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and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for your little ones.

      ²⁵ And they said, Thou hast saved our lives: let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants.

      ²⁶ And Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth; only the land of the priests alone became not Pharaoh's.

      ²⁷ And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen; and they gat them possessions therein, and were fruitful, and multiplied exceedingly.

      ²⁸ And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years: so the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were a hundred forty and seven years.

      ²⁹ And the time drew near that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found favor in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me: bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt;

      ³⁰ but when I sleep with my fathers, thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying-place. And he said, I will do as thou hast said.

      ³¹ And he said, Swear unto me: and he sware unto him. And Israel bowed himself upon the bed's head.

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      ¹ And it came to pass after these things, that one said to Joseph, Behold, thy father is sick: and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.

      ² And one told Jacob, and said, Behold, thy son Joseph cometh unto thee: and Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed.

      ³ And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me,

      ⁴ and said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a company of peoples, and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession.

      ⁵ And now thy two sons, who were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh, even as Reuben and Simeon, shall be mine.

      ⁶ And thy issue, that thou begettest after them, shall be thine; they shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance.

      ⁷ And as for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way, when there was still some distance to come unto Ephrath: and I buried her there in the way to Ephrath (the same is Beth-lehem).

      ⁸ And Israel beheld Joseph's sons, and said, Who are these?

      ⁹ And Joseph said unto his father, They are my sons, whom God hath given me here. And he said, Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I will bless them.

      ¹⁰ Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he could not see. And he brought them near unto him; and he kissed them, and embraced them.

      ¹¹ And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face: and, lo, God hath let me see thy seed also.

      ¹² And Joseph brought them out from between his knees; and he bowed himself with his face to the earth.

      ¹³ And 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 unto him.

      ¹⁴ And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the first-born.

      ¹⁵ And he blessed Joseph, and said, The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God who hath fed me all my life long unto this day,

      ¹⁶ the angel who hath 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; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.

      ¹⁷ And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him: and he held up his father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's head.

      ¹⁸ And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father; for this is the first-born; put thy right hand upon his head.

      ¹⁹ And his father refused, and said, I know [it], my son, I know [it]. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: howbeit his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.

      ²⁰ And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee will Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.

      ²¹ And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die: but God will be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers.

      ²² Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.

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      ¹ And Jacob called unto his sons, and said: gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the latter days.

      ² Assemble yourselves, and hear, ye sons of Jacob; And hearken unto Israel your father.

      ³ Reuben, thou art my first-born, my might, and the beginning of my strength; The pre-eminence of dignity, and the pre-eminence of power.

      ⁴ Boiling over as water, thou shalt not have the pre-eminence; Because thou wentest up to thy father's bed; Then defiledst thou it: he went up to my couch.

      ⁵ Simeon and Levi are brethren; Weapons of violence are their swords.

      ⁶ O my soul, come not thou into their council; Unto their assembly, my glory, be not thou united; For in their anger they slew a man, And in their self-will they hocked an ox.

      ⁷ Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; And their wrath, for it was cruel: I will divide them in Jacob, And scatter them in Israel.

      ⁸ Judah, thee shall thy brethren praise: Thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies; Thy father's sons shall bow down before thee.

      ⁹ Judah is a lion's whelp; From the prey, my son, thou art gone up: He stooped down, he couched as a lion, And as a lioness; who shall rouse him up?

      ¹⁰ The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, Nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, Until Shiloh come: And unto him shall the obedience of the peoples be.

      ¹¹ Binding his foal unto the vine, And his ass's colt unto the choice vine; He hath washed his garments in wine, And his vesture in the blood of grapes:

      ¹² His eyes shall be red with wine, And his teeth white with milk.

      ¹³ Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea; And he shall be for a haven of ships; And his border shall be upon Sidon.

      ¹⁴ Issachar is a strong ass, Couching down between the sheepfolds:

      ¹⁵ And he saw a resting-place that it was good, And the land that it was pleasant; And he bowed his shoulder to bear, And became a servant under taskwork.

      ¹⁶ Dan shall judge his people, As one of the tribes of Israel.

      ¹⁷ Dan shall be a serpent in the way, An adder in the path, That biteth the horse's heels, So that his rider falleth backward.

      ¹⁸