Bereshet (Genesis) - Chapter 48

48:1 It happened after these things, that someone said to Yoseph, "Behold, your father is sick." He took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. 48:2 Someone told Ya'aqub, and said, "Behold, your son Yoseph comes to you," and Yisrael strengthened himself, and sat on the bed. 48:3 Ya'aqub said to Yoseph, "El Shaddai appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me, 48:4 and said to me, 'Behold, I will make you fruitful, and multiply you, and I will make of you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your seed after you for an everlasting possession.' 48:5 Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you into Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh, even as Reuben and Simeon, will be mine. 48:6 Your issue, who you become the father of after them, will be yours. They will be called after the name of their brothers in their inheritance. 48:7 As for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way, when there was still some distance to come to Ephrath, and I buried her there in the way to Ephrath (the same is Beitlechem)."

48:8 Yisrael saw Yoseph's sons, and said, "Who are these?"

48:9 Yoseph said to his father, "They are my sons, whom God has given me here."

He said, "Please bring them to me, and I will bless them." 48:10 Now the eyes of Yisrael were dim for age, so that he could not see. He brought them near to him; and he kissed them, and embraced them. 48:11 Yisrael said to Yoseph, "I did not think I would see your face, and behold, God has let me see your seed also." 48:12 Yoseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth. 48:13 Yoseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Yisrael's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Yisrael's right hand, and brought them near to him. 48:14 Yisrael stretched out his right hand, and laid it on Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh's head, guiding his hands knowingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn. 48:15 He blessed Yoseph, and said, "The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, God who has fed me all my life long to this day, 48:16 the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads, and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac. Let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth."

48:17 When Yoseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him. He held up his father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. 48:18 Yoseph said to his father, "Not so, my father; for this is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head."

48:19 His father refused, and said, "I know, my son, I know. He also will become a people, and he also will be great. However, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his seed will become a multitude of nations." 48:20 He blessed them that day, saying, "In you will Yisrael bless, saying, 'God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh'" He set Ephraim before Manasseh. 48:21 Yisrael said to Yoseph, "Behold, I am dying, but God will be with you, and bring you again to the land of your fathers. 48:22 Moreover I have given to you one portion above your brothers, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow."