Jacob Blesses Ephraim and Manasseh

481 Some time later Joseph was told, "Your father is ill." So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim along with him.

Other Translations of Genesis 48:1

King James Version

Jacob Blesses Ephraim and Manasseh

481 And it came to pass after these things, that one told Joseph, Behold, thy father is sick: and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.

English Standard Version

Jacob Blesses Ephraim and Manasseh

481 After this, Joseph was told, "Behold, your father is ill." So he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.

The Message

Jacob Blesses Ephraim and Manasseh

481 Some time after this conversation, Joseph was told, "Your father is ill." He took his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, and went to Jacob.

New King James Version

Jacob Blesses Ephraim and Manasseh

481 Now it came to pass after these things that Joseph was told, "Indeed your father is sick"; and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.

New Living Translation

Jacob Blesses Ephraim and Manasseh

481 One day not long after this, word came to Joseph, "Your father is failing rapidly." So Joseph went to visit his father, and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.

Matthew Henry's Commentary on Genesis 48:1

Commentary on Genesis 48:1-7

(Read Genesis 48:1-7)

The death-beds of believers, with the prayers and counsels of dying persons, are suited to make serious impressions upon the young, the gay, and the prosperous: we shall do well to take children on such occasions, when it can be done properly. If the Lord please, it is very desirable to bear our dying testimony to his truth, to his faithfulness, and the pleasantness of his ways. And one would wish so to live, as to give energy and weight to our dying exhortations. All true believers are blessed at their death, but all do not depart equally full of spiritual consolations. Jacob adopted Joseph's two sons. Let them not succeed their father, in his power and grandeur in Egypt; but let them succeed in the inheritance of the promise made to Abraham. Thus the aged dying patriarch teaches these young persons to take their lot with the people of God. He appoints each of them to be the head of a tribe. Those are worthy of double honour, who, through God's grace, break through the temptations of worldly wealth and preferment, to embrace religion in disgrace and poverty. Jacob will have Ephraim and Manasseh to know, that it is better to be low, and in the church, than high, and out of it.