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¹ After this it was tolde Ioseph: Beholde, yi father is sicke. And he toke with him his two sonnes Manasses and Ephraim.² Then was it tolde Iacob: beholde, yi sonne Ioseph cometh vnto ye. And Israel toke a corage vnto him, & sat vp vpo ye bed,³ & sayde vnto Ioseph: The Allmightye God appeared vnto me at Lus in ye lade of Canaan, & blessed me,⁴ & saide vnto me: Beholde, I wil cause ye to growe & increase & wyll make a multitude of people of ye, & wil geue this lade vnto yi sede after ye for an euerlastinge possession.⁵ Therfore shal now thy two sonnes Manasses & Ephraim (which were borne vnto the in Egipte, before I came hither vnto the) be myne, like as Ruben & Simeon.⁶ As for those that thou begettest after the, they shal be thine owne. But these shalbe named with the names of their brethren in their inheritaunce.⁷ And wha I came out of Mesopotamia, Rachel dyed by me in the lande of Canaan, by the waye, whan there was yet but a feldes brede vnto Eprath: and I buryed her in the waye towarde Ephrath, which now is called Bethleem.

⁸ And Israel loked vpon Iosephs sonnes, & sayde: What are these?⁹ Ioseph answered: They are my sonnes, which God hath geuen me here. He sayde: Brynge the hither to me, yt I maye blesse the.¹⁰ (For Israels eyes were heuy for age, & he coude not well se.) And he brought the vnto him. So he kyssed them, & enbraced the,¹¹ & saide vnto Ioseph: Beholde, I haue sene yi face, which I thought not: & lo, God hath caused me to se yi sede also.¹² And Ioseph toke them from his lappe, and they fell downe to the grounde vpon their face.¹³ Then Ioseph toke them both, Ephraim in his right hande towarde Israels left hade, and Manasses in his left hande towarde Israels right hade, & brought the vnto him.¹⁴ But Israel stretched out his right hande, & layed it vpo ye heade of Ephraim ye yogest & his left hande vpo Manasses heade, & did so wyttingly wt his handes, for Manasses was ye firstborne.¹⁵ And he blessed Ioseph, & saide: The God before who my fathers Abraha & Isaac haue walked: ye God yt hath fed me my lyfe longe vnto this daye:¹⁶ the angell which hath delyuered me fro all euell, blesse these laddes, yt they maye be called after my name, & after ye name of my fathers Abraha & Isaac, yt they maye growe & multiplye vpon earth.¹⁷ But wha Ioseph sawe yt his father layed ye right hade vpo Ephraims heade, it displeased him, & he lift vp his fathers hande, to remoue it fro Ephraims heade vnto ye heade of Manasses,¹⁸ & sayde vnto him: Not so my father, this is ye firstborne, laye yi right hade vpo his heade.¹⁹ Neuertheles his father wolde not, & saide: I knowe it well my sonne, I knowe it well, this shall be a people also, & shalbe greate: but his yonger brother shal be greater the he, & his sede shal be full of people.²⁰ So he blessed them the same daye & saide: In ye shal Israel blesse, so yt it shal be sayde: God set the as Ephraim & Manasses. And so he set Ephraim aboue Manasses.²¹ And Israel saide vnto Ioseph: Beholde, I dye, & God shall be wt you, & brynge you agayne in to ye lande of youre fathers.²² I haue geuen the a pece of londe, without ye brethren, which I gat with my swerde and my bowe out of the hande of the Amorites.