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Gênesis 48

BLIVRE · Chapter 48/50

1E sucedeu depois destas coisas que foi dito a José: Eis que teu pai está enfermo. E ele tomou consigo seus dois filhos Manassés e Efraim.

2E se fez saber a Jacó, dizendo: Eis que teu filho José vem a ti. Então se esforçou Israel, e sentou-se sobre a cama;

3E disse a José: O Deus Todo-Poderoso me apareceu em Luz na terra de Canaã, e me abençoou,

4E disse-me: Eis que, eu te farei crescer, e te multiplicarei, e te porei por conjunto de povos: e darei esta terra à tua descendência depois de ti por herança perpétua.

5E agora teus dois filhos Efraim e Manassés, que te nasceram na terra do Egito, antes que viesse a ti à terra do Egito, meus são; como Rúben e Simeão, serão meus:

6E os que depois deles geraste, serão teus; pelo nome de seus irmãos serão chamados em suas propriedades.

7Porque quando eu vinha de Padã-Arã, se me morreu Raquel na terra de Canaã, no caminho, como certa distância vindo a Efrata; e sepultei-a ali no caminho de Efrata, que é Belém.

8E viu Israel os filhos de José, e disse: Quem são estes?

9E respondeu José a seu pai: São meus filhos, que Deus me deu aqui. E ele disse: Achegai-os agora a mim, e os abençoarei.

10E os olhos de Israel estavam tão agravados da velhice, que não podia ver. Fez-lhes, pois, chegar a ele, e ele os beijou e abraçou.

11E disse Israel a José: Não pensava eu ver teu rosto, e eis que Deus me fez ver também tua descendência.

12Então José os tirou dentre seus joelhos, e inclinou-se à terra.

13E tomou-os José a ambos, Efraim à sua direita, à esquerda de Israel; e a Manassés à sua esquerda, à direita de Israel; e fez-lhes chegar a ele.

14Então Israel estendeu sua mão direita, e a pôs sobre a cabeça de Efraim, que era o mais novo, e sua esquerda sobre a cabeça de Manassés, colocando assim suas mãos propositadamente, ainda que Manassés era o primogênito.

15E abençoou a José, e disse: O Deus em cuja presença andaram meus pais Abraão e Isaque, o Deus que me mantém desde que eu sou até hoje,

16O Anjo que me liberta de todo mal abençoe a estes moços: e meu nome seja chamado neles, e o nome de meus pais Abraão e Isaque: e multipliquem em grande maneira em meio da terra.

17Então vendo José que seu pai punha a direita sobre a cabeça de Efraim, causou-lhe isto desgosto; e pegou a mão de seu pai, para mudá-la de sobre a cabeça de Efraim à cabeça de Manassés.

18E disse José a seu pai: Não assim, meu pai, porque este é o primogênito; põe tua mão direita sobre sua cabeça.

19Mas seu pai não quis, e disse: Eu sei, meu filho, eu sei: também ele virá a ser um povo, e será também acrescentado; porém seu irmão mais novo será maior que ele, e sua descendência será plenitude de povos.

20E abençoou-os aquele dia, dizendo: Em ti Israel abençoará, dizendo: Deus faça de ti Deus como a Efraim e como a Manassés. E pôs a Efraim diante de Manassés.

21E disse Israel a José: Eis que eu morro, mas Deus será convosco, e vos fará voltar à terra de vossos pais.

22E eu dei a ti uma parte sobre teus irmãos, a qual tomei eu da mão dos amorreus com minha espada e com meu arco.

📖 Chapter study

Summary

Jacob, now near death, blesses Joseph's two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, adopting them as his own sons and deliberately crossing his hands to give the greater blessing to the younger son, Ephraim.

Explanation

This chapter shows Jacob, despite his advanced age and failing eyesight, acting with prophetic spiritual clarity as he blesses his grandsons. By formally adopting them as his own sons ('Ephraim and Manasseh, even as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine,' v. 5), Jacob ensures that Joseph's line receives a double portion in the inheritance of the twelve tribes, a special honor normally reserved for the firstborn. The gesture of crossing his hands, placing his right hand (the hand of greater blessing) on Ephraim, the younger, repeats a pattern that has already appeared several times in Genesis, of God choosing the younger son (as with Isaac over Ishmael, and Jacob over Esau) rather than the elder, showing that God's blessing does not necessarily follow human conventions of hierarchy by age. The lesson for today is that God's plans often defy our traditional expectations of who should receive the greatest honor.

