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<!DOCTYPE html PUBLIC "-//W3C//DTD XHTML 1.0 Transitional//EN" "//www.w3.org/TR/xhtml1/DTD/xhtml1-transitional.dtd"><html xmlns="//www.w3.org/1999/xhtml"><head><meta http-equiv="Content-Type" content="text/html; charset=utf-8" /><meta name="viewport" content="width=device-width, initial-scale=1"><title>Genesis 48 GNT</title><link rel="stylesheet" href="/chapnew2.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /><link rel="stylesheet" href="../spec.css" type="text/css" media="Screen" /></head><body><div id="fx"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx2"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="30" scrolling="no" src="../cmenus/genesis/48.htm" align="left" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div><div id="blnk"></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable"><tr><td><div id="fx5"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" id="fx6"><tr><td><iframe width="100%" height="245" scrolling="no" src="../topmenuchap/genesis/48-1.htm" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" class="maintable3"><tr><td><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center" id="announce"><tr><td><div id="l1"><div id="breadcrumbs"><a href="//biblehub.com">Bible</a> > <a href="../">GNT</a> > Genesis 48</div><div id="anc"><iframe src="/anc.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></div><div id="anc2"><table width="100%" border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><iframe src="/anc2.htm" width="100%" height="27" scrolling="no" frameborder="0"></iframe></td></tr></table></div></div></td></tr></table><div id="movebox2"><table border="0" align="center" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><div id="topheading"><a href="../genesis/47.htm" title="Genesis 47">◄</a> Genesis 48 <a href="../genesis/49.htm" title="Genesis 49">►</a></div></td></tr></table></div><div align="center" class="maintable2"><table border="0" cellspacing="0" cellpadding="0" align="center"><tr><td><div id="leftbox"><div class="padleft"><div class="vheading">Good News Translation</div><div class="chap"><h3 class="s">Jacob Blesses Ephraim and Manasseh</h3><p class="par"><span class="v0_48_1"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.48.1" class="v0_48_1">1</span>Some time later Joseph was told that his father was ill. So he took his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, and went to see Jacob. </span><span class="v0_48_2"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.48.2" class="v0_48_2">2</span>When Jacob was told that his son Joseph had come to see him, he gathered his strength and sat up in bed. </span><span class="v0_48_3"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.48.3" class="v0_48_3">3</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Gen.48.3!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> Jacob said to Joseph, “Almighty God appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me. </span><span class="v0_48_4"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.48.4" class="v0_48_4">4</span>He said to me, ‘I will give you many children, so that your descendants will become many nations; I will give this land to your descendants as their possession forever.’”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v0_48_5"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.48.5" class="v0_48_5">5</span>Jacob continued, “Joseph, your two sons, who were born to you in Egypt before I came here, belong to me; Ephraim and Manasseh are just as much my sons as Reuben and Simeon. </span><span class="v0_48_6"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.48.6" class="v0_48_6">6</span>If you have any more sons, they will not be considered mine; the inheritance they get will come through Ephraim and Manasseh. </span><span class="v0_48_7"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.48.7" class="v0_48_7">7</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Gen.48.7!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> I am doing this because of your mother Rachel. To my great sorrow she died in the land of Canaan, not far from Ephrath, as I was returning from Mesopotamia. I buried her there beside the road to Ephrath.” (Ephrath is now known as Bethlehem.)</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v0_48_8"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.48.8" class="v0_48_8">8</span>When Jacob saw Joseph's sons, he asked, “Who are these boys?”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v0_48_9"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.48.9" class="v0_48_9">9</span>Joseph answered, “These are my sons, whom God has given me here in Egypt.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v0_48_9">Jacob said, “Bring them to me so that I may bless them.” </span><span class="v0_48_10"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.48.10" class="v0_48_10">10</span>Jacob's eyesight was failing because of his age, and he could not see very well. Joseph brought the boys to him, and he hugged them and kissed them. </span><span class="v0_48_11"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.48.11" class="v0_48_11">11</span>Jacob said to Joseph, “I never expected to see you again, and now God has even let me see your children.” </span><span class="v0_48_12"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.48.12" class="v0_48_12">12</span>Then Joseph took them from Jacob's lap and bowed down before him with his face to the ground.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v0_48_13"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.48.13" class="v0_48_13">13</span>Joseph put Ephraim at Jacob's left and Manasseh at his right. </span><span class="v0_48_14"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.48.14" class="v0_48_14">14</span>But Jacob crossed his hands, and put his right hand on the head of Ephraim, even though he was the younger, and his left hand on the head of Manasseh, who was the older. </span><span class="v0_48_15"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.48.15" class="v0_48_15">15</span>Then he blessed Joseph:<a href="#fn" id="link_Gen.48.15!f.1" class="notelink f-link"><span>+</span></a> </span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v0_48_15">“May God, whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac served, bless these boys!</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v0_48_15">May God, who has led me to this very day, bless them!</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v0_48_16"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.48.16" class="v0_48_16">16</span>May the angel, who has rescued me from all harm, bless them!</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v0_48_16">May my name and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac live on through these boys!</span></p><p class="q1"><span class="v0_48_16">May they have many children, many descendants!”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v0_48_17"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.48.17" class="v0_48_17">17</span>Joseph was upset when he saw that his father had put his right hand on Ephraim's head; so he took his father's hand to move it from Ephraim's head to the head of Manasseh. </span><span class="v0_48_18"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.48.18" class="v0_48_18">18</span>He said to his father, “Not that way, father. This is the older boy; put your right hand on his head.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v0_48_19"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.48.19" class="v0_48_19">19</span>His father refused, saying, “I know, son, I know. Manasseh's descendants will also become a great people. But his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become great nations.”</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v0_48_20"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.48.20" class="v0_48_20">20</span><a href="#fn" id="link_Gen.48.20!x.1" class="notelink x-link"><span></span></a> So he blessed them that day, saying, “The Israelites will use your names when they pronounce blessings. They will say, ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’” In this way Jacob put Ephraim before Manasseh.</span></p><p class="par"><span class="v0_48_21"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.48.21" class="v0_48_21">21</span>Then Jacob said to Joseph, “As you see, I am about to die, but God will be with you and will take you back to the land of your ancestors. </span><span class="v0_48_22"><span class="reftext" id="Gen.48.22" class="v0_48_22">22</span>It is to you and not to your brothers that I am giving Shechem, that fertile region which I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow.”</span></p><a name="fn"></a><br /><br /><br /><b>Footnotes:<br /><br /><note caller="+" style="f"><char style="fr" closed="false">48.15: </char><char style="fk" closed="false">Joseph: </char><char style="ft" closed="false">In blessing Ephraim and Manasseh, Jacob was in fact blessing Joseph.</char></note></div></div><span class="p"><br /><br /></span><div align="center"><p><span style="font-size:11pt;">Good News Translation® (Today’s English Version, Second Edition)</span></p> <p><span style="font-size:11pt;">© 1992 American Bible Society. 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