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Yakov blesses Efraim and Menasheh
48 |
1 AFTERWARDS Yosef was told that his father was ill. He took his two sons Menasheh and Efraim. 2 He said to Yakov:
—I am your son Yosef, I have come to you.
Israel became strong and sat up in bed. 3 Yakov said to Yosef:
El-Shadai appeared to me
in Luz in the land of Canaan
and blessed me 4 and said to me:
I will make you fruitful
I will make you multiply
I will turn you into an assembly of nations
5 so now your two sons
that you had in the land of Egypt
before I came to Egypt
are mine, Efraim and Menasheh,
as Reuben and Shimon are mine
6 the sons you had after them
are yours
they shall be accounted in lieu of their older brothers
and will have what is theirs after them
7 when I came from Padan
my wife Rahel died in Canaan
on the road with a little to go
to reach Efrat
and there I buried her
on the road to Efrat
at Beyt-Lehem
8 Israel looked at Yosef's sons and said:
—Who are these?
9 Yosef told his father:
—They are the sons God has given me here.
He said:
—Bring them over to me.
He blessed them. 10 Israel's eyes had been burdened with age, he could no longer see. He gathered them to him, kissed them, embraced them. 11 Israel said to Yosef:
—I didn't expect to see you again, however God has allowed me to see you and your children too.
12 Yosef removed them from his knees. He knelt down with his face to the ground.
13 Yosef took the two of them: Efraim in his right hand, meaning on Israel's left, and Menasheh in his other hand, on Israel's right. He brought them to him. 14 Israel stretched out his right hand and put it on Efraim's head, that's the young one, and his other hand on Menasheh's head. In that way he crossed his arms, for Menasheh was the first-born. 15 He blessed Yosef, and said:
God who walked in the sight of my fathers
Abraham and Yitzhak
God who has always protected me
until this day
16 may the angel who saves me from all evil
bless the boys
let my name be spoken through them and the names of my fathers Abraham and Yitzhak
and let their children become very many in the land
17 When Yosef saw that his father had put his right hand on Efraim's head, he thought that he had got mixed up. He picked up his father's hand to remove it from Efraim's head and put it on Menasheh's head. 18 Yosef said to his father:
—Not that way father, for this is the first-born, put your hand on his head.
19 His father refused. He said:
—I know, my son, I know. He will also become a country and will also grow great. However, the little one will become greater and his children will become many peoples.
20 He blessed them that day. He said:
—Through you will Israel bless, he will say: May God make you like Efraim and like Menasheh.
He put Efraim before Menasheh.
21 Israel said to Yosef:
—I am going to die. God will be with you all. He will take you back to your fathers' land. 22 I give you Shechem, as one over your brothers, for I freed it from the Emorites with my iron and my bow.
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