"May God liken you to Ephraim and Manasseh!"

Thus he placed Ephraim above Manasseh.

21Israel then said to Joseph: "My days are numbered, but God will be with you and will bring you back to the land of your fathers. 22 And to thee, besides what thy brethren shall receive, I give the mountainside,385 which I conquered from the Amorites with my sword and bow."

The Future of the Sons of Jacob in Their Father's Predictions

49 And Jacob called his sons together, and said, "Come together round about me, and I will tell you what is in store for you in the days to come.

2 Having gathered together, sons of Jacob, hearken,

listen to your father Israel!

3Reuben, my firstborn, my strength,

the first fruit of my maturity,

In your honor and power you are above your brethren!

4You are irrepressible, like the element of water,

but know that you will no longer be the first[387],

if thou hast laid down on thy father's marriage bed

and he defiled it.

He dared to lie down on my bed!

5Simeon and Levi, brothers of the same spirit!

Their swords[388] are the instruments of cruelty.

6I do not want to be a participant in their intentions

And let me not be numbered among them in a fit of anger they kill men,

From whim[389] they cripple bulls.

7Let their wrath be accursed, for it is cruel;

and their wrath, for it is merciless;

I will scatter them among the children of Jacob,390

I will scatter among the descendants of Israel[391]b.

8Judas, they will praise you, brethren!

You will put your enemies to flight[393]b,

and thy father's sons shall bow down before thee in obedience.

9Judas is a young lion,