Genesis 48:5-49:28
Lexham English Bible
5 And now, your two sons who were born to you in the land of Egypt before my coming to you in Egypt, are mine. Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine as Reuben and Simeon are. 6 And your children whom you father after them shall be yours. By the name of their brothers they shall be called, with respect to their inheritance. 7 As for me, when I came to Paddan-Aram Rachel died to my sorrow[a] in the land of Canaan on the way when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath. And I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).” 8 When Israel saw the sons of Joseph he said, “Who are these?” 9 Then Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons whom God has given me here.” And he said, “Please bring them to me that I may bless them.” 10 Now the eyes of Israel were dim[b] on account of old age; he was not able to see. So he brought them near to him, and he kissed them and embraced them. 11 And Israel said to Joseph, “I did not expect to see your face and behold, God has also shown me your offspring.” 12 Then Joseph removed them from his knees and bowed down with his face to the ground. 13 And Joseph took the two of them, Ephraim at his right to the left of Israel, and Manasseh at his left to the right of Israel. And he brought them near to him. 14 And Israel stretched out his right hand and put it on the head of Ephraim (now he was the younger), and his left hand on the head of Manasseh, crossing his hands, for Manasseh was the firstborn. 15 And he blessed Joseph and said,
“The God before whom my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, walked,
The God who shepherded me all my life[c] unto this day,
16 The angel who redeemed me from all evil,
may he bless the boys.
And through them let my name be perpetuated,[d]
and the name of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac.
And let them multiply into many in the midst of the earth.
17 When Joseph saw that his father put his right hand on the head of Ephraim, he was displeased. And he took hold of his father’s hand to remove it from the head of Ephraim over to the head of Manasseh. 18 And Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father; because this one is the firstborn. Put your right hand upon his head.” 19 But his father refused and said, “I know, my son; I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great, but his younger brother shall be greater than him, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations.” 20 So he blessed them that day, saying,
Through you Israel shall pronounce blessing, saying,
‘May God make you like Ephraim and like Manasseh.’”
So he put Ephraim before Manasseh. 21 And Israel said to Joseph, “Behold, I am about to die, but God will be with you and will bring you back to the land of your ancestors.[e] 22 And I have given to you one slope of land rather than your brothers, which I took from the hand of the Amorites by my sword and with my bow.”
Jacob Blesses His Twelve Sons
49 Then Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather together so that I can tell you what will happen with you in days to come.[f]
2 Assemble and hear, O sons of Jacob!
Listen to Israel your father!
3 Reuben, you are my firstborn,
my strength, and the firstfruit of my vigor,
excelling in rank and excelling in power.
4 Unstable[g] as water, you shall not excel any longer,
for you went up upon the bed of your father,
then defiled it. You went up upon my couch!
5 Simeon and Levi are brothers;
weapons of violence are their swords.
Let me[h] not come into their council.
6 Let not my person[i] be joined to their company.
For in their anger they killed men,
and at their pleasure they hamstrung cattle.
7 Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce,
and their wrath, for it is cruel.
I will divide them in Jacob,
and I will scatter them in Israel.
8 Judah, as for you, your brothers shall praise you.
Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies.
The sons of your father shall bow down to you.
9 Judah is a lion’s cub.
From the prey, my son, you have gone up.
He bowed down; he crouched like a lion and as a lioness.
Who shall rouse him?
10 The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
nor the ruler’s staff between his feet,
until Shiloh comes.
And to him shall be the obedience of nations.
11 Binding his donkey to the vine
and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine,
he washes his clothing in the wine
and his garment in the blood of grapes.
12 The eyes are darker than wine,
and the teeth whiter than milk.
13 Zebulun shall settle by the shore of the sea.
He shall become a haven for ships,
and his border shall be at Sidon.
14 Issachar is a strong donkey,
crouching between the sheepfolds.
15 He saw a resting place that was good,
and land that was pleasant.
So he bowed his shoulder to the burden
and became a servant of forced labor.
16 Dan shall judge his people
as one of the tribes of Israel.
17 Dan shall be a serpent on the way,
a viper on the road
that bites the heels of a horse,
so that its rider falls backward.
18 I wait for your salvation, O Yahweh.
19 Bandits shall attack Gad,
but he shall attack their heels.
20 Asher’s food is delicious,
and he shall provide from the king’s delicacies.
21 Naphtali is a doe running free
that puts forth beautiful words.
22 Joseph is the bough[j] of a fruitful vine,
a fruitful bough[k] by a spring.
His branches climb over the wall.
23 The archers[l] fiercely attacked him.
They shot arrows at him and were hostile to him.
24 But his bow remained in a steady position;
his arms[m] were made agile
by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob.
From there is the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel.
25 Because of the God of your father he will help you
and by Shaddai[n] he will bless you
with the blessings of heaven above,
blessings of the deep that crouches beneath,
blessings of the breasts and the womb.
26 The blessings of your father
are superior to the blessings of my ancestors,
to the bounty of the everlasting hills.
May they be on the head of Joseph,
and on the forehead of the prince of his brothers.
27 Benjamin is a devouring wolf,
devouring the prey in the morning,
and dividing the plunder in the evening.
The Death and Burial of Jacob
28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them, each according to their blessing.
Footnotes
- Genesis 48:7 Literally “to me”
- Genesis 48:10 Or “heavy” (i.e., his eyelids were heavy; his eyes were closed)
- Genesis 48:15 Literally “since my duration”
- Genesis 48:16 Or “called”
- Genesis 48:21 Or “fathers”
- Genesis 49:1 Literally “the latter days”
- Genesis 49:4 Or “reckless”
- Genesis 49:5 Or “my soul”
- Genesis 49:6 Or “my glory”
- Genesis 49:22 Or “son”
- Genesis 49:22 Or “son”
- Genesis 49:23 Literally “the masters of the bow”
- Genesis 49:24 Literally “the arms of his hands”
- Genesis 49:25 Or “the Almighty”
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