Bible Time

¹AND it came to pass after these things that Joseph was told, Look, your father is sick; and he took with him his 2 sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. ²And they informed Jacob, and said to him, Look, your son Joseph has come to you; and Israel strengthened himself, and sat up on the bed. ³And Jacob said to Joseph, God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me, ⁴And he said to me, Look, I will bless you, and multiply you, and I will make of you a multitude of peoples; and I will give this land to your descendants after you for an everlasting possession.

⁵And now your 2 sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you into the land of Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they will be mine. ⁶But the children that you begot after them will be yours, and will be called after the name of their brothers when they come into their inheritance. ⁷And as for me, when I was coming from Padanaram, Rachel died at my side in the land of Canaan on the way, within the distance of 3 or 4 miles from the entrance to Ephrath; and I buried her there on the road to Ephrath; the same is Bethlehem. ⁸And when Israel saw Joseph's sons, he said to him, Who are these? ⁹And Joseph said to his father, They are my sons whom God has given me in this place. And he said, Bring them near me, and I will bless them. ¹⁰Now the eyes of Israel were dim because of age, so that he could not see well. And Joseph brought them near to him; and he kissed them and embraced them. ¹¹And Israel said to Joseph, I had not thought to see your face; and, look, God has also shown me your children. ¹²And Joseph removed them from before his knees, and they bowed themselves before him with their faces to the ground. ¹³Then Joseph took both of his sons, 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. ¹⁴And 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; he changed the position of his hands wittingly, even though Manasseh was the firstborn.

¹⁵And Jacob blessed Joseph his son, saying, The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked righteously, the God who has supplied my needs from my youth to this day, ¹⁶The angel who has delivered me from all evil, bless the lads; and let them bear my name and the names of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow and multiply in the middle of the earth. ¹⁷And 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. ¹⁸And Joseph said to his father, Not so, my father; for this is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head. ¹⁹But his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it; he also will become a people, and he also will be great: but his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become a multitude of peoples. ²⁰And he blessed them that day, saying, By you will Israel bless, and they will say, May God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh; and thus he set Ephraim before Manasseh. ²¹Then Israel said to Joseph, Look, I am dying, but God will be with you, and bring you again to the land of your fathers. ²²Moreover I have given to you one more portion of land than your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorites with my sword and with my bow.