Genesis 48:1-10 ▼

1 Some time afterward, Joseph was informed, “Your father is failing.” So he took along with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.

2 When Jacob was told, “Your son Joseph has come to you,” Israel rallied his strength and sat up in bed.

3 Jacob then said to Joseph: “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessing me,

4 he said, ‘I will make you fertile and multiply you and make you into an assembly of peoples, and I will give this land to your descendants after you as a permanent possession.’

5 So now your two sons who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I joined you here, shall be mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine as much as Reuben and Simeon are mine.

6 Progeny born to you after them shall remain yours; but their heritage shall be recorded in the names of their brothers.

7 I do this because, when I was returning from Paddan, your mother Rachel died, to my sorrow, during the journey in Canaan, while we were still a short distance from Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath [now Bethlehem].”

8 When Israel saw Joseph’s sons, he asked, “Who are these?”

9 “They are my sons,” Joseph answered his father, “whom God has given me here.” “Bring them to me,” said his father, “that I may bless them.”

10 Now Israel’s eyes were dim from age; he could not see well. When Joseph brought his sons close to him, he kissed and embraced them.