Ephraim and Manasseh
1Some time later Joseph was told, “Your father is sick.” So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim along with him. 2Jacob was told, “Your son Joseph has come to you.” So Israel became stronger and sat up in bed.
3Jacob said to Joseph, “The Mighty God appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan. He blessed me there. 4He said to me, ‘I am going to give you children. I will make your family very large. I will make you a community of nations. And I will give this land to your children after you. It will belong to them forever.’
5“Now then, two sons were born to you in Egypt. It happened before I came to you here. They will be counted as my own sons. Ephraim and Manasseh will belong to me, in the same way that Reuben and Simeon belong to me. 6Any children born to you after them will belong to you. Any territory they receive will come from the land that will be given to Ephraim and Manasseh. 7As I was returning from Paddan, Rachel died. It made me very sad. She died in the land of Canaan while we were still on the way. We weren’t very far away from Ephrath. So I buried her body there beside the road to Ephrath.” Ephrath was also called Bethlehem.
8Israel saw Joseph’s sons. He asked, “Who are they?”
9“They are the sons God has given me here,” Joseph said to his father.
Then Israel said, “Bring them to me. I want to give them my blessing.”
10Israel’s eyes were weak because he was old. He couldn’t see very well. So Joseph brought his sons close to him. His father kissed them and hugged them.
11Israel said to Joseph, “I never thought I’d see your face again. But now God has let me see your children too.”
12Then Joseph lifted his sons off Israel’s knees. Joseph bowed down with his face to the ground. 13He placed Ephraim on his right, toward Israel’s left hand. He placed Manasseh on his left, toward Israel’s right hand. Then he brought them close to Israel. 14But Israel reached out his right hand and put it on Ephraim’s head. He did it even though Ephraim was the younger son. He crossed his arms and put his left hand on Manasseh’s head. He did it even though Manasseh was the older son.
15Then Israel gave Joseph his blessing. He said,
“May God bless these boys.
He is the God of my grandfather Abraham and my father Isaac.
They walked faithfully with him.
He is the God who has been my shepherd
all my life right up to this day.
16He is the Angel who has saved me from all harm.
May he bless these boys.
May they be called by my name.
May they also be called by the names of my grandfather Abraham and my father Isaac.
And may the number of them greatly increase
on the earth.”
17Joseph saw his father putting his right hand on Ephraim’s head. And Joseph didn’t like it. So he took hold of his father’s hand to move it over to Manasseh’s head. 18Joseph said to him, “No, my father. Here’s my older son. Put your right hand on his head.”
