New Living Translation (NLT)
Genesis 48
19 But his father refused. “I know, my son; I know,” he replied. “Manasseh will also become a great people, but his younger brother will become even greater. And his descendants will become a multitude of nations.”
20 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.
21 Then Jacob said to Joseph, “Look, I am about to die, but God will be with you and will take you back to Canaan, the land of your ancestors.
22 And beyond what I have given your brothers, I am giving you an extra portion of the land that I took from the Amorites with my sword and bow.”
Genesis 49
1 Then Jacob called together all his sons and said, “Gather around me, and I will tell you what will happen to each of you in the days to come.
2 “Come and listen, you sons of Jacob; listen to Israel, your father.
3 “Reuben, you are my firstborn, my strength, the child of my vigorous youth. You are first in rank and first in power.
4 But you are as unruly as a flood, and you will be first no longer. For you went to bed with my wife; you defiled my marriage couch.
5 “Simeon and Levi are two of a kind; their weapons are instruments of violence.
6 May I never join in their meetings; may I never be a party to their plans. For in their anger they murdered men, and they crippled oxen just for sport.
7 A curse on their anger, for it is fierce; a curse on their wrath, for it is cruel. I will scatter them among the descendants of Jacob; I will disperse them throughout Israel.
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