DaySpring Hope & Encouragement Bible - Flipbook - Page 86
G enesis 48
68
So Joseph promised, “I will do as you ask.”
31 “Swear that you will do it,” Jacob insisted. So Joseph gave his oath, and
Jacob bowed humbly at the head of his bed.*
Jacob Blesses Manasseh and Ephraim
One day not long after this, word came to Joseph, “Your father is
failing rapidly.” So Joseph went to visit his father, and he took with
him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.
2 When Joseph arrived, Jacob was told, “Your son Joseph has come to see
you.” So Jacob* gathered his strength and sat up in his bed.
3 Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty* appeared to me at Luz in the land
of Canaan and blessed me. 4 He said to me, ‘I will make you fruitful, and I
will multiply your descendants. I will make you a multitude of nations. And
I will give this land of Canaan to your descendants* after you as an ever
lasting possession.’
5 “Now I am claiming as my own sons these two boys of yours, Ephraim
and Manasseh, who were born here in the land of Egypt before I arrived.
They will be my sons, just as Reuben and Simeon are. 6 But any children born
to you in the future will be your own, and they will inherit land within the
territories of their brothers Ephraim and Manasseh.
7 “Long ago, as I was returning from Paddan-aram,* Rachel died in the land
of Canaan. We were still on the way, some distance from Ephrath (that is, Beth
lehem). So with great sorrow I buried her there beside the road to Ephrath.”
8 Then Jacob looked over at the two boys. “Are these your sons?” he asked.
9 “Yes,” Joseph told him, “these are the sons God has given me here in
Egypt.”
And Jacob said, “Bring them closer to me, so I can bless them.”
10 Jacob was half blind because of his age and could hardly see. So Joseph
brought the boys close to him, and Jacob kissed and embraced them. 11 Then
Jacob said to Joseph, “I never thought I would see your face again, but now
God has let me see your children, too!”
12 Joseph moved the boys, who were at their grandfather’s knees, and he
bowed with his face to the ground. 13 Then he positioned the boys in front
of Jacob. With his right hand he directed Ephraim toward Jacob’s left hand,
and with his left hand he put Manasseh at Jacob’s right hand. 14 But Jacob
crossed his arms as he reached out to lay his hands on the boys’ heads. He put
his right hand on the head of Ephraim, though he was the younger boy, and
his left hand on the head of Manasseh, though he was the firstborn. 15 Then
he blessed Joseph and said,
48
16
“May the God before whom my grandfather Abraham
and my father, Isaac, walked—
the God who has been my shepherd
all my life, to this very day,
the Angel who has redeemed me from all harm—
may he bless these boys.
May they preserve my name
4
7:31 Greek version reads and Israel bowed in worship as he leaned on his staff. Compare Heb 11:21.
48:2 Hebrew Israel; also in 48:8, 10, 11, 13, 14, 21. See note on 35:21. 48:3 Hebrew El-Shaddai.
48:4 Hebrew seed; also in 48:19. 48:7 Hebrew Paddan, referring to P
addan-aram; compare
Gen 35:9.
