I'm not sure about exegesis, but I'm sure learning a lot about eisegesis from you. Here's the fuller context of the quote from the New English Translation of the Septuagint:
"Then when Ioseph had taken his two sons, both Ephraim in his right hand but on Israel's left, and Manasse in his left hand but on Israel's right, he brought them near him. But Israel, stretching out his right hand, laid it on the head of Ephraim--now he was the younger--and his left on the head of Manasse, his hands crosswise. And he blessed them and said,
"'The God whom my fathers Abraam and Isaak were well pleasing before, the God who sustains me from my youth to this day, the angel who rescues me from all evils, bless these youngsters, and in them my name will be invoked, and the name of my fathers Abraam and Isaak, and may they be multiplied into a great multitude upon the earth.'
"Now when Isoseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it seemed grievous to him, and Ioseph took hold of his father's hand to remove it from Ephraim's head to Manasse's head. And Ioseph said to his father, 'Not so, father; for this one is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head.' And he world not, but said, 'I know, child, I know; this one also shall become a people, and this one shall be exalted, but his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations.'" (Genesis 48:12-19)
So given this context, Bowman, isn't Jacob blessing Joseph's two sons to become a multitude? Aren't Ephraim and Manasseh, the ones receiving the blessing, the "they" in verse 16?
Thanks!