Genesis 48:1 And it came to pass after these things, that one told Joseph, Behold, your father is sick.(original 'weak', not feeling well).and Joseph took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. 

Genesis 48:2-4 And one told Jacob and said, Behold, your son Joseph comes unto you and Israel.(Jacob's name was changed to Israel, but his servants still called him Jacob).strengthened himself and sat upon the bed. And Jacob said unto Joseph, God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me and said unto me, Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you and I will make of you a multitude of people and will give this land to your seed after you for an everlasting possession. 

Genesis 48:5 And now your two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto you in the land of Egypt before I came unto you into Egypt, are mine, as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine.

Reuben and Simeon were two of the twelve sons Jacob, whose name was changed to Israel, had. Jacob is saying here that his son Joseph's two children (Jacob's grandchildren), named Ephraim and Manasseh are just as precious to him as his actual own sons.

Genesis 48:6-8 And your issue, which you'll beget after them, shall be yours and shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance. And as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way, when yet there was but a little way to come unto Ephrath.(not very far to go, she died on the way).and I buried her there in the way of Ephrath; the same is Bethlehem.(Ephrath was the old name of Bethlehem). And Israel beheld Joseph's sons and said, Who are these.(or 'which one is which', as he couldn't see too well at his age)?

Genesis 48:9 And Joseph said unto his father.(his father was Jacob:.Genesis 48:2-4), They are my sons, whom God has given me in this place. And he said, Bring them, I pray thee, unto me and I will bless them.

Genesis 48:10 Now the eyes of Israel.(remember Jacob's name was changed to Israel).were dim for age, so that he could not see. And he brought them near unto him and he kissed them and embraced them.

Genesis 48:11,12 And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see even your face and lo, God has showed me also your children. And Joseph brought them out from between his knees and he bowed himself with his face to the Earth.

The little guys were sticking pretty close to their dad, as it must have all seemed so different to them and not seeing their grandfather before.

Genesis 48:13 And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand and brought them near unto him.

Genesis 48:14 And Israel.(formerly his name was Jacob).stretched out his right hand and laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was the younger and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn.

Not the Manasseh who turned out to be an evil king and later changed.

Genesis 48:15,16 And he blessed Joseph and said, God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day, The Angel which redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads and let my name be named on them and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the Earth.

And they did!

Genesis 48:17-19 And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him. And he held up his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's head. And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father. For this is the firstborn. Put your right hand upon his head. And his father refused and said, I know it my son, I know it. He also shall become a people and he also shall be great. But truly his younger brother shall be greater than he and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.

Genesis 48:17-19 And when Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand upon the head of Ephraim.(Joseph's dad Jacob's name was changed to the name of Israel; Jacob crossed his hands so that his right hand would be his grandson, the son of Joseph, Ephraim {verse 13 above}, why, as it seems a foolish thing to do?.1Corinthians 1:27; descendants of Ephraim are believed to have originally comprised areas now known as the United Kingdom, becoming the massive), it displeased him. And he held up his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's.(descendants of whom are believed to have originally embodied the terrain now known as the United States of America).head. And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father. For this is the firstborn.(verses 13, 14 above). Put your right hand upon his head. And his father refused and said, I know it my son, I know it. He also shall become a people and he also shall be great. But truly his younger brother shall be greater than he and his seed shall become a multitude of nations..(*)

Genesis 48:20 And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.

Genesis 48:20 And he blessed them that day, saying, In thee shall Israel.(speaking of himself; his previous name was Jacob).bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh.(Barne's Notes:."In thee, in Joseph.{verse 15 above}, who is still identified with his offspring") and he set Ephraim before Manasseh.

Genesis 48:21,22 And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die, but God shall be with you and bring you again unto the land of your fathers. Moreover I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.

Barnes Notes:."At the point of death Jacob expresses his assurance of the return of his posterity to the land of promise and bestows on Joseph one share or piece of ground above his brethren, which, says he, "I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow". This share is, in the original, Shekem, a shoulder or tract of land. This region included "the parcel of the field where he had spread his tent":.Genesis 33:19. It refers to the whole territory of Shekem (now called Sychem), which was conquered by his sword and his bow, inasmuch as the city itself was sacked and its inhabitants put to the sword by his sons at the head of his armed retainers, though without his approval.(the interesting Genesis 34). Though he withdrew immediately after to Bethel (Genesis 35:1-7), yet he neither fled nor relinquished possession of this conquest, as we find his sons feeding his flocks there when he himself was residing at Hebron:.Genesis 37:13."

