Bereshis 48

1And it came to pass after these things, that one told Yosef, Hinei, Avicha is choleh (ill); and he took with him his two banim, Menasheh and Ephrayim.

2And one told Ya'akov, and said, Hinei, the ben of thee Yosef cometh unto thee; and Yisroel strengthened himself, and sat up upon the mittah (bed).

3And Ya'akov said unto Yosef, El Shaddai appeared unto me at Luz in Eretz Kena'an, and made on me a brocha,

4And said unto me, Hineni, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a kehal of ammim; and will give HaAretz Hazot to thy zera after thee for an achuzzat olam (everlasting possession).

5And now thy two banim, Ephrayim and Menasheh, which were born unto thee in Eretz Mitzrayim before I came unto thee into Mitzrayim, are mine; like Reuven and Shimon, they shall be mine.

6And thy moledet, which are born to thee after them, shall be thine, and shall be called after the shem of their achim in their nachalah.

7And as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died by me in Eretz Kena'an in the way, when there was yet but a space of land to go unto Ephratah; and I buried her there by the derech Ephrat; the same is Beit-Lechem.

8And Yisroel beheld Bnei Yosef, and said, Who are these?

9And Yosef said unto aviv, They are my banim, whom Elohim hath given me in this place. And he said, Bring them, now, unto me, and I will make upon them a brocha.

10Now the eyes of Yisroel were dim from age, so that he could not see. And he brought them near unto him; and he kissed them, and embraced them.

11And Yisroel said unto Yosef, I never expected to see thy face; and, hinei, Elohim hath showed me also thy zera.

12And Yosef brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the ground.

13And Yosef took them both, Ephrayim in his yamin toward smol Yisroel, and Menasheh on his smol toward yamin Yisroel, and brought them near unto him.

14And Yisroel stretched out his yamin, and laid it upon rosh Ephraim, who was the younger, and his smol upon rosh Menasheh, guiding his hands intentionally; for Menasheh was the bechor.

15And he made on Yosef a brocha, and said, HaElohim, before whom my Avot Avraham and Yitzchak did walk, HaElohim Who was Roeh to me all my life long unto this day,

16The Malach which redeemed me from kol rah, may he make a brocha on the ne'arim, and let my shem be named on them, and the shem of my Avot Avraham and Yitzchak; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of ha'aretz.

17And when Yosef saw that aviv laid his yamin upon the rosh Ephrayim, it displeased him; and he took hold of yad aviv, to remove it from rosh Ephrayim unto rosh Menasheh.

18And Yosef said unto aviv, Not so, Avi; for this is the bechor; put thy yamin upon his rosh.

19And aviv refused, and said, I know it, beni (my son), I know it; he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly achiv hakaton shall be greater than he, and his zera shall become a multitude of Goyim.

20And he made a brocha on them that day, saying, In thee shall Yisroel bless, saying, Elohim make thee like Ephrayim and like Menasheh; and he set Ephrayim before Menasheh.

21And Yisroel said unto Yosef, Hinei I die; but Elohim shall be with you, and bring you back unto the Eretz Avoteichem.

22Moreover, I have given to thee one portion above thy achim, which I took out of the yad HaEmori with my cherev and with my keshet.