not like that, my father! The firstborn is this one. Your right hand belongs on his head.” ¹⁹But his father would not do it. “I know, my son, I know,” he said. “Manasseh’s line will also become a people, and it will be great as well. But his younger brother will rise higher still, and his descendants will fill whole nations.” ²⁰On that day he blessed them, saying, “Israel will use your name when they bless, saying, ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’” In this way he set Ephraim before Manasseh. ²¹Israel went on, speaking to Joseph: “My death is near. But God will be with you all and will lead you back to your ancestors’ land. ²²And to you, more than to your brothers, I give one mountain slope, Shechem, the one I took from the Amorites by my sword and my bow.”^a