Genesis 49:1 And Jacob called unto his sons and said, Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the last days.

Genesis 49:2 Gather yourselves together and hear, you sons of Jacob and hearken unto Israel your father. 

Genesis 49:3,4.Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might and the beginning of my strength, the excellency of dignity and the excellency of power; Unstable as water, you shall not excel, because you went up to your father's bed then defiled you it. He went up to my couch.

Genesis 49:5-7.Simeon and Levi are brethren. Instruments of cruelty are in their habitations.(original for word 'habitations' is 'swords', 'weapons', 'devices', that is, they could be cruel at anytime and one time was:.Genesis 34:12-31). O my soul, come not you into their secret.(these were their father Israel's last words {verse 2 just above} to his sons before he dies); unto their assembly, mine honour, be not you united. For in their anger they slew a man and in their selfwill they digged down a wall. Cursed be their anger for it was fierce and their wrath, for it was cruel. I will divide them in Jacob and scatter them in Israel.

Divide them from the other brothers who were all sons of Jacob and would have them to be scattered throughout all the land of Israel; the land of Israel back then was the land of all of Jacob's sons who by now had grown into many people, a large composite.nation; God changed Jacob's name to the name 'Israel', why?

Genesis 49:8,9.Judah, you are he whom your brethren shall praise. Your hand shall be in the neck of your enemies. Your father's children shall bow down before you. Judah is a lion's whelp. From the prey, my son, you are gone up. He stooped down, he couched as a lion and as an old lion. Who shall rouse him up?

Judah was strong but content.

Genesis 49:10 The sceptre shall not depart from Judah, nor a lawgiver from between his feet, until Shiloh come and unto him shall the gathering of the people be.

Matthew 5:1,2.

Genesis 49:11,12 Binding his foal unto the vine and his ass's colt unto the choice vine, he washed his garments in wine and his clothes in the blood of grapes. His eyes shall be red with wine and his teeth white with milk.

Barnes Notes: The exuberant fertility of Judah's province is now depicted. Judea is described as abounding in the best of wine and milk.

Genesis 49:13.Zebulun shall dwell at the haven of the sea and he shall be for an haven of ships and his border shall be unto Zidon.

Genesis 49:14,15.Issachar is a strong ass couching down between two burdens. And he saw that rest was good and the land that it was pleasant and bowed his shoulder to bear and became a servant unto tribute.

Genesis 49:16-18.Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel. Dan shall be a serpent by the way, an adder in the path, that bites the horse heels, so that his rider shall fall backward. I have waited for thy salvation, O God.

Genesis 49:19.Gad, a troop shall overcome him but he shall overcome at the last.

Genesis 49:20 Out of Asher his bread shall be fat and he shall yield royal dainties.

JFB Commentary:."Asher means 'blessed'. Asher's allotment of land was the seacoast between Tyre and Carmel, a district fertile in the production of the finest corn and oil in all Palestine."

Genesis 49:21.Naphtali is a hind let loose. He gives goodly words.

Genesis 49:22-26.Joseph is a fruitful bough, even a fruitful bough by a well whose branches run over the wall. The archers have sorely grieved him and shot at him and hated him. But his bow abode in strength and the arms of his hands were made strong by the hands of the mighty God of Jacob; from thence is the shepherd, the stone of Israel.(Emmanuel came out of his line {Matthew 1:1-17} of children). Even by the God of your father, who shall help you and by the Almighty, who shall bless you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lie under, blessings of the breasts and of the womb. The blessings of your father have prevailed above the blessings of my progenitors unto the utmost bound of the everlasting hills.They shall be on the head of Joseph and on the crown of the head of him that was separate from his brethren.

Genesis 49:27.Benjamin shall ravin as a wolf. In the morning he shall devour the prey and at night he shall divide the spoil.

