Listening A1: Genesis Chapter 1 - Genesis 48

Later someone told Joseph that his father was sick.

He took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim with him.

Someone told Jacob, "Your son Joseph is coming to you."

Israel made himself strong and sat on the bed.

Jacob told Joseph, "God the great one came to me at Luz in Canaan and gave me good words."

God said, "I will help you have many children and make many people from you, and I will give this land to your children forever."

Now your two sons born in Egypt before I came there belong to me.

Ephraim and Manasseh will be like Reuben and Simeon and will belong to me.

The children you have after them will be yours, and they will have the same family name for their land.

When I came from Paddan, Rachel died near me in Canaan on the way to Ephrath.

I buried her there on the road to Ephrath, which is Bethlehem.

Israel saw Joseph's sons and asked, "Who are these?"

Joseph said, "They are my sons. God gave them to me here."

He said, "Please bring them to me, and I will say good words about them."

Israel's eyes were weak because he was old, so he could not see.

He brought them close, kissed them, and held them.

Israel told Joseph, "I thought I would not see you again, but God let me see your children too."

Joseph took them from between his knees and bowed with his face to the ground.

He put Ephraim in his right hand on Israel's left side and Manasseh in his left hand on Israel's right side and brought them close.

Israel put his right hand on the head of Ephraim, the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh's head, because Manasseh was the first-born.

He said that the God who walked with my fathers Abraham and Isaac, the God who fed me all my life, and the helper from God who kept me from all bad things should say good words for these boys.

Let my name and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac be with them, and let them grow into many people in the world.

When Joseph saw that his father was putting his right hand on Ephraim's head, he was not happy.

He took his father's hand to move it from Ephraim to Manasseh.

Joseph said, "No, my father, this is the first-born. Put your right hand on his head."

Jacob said, "I know, my son. I know. He will also become a people and be great, but his younger brother will be greater, and his children will become many groups of people."

He gave them good words that day, saying, "Israel will say, God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh."

He put Ephraim before Manasseh.

Israel told Joseph, "I am dying, but God will be with you. He will bring you back to the land of your fathers."

I also gave you one part more than your brothers that I took from the Amorite with my sword and my bow.