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Genesis 48

KJV · Chapter 48/50

1And it came to pass after these things, that one told Joseph, Behold, thy father is sick: and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.

2And one told Jacob, and said, Behold, thy son Joseph cometh unto thee: and Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed.

3And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me,

4And said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people; and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession.

5And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine.

6And thy issue, which thou begettest after them, shall be thine, and shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance.

7And as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way, when yet there was but a little way to come unto Ephrath: and I buried her there in the way of Ephrath; the same is Beth–lehem.

8And Israel beheld Joseph’s sons, and said, Who are these?

9And Joseph said unto his father, They are my sons, whom God hath given me in this place. And he said, Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I will bless them.

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

11And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face: and, lo, God hath shewed me also thy seed.

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

13And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them near unto him.

14And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn.

15And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day,

16The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.

17And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father’s hand, to remove it from Ephraim’s head unto Manasseh’s head.

18And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head.

19And his father refused, and said, I know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.

20And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.

21And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die: but God shall be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers.

22Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.

📖 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. Genesis 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. Genesis 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. Genesis 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. Genesis 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. Genesis 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. Genesis 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. Genesis 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. Genesis 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. Genesis 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. Genesis 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. Genesis 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. Genesis 48:12Joseph takes his sons off his father’s lap and bows before him, a gesture of respect before the formal blessing.
  13. Genesis 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. Genesis 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. Genesis 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. Genesis 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. Genesis 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. Genesis 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. Genesis 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. Genesis 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. Genesis 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. Genesis 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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