Genesis 49:28 All these are the twelve tribes of Israel. And this is it that their father spake unto them and blessed them, every one according to his blessing he blessed them.(what he felt in his heart he told them).

Genesis 49:29 And he charged them and said unto them, I am to be gathered unto my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite.

Genesis 49:30-32 In the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field of Ephron the Hittite for a possession of a buryingplace. There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife and there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife and there I buried Leah. The purchase of the field and of the cave that is therein was from the children of Heth.

Genesis 49:33 And when Jacob had made an end of commanding his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed and yielded up the ghost.(his spirit).and was gathered unto his people.

Genesis 50:1,2 And Joseph fell upon his father's face and wept upon him and kissed him. And Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father Jacob. And the physicians embalmed Israel.(Jacob's name had been changed to Israel).

Genesis 50:3-13 And forty days were fulfilled for him, for so are fulfilled the days of those which are embalmed and the Egyptians mourned for him threescore and ten days. And when the days of his mourning were past, Joseph spake unto the house of Pharaoh, saying, If now I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, in the ears of Pharaoh, saying, My father made me swear, saying, Lo, I die.(Jacob his dad, told Joseph that it was his time to pass on and said where he wanted to be buried). In my grave which I have digged for me in the land of Canaan, there shall you bury me. Now therefore let me go up, I pray thee and bury my father and I will come again. And Pharaoh said, Go up and bury your father, according as he made thee swear. And Joseph went up to bury his father and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house and all the elders of the land of Egypt and all the house of Joseph and his brethren and his father's house. Only their little ones and their flocks and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen. And there went up with him both chariots and horsemen and it was a very great company.(Joseph was highly loved and respected by pharaoh and all in pharaoh's land). And they came to the threshingfloor of Atad, which is beyond Jordan.(the Jordan river).and there they mourned with a great and very sore lamentation and he made a mourning for his father seven days. And when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning to the Egyptians, wherefore the name of it was called Abelmizraim, which is beyond Jordan. And Jacob's sons did unto him according as he commanded them.(verse 29), for his sons carried him into the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, near Mamre.(Mamre was a garden of oak trees on the slope of a hill on the east of the city of Hebron in the south end of a valley called Eshcol, which was about midway between Jerusalem and Beersheba), which Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite to be a burying place for the family.

Genesis 50:14-19 And Joseph returned into Egypt, after he and his brethren and all that went up with him had buried his father Jacob. Joseph's brethren said amongst themselves, Now that father is dead, Joseph will hate us and requite us all the evil which we did unto him.(what did they earlier do to Joseph?.Genesis 37chapter) And so they sent a messenger unto Joseph, saying, Your father did command before he died, saying, So shall you say unto Joseph, forgive, I pray thee now, the trespass of your brethren and their sin, for they did unto you evil and now, we pray thee, forgive our trespass and see that we are now of servants of the God of your father. And Joseph wept when they spake unto him. And his brethren also went and fell down before his face and they said, Behold, we be your servants. And Joseph said unto them, Fear not, for am I in the place of God?.(in other words 'I'm not in the place to take retribution on you all, that's not God's way')

Genesis 50:20 But as for you.(his brothers who had plotted against him; see verses 14-19 above), you thought evil against me, but God meant it unto good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save much people alive.

God turns bad into good. To put it another way, the problem(s) is there because the solution is there. All solutions are in love. It's in love that the true God works. Have faith in that:.Galatians 5:6. The positive and negative balance of all things. So how do you arrive at the solution to a problem? Think on the problem with the question in mind what can be done about this? And always consider this:.Isaiah 12:3.

Genesis 50:21 Now therefore fear you not. I will nourish you and your little ones. And he comforted them and spake kindly unto them.

Genesis 50:22-25 And Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he and his father's house. And Joseph lived an hundred and ten years. And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation. The children also of Machir the son of Manasseh were brought up upon Joseph's knees. And Joseph said unto his brethren, I die. And God will surely visit you and bring you out of this land unto the land which he sware to Abraham and to Isaac and to Jacob. And Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you and you shall carry up my bones from hence.

Genesis 50:26 So Joseph died, being an hundred and ten years old. And they embalmed him and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.

....next Old Testament book is Exodus