Does God owe me anything? (Genesis 48)

Does God owe me anything? (Genesis 48)

1979 NEG Bible: Genesis 48

1. After these things, they came and said to Joseph, Behold, your father is sick. And he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.

2. They warned Jacob, and said to him, Behold, your son Joseph is coming to you. And Israel gathered his strength, and sat down on his bed.

3. Jacob said to Joseph: Almighty God appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me.

4. He said to me, I will make you fruitful, I will multiply you, and I will make you a multitude of peoples; I will give this country to your posterity after you, to possess it forever.

5. Now the two sons who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt shall be mine; Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, like Reuben and Simeon.

6. But the children you begot after them will be yours; they will be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance.

7. On my return from Paddan, Rachel died on the way with me, in the land of Canaan, at some distance from Ephrata; and that’s where I buried her, on the road to Ephrata, which is Bethlehem.

8. Israel looked at the sons of Joseph, and said, Who are these?

9. Joseph answered his father: These are my sons, whom God has given me here. Israel said: Bring them, I pray you, to come near to me, that I may bless them.

10. The eyes of Israel were heavy with old age; he could no longer see. Joseph brought them near to him; and Israel kissed them, and embraced them.

11. Israel said to Joseph: I did not expect to see your face again, and behold, God has shown me even your descendants.

12. Joseph lifted them from his father’s lap, and bowed himself to the ground before him.

13. Then Joseph took them both, Ephraim with his right hand on the left of Israel, and Manasseh with his left hand on the right of Israel, and brought them near to him.

14. Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim who was the youngest, and he laid his left hand on the head of Manasseh: it was with intention that he laid his hands thus, for Manasseh was the first born.

15. He blessed Joseph, and said, May the God in whose presence my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, may the God who has guided me from my existence until this day,

16. May the angel who delivered me from all evil, bless these children! Let them be called by my name and by the name of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, and let them multiply in abundance in the midst of the land!

17. Joseph saw with displeasure that his father laid his right hand on Ephraim’s head; he seized his father’s hand, to turn it from above the head of Ephraim, and to direct it to that of Manasseh.

18. And 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 it, my son, I know it; he too will become a people, he too will be great; but his younger brother will be greater than he, and his seed will become a multitude of nations.

20. He blessed them that day, and said, It is through you that Israel will bless, saying, May God treat you like Ephraim and like Manasseh! And he put Ephraim before Manasseh.

21. Israel said to Joseph: Behold, I am going to die! But God will be with you, and he will bring you back to the land of your fathers.

22. I give to you, more than to your brothers, a portion which I took from the hand of the Amorites with my sword and with my bow.