Genesis 48:17-19

Amplified Bible, Classic Edition

¹⁷When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on Ephraim’s head, it displeased him; and he held up his father’s hand to move it to Manasseh’s head.

¹⁸And Joseph said, Not so, my father, for this is the firstborn; put your right hand upon his head.

¹⁹But his father refused and said, I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people and shall be great; but his younger brother shall be ^[a]greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations.

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Footnotes

Genesis 48:19 This prophecy begins to be fulfilled “from the days of the judges onward, as the tribe of Ephraim in power and compass so increased that it became the head of the northern ten tribes, and its name became of like significance with that of Israel; although, in the time of Moses, Manasseh still outnumbered Ephraim by 20,000” (Karl F. Keil and F. Delitzsch, Biblical Commentary on the Old Testament). Joshua, whom Israel so long regarded as their ruler, was an Ephraimite. The ark of the covenant was placed in Shiloh in the territory of Ephraim, which increased the tribe’s prestige. How could Jacob have prophesied Ephraim’s supremacy so positively except by divine inspiration?