And it happened after these things that Joseph was told, “Look, your father is sick.” And he took his two sons with him, Manasseh and Ephraim.
And Jacob was told, “Look, your son Joseph has come to you.” And Israel gathered his strength and sat up on the bed.
And Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz, in the land of Canaan, and blessed me,
and said to me, ‘Look, I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make you into an assembly of peoples; and I will give this land to your seed after you as an everlasting holding.’
And now, your two sons who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt — they are mine. Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, like Reuben and Simeon.
But the children you father after them shall be yours; by the name of their brothers they shall be called in their inheritance.
And I — when I came from Paddan, Rachel died on me in the land of Canaan, on the way, when there was still a stretch of land to come to Ephrath; and I buried her there, on the way to Ephrath — that is, Bethlehem.”
And Israel saw Joseph’s sons and said, “Who are these?”
And Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons, whom God has given me here.” And he said, “Bring them to me, please, and let me bless them.”
Now Israel’s eyes were heavy with age; he could not see. And he brought them near to him, and he kissed them and embraced them.
And Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected to see your face — and look, God has let me see your seed as well.”
And Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed with his face to the ground.
And Joseph took the two of them — Ephraim in his right hand, toward Israel’s left, and Manasseh in his left hand, toward Israel’s right — and brought them near to him.
And Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim — though he was the younger — and his left hand on the head of Manasseh; he crossed his hands, though Manasseh was the firstborn.
And he 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,
the Angel who has redeemed me from all evil — may he bless the boys. And may my name be called in them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and may they grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.”
And Joseph saw that his father had laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, and it was evil in his eyes; and he took hold of his father’s hand, to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head.
And Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father — for this one is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head.”
But his father refused, and said, “I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great. But his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become the fullness of the nations.”
And he blessed them that day: “By you shall Israel bless, saying, ‘May God make you like Ephraim and like Manasseh.’” And he set Ephraim before Manasseh.
And Israel said to Joseph, “Look, I am dying — but God will be with you, and he will bring you back to the land of your fathers.
And I — I give you one shoulder of land above your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.”
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