Soon after this, Joseph was told that his father had fallen sick, and took his two sons, Ephraim and Manasses, to visit him.

When the old man heard that Joseph had come to see him, he found strength to sit up in bed,

and greeted him thus, The almighty God revealed himself to me at Luza in Chanaan, and gave me his blessing there.

I will make thy posterity increase and multiply, he said, so that a host of nations shall spring from thee; and I will give this land to thee and to thy race after thee, to be their possession eternally.

Thy two sons were born to thee in Egypt, before my coming, but they shall be counted as sons of mine; Ephraim and Manasses shall take rank with Ruben and Simeon.

Whatever children thou shalt beget after this shall be thine, not mine, and they shall hold whatever possession they hold under the title of these brothers of theirs.

It was when I was on my way back from Mesopotamia that I lost Rachel, there in Chanaan, while we were on our journey, in spring time,✻ and when I reached Ephrata I buried her there, by the road which leads to Ephrata; Bethlehem is another name they call it by.

Then he saw Joseph’s two sons there, and asked, Who are these?

The sons God has given me, said he, while I have been living here. Bring them close to me, he answered, and let me give them my blessing;

by now, Israel’s eyes were failing through his great age, and he could not see clearly.

So they were brought close to him, and he kissed them;

then he said to his son, Once I never thought to see thee again; that fear was groundless, and now God has given me sight of thy children too.

And Joseph took them from his father’s embrace, and bowed low,

putting Ephraim on his right, by Israel’s left hand, and Manasses on his left, at Israel’s right hand, and holding them both close to him.

But Jacob stretched out his right hand, and put it on the head of Ephraim, the younger, and put his left on the head of Manasses, the elder, changing his hands round.

And this is the blessing which Jacob gave to Joseph’s sons; May that God, in whose presence my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, once lived and moved, that God who has guided me like a shepherd from my youth till now,

that angel of God, who has rescued me from all my troubles, bless these sons of thine. Let them inherit my name, and the names of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac; may their posterity spread wide over the earth.

Joseph took it amiss when he saw his father put his right hand on the head of Ephraim, and would have raised it up from Ephraim’s to put it on Manasses’ instead;

No, father, said he, thou art wide of the mark; here is the eldest, upon whom thy right hand should rest.

But Jacob would not be persuaded; I know it, my son, said he, I know it; Manasses too shall give birth to a people, and spread far; but this younger brother shall outdo him, and beget a multitude of nations.

So then and there he blessed them; When men give a blessing in Israel, he said, the words they use shall be, God make thee like Ephraim and Manasses. So he put Ephraim before Manasses.

He said, too, to Joseph, I must die, but God be with you, and bring you back to the land of your fathers.

And there I bequeath thee one portion✻ to which thy brethren shall have no claim, the land I won from the Amorrhite with my sword and my bow.