Jacob's Final Wishes and His Blessing of Joseph's Sons
As Jacob neared the end of his life in Egypt, he asked to be buried with his family and blessed Joseph's two sons.
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Page 1 of 6Israel, also called Jacob, had lived in Egypt for seventeen years. His family had settled in Goshen, and they had grown greatly there. When Jacob knew that he would soon die, he called Joseph and asked him to promise one important thing: Jacob did not want to be buried in Egypt, but in the burial place of his fathers. Joseph agreed, and at Jacob’s request he swore to do it.
Later, when Jacob was sick, Joseph came to visit him and brought his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. Jacob gathered his strength and sat up in bed. He reminded Joseph that God Almighty had appeared to him at Luz in the land of Canaan and had promised to make him fruitful, multiply him, and give that land to his offspring. Then Jacob said that Ephraim and Manasseh would be counted as his own sons, like Reuben and Simeon.
Jacob also remembered Rachel’s death on the way to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem. Then he noticed Joseph’s sons and asked who they were. Joseph answered that they were the sons God had given him there. Jacob asked for them to be brought near. Though his eyes were weak with age, he kissed them and embraced them. He told Joseph that he had not expected to see Joseph again, and now God had let him see Joseph’s children too.
Joseph carefully placed the boys before his father so that Manasseh, the firstborn, would receive Jacob’s right hand, and Ephraim would receive the left. But Jacob crossed his hands. He knowingly put his right hand on Ephraim, the younger, and his left on Manasseh. As he blessed them, he spoke of the God of Abraham and Isaac, the God who had cared for him all his life, and the angel who had redeemed him from evil, and he asked that the boys would grow into a multitude on the earth.
Joseph tried to correct his father, because Manasseh was the firstborn. But Jacob refused. He said he knew what he was doing. Manasseh would also become a people and be great, yet Ephraim, the younger brother, would become greater. So Jacob set Ephraim before Manasseh. Then Jacob told Joseph that he was dying, but God would be with him and bring him again to the land of his fathers.
He also gave Joseph one portion more than his brothers. Why do you think Jacob wanted God’s promises remembered at the end of his life?
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A children’s retelling of Genesis 47:27–48:22. You can read the Bible passage together too.
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World English Bible Classic · Public domain. The Bible text below is separate from the children’s retelling.
Genesis 47
1 Then Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, and said, “My father and my brothers, with their flocks, their herds, and all that they own, have come out of the land of Canaan; and behold, they are in the land of Goshen.”
2 From among his brothers he took five men, and presented them to Pharaoh.
3 Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What is your occupation?” They said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, both we, and our fathers.”
4 They also said to Pharaoh, “We have come to live as foreigners in the land, for there is no pasture for your servants’ flocks. For the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now therefore, please let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen.”
5 Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, saying, “Your father and your brothers have come to you.
6 The land of Egypt is before you. Make your father and your brothers dwell in the best of the land. Let them dwell in the land of Goshen. If you know any able men among them, then put them in charge of my livestock.”
7 Joseph brought in Jacob, his father, and set him before Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.
8 Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How old are you?”
9 Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The years of my pilgrimage are one hundred thirty years. The days of the years of my life have been few and evil. They have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.”
10 Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from the presence of Pharaoh.
11 Joseph placed his father and his brothers, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.
12 Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all of his father’s household with bread, according to the sizes of their families.
13 There was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine.
14 Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the grain which they bought: and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house.
15 When the money was all spent in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph, and said, “Give us bread, for why should we die in your presence? For our money fails.”
16 Joseph said, “Give me your livestock; and I will give you food for your livestock, if your money is gone.”
17 They brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, and for the flocks, and for the herds, and for the donkeys: and he fed them with bread in exchange for all their livestock for that year.
18 When that year was ended, they came to him the second year, and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord how our money is all spent, and the herds of livestock are my lord’s. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands.
19 Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants to Pharaoh. Give us seed, that we may live, and not die, and that the land won’t be desolate.”
20 So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for every man of the Egyptians sold his field, because the famine was severe on them, and the land became Pharaoh’s.
21 As for the people, he moved them to the cities from one end of the border of Egypt even to the other end of it.
22 Only he didn’t buy the land of the priests, for the priests had a portion from Pharaoh, and ate their portion which Pharaoh gave them. That is why they didn’t sell their land.
23 Then Joseph said to the people, “Behold, I have bought you and your land today for Pharaoh. Behold, here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land.
24 It will happen at the harvests, that you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four parts will be your own, for seed of the field, for your food, for them of your households, and for food for your little ones.”
25 They said, “You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.”
26 Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth. Only the land of the priests alone didn’t become Pharaoh’s.
27 Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen; and they got themselves possessions therein, and were fruitful, and multiplied exceedingly.
28 Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were one hundred forty-seven years.
29 The time came near that Israel must die, and he called his son Joseph, and said to him, “If now I have found favor in your sight, please put your hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me. Please don’t bury me in Egypt,
30 but when I sleep with my fathers, you shall carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying place.” Joseph said, “I will do as you have said.”
31 Israel said, “Swear to me,” and he swore to him. Then Israel bowed himself on the bed’s head.
Genesis 48
1 After these things, someone said to Joseph, “Behold, your father is sick.” He took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.
2 Someone told Jacob, and said, “Behold, your son Joseph comes to you,” and Israel strengthened himself, and sat on the bed.
3 Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me,
4 and said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful, and multiply you, and I will make of you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your offspring after you for an everlasting possession.’
5 Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you into Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh, even as Reuben and Simeon, will be mine.
6 Your offspring, whom you become the father of after them, will be yours. They will be called after the name of their brothers in their inheritance.
7 As for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died beside me in the land of Canaan on the way, when there was still some distance to come to Ephrath, and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (also called Bethlehem).”
8 Israel saw Joseph’s sons, and said, “Who are these?”
9 Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons, whom God has given me here.” He said, “Please bring them to me, and I will bless them.”
10 Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he couldn’t see well. Joseph brought them near to him; and he kissed them, and embraced them.
11 Israel said to Joseph, “I didn’t think I would see your face, and behold, God has let me see your offspring also.”
12 Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth.
13 Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them near to him.
14 Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it on Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands knowingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn.
15 He blessed Joseph, and said, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has fed me all my life long to this day,
16 the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads, and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac. Let them grow into a multitude upon the earth.”
17 When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him. He held up his father’s hand, to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head.
18 Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, for this is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head.”
19 His father refused, and said, “I know, my son, I know. He also will become a people, and he also will be great. However, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his offspring will become a multitude of nations.”
20 He blessed them that day, saying, “Israel will bless in your name, saying, ‘God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh’ ” He set Ephraim before Manasseh.
21 Israel said to Joseph, “Behold, I am dying, but God will be with you, and bring you again to the land of your fathers.
22 Moreover I have given to you one portion above your brothers, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.”
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