Genesis 48:17-19

Revised Standard Version Catholic Edition

¹⁷ When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of E′phraim, it displeased him; and he took his father’s hand, to remove it from E′phraim’s head to Manas′seh’s head. ¹⁸ And Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father; for this one is the first-born; 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; nevertheless his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.”