Immerse: Beginnings Full Volume - Flipbook - Page 89
48:12–49:2
G enesis
77
Jacob said to Joseph, “I never thought I would see your face again, but now
God has let me see your children, too!”
Joseph moved the boys, who were at their grandfather’s knees, and he
bowed with his face to the ground. 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. 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.
Then he blessed Joseph and said,
“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
and the names of Abraham and Isaac.
And may their descendants multiply greatly
throughout the earth.”
But Joseph was upset when he saw that his father placed his right hand
on Ephraim’s head. So Joseph lifted it to move it from Ephraim’s head to
Manasseh’s head. “No, my father,” he said. “This one is the firstborn. Put
your right hand on his head.”
But his father refused. “I know, my son; I know,” he replied. “Manasseh
will also become a great people, but his younger brother will become even
greater. And his descendants will become a multitude of nations.”
So Jacob blessed the boys that day with this blessing: “The people of
Israel will use your names when they give a blessing. They will say, ‘May
God make you as prosperous as Ephraim and Manasseh.’” In this way,
Jacob put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh.
Then Jacob said to Joseph, “Look, I am about to die, but God will be
with you and will take you back to Canaan, the land of your ancestors. And
beyond what I have given your brothers, I am giving you an extra portion
of the land that I took from the Amorites with my sword and bow.”
Then Jacob called together all his sons and said, “Gather around me, and I
will tell you what will happen to each of you in the days to come.
“Come and listen, you sons of Jacob;
listen to Israel, your father.
