48:19. But he refusing, said: I know, my son, I know: and this also shall become a people, and shall be multiplied; but his younger brother shall be greater than he; and his seed shall grow into nations.
48:20. And he blessed them at that time, saying: In thee shall Israel be blessed, and it shall be said: God do to thee as to Ephraim, and as to Manasses. And he set Ephraim before Manasses.
48:21. And he said to Joseph, his son: Behold I die, and God will be with you, and will bring you back into the land of your fathers.
48:22. I give thee a portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorrhite with my sword and bow.
Genesis Chapter 49
Jacob's prophetical blessings of his twelve sons: his death.
49:1. And Jacob called his sons, and said to them: Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you the things that shall befall you in the last days.
49:2. Gather yourselves together, and hear, O ye sons of Jacob, hearken to Israel, your father:
49:3. Ruben, my firstborn, thou art my strength, and the beginning of my sorrow; excelling in gifts, greater in command.
My strength, etc… He calls him his strength, as being born whilst his father was in his full strength and vigour: he calls him the beginning of his sorrow, because cares and sorrows usually come on with the birth of children. Excelling in gifts, etc., because the firstborn had a title to a double portion, and to have the command over his brethren, which Ruben forfeited by his sin; being poured out as water, that is, spilt and lost.