Genesis 47–48

47Then Joseph ^acame and told Pharaoh, and said, My father and my brethren, and their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have, are come out of the land of Canaan; and, behold, they are in ^bthe land of Goshen. ²And he took some of his brethren, even five men, and ^cpresented them unto Pharaoh. ³And Pharaoh said unto his brethren, ^dWhat is your occupation? And they said unto Pharaoh, ^eThy servants are shepherds, both we, and also our fathers. ⁴They said moreover unto Pharaoh, ^fFor to sojourn in the land are we come; for thy servants have no pasture for their flocks; for the famine is sore in the land of Canaan: now therefore, we pray thee, let thy servants ^gdwell in the land of Goshen. ⁵And Pharaoh spake unto Joseph, saying, Thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee: ^6hThe land of Egypt is before thee; ⁱin the best of the land make thy father and brethren to dwell; ^kin the land of Goshen let them dwell: and if thou knowest any men of activity among them, then make them rulers over my cattle. ⁷And Joseph brought in Jacob his father, and set him before Pharaoh: and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. ⁸And Pharaoh said unto Jacob, ^†How old art thou? ⁹And Jacob said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my ^lpilgrimage are an hundred and thirty years: few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and ^mhave not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage. ¹⁰And Jacob ⁿblessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh. ¹¹And Joseph placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of ^oRameses, ^pas Pharaoh had commanded. ¹²And Joseph ^qnourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father’s household, with bread, ^||†according to their families.

¹³And there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very sore, so that the land of Egypt and all the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine. ^14rAnd Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the corn which they bought: and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house. ¹⁵And when money failed in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came unto Joseph, and said, Give us bread: for ^swhy should we die in thy presence? for the money faileth. ¹⁶And Joseph said, Give your cattle; and I will give you for your cattle, if money fail. ¹⁷And they brought their cattle unto Joseph: and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for horses, and for the flocks, and for the cattle of the herds, and for the asses: and he ^†fed them with bread for all their cattle for that year. ¹⁸When that year was ended, they came unto him the second year, and said unto him, We will not hide it from my lord, how that our money is spent; my lord also hath our herds of cattle; there is not ought left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands: ¹⁹Wherefore shall we die before thine eyes, both we and our land? buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants unto Pharaoh: and give us seed, that we may live, and not die, that the land be not desolate. ²⁰And Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine prevailed over them: so the land became Pharaoh’s. ²¹And as for the people, he removed them to cities from one end of the borders of Egypt even to the other end thereof. ^22tOnly the land of the ^||priests bought he not; for the priests had a portion assigned them of Pharaoh, and did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave them: wherefore they sold not their lands. ²³Then Joseph said unto the people, Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh: lo, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the land. ²⁴And it shall come to pass in the increase, that ye shall give the fifth part unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for your little ones. ²⁵And they said, Thou hast saved our lives: ^ulet us find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants. ²⁶And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth part; except the land of the ^||priests only, which became not Pharaoh’s.

²⁷And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, ^xin the country of Goshen; and they had possessions therein, and ^ygrew, and multiplied exceedingly. ²⁸And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years: so ^†the whole age of Jacob was an hundred forty and seven years. ²⁹And the time ^zdrew nigh that Israel must die: and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him, If now I have found grace in thy sight, ^aput, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and ^bdeal kindly and truly with me; ^cbury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt: ³⁰But ^dI will lie with my fathers, and thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and ^ebury me in their buryingplace. And he said, I will do as thou hast said. ³¹And he said, ^fSwear unto me. And he sware unto him. And ^gIsrael bowed himself upon the bed’s head.

48^*And it came to pass after these things, that one told Joseph, Behold, thy father is sick: and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. ²And one told Jacob, and said, Behold, thy son Joseph cometh unto thee: and Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed. ³And Jacob said unto Joseph, ^aGod Almighty appeared unto me at ^bLuz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me, ⁴And said unto me, Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a multitude of people; and will give this land to thy seed after thee ^cfor an everlasting possession. ⁵And now thy ^dtwo sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, which were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, ^eare mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine. ⁶And thy issue, which thou begettest after them, shall be thine, and shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance. ⁷And as for me, when I came from Padan, ^fRachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way, when yet there was ^gbut a little way to come unto Ephrath: and I buried her there in the way of Ephrath; the same is Beth-lehem. ⁸And Israel beheld Joseph’s sons, and said, Who are these? ⁹And Joseph said unto his father, ^hThey are my sons, whom God hath given me in this place. And he said, Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and ⁱI will bless them. ¹⁰Now ^kthe eyes of Israel were ^†dim for age, so that he could not see. And he brought them near unto him; and ^lhe kissed them, and embraced them. ¹¹And Israel said unto Joseph, I had not thought to see thy face: and, lo, God hath shewed me also thy seed. ¹²And Joseph brought them out ^mfrom between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth. ¹³And 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. ¹⁴And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh’s head, ⁿguiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the firstborn. ¹⁵And he blessed Joseph, and said, God, ^obefore whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God which fed me all my life long unto this day, ^16pThe Angel which ^qredeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let ^rmy 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. ¹⁷And 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. ¹⁸And Joseph said unto his father, Not so, my father: for this is the firstborn; put thy right hand upon his head. ¹⁹And his father refused, and said, ^sI know it, my son, I know it: he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great: but truly ^this younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a ^†multitude of nations. ²⁰And he blessed them that day, saying, ^uIn thee shall Israel bless, saying, God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh: and he set Ephraim before Manasseh. ²¹And Israel said unto Joseph, Behold, I die: but ^xGod shall be with you, and bring you again unto the land of your fathers. ²²Moreover I have given to ^ythee one portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.