Genesis 48:8-20
New Catholic Bible
8 Then Israel saw the sons of Joseph and said, “Who are these?”
9 Joseph said to his father, “They are the sons whom God has given me here.”
Israel said, “Bring them to me so that I can bless them.”
10 The eyes of Israel were dim in his old age. He could no longer see. Joseph approached him, kissed him, and embraced him. 11 Israel said to Joseph, “I did not believe that I would see you face to face, and now, behold, God has granted me even to see your children.”
12 Joseph took them off his knees and bowed his face to the ground. 13 Then he placed the two of them, Ephraim on the left hand of Israel and Manasseh on the right hand of Israel, and he brought them to him. 14 But Israel took his right hand and put it on the head of Ephraim, who was the younger of the two, and the left hand he put on the head of Manasseh, crossing his arms, although Manasseh was the firstborn.
15 Then he blessed Joseph,
“God, before whom my fathers
Abraham and Isaac walked,
God who has been my shepherd
again and again until this day,
16 the Angel who has freed me from every evil,
bless these young ones!
Let my name be remembered through them
and the name of my fathers
Abraham and Isaac
and let them be multiplied greatly
upon the earth.”
17 Joseph saw that his father had placed his right hand on the head of Ephraim and that this was wrong. He took the hand of his father to remove it from the head of Ephraim and put it on Manasseh’s head. 18 He said to his father, “Not like this, my father, this is the firstborn. Place your right hand on his head.”
19 But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He will also become a people, he will also be great, but his younger brother will be greater than he and his descendants will become a multitude of nations.” 20 He blessed them that day,
“By you Israel shall pronounce blessings saying,
‘May God make you like Ephraim and like Manasseh.’ ”
He thus put Ephraim before Manasseh.
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