48:1 这些事以后，有人告诉若瑟说：「你的父亲病了。」若瑟遂带了他的两个儿子，默纳协和厄弗辣因同去。
Some time afterward, Joseph was informed, "Your father is failing." So he took along with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. 48:2 人告诉雅各伯说：「你儿子若瑟来看你。」以色列遂勉强由床上坐起。
When Jacob was told, "Your son Joseph has come to you," he rallied his strength and sat up in bed. 48:3 雅各伯对若瑟说：「全能者天主曾在客纳罕地路次显现给我，祝福了我，
Jacob then said to Joseph: "God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessing me, 48:4 对我说：看!我要使你繁殖增多，成为一大民族；我要将这地方赐给你未来的后裔，作为永久的产业。
he said, 'I will make you fertile and numerous and raise you into an assembly of tribes, and I will give this land to your descendants after you as a permanent possession.' 48:5 我未到埃及见你以前，你在埃及国所生的两个儿子，由今起应归于我；厄弗辣因和默纳协属我全如勒乌本和西默盎一样。
Your two sons, therefore, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I joined you here, shall be mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine as much as Reuben and Simeon are mine. 48:6 在他们以后所生的子女，尽归于你；不过在分产业时，他们应归他们兄弟的名下。
Progeny born to you after them shall remain yours; but their heritage shall be recorded in the names of their two brothers. 48:7 当我由帕丹回来时，在离厄弗辣大还有一段路程时，在路上你母亲辣黑耳，就在我的悲痛中死在客纳罕地，我就将她葬在去厄弗辣大，即白冷的路旁。」
I do this because, when I was returning from Paddan, your mother Rachel died, to my sorrow, during the journey in Canaan, while we were still a short distance from Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem)." 48:8 以色列看见若瑟的儿子，就问说：「他们是谁﹖」
When Israel saw Joseph’s sons, he asked, "Who are these?" 48:9 若瑟回答父亲说：「是天主在此地赐给我的儿子。」以色列说：「带他们到我跟前来，我要祝福他们。」
"They are my sons," Joseph answered his father, "whom God has given me here." "Bring them to me," said his father, "that I may bless them." 48:10 以色列因年老眼目昏花，看不清楚；若瑟遂领他们到他跟前；他就口亲他们，抱住他们。
(Now Israel’s eyes were dim from age, and he could not see well.) When Joseph brought his sons close to him, he kissed and embraced them. 48:11 以色列对若瑟说：「连见你的面我都没有料到；现今，看，天主还使我见到了你的后裔。」
Then Israel said to Joseph, "I never expected to see your face again, and now God has allowed me to see your descendants as well!" 48:12 若瑟遂由他父亲膝间将孩子拉出来，俯伏在地下拜。
Joseph removed them from his father’s knees and bowed down before him with his face to the ground. 48:13 然后若瑟又领他们两个，右手领厄弗辣因到以色列左边，左手领默纳协到以色列右边，到父亲面前。
Then Joseph took the two, Ephraim with his right hand, to Israel’s left, and Manasseh with his left hand, to Israel’s right, and led them to him. 48:14 以色列却伸出右手，放在次子厄弗辣因的头上，伸出左手放在长子默纳协的头上，故意交叉着自己的手。
But Israel, crossing his hands, put out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim, although he was the younger, and his left hand on the head of Manasseh, although he was the first-born. 48:15 遂祝福若瑟说：「愿我的祖先亚巴郎和依撒格一生与之往来的天主，自我出生直到今日牧育我的天主，
Then he blessed them with these words: "May the God in whose ways my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, The God who has been my shepherd from my birth to this day, 48:16 救我脱离一切祸患的使者，祝福这两个孩童!愿我的名及我祖先亚巴郎和依撒格的名，赖他们流传!愿他们在地上生育繁昌!」
The Angel who has delivered me from all harm, bless these boys That in them my name be recalled, and the names of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, And they may become teeming multitudes upon the earth!" 48:17 若瑟见他父亲将右手放在厄弗辣因头上，认为不对，便拿起父亲的右手，由厄弗辣因头上，移到默纳协头上，
When Joseph saw that his father had laid his right hand on Ephraim’s head, this seemed wrong to him; so he took hold of his father’s hand, to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s, 48:18 对父亲说：「阿爸!错了；这个原是长子，应将你的右手放在他头上。」
saying, "That is not right, father; the other one is the first-born; lay your right hand on his head!" 48:19 他的父亲却拒绝说：「我知道，我儿!我知道，他也要成为一个民族，他也要昌盛；但他的弟弟却比他更要昌盛，他的后裔要成为一大民族。」
But his father resisted. "I know it, son," he said, "I know. That one too shall become a tribe, and he too shall be great. Nevertheless, his younger brother shall surpass him, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations." 48:20 那一天他又这样祝福他们说：「以色列将以你们祝福人说：愿天主使你如厄弗辣因和默纳协!」他又将厄弗辣因放在默纳协前面。
So when he blessed them that day and said, "By you shall the people of Israel pronounce blessings; may they say, 'God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh,'" he placed Ephraim before Manasseh. 48:21 然后以色列对若瑟说：「看，我快要死；但天主必与你们同在，必领你们回到你们祖先的地方去。
Then Israel said to Joseph: "I am about to die. But God will be with you and will restore you to the land of your fathers. 48:22 现在我将由阿摩黎人手中，以我的刀剑弓矢夺得的那块山地赐给你，使你比众兄弟多得一分。」
As for me, I give to you, as to the one above his brothers, Shechem, which I captured from the Amorites with my sword and bow."