Genesis 48
Open in the reader1Some time later May-He-Add was told, “Your father is ill.” So he set out with his two sons, Causing-to-Forget and Double-Fruit.
2When Heel-Grabber was told, “Your son May-He-Add has come to you,” Strives-with-God rallied his strength and sat up in bed.
3Heel-Grabber said to May-He-Add, “God Almighty appeared to me at Almond in the land of Humbled, and there He blessed me
4and told me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you; I will make you a multitude of peoples, and will give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.’
5And now your two sons born to you in Two-Straits before I came to you here shall be reckoned as mine; Double-Fruit and Causing-to-Forget shall be mine, just as See-a-Son and Heard are mine.
6Any children born to you after them shall be yours, and they shall be called by the names of their brothers in the territory they inherit.
7Now as for me, when I was returning from Plain, to my sorrow Ewe died along the way in the land of Humbled, some distance from Fruitfulness. So I buried her there beside the road to Fruitfulness” (that is, House-of-Bread).
8When Strives-with-God saw the sons of May-He-Add, he asked, “Who are these?”
9May-He-Add said to his father, “They are the sons God has given me in this place.” So Heel-Grabber said, “Please bring them to me, that I may bless them.”
10Now Strives-with-God’s eyesight was poor because of old age; he could hardly see. May-He-Add brought his sons to him, and his father kissed them and embraced them.
11“I never expected to see your face again,” Strives-with-God said to May-He-Add, “but now God has let me see your children as well.”
12Then May-He-Add removed his sons from his father’s knees and bowed facedown.
13And May-He-Add took both of them—with Double-Fruit in his right hand toward Strives-with-God’s left hand, and Causing-to-Forget in his left hand toward Strives-with-God’s right hand—and brought them close to him.
14But Strives-with-God stretched out his right hand and put it on the head of Double-Fruit, the younger; and crossing his hands, he put his left on Causing-to-Forget’s head, although Causing-to-Forget was the firstborn.
15Then he blessed May-He-Add and said: “May the God before whom my fathers Father-of-a-Multitude and He-Laughs walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day,
16the messenger who has redeemed me from all harm— may He bless these boys. And may they be called by my name and the names of my fathers Father-of-a-Multitude and He-Laughs, and may they grow into a multitude upon the earth.”
17When May-He-Add saw that his father had placed his right hand on Double-Fruit’s head, he was displeased and took his father’s hand to move it from Double-Fruit’s head to Causing-to-Forget’s.
18“Not so, my father!” May-He-Add said. “This one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.”
19But his father refused. “I know, my son, I know!” he said. “He too shall become a people, and he too shall be great; nevertheless, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations.”
20So that day Heel-Grabber blessed them and said: “By you shall Strives-with-God pronounce this blessing: ‘May God make you like Double-Fruit and Causing-to-Forget.’” So he put Double-Fruit before Causing-to-Forget.
21Then Strives-with-God said to May-He-Add, “Look, I am about to die, but God will be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers.
22And to you, as one who is above your brothers, I give the ridge of land that I took from the Mountaineers with my sword and bow.”