Genesis 48:4-5

48:4 He said to me, ‘I am going to make you fruitful 1  and will multiply you. 2  I will make you into a group of nations, and I will give this land to your descendants 3  as an everlasting possession.’ 4 

48:5 “Now, as for your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, they will be mine. 5  Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine just as Reuben and Simeon are.

Genesis 48:13-14

48:13 Joseph positioned them; 6  he put Ephraim on his right hand across from Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh on his left hand across from Israel’s right hand. Then Joseph brought them closer to his father. 7  48:14 Israel stretched out his right hand and placed it on Ephraim’s head, although he was the younger. 8  Crossing his hands, he put his left hand on Manasseh’s head, for Manasseh was the firstborn.

Genesis 48:20

48:20 So he blessed them that day, saying,

“By you 9  will Israel bless, 10  saying,

‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’”

So he put Ephraim before Manasseh. 11 

1 tn Heb “Look, I am making you fruitful.” The participle following הִנֵּה (hinneh) has the nuance of a certain and often imminent future.

2 tn The perfect verbal form with vav consecutive carries on the certain future idea.

3 tn The Hebrew text adds “after you,” which has not been included in the translation for stylistic reasons.

4 tn The Hebrew word אֲחֻזָּה (’akhuzzah), translated “possession,” describes a permanent holding in the land. It is the noun form of the same verb (אָחַז, ’akhaz) that was used for the land given to them in Goshen (Gen 47:27).

5 sn They will be mine. Jacob is here adopting his two grandsons Manasseh and Ephraim as his sons, and so they will have equal share with the other brothers. They will be in the place of Joseph and Levi (who will become a priestly tribe) in the settlement of the land. See I. Mendelsohn, “A Ugaritic Parallel to the Adoption of Ephraim and Manasseh,” IEJ (1959): 180-83.

6 tn Heb “and Joseph took the two of them.”

7 tn Heb “and he brought near to him.” The referents of the pronouns “he” and “him” (Joseph and his father respectively) have been specified in the translation for clarity.

8 tn The disjunctive clause is circumstantial-concessive here.

9 tn The pronoun is singular in the Hebrew text, apparently elevating Ephraim as the more prominent of the two. Note, however, that both are named in the blessing formula that follows.

10 tn Or “pronounce a blessing.”

11 sn On the elevation of Ephraim over Manasseh see E. C. Kingsbury, “He Set Ephraim Before Manasseh,” HUCA 38 (1967): 129-36; H. Mowvley, “The Concept and Content of ‘Blessing’ in the Old Testament,” BT 16 (1965): 74-80; and I. Mendelsohn, “On the Preferential Status of the Eldest Son,” BASOR 156 (1959): 38-40.