Genesis 48:21

21 Israel then said to Joseph, "I'm about to die. God be with you and give you safe passage back to the land of your fathers.

Genesis 48:21 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 48:21

And Israel said unto Joseph, behold, I die
Expected to die very shortly; and he not only speaks of it as a certain thing, and what would quickly be, but with pleasure and comfort, having no fear and dread of it on him, but as what was agreeable to him, and he had made himself familiar with: but God shall be with you;
with Joseph and his posterity, and with all his brethren, and theirs, to comfort and support them, to guide and counsel them, to protect and defend them, to carry them through all they had to endure in Egypt, and at length bring them out of it; he signifies he was departing from them, but God would not depart from them, whose presence would be infinitely more to them than his; and which, as it made him the more easy to leave them, so it might make them more easy to part with him: and bring you again unto the land of your fathers;
the land of Canaan, where their fathers, Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, had dwelt, and which was given to them and theirs for an inheritance, and where Joseph and his brethren had lived, and would be brought thither again, as the bones of Joseph were, and as all of them in their posterity were in Joshua's time.

Genesis 48:21 In-Context

19 But his father wouldn't do it. He said, "I know, my son; but I know what I'm doing. He also will develop into a people, and he also will be great. But his younger brother will be even greater and his descendants will enrich nations."
20 Then he blessed them both: Israel will use your names to give blessings: May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh. In that he made it explicit: he put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh.
21 Israel then said to Joseph, "I'm about to die. God be with you and give you safe passage back to the land of your fathers.
22 As for me, I'm presenting you, as the first among your brothers, the ridge of land I took from Amorites with my sword and bow."
Published by permission. Originally published by NavPress in English as THE MESSAGE: The Bible in Contemporary Language copyright 2002 by Eugene Peterson. All rights reserved.