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¹ And it came to pass after these things, that one said to Joseph, Look, your father is sick: and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.² And one told Jacob, and said, Look, your son Joseph comes to you: and Israel strengthened himself, and sat on 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, Look, I will make you fruitful, and multiply you, and I will make of you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your seed after you for an everlasting possession.⁵ And now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you into Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh, even as Reuben and Simeon, shall be mine.⁶ And your issue, that you beget after them, shall be yours; they shall be called after the name of their brothers in their inheritance.⁷ And as for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died to my sorrow in the land of Canaan in the way, when there was still some distance to come to Ephrath: and I buried her there in the way to Ephrath (the same is Beth-lehem).

⁸ And Israel saw Joseph's sons, and said, Who are these?⁹ And Joseph said to his father, They are my sons, whom God has given me here. And he said, Bring them, I pray you, 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 your face: and, look, God has let me see your seed also.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 toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them near to him.¹⁴ And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it on Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the first-born.¹⁵ And he blessed Joseph, and said, The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has fed me all my life long to this day,¹⁶ the angel who has 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 on the head of Ephraim, it was evil in his eyes: and he held up 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 your right hand on his head.¹⁹ And his father refused, and said, I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: nevertheless 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 you [Joseph] will Israel bless, saying, God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.²¹ And Israel said to Joseph, Look, I die: but God will be with you, and bring you again to the land of your fathers.²² Moreover I have given to you one portion above your brothers, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.