48:4 and he said to me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a company of peoples; and will give this land to thy seed after thee [for] an everlasting possession.
48:5 And now thy two sons, who were born to thee in the land of Egypt before I came to thee into Egypt, shall be mine: Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon.
48:6 And thy family which thou hast begotten after them shall be thine: they shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance.
48:7 And as for me, when I came from Padan, Racheldied by me in the land of Canaan on the way, when there was yet a certain distance to come to Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem.
48:8 And Israel beheld Joseph's sons, and said, Who are these?
48:9 And Joseph said to his father, They are my sons, whom God has given me here. And he said, Bring them, I pray thee, to me, that I may bless them.
48:10 But the eyes of Israel were heavy from age: he could not see. And he brought them nearer to him; and he kissed them, and embraced them.
48:11 And Israel said to Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face; and behold, God has let me see also thy seed.
48:12 And Joseph brought them out from his knees, and bowed down with his face to the earth.
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 to him.
48:14 But Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid [it] on Ephraim's head -- now he was the younger -- and his left hand on Manasseh's head; guiding his hands intelligently, for Manasseh was the firstborn.
48:15 And he blessedJoseph, and said, The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God that shepherded me all my life long to this day,
48:16 the Angel that redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named upon them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the land!
48:17 When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it was evil in his eyes; and he took hold of his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head.
48:19 But his father refused and said, I know, my son, I know: he also will become a people, and he also will be great; but truly his younger brother will be greater than he; and his seed will become the fulness of nations.
48:20 And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee will Israelbless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and Manasseh! And he set Ephraim before Manasseh.
48:21 And Israel said to Joseph, Behold, I die; and God will be with you, and bring you again to the land of your fathers.
48:22 And *I* have given to thee one tract [of land] above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.
