Genesis 48:4

4 and (he) said, I shall increase thee, and multiply thee, and I shall make thee into companies of peoples, and I shall give to thee this land, and to thy seed after thee, into everlasting possession (and I shall give this land to thee, and to thy descendants after thee, for an everlasting possession).

Genesis 48:4 Meaning and Commentary

Genesis 48:4

And said unto me, behold, I will make thee fruitful
In a spiritual sense, in grace and good works; in a literal sense, in an increase of worldly substance, and especially of children: and multiply thee;
make his posterity numerous as the sand of the sea: and I will make of thee a multitude of people;
a large nation, consisting of many tribes, even a company of nations, as the twelve tribes of Israel were; and I will give this land unto thy seed after thee, [for] an
everlasting possession;
the land of Canaan, they were to possess as long as they were the people of God, and obedient to his law; by which obedience they held the land, even unto the coming of the Messiah, whom they rejected, and then they were cast out, and a "Loammi" (i.e. not my people, ( Hosea 1:9 ) ) written upon them, and their civil polity, as well as church state, at an end: and besides, Canaan was a type of the eternal inheritance of the saints in heaven, the spiritual Israel of God, which will be possessed by them to all eternity.

Genesis 48:4 In-Context

2 And it was said to the eld man, Lo! thy son Joseph cometh to thee; which was comforted (who was strengthened), and sat up in the bed.

3 And when Joseph entered to him, he said, Almighty God appeared to me in Luz (Almighty God appeared to me at Luz), which is in the land of Canaan, and blessed me,

4 and (he) said, I shall increase thee, and multiply thee, and I shall make thee into companies of peoples, and I shall give to thee this land, and to thy seed after thee, into everlasting possession (and I shall give this land to thee, and to thy descendants after thee, for an everlasting possession).

5 Therefore thy two sons, that be born to thee in the land of Egypt, before that I came hither to thee, shall be mine; Ephraim and Manasseh, as Reuben and Simeon, shall be areckoned to me (Ephraim and Manasseh, just like Reuben and Simeon, shall be reckoned as mine);

6 forsooth the others which thou shalt beget after them shall be thine; and they shall be called by the name of their brethren in their possessions (and they shall be called after the names of their brothers in their inheritance).