19But his father wouldn’t do it. He said, “I know, my son. I know. He too will become a nation. He too will become great. But his younger brother will be greater than he is. His children after him will become a group of nations.” 20On that day, Jacob gave them his blessing. He said,
“The people of Israel will bless others in your name.
They will say, ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’ ”
So he put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh.
21Then Israel said to Joseph, “I’m about to die. But God will be with all of you. He’ll take you back to the land of your fathers. 22But to you, Joseph, I am giving more land than your brothers. I’m giving you the land I took from the Amorites. I took it with my sword and bow.”
ምናሴና ኤፍሬም
1ከጥቂት ጊዜ በኋላም፣ “አባትህ ታሟል” ተብሎ ለዮሴፍ ስለ ተነገረው ሁለቱን ልጆቹን ምናሴንና ኤፍሬምን ይዞ ሄደ። 2ለያዕቆብ፣ “ልጅህ ዮሴፍ ወደ አንተ መጥቷል” ተብሎ በተነገረው ጊዜ፣ እስራኤል ተበረታትቶ ዐልጋው ላይ ተቀመጠ።
3ያዕቆብም ዮሴፍን እንዲህ አለው፤ “ሁሉን የሚችል አምላክ48፥3 ዕብራይስጡ ኤልሻዳይ ይላል። በከነዓን ምድር ሎዛ በምትባል ቦታ ተገለጠልኝ፤ ባረከኝም፤ 4እንዲህም አለኝ፤ ‘ፍሬያማ አደርግሃለሁ፣ ይህችንም ምድር ከአንተ በኋላ ለሚነሡ ዘሮችህ የዘላለም ርስት አድርጌ እሰጣቸዋለሁ።’
5“ወደዚህ ከመምጣቴ በፊት በግብፅ የወለድሃቸው ሁለቱ ልጆችህ ከእንግዲህ የእኔ ልጆች ሆነው ይቈጠራሉ፤ ሮቤልና ስምዖን ልጆቼ እንደ ሆኑ ሁሉ፣ ኤፍሬምና ምናሴም ልጆቼ ይሆናሉ። 6ከእነርሱ በኋላ የሚወለዱልህ ልጆች ግን፣ የአንተ ይሁኑ፤ በርስት ድልድላቸው ግን በወንድሞቻቸው ስም ይቈጠራሉ። 7ከሰሜን ምዕራብ መስጴጦምያ መልስ ኤፍራታ ለመድረስ ጥቂት ሲቀረኝ፣ እናትህ ራሔል በከነዓን ምድር ሞታብኝ ዐዘንሁ። እኔም ወደ ኤፍራታ ማለት ወደ ቤተ ልሔም በሚወስደው መንገድ ዳር ቀበርኋት።”
8እስራኤልም የዮሴፍን ልጆች ባየ ጊዜ፣ “እነዚህ እነማን ናቸው?” ሲል ጠየቀ፤
9ዮሴፍም፣ “እነዚህ እግዚአብሔር (ኤሎሂም) የሰጠኝ ልጆች ናቸው” ብሎ ለአባቱ መለሰለት፤ እስራኤልም፣ “አቅርባቸውና ልመርቃቸው” አለ።
10በዚህ ጊዜ እስራኤል ዐይኖቹ በእርጅና ምክንያት በመድከማቸው አጥርቶ ማየት ይሳነው ነበር፤ ስለዚህ ዮሴፍ ልጆቹን አባቱ ዘንድ አቀረባቸው፤ አባቱም ስሞ ዐቀፋቸው።
11እስራኤልም ዮሴፍን፣ “ዐይንህን እንደ ገና አያለሁ ብዬ አላሰብኩም ነበር፤ እግዚአብሔር (ኤሎሂም) ግን ልጆችህን ጭምር ለማየት አበቃኝ” አለው።
12ዮሴፍም ልጆቹን ከእስራኤል ጕልበት ፈቀቅ በማድረግ አጐንብሶ በግንባሩ መሬት ላይ ተደፋ። 13ከዚያም ዮሴፍ ሁለቱን ልጆቹን ይዞ ኤፍሬምን ከራሱ በስተ ቀኝ፣ ከእስራኤል በስተ ግራ፣ ምናሴን ደግሞ ከራሱ በስተ ግራ፣ ከእስራኤል በስተ ቀኝ በኩል አቀረባቸው። 14እስራኤል ግን ቀኝ እጁን በታናሹ በኤፍሬም ራስ ላይ አኖረ፤ ግራ እጁንም በቀኝ እጁ ላይ አስተላልፎ በበኵሩ በምናሴ ራስ ላይ አኖረ።
15ከዚህ በኋላ ዮሴፍን ባረከ፤ እንዲህም አለው፤
“አባቶቼ አብርሃምና ይስሐቅ በፊቱ
የተመላለሱት እግዚአብሔር (ኤሎሂም)፣
ለእኔም እስከ ዛሬ ድረስ
በዘመኔ ሁሉ እረኛ የሆነኝ አምላክ (ኤሎሂም)፣
16ከጕዳትም ሁሉ የታደገኝ መልአክ፣
እርሱ እነዚህን ልጆች ይባርክ፤
እነርሱም በስሜ፣
በአባቶቼ በአብርሃምና
በይስሐቅ ስም ይጠሩ፤
በምድር ላይ እጅግ ይብዙ።”
17ዮሴፍ፣ አባቱ ቀኝ እጁን በኤፍሬም ራስ ላይ ማድረጉን ሲያይ ተከፋ፤ ከኤፍሬም ራስ ላይ አንሥቶ በምናሴ ራስ ላይ ለማኖር የአባቱን እጅ ያዘ፤ 18ዮሴፍም፣ “አባቴ ሆይ፤ እንዲህ አይደለም፤ በኵሩ ይህኛው ስለሆነ፣ ቀኝ እጅህን እርሱ ራስ ላይ አድርግ” አለው።
19አባቱ ግን፣ “ዐውቃለሁ፤ ልጄ ዐውቃለሁ፤ እርሱም እኮ ሕዝብ ይሆናል፤ ታላቅም ይሆናል፤ ይሁን እንጂ ታናሽ ወንድሙ ከእርሱ ይበልጣል፤ ዘሮቹም ታላቅ ሕዝቦች ይሆናሉ” ብሎ እንቢ አለው። 20በዚያን ዕለት ባረካቸው፤ እንዲህም አላቸው፤
“በአንተ ስም እስራኤል እንዲህ ብሎ ይመርቃል፤
‘እግዚአብሔር (ኤሎሂም) እንደ ኤፍሬምና እንደ ምናሴ ያድርጋችሁ።’ ”
በዚህ ሁኔታም ኤፍሬምን ከምናሴ አስቀደመው።
21ከዚህ በኋላ እስራኤል ዮሴፍን እንዲህ አለው፤ “እኔ የምሞትበት ጊዜ ተቃርቧል፤ ነገር ግን እግዚአብሔር (ኤሎሂም) ከእናንተ ጋር ይሆናል፤ ወደ አባቶቻችሁም ምድር መልሶ ያገባችኋል። 22እነሆ በሰይፌና በቀስቴ ከአሞራውያን እጅ የወሰድኳትን ዐምባ ከወንድሞችህ ድርሻ አብልጬ ለአንተ ሰጥቼሃለሁ።”48፥22 ወይም ከወንድሞችህ ድርሻ አብልጬ ለአንተ አንድ ክፍል እሰጥሃለሁ
