He CROSSED his hands — KNOWINGLY. The word every translation renders 'crossed' is the piel of SAKAL, whose entire family of meanings is about insight, prudence and acting with understanding; it is not the ordinary Hebrew word for crossing anything. At the exact moment Jacob's arms go over each other to put his right hand on the younger boy's head, the narrator chooses a verb meaning TO DO A THING ADVISEDLY (48:14) — so the crossing and the knowing are one act in one word, and you are told the answer before Joseph objects. The KJV caught it and has never been bettered: 'guiding his hands wittingly'; ASV the same. Modern versions (ESV 'crossing his hands,' NIV 'crossing his arms') are accurate about the gesture and lose the deliberateness entirely. Three verses later Jacob says it in plain words: 'I know, my son, I know.' → first discussed at Gen 48:14