The Torah's account of Jacob blessing <strong>Joseph's</strong> sons is already dramatic—the old patriarch crossing his hands to favor the younger son over the firstborn. But Targum Jonathan adds layers of tension, legal documentation, and prophetic weight that transform the scene entirely.
When Jacob looks at Ephraim and Manasseh and asks "From whom are these born to thee?" the Torah treats it as a simple question from a blind old man. The Targum turns it into a challenge about legitimacy. Joseph's answer is remarkable: "They are my sons which the Word of the Lord gave me according to this writing, according to which I took Asenath the daughter of Dinah thy daughter to be my wife." Joseph produces an actual written document—a marriage contract—to prove his sons' Jewish lineage. Asenath is again identified not as an Egyptian but as Dinah's daughter, making Ephraim and Manasseh Jacob's great-grandsons through both parents.
Jacob's explanation for why he cannot be buried with Rachel is more emotional in the Targum. "I beseech thee to bury me with my fathers," he says, then adds: "Rachel died by me suddenly in the land of Canaan, while there was yet much ground to come to Ephrath; nor could I carry her to bury her in the Double Cave." The word "suddenly" does not appear in the Torah. The Targum emphasizes that Rachel's death was so unexpected, so abrupt, that Jacob could not even transport her body to the family tomb at Machpelah.
The blessing itself contains a beautiful metaphor the Torah only hints at. Jacob prays that his grandsons multiply "as the fishes of the sea in multiplying are multiplied in the sea." This is not just about numbers. Fish live hidden beneath the water—invisible to the evil eye. Jacob is praying that his descendants will be protected from malicious gazes, thriving unseen.
When Joseph objects to the crossed hands and tries to move Jacob's right hand to Manasseh's head, Jacob refuses with a prophecy about Ephraim's descendants being "greater among the nations." The Targum then adds a specific ritual detail: "In thee, Joseph my son, shall the house of Israel bless their infants in the day of their circumcision, saying, The Lord set thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh." The blessing Jews still recite over their children on Friday nights—traced here to this exact moment.
Jacob's final words to Joseph are both a death announcement and a promise. "Behold, my end cometh to die. But the Word of the Lord shall be your Helper, and restore you to the land of your fathers." And then he gives Joseph the city of Shechem—"which I took from the hand of the Amorites at the time that you went into the midst of it, and I arose and helped you with my sword and with my bow." The Targum presents Jacob not as a passive patriarch but as a warrior who fought alongside his sons.