GOD in the Old Testament - Genesis - Part 24

Genesis 48:1-4  

     Some time later Joseph was told, "Your father is ill." So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim along with him. When Jacob was told, "Your son Joseph has come to see you," Israel rallied his strength and sat up on the bed.

    Jacob said to Joseph, "God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and there he blessed me and said to me, 'I am going to make you fruitful and increase your numbers. I will make you a community of peoples, and I will give this land as an everlasting possession to your descendants after you.' "

 

Genesis 48:8-9  

    When Israel saw the sons of Joseph, he asked, "Who are these?"

    "They are the sons God has given me here," Joseph said to his father.

    Then Israel said, "Bring them to me so I may bless them."

 

Genesis 48:11  

    Israel said to Joseph, "I never expected to see your face again, and now God has allowed me to see your children too."

 

Genesis 48:15-22  

    Then he blessed Joseph and said,

"May the God before whom my fathers

    Abraham and Isaac walked faithfully,

the God who has been my shepherd

    all my life to this day,

the Angel who has delivered me from all harm

    --may he bless these boys.

May they be called by my name

    and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac,

and may they increase greatly

    on the earth."

    When Joseph saw his father placing his right hand on Ephraim's head he was displeased; so he took hold of his father's hand to move it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head. Joseph said to him, "No, my father, this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head." 

    But his father refused and said, "I know, my son, I know. He too will become a people, and he too will become great. Nevertheless, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become groups of nations." He blessed them that day and said, 

    "In your name will Israel pronounce this blessing:

        'May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.' "

So he put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh.

    Then Israel said to Joseph, "I am about to die, but God will be with you and take you back to the land of your fathers. And to you I give one more ridge of land than to your brothers, the ridge I took from the Amorites with my sword and bow." (Shechem)

(see all Genesis 48)   

  

(parentheses are mine) 

 

Scriptures taken from the Holy Bible, New International Version® NIV®, Copyright© 1973, 1978, 1984, 2011 by Biblica, Inc.® Used by permission. All rights reserved worldwide. Limited to 15 verses per post.