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48 Again, after this, one said to Joseph, “Lo, your father is sick.” Then, he took his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, with him.
2 Also, one told Jacob, and said, “Behold, your son, Joseph, has come to you.” And Israel gathered his strength and sat upon the bed.
3 Then Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz, in the land of Canaan, and blessed me,
4 “and said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful, and will multiply you, and will make a great number of people from you and will give this land to your seed after you, for an everlasting possession.’
5 “And now, your two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim (who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you into Egypt) shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are mine.
6 “But your lineage which you have begotten after them shall be yours. They shall be called after the names of their brothers in their inheritance.
7 “Now, when I came from Padan, Rachel died beside me on the way (in the land of Canaan, when there was but a half day’s journey left to Ephrath). And I buried her there, on the way to Ephrath.” The same is Bethlehem.
8 Then Israel beheld Joseph’s sons and said, “Whose are these?”
9 And Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons whom God has given me here.” Then he said, “Please bring them to me, so that I may bless them.”
10 (For the eyes of Israel were dim from age, so that he could not see well.) Then he caused them to come to him. And he kissed them and embraced them.
11 And Israel said to Joseph, “I had not thought I would see your face. Yet, lo, God has also shown me your seed.”
12 And Joseph took them away from his knees and did reverence down to the ground.
13 Then 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). So, he brought them to him.
14 But Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on Ephraim’s head (who was the younger) and his left hand upon Manasseh’s head (directing his hands intentionally, for Manasseh was the elder).
15 Also, 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, until this day—bless you.
16 “The Angel, who has delivered me from all evil, bless the children; and let my name be named upon them, and the name of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, so that they may grow as fish into a multitude in the midst of the Earth.”
17 But when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him. 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 eldest. Put your right hand upon his head.”
19 But his father refused, and said, “I know well, my son. I know well. He shall also be a people; and he shall likewise be great. But his younger brother shall be greater than he; and his seed shall be full of nations.”
20 So, he blessed them that day, and said, “In you, Israel shall bless and say, ‘God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh.” And he set Ephraim before Manasseh.
21 Then Israel said to Joseph, “Behold, I die. And God shall be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers.
22 “Moreover, I have given to you one portion more than your brothers, which I got out of the hand of the Amorite, by my sword and by my bow.”
49 Then Jacob called his sons, and said, “Gather yourselves together, so that I may tell you what shall come to you in the last days.
2 “Gather yourselves together and hear, you sons of Jacob, and listen to Israel, your father.
3 “Reuben, my eldest son, you are my might and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity and the excellency of power.
4 “You were light as water. You shall not be excellent, because you went up to your father’s bed. Then, you defiled my bed. Your dignity is gone.
5 “Simeon and Levi (brothers). Their weapons are the instruments of cruelty.
6 “Do not let my soul come into their secret, nor my glory be joined with their assembly. For in their wrath they killed a man; and in their self-will they dug down a wall.
7 “Cursed be their wrath, for it was fierce, and their rage, for it was cruel. I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.
8 “You, Judah. Your brothers shall praise you. Your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies. Your father’s sons shall bow down before you.
9 “Judah, as a lion’s cub you shall come up from the prey, my son. He shall lie down and crouch as a lion, and as a lioness. Who shall stir him up?
10 “The Sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a Lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come. And the people shall be gathered to him.
11 “He shall bind his donkey foal to the Vine, and his donkey’s colt to the Best Vine. He shall wash His garment in wine, and His cloak in the blood of grapes.
12 “His eyes shall be red with wine, and His teeth white with milk.
13 “Zebulun shall dwell by the seaside; and he shall be a haven for ships. And his border shall be to Sidon.
14 “Issachar shall be a strong donkey, crouching down between two burdens.
15 “And he shall see that rest is good, and that the land is pleasant; and he shall bow his shoulder to bear and shall be subject to tribute.
16 “Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel.
17 “Dan shall be a serpent on the way, an adder by the path, biting the horse heels so that his rider shall fall backward.
18 “O LORD, I have waited for Your salvation!
19 “Gad. An army of men shall overcome him; but he shall overcome in the end.
20 “Concerning Asher, his bread shall be fat and he shall give pleasures for a king.
