1 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, ^aManasseh and Ephraim.  ‡

2 And Jacob was told, “Look, your son Joseph is coming to you”; and Israel¹ strengthened himself and sat up on the bed.  ‡

4 and said to me, ‘Behold, I will ^amake you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make of you a multitude of people, and ^bgive this land to your descendants after you ^cas an everlasting possession.’  ‡

5 And now your ^atwo sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine.  ‡