<p class="bodytext">Israel said to Joseph, &#8220;Now let me die since I have seen your face and know that you are still alive.&#8221;<n id="1" />

When Jacob was told,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Your son Joseph has just<n id="2" /> come to you,&#8221; Israel regained strength and sat up on his bed.

Now Israel&#8217;s eyes were failing<n id="1" /> because of his age; he was not able to see well. So Joseph<n id="2" /> brought his sons<n id="3" /> near to him, and his father<n id="4" /> kissed them and embraced them.

Israel said to Joseph, &#8220;I never expected<n id="1" /> to see you<n id="2" /> again, but now God has allowed me to see your children<n id="3" /> too.&#8221;p>

So he blessed them that day, saying,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;By you<n id="1" /> will Israel bless,<n id="2" /> saying,p> <p class="poetry">&#8216;May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.&#8217;&#8221;p> <p class="bodytext">So he put Ephraim before Manasseh.<n id="3" />p>

<p class="bodytext">Then Israel said to Joseph, &#8220;I am about to die, but God will be with you<n id="1" /> and will bring you back to the land of your fathers.

<p class="poetry">But his bow will remain steady,p> <p class="poetry">and his hands<n id="1" /> will be skillful;p> <p class="poetry">because of the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob,p> <p class="poetry">because of<n id="2" /> the Shepherd, the Rock<n id="3" /> of Israel,p>

<p class="bodytext">These<n id="1" /> are the twelve tribes of Israel. This is what their father said to them when he blessed them. He gave each of them an appropriate blessing.<n id="2" />p>

Joseph instructed the physicians in his service<n id="1" /> to embalm his father, so the physicians embalmed Israel.

Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath. He said, &#8220;God will surely come to you. Then you must carry my bones up from this place.&#8221;

That is why to this day<n id="1" /> the Israelites do not eat the sinew which is attached to the socket of the hip, because he struck<n id="2" /> the socket of Jacob&#8217;s hip near the attached sinew.p>

<p class="bodytext">Then Judah said to his father Israel, &#8220;Send the boy with me and we will go immediately.<n id="1" /> Then we will live<n id="2" /> and not die &#8211; we and you and our little ones.

<p class="bodytext">Then their father Israel said to them, &#8220;If it must be so, then do this: Take some of the best products of the land in your bags, and take a gift down to the man &#8211; a little balm and a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachios and almonds.

<p class="bodytext">Then Jacob started out<n id="1" /> from Beer Sheba, and the sons of Israel carried their father Jacob, their little children, and their wives in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent along to transport him.

The time<n id="1" /> for Israel to die approached, so he called for his son Joseph and said to him, &#8220;If now I have found favor in your sight, put your hand under my thigh<n id="2" /> and show me kindness and faithfulness.<n id="3" /> Do not bury me in Egypt,

Israel stretched out his right hand and placed it on Ephraim&#8217;s head, although he was the younger.<n id="1" /> Crossing his hands, he put his left hand on Manasseh&#8217;s head, for Manasseh was the firstborn.p>