21 “Naphtali shall be a loosed deer, using beautiful words.
22 “Joseph shall be a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by the well side. His small boughs shall overrun the wall.
23 “And the archers grieved him and shot and hated him.
24 “But, his bow remained strong; and the hands of his arms were strengthened by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob (by Whom was the Feeder appointed by the Stone of Israel),
25 “by the God of your father, Who shall help you, and by the Almighty Who shall bless you with heavenly blessings from above, with blessings of the deep that lies beneath, with blessings of the breasts, and of the womb.
26 “The blessings of your father shall be stronger than the blessings of my elders. To the end of the hills of the world shall they be on the head of Joseph, and on the top of the head of him who was separated from his brothers.
27 “Benjamin is a ravenous wolf. In the morning he shall devour the prey and at night he shall divide the plunder.”
28 All these are the Twelve Tribes of Israel; and thus their father spoke to them and blessed them. He blessed every one of them with a specific blessing.
29 And he charged them, and said to them, “I am ready to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers, in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,
30 “in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah (besides Mamre, in the land of Canaan) which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a burial possession.
31 “There they buried Abraham and Sarah, his wife. There they buried Isaac and Rebekah, his wife. And there I buried Leah.
32 “The purchase of the field, and the cave that is therein, were bought from the children of Heth.”
33 Thus, Jacob finished giving charge to his sons and drew his feet into the bed and gave up the ghost and was gathered to his people.
50 Then Joseph fell upon his father’s face and wept upon him and kissed him.
2 And Joseph commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father; and the physicians embalmed Israel.
3 So, forty days were fulfilled (for so long did the days of those who were embalmed last); and the Egyptians mourned him for seventy days.
4 And when the days of his mourning had passed, Joseph spoke to the House of Pharaoh, saying, “If I have now found favor in your eyes, please speak in the ears of Pharaoh, and say,
5 ‘My father made me swear saying, “Lo, I die. Bury me in my grave which I have made me in the land of Canaan.”’ Now, therefore, please let me go and bury my father; and I will come back.”
6 Then Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, as he has made you swear to do.”
7 So, Joseph went up to bury his father; and all the servants of Pharaoh went with him, the elders of his house and all the elders of the land of Egypt.
8 Likewise, all the House of Joseph went, and his brothers, and his father’s House. Only their children and their sheep and their cattle did they leave in the land of Goshen.
9 And both chariots and horsemen went up with him. And they were an exceedingly great company.
10 And they came to Goren Atad (which is beyond Jordan); and there they made a great and exceedingly severe lamentation. And he mourned for his father for seven days.
11 And when the Canaanites (the inhabitants of the land) saw the mourning in Goren Atad, they said, “This is a great mourning to the Egyptians.” Therefore, the name thereof was called “Abel Mizraim,” which is beyond Jordan.
12 So, his sons did to him as he had commanded them.
13 For his sons carried him into the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite (beside Mamre) as a burial place.
14 Then Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brothers and all who had gone up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father.
15 And when Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us, and will pay us back for all the evil which we did to him.”
16 Therefore, they sent to Joseph, saying, “Your father commanded before his death, saying,
17 ‘Thus shall you say to Joseph, “Please forgive, now, the trespass of your brothers and their sin. For they rewarded you evil.”’ And now, please forgive the trespass of the servants of your father’s God.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him.
18 Also, his brothers came to him and fell down before his face, and said, “Behold, we are your servants.”
19 To whom Joseph said, “Do not fear. For, am not I under God?
20 “When you thought evil against me, God disposed it to good, so that He might bring to pass as it is this day and save many people alive.
21 “Now, therefore, do not fear. I will nourish you and your children.” And he comforted them and spoke kindly to them.
22 So, Joseph dwelt in Egypt (he and his father’s House). And Joseph lived a hundred and ten years.
23 And Joseph saw Ephraim’s children, even to the third generation. Also, the sons of Machir (the son of Manasseh) were brought upon Joseph’s knees.
24 And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am ready to die; and God will surely visit you and bring you out of this land, to the land which He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”
25 And Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel, saying, “God will surely visit you; and you shall carry my bones from there.”
26 So, Joseph died when he was a hundred and ten years old. And they embalmed him and put him in a chest in Egypt.
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