4 Beholde, I wyll make thee fruiteful, and cause thee to multiplie, and wyll make a great number of people of thee, and wyll geue this lande vnto thy seede after thee vnto an euerlastyng possessi∣on.
5 And nowe thy two sonnes Manasses and Ephraim, whiche were borne vnto thee in the land of Egypt before I came [unspec B] vnto thee into Egypt, are myne, euen as Ruben and Simeon are mine.
6 And the children which thou hast got∣ten after them, shalbe thyne owne, and shalbe called after the names of their brethren in their inheritaunce.
7 And when I came from Mesopota∣mia, Rachel dyed vpon my hande in the land of Chanaan, by the way, when there was but a fieldes breadth to come vnto Ephratha: and I buried her there in the waye to Ephratha, the same is Beth-lehem.
8 And Israel beheld Iosephes sonnes, and sayde: What are these?
9 Ioseph sayde vnto his father: They are my sonnes whiche God hath geuen me here. And he sayde: Oh bring them to me, and let me blesse them.
10 (And the eyes of Israel were dymme for age, so that he coulde not [well] see) And he brought them to hym, and he kyssed them, and imbraced them.
11 And Israel sayde vnto Ioseph, I had not thought to haue seene thy face: and yet loe, God hath shewed me al∣so thy seede.
12 And Ioseph toke them away frō his lappe, and he bowed hym selfe with his face towarde the earth.
13 Then toke Ioseph them both, Ephra∣im with his ryght hande towarde Is∣raels [unspec C] left hande, and Manasses with his left hande towarde Israels ryght hande, and brought them vnto hym.
14 And Israel stretched out his ryght hande, and layed it vppon Ephraims head, which was the younger: and his left hande vpon Manasses head, guy∣dyng his hande wyttyngly, for Manas∣ses was the first borne.
15 And he blessed Ioseph, and sayde: God in whose syght my fathers Abra∣ham & Isahac dyd walke, God which hath fedde me al my lyfe long vnto this day,
16 And the angell which hath deliue∣red me from al euyl, blesse these laddes, and let my name be named in them, and the name of my fathers Abraham & Isahac, & that they may growe into a multitude in the middes of the earth.
17 When Ioseph sawe that his father layed his ryght hande vpon the head of Ephraim, it displeased hym: and he lift vp his fathers hande, to haue remoued it from Ephraims head vnto Manasses head.
18 And Ioseph sayde vnto his father, [unspec D] Not so my father, for this is the first borne: put thy right hande vpon his head.
19 And his father would not, but sayde: I knowe it well my sonne, I knowe it well, he shalbe also a people, and shal∣be great: But his younger brother shal∣be greater then he, and his seede shall become a great people.
20 And he blessed them that day, & saide: In thee let Israel blesse & saye, God make thee as Ephraim, & as Manasses. And he set Ephraim before Manasses.
21 And Israel said vnto Ioseph: behold I dye, & God shalbe with you, & bryng you againe vnto ye land of your fathers.
22 Moreouer, I haue geuen vnto thee a portion of lande aboue thy brethren, which I gat out of the hand of the A∣morite in my sworde, and in my bowe.