Fun facts

  • This formal adoption of Ephraim and Manasseh as full tribes of Israel is the reason why, later on, there is no separate 'tribe of Joseph' in the division of the promised land — it becomes two distinct tribes, keeping the total number at twelve once the tribe of Levi (which received cities rather than territory) is set aside.
  • Jacob's preference for Ephraim over Manasseh would be historically fulfilled: the tribe of Ephraim would become so prominent in the Northern Kingdom of Israel that its name, in later prophetic texts such as Hosea, is used as a synonym for the kingdom of Israel itself.

Verse-by-verse explanation

  1. Gênesis 48:1Learning that his father is ill, Joseph brings his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, along with him — likely already anticipating that this would be an important farewell.
  2. Gênesis 48:2Told that Joseph has arrived, Jacob gathers what little strength he has and sits up in bed to receive him — a physical effort that shows the importance of the moment.
  3. Gênesis 48:3Jacob reminds Joseph of his encounter with God Almighty at Luz, the same episode told in chapters 28 and 35, when he received the blessing of the covenant.
  4. Gênesis 48:4He repeats the promise received at that time: multiplication, a company of peoples, and the land as a permanent possession for his descendants.
  5. Gênesis 48:5Jacob is formally adopting Joseph’s two sons as if they were his own, on the same level as the older brothers. That’s why, later in the Bible, there are tribes of Ephraim and Manasseh, but no tribe called “Joseph” — the grandfather became the father.
  6. Gênesis 48:6Jacob clarifies an important legal detail: Ephraim and Manasseh will be counted as his own direct sons, but any other children Joseph might have afterward would only be heirs through these two, not adopted the same way.
  7. Gênesis 48:7Jacob interrupts the blessing to recall Rachel’s death, buried on the way to Ephrath — an old memory that still weighs on him as he looks at grandsons their mother never knew.
  8. Gênesis 48:8With his eyesight already weak from age, Jacob needs to ask who the boys before him are, even though he knows Joseph brought them on purpose.
  9. Gênesis 48:9Joseph presents his sons as a gift from God, and Jacob asks that they be brought closer so he can bless them personally.
  10. Gênesis 48:10Jacob’s near-total blindness explains why he needs the boys to come right up close so he can kiss and embrace them.
  11. Gênesis 48:11Jacob expresses genuine surprise: he hadn’t even expected to see Joseph’s face again, and God still let him meet his grandsons too.
  12. Gênesis 48:12Joseph takes his sons off his father’s lap and bows before him, a gesture of respect before the formal blessing.
  13. Gênesis 48:13Joseph positions his sons strategically by birth order — Ephraim, the younger, on the side that would be Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh, the elder, on the right — expecting the main blessing to fall on the firstborn.
  14. Gênesis 48:14In blessing his grandsons, Jacob deliberately crosses his arms, placing his right hand — the hand of greater honor — on the head of the younger grandson, Ephraim, instead of the elder, Manasseh. It isn’t an old man’s mistake: the text itself says he did it knowingly, fully aware of what he was doing.
  15. Gênesis 48:15Jacob blesses Joseph invoking the same God before whom Abraham and Isaac walked, acknowledging that it was this God who sustained him his whole life.
  16. Gênesis 48:16Jacob speaks of “the Angel which redeemed me from all evil,” asking that the same protection fall on his grandsons, and that the family multiply like fish — an image of abundance unusual among biblical blessings.
  17. Gênesis 48:17Joseph is troubled to see that his father placed his right hand — the hand of greater honor — on Ephraim, the younger, instead of Manasseh, and tries to correct what he thinks is a mistake.
  18. Gênesis 48:18Joseph politely explains to his father that he seems to have switched the order, since Manasseh is the firstborn and should receive the right hand.
  19. Gênesis 48:19When Joseph tries to correct his father’s hand, Jacob refuses and explains that he knows what he’s doing: he is prophesying that the descendant of the younger son, Ephraim, will grow and become greater than that of the elder, Manasseh. It’s the repeat of a pattern that already appears several times in Genesis, of the younger brother surpassing the elder.
  20. Gênesis 48:20The blessing “as Ephraim” became, over time, a phrase repeated in Jewish families to this day, usually on Friday nights, to bless children by comparing them to Jacob’s two grandsons. The expression traces back exactly to this gesture of Jacob’s, when he reverses the expected order between the brothers.
  21. Gênesis 48:21Jacob tells Joseph that his own death is near, but assures him that God will remain with the whole family and one day bring them back to the land of their ancestors.
  22. Gênesis 48:22Jacob speaks of a piece of land taken from the Amorites by force, but this episode of military conquest isn’t told anywhere else in Genesis. Scholars aren’t sure whether it refers to an event not recorded in the Bible or is a way of referring to an earlier land purchase, near Shechem.

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