⁸ Then Israel saw Joseph’s sons, and said, “Who are these?”

⁹ Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons, whom God has given me in this place.”

And he said, “Please bring them to me, and ^(A)I will bless them.” ¹⁰ Now ^(B)the eyes of Israel were dim with age, so that he could not see. Then Joseph brought them near him, and he ^(C)kissed them and embraced them. ¹¹ And Israel said to Joseph, ^(D)“I had not thought to see your face; but in fact, God has also shown me your offspring!”

¹² So Joseph brought them from beside his knees, and he bowed down with his face to the earth. ¹³ And Joseph took them both, Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them near him. ¹⁴ Then Israel stretched out his right hand and ^(E)laid it on Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, ^(F)guiding his hands knowingly, for Manasseh was the ^(G)firstborn. ¹⁵ And ^(H)he blessed Joseph, and said:

¹⁷ Now when Joseph saw that his father ^(M)laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him; so he took hold of 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 one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.”

¹⁹ But his father refused and said, ^(N)“I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly ^(O)his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.”

²⁰ So he blessed them that day, saying, ^(P)“By you Israel will bless, saying, ‘May God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh!’ ” And thus he set Ephraim before Manasseh.

²¹ Then Israel said to Joseph, “Behold, I am dying, but ^(Q)God will be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers. ²² Moreover ^(R)I have given to you one ^[a]portion above your brothers, which I took from the hand ^(S)of the Amorite with my sword and my bow.”

¹³ He has delivered us from ^(A)the power of darkness ^(B)and ^[a]conveyed us into the kingdom of the Son of His love, ^14 (C)in whom we have redemption ^[b]through His blood, the forgiveness of sins.

¹⁵ He is ^(D)the image of the invisible God, ^(E)the firstborn over all creation. ¹⁶ For ^(F)by Him all things were created that are in heaven and that are on earth, visible and invisible, whether thrones or ^(G)dominions or ^[c]principalities or ^[d]powers. All things were created ^(H)through Him and for Him. ^17 (I)And He is before all things, and in Him ^(J)all things consist. ¹⁸ And ^(K)He is the head of the body, the church, who is the beginning, ^(L)the firstborn from the dead, that in all things He may have the preeminence.

Reconciled in Christ

¹⁹ For it pleased the Father that ^(M)in Him all the fullness should dwell,

⁹ For ^(A)in Him dwells all the fullness of the Godhead ^[a]bodily;