Genesis 48:1-14

Context

Manasseh and Ephraim

48:1 After these things Joseph was told,¹ “Your father is weakening.” So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim with him. 48:2 When Jacob was told,² “Your son Joseph has just³ come to you,” Israel regained strength and sat up on his bed. 48:3 Jacob said to Joseph, “The sovereign God⁴ appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me. 48:4 He said to me, ‘I am going to make you fruitful⁵ and will multiply you.⁶ I will make you into a group of nations, and I will give this land to your descendants⁷ as an everlasting possession.’⁸

48:5 “Now, as for your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, they will be mine.⁹ Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine just as Reuben and Simeon are. 48:6 Any children that you father¹⁰ after them will be yours; they will be listed¹¹ under the names of their brothers in their inheritance.¹² 48:7 But as for me, when I was returning from Paddan, Rachel died – to my sorrow¹³ – in the land of Canaan. It happened along the way, some distance from Ephrath. So I buried her there on the way to Ephrath” (that is, Bethlehem).¹⁴

48:8 When Israel saw Joseph’s sons, he asked, “Who are these?” 48:9 Joseph said to his father, “They are the¹⁵ sons God has given me in this place.” His father¹⁶ said, “Bring them to me so I may bless them.”¹⁷ 48:10 Now Israel’s eyes were failing¹⁸ because of his age; he was not able to see well. So Joseph¹⁹ brought his sons²⁰ near to him, and his father²¹ kissed them and embraced them. 48:11 Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected²² to see you²³ again, but now God has allowed me to see your children²⁴ too.”

48:12 So Joseph moved them from Israel’s knees²⁵ and bowed down with his face to the ground. 48:13 Joseph positioned them;²⁶ he put Ephraim on his right hand across from Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh on his left hand across from Israel’s right hand. Then Joseph brought them closer to his father.²⁷ 48:14 Israel stretched out his right hand and placed it on Ephraim’s head, although he was the younger.²⁸ Crossing his hands, he put his left hand on Manasseh’s head, for Manasseh was the firstborn.

[48:1] ¹tn Heb “and one said.” With no expressed subject in the Hebrew text, the verb can be translated with the passive voice.

[48:2] ²tn Heb “and one told and said.” The verbs have no expressed subject and can be translated with the passive voice.

[48:2] ³tn Heb “Look, your son Joseph.”

[48:3] ⁴tn Heb “El Shaddai.” See the extended note on the phrase “sovereign God” in Gen 17:1.

[48:4] ⁵tn Heb “Look, I am making you fruitful.” The participle following הִנֵּה (hinneh) has the nuance of a certain and often imminent future.

[48:4] ⁶tn The perfect verbal form with vav consecutive carries on the certain future idea.

[48:4] ⁷tn The Hebrew text adds “after you,” which has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

[48:4] ⁸tn The Hebrew word אֲחֻזָּה (’akhuzzah), translated “possession,” describes a permanent holding in the land. It is the noun form of the same verb (אָחַז, ’akhaz) that was used for the land given to them in Goshen (Gen 47:27).

[48:5] ⁹sn They will be mine. Jacob is here adopting his two grandsons Manasseh and Ephraim as his sons, and so they will have equal share with the other brothers. They will be in the place of Joseph and Levi (who will become a priestly tribe) in the settlement of the land. See I. Mendelsohn, “A Ugaritic Parallel to the Adoption of Ephraim and Manasseh,” IEJ (1959): 180-83.

[48:6] ¹⁰tn Or “you fathered.”

[48:6] ¹¹tn Heb “called” or “named.”

[48:6] ¹²sn Listed under the names of their brothers in their inheritance. This means that any subsequent children of Joseph will be incorporated into the tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh.

[48:7] ¹³tn Heb “upon me, against me,” which might mean something like “to my sorrow.”

[48:7] ¹⁴map For location see Map5 B1; Map7 E2; Map8 E2; Map10 B4.

[48:9] ¹⁵tn Heb “my.”

[48:9] ¹⁶tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Joseph’s father) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[48:9] ¹⁷tn The cohortative with prefixed vav (ו) indicates purpose after the imperative.

[48:10] ¹⁸tn Heb “heavy.”

[48:10] ¹⁹tn Heb “he”; the referent (Joseph) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[48:10] ²⁰tn Heb “them”; the referent (Joseph’s sons) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[48:10] ²¹tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Joseph’s father) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[48:11] ²²tn On the meaning of the Hebrew verb פָּלַל (palal) here, see E. A. Speiser, “The Stem pll in Hebrew,” JBL 82 (1963): 301-6. Speiser argues that this verb means “to estimate” as in Exod 21:22.

[48:11] ²³tn Heb “your face.”

[48:11] ²⁴tn Heb “offspring.”

[48:12] ²⁵tn Heb “and Joseph brought them out from with his knees.” The two boys had probably been standing by Israel’s knees when being adopted and blessed. The referent of the pronoun “his” (Israel) has been specified in the translation for clarity.

[48:13] ²⁶tn Heb “and Joseph took the two of them.”

[48:13] ²⁷tn Heb “and he brought near to him.” The referents of the pronouns “he” and “him” (Joseph and his father respectively) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

[48:14] ²⁸tn The disjunctive clause is circumstantial-concessive here.