Genesis 45–46

Joseph Tells his Brothers Who He Is

45^*Joseph was no longer able to control his feelings in front of his servants, so he ordered them all to leave the room. No one else was with him when Joseph told his brothers who he was. ²He cried with such loud sobs that the Egyptians heard it, and the news was taken to the king’s palace. ³Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?” But when his brothers heard this, they were so terrified that they could not answer. ⁴Then Joseph said to them, “Please come closer.” They did, and he said, “I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. ⁵Now do not be upset or blame yourselves because you sold me here. It was really God who sent me ahead of you to save people’s lives. ⁶This is only the second year of famine in the land; there will be five more years in which there will be neither ploughing nor reaping. ⁷God sent me ahead of you to rescue you in this amazing way and to make sure that you and your descendants survive. ⁸So it was not really you who sent me here, but God. He has made me the king’s highest official. I am in charge of his whole country; I am the ruler of all Egypt.

^9*“Now hurry back to my father and tell him that this is what his son Joseph says: ‘God has made me ruler of all Egypt; come to me without delay. ^10*You can live in the region of Goshen, where you can be near me—you, your children, your grandchildren, your sheep, your goats, your cattle, and everything else that you have. ^11*If you are in Goshen, I can take care of you. There will still be five years of famine; and I do not want you, your family, and your livestock to starve.’ ”

¹²Joseph continued, “Now all of you, and you too, Benjamin, can see that I am really Joseph. ¹³Tell my father how powerful I am here in Egypt and tell him about everything that you have seen. Then hurry and bring him here.”

¹⁴He threw his arms round his brother Benjamin and began to cry; Benjamin also cried as he hugged him. ¹⁵Then, still weeping, he embraced each of his brothers and kissed them. After that, his brothers began to talk with him.

¹⁶When the news reached the palace that Joseph’s brothers had come, the king and his officials were pleased. ¹⁷He said to Joseph, “Tell your brothers to load their animals and to return to the land of Canaan. ¹⁸Let them get their father and their families and come back here. I will give them the best land in Egypt, and they will have more than enough to live on. ¹⁹Tell them also to take wagons with them from Egypt for their wives and small children and to bring their father with them. ²⁰They are not to worry about leaving their possessions behind; the best in the whole land of Egypt will be theirs.”

²¹Jacob’s sons did as they were told. Joseph gave them wagons, as the king had ordered, and food for the journey. ²²He also gave each of them a change of clothes, but he gave Benjamin 300 pieces of silver and five changes of clothes. ²³He sent his father ten donkeys loaded with the best Egyptian goods and ten donkeys loaded with corn, bread, and other food for the journey. ²⁴He sent his brothers off and as they left, he said to them, “Don’t quarrel on the way.”

²⁵They left Egypt and went back home to their father Jacob in Canaan. ²⁶“Joseph is still alive!” they told him. “He is the ruler of all Egypt!” Jacob was stunned and could not believe them.

²⁷But when they told him all that Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to take him to Egypt, he recovered from the shock. ²⁸“My son Joseph is still alive!” he said. “This is all I could ask for! I must go and see him before I die.”

Jacob and His Family Go to Egypt

46Jacob packed up all he had and went to Beersheba, where he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. ²God spoke to him in a vision at night and called, “Jacob, Jacob!”

“Yes, here I am,” he answered.

³“I am God, the God of your father,” he said. “Do not be afraid to go to Egypt; I will make your descendants a great nation there. ⁴I will go with you to Egypt, and I will bring your descendants back to this land. Joseph will be with you when you die.”

⁵Jacob set out from Beersheba. His sons put him, their small children, and their wives in the wagons which the king of Egypt had sent. ^6*They took their livestock and the possessions they had acquired in Canaan and went to Egypt. Jacob took all his descendants with him: ⁷his sons, his grandsons, his daughters, and his granddaughters.

⁸The members of Jacob’s family who went to Egypt with him were his eldest son Reuben ⁹and Reuben’s sons: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. ¹⁰Simeon and his sons: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman. ¹¹Levi and his sons: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. ¹²Judah and his sons: Shelah, Perez, and Zerah. (Judah’s other sons, Er and Onan, had died in Canaan.) Perez’ sons were Hezron and Hamul. ¹³Issachar and his sons: Tola, Puah, Jashub, and Shimron. ¹⁴Zebulun and his sons: Sered, Elon, and Jahleel. ¹⁵These are the sons that Leah had borne to Jacob in Mesopotamia, besides his daughter Dinah. In all, his descendants by Leah numbered 33.

¹⁶Gad and his sons: Zephon, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arod, and Areli. ¹⁷Asher and his sons: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and their sister Serah. Beriah’s sons were Heber and Malchiel. ¹⁸These sixteen are the descendants of Jacob by Zilpah, the slave woman whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah.

¹⁹Jacob’s wife Rachel bore him two sons: Joseph and Benjamin. ^20*In Egypt Joseph had two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, by Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, a priest in Heliopolis. ²¹Benjamin’s sons were Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard. ²²These fourteen are the descendants of Jacob by Rachel.

²³Dan and his son Hushim. ²⁴Naphtali and his sons: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem. ²⁵These seven are the descendants of Jacob by Bilhah, the slave woman whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel.

²⁶The total number of the direct descendants of Jacob who went to Egypt was 66, not including his sons’ wives. ^27*Two sons were born to Joseph in Egypt, bringing to 70 the total number of Jacob’s family who went there.

Jacob and His Family in Egypt

²⁸Jacob sent Judah ahead to ask Joseph to meet them in Goshen. When they arrived, ²⁹Joseph got in his chariot and went to Goshen to meet his father. When they met, Joseph threw his arms round his father’s neck and cried for a long time. ³⁰Jacob said to Joseph, “I am ready to die, now that I have seen you and know that you are still alive.”

³¹Then Joseph said to his brothers and the rest of his father’s family, “I must go and tell the king that my brothers and all my father’s family, who were living in Canaan, have come to me. ³²I will tell him that you are shepherds and take care of livestock and that you have brought your flocks and herds and everything else that belongs to you. ³³When the king calls for you and asks what your occupation is, ³⁴be sure to tell him that you have taken care of livestock all your lives, just as your ancestors did. In this way he will let you live in the region of Goshen.” Joseph said this because Egyptians will have nothing to do with shepherds.