20So Joseph gained possession of all the farm land of Egypt for Pharaoh, every Egyptian having sold his field because the famine was too much for them; thus the land passed over to Pharaoh. 21And he removed the pop- ulation town by town,b from one end of Egypt’s border to the other. 22Only the land of the priests he did not take over, for the priests had an allotment from Pharaoh, and they lived off the allotment which Pharaoh had made to them; therefore they did not sell their land.
23Then Joseph said to the people, “Whereas I have this day acquired you and your land for Pharaoh, here is seed for you to sow the land. 24And when harvest comes, you shall give one-fifth to Pharaoh, and four- fifths shall be yours as seed for the fields and as food for you and those in your households, and as nourishment for your children.” 25And they said, “You have saved our lives! We are grateful to my lord, and we shall be serfs to Pharaoh.” 26And Joseph made it into a land law in Egypt, which is still valid, that a fifth should be Pharaoh’s; only the land of the priests did not become Pharaoh’s.
27Thus Israel settled in the country of Egypt, in the region of Goshen; they acquired holdings in it, and were fertile and increased greatly.
28Jacob lived seventeen years in the land of Egypt, so that the span of Jacob’s life came to one hundred and forty-seven years. 29And when the time approached for Israel to die, he summoned his son Joseph and said to him, “Do me this favor, place your hand under my thigh as a pledge of your steadfast loyalty: please do not bury me in Egypt. 30When I lie down with my fathers, take me up from Egypt and bury me in their burial-place.” He replied, “I will do as you have spoken.” 31And he said, “Swear to me.” And he swore to him. Then Israel bowed at the head of the bed.
48 Some time afterward, Joseph was told, “Your father is ill.” So he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. 2When Jacob was told, “Your son Joseph has come to see you,” Israel summoned his strength and sat up in bed.
3And Jacob said to Joseph, “El Shaddai appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and He blessed me, 4and said to me, ‘I will make you fertile and numerous, making of you a community of peoples; and I will assign this land to your offspring to come for an everlasting possession.’ 5Now, your 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 shall be mine no less than Reuben and Simeon. 6But progeny born to you after them shall be yours; they shall be recorded insteada of their brothers in their inheritance. 7I [do this because], when I was returning from Paddan, Rachel died, to my sorrow, while I was journeying in the land of Canaan, when still some distance short of Ephrath; and I buried her there on the road to Ephrath”—now Bethlehem.
8Noticing Joseph’s sons, Israel asked, “Who are these?” 9And Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons, whom God has given me here.” “Bring them up to me,” he said, “that I may bless them.” 10Now Israel’s eyes were dim with age; he could not see. So [Joseph] brought them close to him, and he kissed them and embraced them. 11And Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected to see you again, and here God has let me see your children as well.”
12Joseph then removed them from his knees, and bowed low with his face to the ground. 13Joseph took the two of them, Ephraim with his right hand—to Israel’s left—and Manasseh with his left hand—to Israel’s right—and brought them close to him. 14But Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on Ephraim’s head, though he was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head—thus crossing his hands—although Man- asseh was the first-born. 15And he blessed Joseph, saying,
“The God in whose ways my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked,
The God who has been my shepherd from my birth to this day—
16The Angel who has redeemed me from all harm—
Bless the lads.
In them may my name be recalled,
And the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac,
And may they be teeming multitudes upon the earth.”
17When Joseph saw that his father was placing his right hand on Ephraim’s head, he thought it wrong; so he took hold of his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s. 18“Not so, Father,” Joseph said to his father, “for the other is the first-born; place your right hand on his head.” 19But his father objected, saying, “I know, my son, I know. He too shall become a people, and he too shall be great. Yet his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall be plentiful enough for nations.” 20So he blessed them that day, saying, “By you shall Israel invoke blessings, saying: God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.” Thus he put Ephraim before Manasseh.
21Then Israel said to Joseph, “I am about to die; but God will be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers. 22And now, I assign to you one portionb more than to your brothers, which I wrested from the Amorites with my sword and bow.”
49 And Jacob called his sons and said, “Come together that I may tell you what is to befall you in days to come.
2Assemble and hearken, O sons of Jacob;
Hearken to Israel your father:
3Reuben, you are my first-born,
My might and first fruit of my vigor,
Exceeding in rank
And exceeding in honor.
4Unstable as water, you shall excel no longer;
For when you mounted your father’s bed,
You brought disgrace—my couch he mounted!
5Simeon and Levi are a pair;
Their weapons are tools of lawlessness.
6Let not my person be included in their council,
Let not my being be counted in their assembly.
For when angry they slay men,
And when pleased they maim oxen.
7Cursed be their anger so fierce,
And their wrath so relentless.
I will divide them in Jacob,
Scatter them in Israel.
8You, O Judah, your brothers shall praise;
Your hand shall be on the nape of your foes;
Your father’s sons shall bow low to you.
9Judah is a lion’s whelp;
On prey, my son, have you grown.
He crouches, lies down like a lion,
Like a-the king of beasts-a—who dare rouse him?
10The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
Nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet;
So that tribute shall come to himb
And the homage of peoples be his.
11He tethers his ass to a vine,
His ass’s foal to a choice vine;
He washes his garment in wine,
His robe in blood of grapes.
12 c-His eyes are darker than wine;
His teeth are whiter than milk.-c
13Zebulun shall dwell by the seashore;
He shall be a haven for ships,
And his flank shall rest on Sidon.
14Issachar is a strong-boned ass,
Crouching among the sheepfolds.
15When he saw how good was security,
And how pleasant was the country,
He bent his shoulder to the burden,
And became a toiling serf.
16Dan shall govern his people,
As one of the tribes of Israel.
17Dan shall be a serpent by the road,
A viper by the path,
That bites the horse’s heels
So that his rider is thrown backward.
18I wait for Your deliverance, O LORD!
19Gad shall be raided by raiders,
But he shall raid at their heels.
20Asher’s bread shall be rich,
And he shall yield royal dainties.
21Naphtali is a hind let loose,
Which yields lovely fawns.
22 d-Joseph is a wild ass,
A wild ass by a spring
—Wild colts on a hillside.-d
23Archers bitterly assailed him;
They shot at him and harried him.
24Yet his bow stayed taut,
And his armse were made firm
By the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob—
There, the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel—
25The God of your father who helps you,
And Shaddai who blesses you
With blessings of heaven above,
Blessings of the deep that couches below,
Blessings of the breast and womb.
26 f-The blessings of your father
Surpass the blessings of my ancestors,
To the utmost bounds of the eternal hills.-f
May they rest on the head of Joseph,
On the brow of the elect of his brothers.
27Benjamin is a ravenous wolf;
In the morning he consumes the foe,g
And in the evening he divides the spoil.”
28All these were the tribes of Israel,
