Genesis 44–50

Joseph Tests His Brothers

44Then he commanded the one who was over his household, saying, “Fill the sacks of the men with food as much as they are able to carry, and put each one’s money in the mouth of his sack. ²And my cup—the cup of silver—you shall put into the mouth of the sack of the youngest, and the money for his grain. And he did according to the word of Joseph that he had commanded. ³When the morning light came the men were sent away, they and their donkeys. ⁴They went out of the city, and had not gone far when Joseph said to the one who was over his house, “Arise! Pursue after the men and overtake them. Then you shall say to them, ‘Why have you repaid evil for good? ⁵Is this not that from which my master drinks? Now he himself certainly practices divination with it. You have done evil in what you have done.’ ” ⁶When he overtook them he spoke these words to them. ⁷And they said to him, “Why has my lord spoken according to these words? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing! ⁸Behold, the money that we found in the mouth of our sacks we returned to you from the land of Canaan. Now why would we steal silver or gold from the house of my lord? ⁹Whoever is found with it from among your servants shall die. And moreover, we will become slaves to my lord.” ¹⁰Then he said, “Now also according to your words, thus will it be. He who is found with it shall be my slave, but you shall be innocent.” ¹¹Then each man quickly brought down his sack to the ground, and each one opened his sack. ¹²And he searched, beginning with the oldest and finishing with the youngest. And the cup was found in the sack of Benjamin. ¹³Then they tore their clothes, and each one loaded his donkey and they returned to the city.

¹⁴And Judah and his brothers came to the house of Joseph—now he was still there—they fell before him to the ground. ¹⁵Then Joseph said to them, “What is this deed that you have done? Did you not know that a man who is like me surely practices divination?” ¹⁶And Judah said, “What can we say to my lord? What can we speak? Now how can we show ourselves innocent? God has found the guilt of your servants! Behold, we are slaves to my lord, both we and also he in whose hand the cup was found.” ¹⁷But he said, “Far be it from me to do this! The man in whose hand the cup was found, he will become my slave. But as for you, go up in peace to your father.” ¹⁸But Judah drew near to him and said, “Please my lord, let your servant speak a word in the ears of my lord, and let not your anger burn^a against your servant, for you are like Pharaoh himself.^{b 19}My lord had asked his servants, saying, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’ ²⁰And we said to my lord, ‘We have an aged father, and a younger brother, the child of his old age, and his brother died, and he alone remains from his mother, and his father loves him.’ ²¹Then you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me that I may set my eyes upon him.’ ²²Then we said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father; if he should leave his father, then he^c would die.’ ²³Then you said to your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall not again see my face.’ ²⁴And it happened that we went up to your servant, my father, and told him the words of my lord. ²⁵And when our father said, ‘Go back, buy a little food for us,’ ²⁶then we said, ‘We cannot go down. If our youngest brother is with us, then we shall go down. For we will not be able to see the face of the man unless our youngest brother is with us.’ ²⁷Then your servant, my father, said to us, ‘You yourselves know that my wife bore two sons to me. ²⁸One went out from me, and I said, “Surely he must have been torn to pieces,” and I have never seen him since. ²⁹And if you take this one also from me, and he encounters harm, you will bring down my gray head in sorrow to Sheol.’ ³⁰So now, when I come to your servant, my father, and the boy is not with us—now his life is bound up with his life—³¹it shall happen that when he sees that the boy is gone, he will die. And your servants will bring down the gray head of your servant, our father, to Sheol with sorrow. ³²For your servant is pledged as surety for the boy by my father, saying, If I do not bring him to you, then I shall be culpable to my father forever. ³³So then, please let your servant remain in place of the boy as a slave to my lord, and let the boy go up with his brothers. ³⁴For how can I go up to my father if the boy is not with me? I do not want to see^d the misery which will find my father.”

Joseph Reveals His Identity

45Then Joseph was not able to control himself before all who were standing by him. And he cried out, “Make every man go out from me!” So no one stood with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. ²And he wept loudly,^a so that the Egyptians heard it and the household of Pharaoh heard it. ³Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” And his brothers were unable to answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence. ⁴So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they drew near. And he said, “I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. ⁵So now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves^b that you sold me here, for God sent me as deliverance before you. ⁶For these two years the famine has been in the midst of the land, but there will be five more years where there is no plowing or harvest. ⁷And God sent me before you all to preserve for you a remnant in the land and to keep alive among you many survivors. ⁸So now, you yourselves did not send me here, but God put me here as father to Pharaoh and as master of all his household, and a ruler over all the land of Egypt. ⁹Hurry, and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me and do not delay. ¹⁰You shall settle in the land of Goshen so that you will be near me, you and your children and your grandchildren, and your flocks and your herds and all that you have. ¹¹And I will provide for you there, because there are still five years of famine—lest you and your household and all that you have become destitute.’ ¹²Now behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is I^c who am speaking to you. ¹³And you must tell my father of all my honor in Egypt and all that you have seen. Now hurry and bring my father here.” ¹⁴Then he fell upon the neck of his brother Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin wept upon his neck. ¹⁵And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them. And afterward his brothers spoke with him. ¹⁶Then the report was heard in the house of Pharaoh, saying, “Joseph’s brothers have come.” And it pleased Pharaoh and his servants. ¹⁷Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers: ‘Do this—load your donkeys and go back to the land of Canaan, ¹⁸and take your father and your households and come to me, and I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you shall eat the fat of the land.’ ¹⁹And you Joseph, are commanded to say this: ‘Do this! Take wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and your wives, and bring your father and come! ²⁰Do not worry^d about your possessions, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’ ”

²¹And the sons of Israel did so. And Joseph gave them wagons at the word of Pharaoh, and gave them provisions for the journey. ²²To each and to all of them he gave sets of clothing, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five sets of clothing. ²³And to his father he sent as follows:^e ten donkeys carrying the best of Egypt, and ten donkeys carrying grain and food and provisions for his father for the journey. ²⁴Then he sent his brothers away, and when they departed he said to them, “Do not be agitated on the journey.” ²⁵So they went up from Egypt and came to the land of Canaan to Jacob their father. ²⁶And they spoke to him, saying, “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” And his heart went numb,^f because he did not believe them. ²⁷Then they told him all the words of Joseph that he had spoken to them. And when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, then the spirit of Jacob their father revived. ²⁸And Israel said, “It is enough. Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”

Jacob and His Offspring Go to Egypt

46So Israel journeyed with all that he had, and he came to Beersheba and offered sacrifices to the God of his father, Isaac. ²And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, “Jacob, Jacob.” And he said, “Here I am.” ³Then he said, “I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you a great nation there. ⁴I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I myself will also bring you up. And Joseph will place his hand over your eyes.” ⁵So Jacob arose from Beersheba. And the sons of Israel carried their father Jacob, and their little ones and their wives in the wagons Pharaoh had sent to transport him. ⁶And they took their livestock and their possessions that they had acquired in the land of Canaan. And they came to Egypt, Jacob and all his offspring with him: ⁷his sons and his sons’ sons with him, his daughters and his sons’ daughters, and all his offspring he brought with him into Egypt.

⁸Now these are the names of the sons of Israel, who came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons. Reuben, the firstborn of Jacob ⁹and the sons of Reuben: Enoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. ¹⁰The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman. ¹¹The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. ¹²The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah (but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan). And the sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul. ¹³The sons of Issachar: Tolah, Puvah, Iob, and Shimron. ¹⁴The sons of Zebulun: Sered, Elon, and Jahleel. ¹⁵These are the sons of Leah that she…