1 And it came to pass after these things, that [one] told Joseph, Behold, thy father [is] sick: and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. 2 And [one] told Jacob, and said, Behold, thy son Joseph cometh to thee: and Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon 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 thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people; and will give this land to thy seed after thee, [for] an everlasting possession. 5 And now, thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born to thee in the land of Egypt, before I came to thee into Egypt, [are] mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine. 6 And thy issue, which thou begettest after them, shall be thine, [and] shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance. 7 And as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan, in the way, when yet [there was] but a little way to come to Ephrath: and I buried her there in the way of Ephrath, the same [is] Beth-lehem. 8 And Israel beheld Joseph's sons, and said, Who [are] these? 9 And Joseph said to his father, They [are] my sons, whom God hath given me in this [place]. And he said, Bring them, I pray thee, to me, and I will bless them. 10 (Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, [so that] he could not see:) And he brought them near to him; and he kissed them, and embraced them. 11 And Israel said to Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face: and lo, God hath shown me also thy seed. 12 And Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth. 13 And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand towards Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand towards 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, guiding his hands by design; for Manasseh [was] the first-born. 15 And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God who hath fed me all my life long to this day, 16 The angel who hath 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: 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 upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he lifted 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 first-born; put thy right hand upon his head. 19 And his father refused, and said, I know [it], my son, I know [it]; he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations. 20 And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh. 21 And Israel said to Joseph, Behold, I die; but God shall be with you, and bring you again to the land of your fathers. 22 Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.
Genesis · Noah Webster's Bible (1833)
Genesis 48 Noah Webster's Bible (1833)
Audio: World English Bible (WEB), read by Winfred W. Henson · About the recordings
People & places in this chapter
From this site's family tree and Bible maps, only where those guides cite this chapter.
People
Ephraim
Joseph's younger son, given the greater blessing by Jacob.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 41:52; 48
Jacob
He wrestled with God through the night and rose as Israel, father of twelve tribes.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 25–35; 46–49
Joseph
Betrayed and enslaved, he rose to rule Egypt and saved his family from famine.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 37; 39–50
Manasseh
Joseph's elder son, whose descendants formed a tribe on both sides of the Jordan.
Cited in the guide: Genesis 41:51; 48
Cross references (20)
Related passages for each verse, from the Treasury of Scripture Knowledge as collected and ranked by readers at OpenBible.info.
- 1 Genesis 46:20; Genesis 41:50–52; Genesis 50:23; Psalm 128:6; John 11:3
- 2 1 Samuel 23:16; Deuteronomy 3:28; Ephesians 6:10; Proverbs 23:15; Psalm 41:3
- 3 Genesis 35:9–12; Genesis 17:1; Exodus 6:3; Genesis 28:3; Genesis 28:12–19
- 4 Genesis 17:8; Genesis 35:11; Genesis 28:3; Genesis 28:13–15; Amos 9:14–15
- 5 Genesis 41:50–52; Genesis 46:20; Joshua 14:4; 1 Chronicles 5:1–2; Joshua 13:7
- 6 Joshua 14:4
- 7 Matthew 2:18; Genesis 35:16–19; Genesis 35:9; Genesis 25:20; Ruth 1:2
- 9 Genesis 27:4; Genesis 33:5; Hebrews 11:21; 1 Samuel 1:27; Genesis 49:28
- 10 Genesis 27:1; Genesis 27:27; Isaiah 6:10; Isaiah 59:1; 1 Samuel 3:2
- 11 Ephesians 3:20; Genesis 45:26; Genesis 37:35; Genesis 42:36; Genesis 37:33
- 12 Genesis 42:6; Genesis 33:3; 1 Kings 2:19; Ephesians 6:1; Exodus 34:8
- 14 Genesis 41:51; Numbers 8:10; Deuteronomy 34:9; Acts 6:6; Genesis 48:18
- 15 Genesis 17:1; Genesis 48:16; Colossians 2:6; Matthew 6:25–34; Hebrews 11:21
- 16 Psalm 34:22; 2 Timothy 4:18; Genesis 28:13–15; Genesis 49:22; Genesis 48:5
- 17 Genesis 48:14; Romans 9:7–8; 1 Kings 16:25; 1 Chronicles 21:7; 1 Samuel 16:7
- 18 Genesis 49:3; Genesis 27:15; Acts 11:8; Matthew 25:9; Genesis 19:18
- 19 Numbers 1:33–35; Deuteronomy 33:17; Genesis 25:28; Genesis 48:14; Genesis 17:20–21
- 20 Ruth 4:11–12; Genesis 28:3; Genesis 24:60; Numbers 7:48; Numbers 2:18–21
- 21 Genesis 46:4; Genesis 50:24; Genesis 28:15; Genesis 26:3; Hebrews 7:23–25
- 22 John 4:5; Joshua 24:32; 1 Chronicles 5:2; Judges 11:23; Genesis 34:28
Cross references: OpenBible.info (CC BY), drawn mainly from the public-domain Treasury of Scripture Knowledge. · Sources & licences
What the Fathers said
Passages from the Church Fathers that expound or quote this chapter, verbatim from the public-domain Schaff edition (19th-century English translations).
How these were chosen
“Commentary” is the opening of a homily or exposition on this chapter (John Chrysostom’s homilies, Augustine’s tractates, sermons and expositions of the Psalms). “Quotes” are sentences where the edition’s own footnotes identify a quotation of a verse here, kept only when the wording matches the verse. Only works whose authorship is not in doubt are used. Psalms follow the Hebrew/English numbering (Augustine numbers them as the Septuagint does: his Psalm 50 is Psalm 51 here).
… heart, in the persons of his own sons, threw light upon the races of the future people, presignified in them; and laid his hands, mystically crossed, upon his grandchildren by Joseph, not as their father, looking outwardly, corrected them, but as he himself distinguished them. This is the light, the only one, and all those who see and love it …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 1 (1886)
He also shall become a people, and he also shall be exalted; but his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations." And these two promises show the same thing.
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 2 (1887)
… Jacob even, the father of so many children, made his grandchildren, the sons of Joseph, his own children, in these words: "These too shall be mine, and they shall receive the land with their brethren, and those which thou begettest after them shall be thine." But it will be said, perhaps, that this word "adoption" is not found in the …
Read in context · Nicene and Post-Nicene Fathers, series 1, vol. 6 (1888)