Atlas Biblica

    Genesis · 22 verses

    Genesis 48

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    The chapter

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    Jacob’s blessing has a choreography: Joseph arranges the boys by birth order, and the old man crosses his hands to put Ephraim first.

    The sons brought closevv. 1–16

    Joseph comes to his ill father with Manasseh and Ephraim, and Israel rallies himself to sit up. He gives the boys an extraordinary family promotion: they are to count as his own sons, alongside Reuben and Simeon, while any later children of Joseph will remain Joseph’s. The old man can hardly see, but he knows enough to ask for the boys, kiss them, embrace them, and bless them. Joseph places Manasseh for the elder hand and Ephraim for the younger; Israel crosses his hands and blesses the younger boy instead.

    The hands stay crossedvv. 17–22

    Joseph notices the crossed hands and, quite reasonably from his point of view, tries to move his father’s right hand. Israel refuses with the patient insistence of a man who has already seen the arrangement clearly enough: Manasseh will be great, but Ephraim will be greater, and his offspring will become a multitude of nations. So Ephraim is put before Manasseh. Then, with the blessing complete, Israel turns to Joseph and gives him a particular ridge of land taken from the Amorites with sword and bow; the chapter offers no further explanation of this sudden and rather formidable property claim.

    The text

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    Berean Standard Bible, public domain. Names the Hebrew and Greek put in the verse link to the person, place or people they name; the address beside each verse is a link to that verse, which is what a reader copies and shares.

    1. Gen 48:1Some time later Joseph was told, “Your father is ill.” So he set out with his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.

    2. Gen 48:2When Jacob was told, “Your son Joseph has come to you,” Israel rallied his strength and sat up in bed.

    3. Gen 48:3Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and there He blessed me

    4. Gen 48:4and told me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you; I will make you a multitude of peoples, and will give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.’

    5. Gen 48:5And now your two sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you here shall be reckoned as mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are mine.

    6. Gen 48:6Any children born to you after them shall be yours, and they shall be called by the names of their brothers in the territory they inherit.

    7. Gen 48:7Now as for me, when I was returning from Paddan, to my sorrow Rachel died along the way in the land of Canaan, some distance from Ephrath. So I buried her there beside the road to Ephrath” (that is, Bethlehem).

    8. Gen 48:8When Israel saw the sons of Joseph, he asked, “Who are these?”

    9. Gen 48:9Joseph said to his father, “They are the sons God has given me in this place.” So Jacob said, “Please bring them to me, that I may bless them.”

    10. Gen 48:10Now Israel’s eyesight was poor because of old age; he could hardly see. Joseph brought his sons to him, and his father kissed them and embraced them.

    11. Gen 48:11“I never expected to see your face again,” Israel said to Joseph, “but now God has let me see your children as well.”

    12. Gen 48:12Then Joseph removed his sons from his father’s knees and bowed facedown.

    13. Gen 48:13And Joseph took both of them—with Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel’s right hand—and brought them close to him.

    14. Gen 48:14But Israel stretched out his right hand and put it on the head of Ephraim, the younger; and crossing his hands, he put his left on Manasseh’s head, although Manasseh was the firstborn.

    15. Gen 48:15Then he blessed Joseph and said: “May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day,

    16. Gen 48:16the angel who has redeemed me from all harm—may He bless these boys. And may they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac, and may they grow into a multitude upon the earth.”

    17. Gen 48:17When Joseph saw that his father had placed his right hand on Ephraim’s head, he was displeased and took his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s.

    18. Gen 48:18“Not so, my father!” Joseph said. “This one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.”

    19. Gen 48:19But his father refused. “I know, my son, I know!” he said. “He too shall become a people, and he too shall be great; nevertheless, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations.”

    20. Gen 48:20So that day Jacob blessed them and said: “By you shall Israel pronounce this blessing: ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’” So he put Ephraim before Manasseh.

    21. Gen 48:21Then Israel said to Joseph, “Look, I am about to die, but God will be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers.

    22. Gen 48:22And to you, as one who is above your brothers, I give the ridge of land that I took from the Amorites with my sword and bow.”

    01 — Also here

    Who else the chapter reaches

    Names written in the English are linked in the text above. These are the ones that are not: an entity the Hebrew or Greek names under a spelling the translation does not use, or one reached only by an assertion about a verse of this chapter.

    Reached by an assertion Atlas extracted from a verse of this chapter rather than by a name written in it — a pronoun, a title, or a participant the sentence carries without naming. This layer is model-read and measured at 88.6–90.3% precision, and it is kept separate from the names above for that reason.

    02 — Read alongside

    Where this is echoed

    Readers' own connections, from OpenBible's crowd-voted cross-references — agreement about relevance, and not scholarly confidence. 275 passages were voted onto 20 verses of this chapter; the 16 shown lead on votes, and each is listed at the verse it was voted onto most strongly.

    • 16Psalms 34:22The LORD redeems His servants, and none who take refuge in Him will be condemned.
    • 5Genesis 41:50–52Before the years of famine arrived, two sons were born to Joseph by Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On.
    • 21Genesis 46:4I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will surely bring you back. And Joseph’s own hands will close your eyes.”
    • 4Genesis 17:8And to you and your descendants I will give the land where you are residing—all the land of Canaan—as an eternal possession; and I will be their God.”
    • 5Joshua 14:4The descendants of Joseph became two tribes, Manasseh and Ephraim. And no portion of the land was given to the Levites, except for cities in which to live, along with pasturelands for their flocks and herds.
    • 5Genesis 46:20Manasseh and Ephraim were born to Joseph in the land of Egypt by Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On.
    • 21Genesis 50:24Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will surely visit you and bring you up from this land to the land He promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”
    • 22John 4:5So He came to a town of Samaria called Sychar, near the plot of ground that Jacob had given to his son Joseph.
    • 9Genesis 27:4Then prepare a tasty dish that I love and bring it to me to eat, so that I may bless you before I die.”
    • 10Genesis 27:1When Isaac was old and his eyes were so weak that he could no longer see, he called his older son Esau and said to him, “My son.” “Here I am,” Esau replied.
    • 10Genesis 27:27So he came near and kissed him. When Isaac smelled his clothing, he blessed him and said: “Ah, the smell of my son is like the smell of a field that the LORD has blessed.
    • 11Ephesians 3:20Now to Him who is able to do immeasurably more than all we ask or imagine, according to His power that is at work within us,
    • 15Genesis 17:1When Abram was ninety-nine years old, the LORD appeared to him and said, “I am God Almighty. Walk before Me and be blameless.
    • 16Genesis 49:22Joseph is a fruitful vine—a fruitful vine by a spring, whose branches scale the wall.
    • 16Genesis 48:5And now your two sons born to you in Egypt before I came to you here shall be reckoned as mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are mine.
    • 19Numbers 1:33–35those registered to the tribe of Ephraim numbered 40,500.

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