1 ¶ Sometime after this, Joseph was told, Behold, your father is sick: so he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.

2 And when Jacob was told, Your son Joseph has come to you: Israel strengthened himself, and sat on the bed.

3 And Jacob said to Joseph, God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me,

4 And said to me, Behold, I will make you fruitful, and multiply you, and I will make of you a multitude of people; and will give this land to your seed after you for an everlasting possession.

5 And now your two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they will be mine.

6 But other sons, who may be born after them, will be yours, and will be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance.

7 And as for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died at my side in the land of Canaan along the way, when there was yet but a little way to go to Ephrath: and I buried her there on the road to Ephrath; the same is Bethlehem.

8 ¶ When Israel saw Joseph’s sons, he said, Who are these?

9 And Joseph said to his father, They are my sons, whom God has given me in this land. And he said, Bring them, I pray you, to me, and I will bless them.

10 Now the eyes of Israel were dim because of age, so he could not see. And Joseph brought them near to him; and he kissed them, and embraced them.

11 And Israel said to Joseph, I never expected to see you again: and, lo, God has shown me your offspring as well.

12 Then Joseph took them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth.

13 Then 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.

14 And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh’s head, consciously directing his hands; although Manasseh was the firstborn.

15 Then he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God who has been my shepherd all my life long to this day,

16 The Messenger who redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be perpetuated in them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.

17 And 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.

18 And Joseph said to his father, Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put your right hand upon his head.

19 And 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 truly his younger brother will be greater than he, and his offspring will become a multitude of nations.

20 And he blessed them that day, saying, By you shall Israel bless, saying, God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.

21 And Israel said to Joseph, Look, I am about to die: but God will be with you, and bring you back into the land of your fathers.

22 Moreover I have given to you one portion more than your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorites with my sword and with my bow.