Genesischapter 48

22 verses · ASV

This chapter sends 277 cross-references outward and receives 198 — heaviest partner: Genesis.

Chapter summary

Jacob blesses Ephraim and Manasseh. Joseph brings his sons; the old man gathers strength and sits up on the bed. ‘I had not thought to see thy face: and, lo, God hath shewed me also thy seed.’ Joseph places Manasseh at his right hand and Ephraim at his left; Jacob crosses his hands, putting the right on the younger. Joseph protests; Jacob knows what he does: ‘his younger brother shall be greater than he’. Two tribes are carved out of Joseph. Hebrews 11:21 cites this chapter as the triumph of dying faith: ‘Jacob, when he was a-dying, blessed both the sons of Joseph; and worshipped, leaning upon the top of his staff’.

Drafted from Matthew Henry, Calvin, Gill, Clarke, JFB, and Barnes.

Context

Law · Moses — see the Genesis overview for the book's full setting.

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

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

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

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

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

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

7 And as for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way, when there was still some distance to come unto Ephrath: and I buried her there in the way to Ephrath (the same is Beth-lehem).

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

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