3 Jacob said to him, “Long ago the God who is most powerful came and appeared to me while I was in Canaan. He spoke to me at Luz and blessed me. 4 He said, ‘I will give you many children, so that your descendants will become many nations. I will give this country to your descendants to be theirs forever.’ ” Today the place Luz is called Bethel.
5 Jacob also said, “Your two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, belong to me. They were born in Egypt before I came here but they are like my two sons Reuben and Simeon. 6 If you have any more sons, they won't belong to me. Only Ephraim and Manasseh are mine. So when I die those two will get some of my things, but any children you have afterwards won't get anything. They will only get something if Ephraim and Manasseh give it to them later.
7 “I am doing this because your mother Rachel was my favourite wife. When she died long ago I was very upset. She died near Ephrath in Canaan as I was coming back from Mesopotamia. I buried her there beside the road to Ephrath.” That place was called Ephrath at first, but today it is called Bethlehem.
8 When Jacob saw Ephraim and Manasseh, he said to Joseph, “Who are these boys?”
9 Joseph answered, “These are the sons God has given me here in Egypt.”
11 Jacob said to Joseph, “I thought I would never see you again. But God has even let me see your children.”
12 Then Joseph took them from Jacob and bowed down to him with his face to the ground. 13 Then he said to his sons, “Ephraim, go and kneel at his left side, and Manasseh go and kneel at his right.” They went over and knelt on each side of the old man. 14 But Jacob stretched out his hands and crossed them over and put his right hand on Ephraim's head, even though he was younger, and he put his left hand on the head of Manasseh, who was the older brother.
15 Then he gave his special blessing to Joseph and said,
17 Joseph was upset when his father crossed his right hand over on to Ephraim's head. So he took his father's hand to move it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. 18 He said to his father, “Not that way. This is the older one. Put your right hand on him.”
19 But his father refused. “I know,” he said. “Manasseh will also have many descendants. But his brother will be more important, and his descendants will become great nations.”
20 Jacob gave the two boys another blessing and said,
21 Then Jacob said to Joseph, “You can see that I am going to die soon. But God will be with you and he will take you back to the country where your ancestors used to live. 22 I am giving you the hill country of Shechem. I am not giving that good country to your brothers, I am giving it you. Long ago I took it from the Amorite people when I fought them, and now it is yours.”
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