And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.
Parallel translations
- WEB He blessed them that day, saying, “In you will Israel bless, saying, ‘God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh’” He set Ephraim before Manasseh.
- BSB So that day Jacob blessed them and said: “By you shall Israel pronounce this blessing: ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’” So he put Ephraim before Manasseh.
- NKJV So he blessed them that day, saying, “By you Israel will bless, saying, ‘May God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh!’ ” And thus he set Ephraim before Manasseh.
- NASB So he blessed them that day, saying, “By you Israel will pronounce blessing, saying, ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh!’ ” And so he put Ephraim before Manasseh.
- NLT So Jacob blessed the boys that day with this blessing: “The people of Israel will use your names when they give a blessing. They will say, ‘May God make you as prosperous as Ephraim and Manasseh.’” In this way, Jacob put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh.
Scripture taken from the New King James Version®. Copyright © 1982 by Thomas Nelson. Used by permission. All rights reserved.
Scripture quotations taken from the (NASB®) New American Standard Bible®, Copyright © 1960, 1971, 1977, 1995, 2020 by The Lockman Foundation. Used by permission. All rights reserved. lockman.org
Scripture quotations are taken from the Holy Bible, New Living Translation, copyright © 1996, 2004, 2015 by Tyndale House Foundation. Used by permission of Tyndale House Publishers, Carol Stream, Illinois 60188. All rights reserved.
Quick answer
Jacob makes Ephraim and Manasseh a proverb of blessing in Israel, ranking Ephraim first.
Overview
Jacob's words become a standard formula by which Israelites would pronounce blessing on their children, naming these two adopted grandsons as the very picture of being blessed by God. By setting Ephraim before Manasseh, he confirms the reversal of the firstborn's place. The lasting blessing he speaks foreshadows the abundant, generational blessing God secures for His people in Christ, the true Seed (Galatians 3:14).
Cross-references & the web
Cross-references · 10
- Ruth 4:11–12And all the people that were in the gate, and the elders, said, We are witnesses. The LORD make the woman that is come into thine house like Rachel and like Leah, which two did build the house of Israel: and do thou worthily in Ephratah, and be famous in Bethlehem:
- Gen 24:60And they blessed Rebekah, and said unto her, Thou art our sister, be thou the mother of thousands of millions, and let thy seed possess the gate of those which hate them.
- Gen 28:3And God Almighty bless thee, and make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, that thou mayest be a multitude of people;
- Num 10:22–23And the standard of the camp of the children of Ephraim set forward according to their armies: and over his host was Elishama the son of Ammihud.
- Num 7:54On the eighth day offered Gamaliel the son of Pedahzur, prince of the children of Manasseh:
- Num 13:16These are the names of the men which Moses sent to spy out the land. And Moses called Oshea the son of Nun Jehoshua.
- Num 13:11Of the tribe of Joseph, namely, of the tribe of Manasseh, Gaddi the son of Susi.
- Num 2:18–21On the west side shall be the standard of the camp of Ephraim according to their armies: and the captain of the sons of Ephraim shall be Elishama the son of Ammihud.
- Num 7:48On the seventh day Elishama the son of Ammihud, prince of the children of Ephraim, offered:
- Num 13:8Of the tribe of Ephraim, Oshea the son of Nun.
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Christ at the center
From the first promise that the seed of the woman would crush the serpent (3:15), through Abraham's blessing to all nations and Judah's coming ruler, Genesis sows every seed that flowers in Christ — the true offspring, the better Adam, the ram caught for Isaac.
How Genesis 48:20 points to him is part of the one story that runs through all Scripture — meet Jesus at the heart of the web, or follow a trail that traces him from Genesis to Revelation.
Original language
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