Genesis 48:5

5 Your two sons born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt are now mine. Ephraim and Manasseh belong to me just as Reuben and Simeon do.

Genesis 48:5 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 48:5

And now thy two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh
Ephraim was the youngest, but is mentioned first, as he afterwards was preferred in the blessing of him: which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt, before I came unto
thee into Egypt;
and therefore must be twenty years of age, or upwards: for Jacob had been in Egypt seventeen years, and he came there when there had been two years of famine, and Joseph's sons were born to him before the years of famine began, ( Genesis 41:50 ) ; of these Jacob says, they [are] mine: as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine;
that is, by adoption; should be reckoned not as his grandchildren, but as his children, even as his two eldest sons, Reuben and Simeon; and so should be distinct tribes or heads of them, as his sons would be, and have a distinct part and portion in the land of Canaan; and thus the birthright was transferred from Reuben, because of his incest, to Joseph, who in his posterity had a double portion assigned him.

Genesis 48:5 In-Context

3 Jacob said to Joseph, "God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me.

4 He said to me, 'I will make you fruitful and numerous; I will make many nations [come from] you, and I will give this land as an eternal possession to your descendants to come.'

5 Your two sons born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt are now mine. Ephraim and Manasseh belong to me just as Reuben and Simeon do.

6 Children born to you after them will be yours and will be recorded under the names of their brothers with regard to their inheritance.

7 When I was returning from Paddan, to my sorrow Rachel died along the way, some distance from Ephrath in the land of Canaan. I buried her there along the way to Ephrath," (that is, Bethlehem).