Genesis 45–46

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 bore to Jacob in Paddan-Aram, and Dinah his daughter. His sons and his daughters were thirty-three persons in all. ¹⁶The sons of Gad: Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli. ¹⁷The sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, and Beriah, and their sister Serah. And the sons of Beriah: Heber and Malkiel. ¹⁸These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter, and she bore these to Jacob—sixteen persons. ¹⁹The sons of Rachel, Jacob’s wife: Joseph and Benjamin. ²⁰And Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, bore to him, were born to Joseph in the land of Egypt. ²¹The sons of Benjamin: Bela, Beker, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard. ²²These are the sons of Rachel who were born to Jacob—fourteen persons in all. ²³The sons of Dan: Hushim. ²⁴The sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem. ²⁵These are the sons of Bilhah whom Laban gave to Rachel his daughter, and she bore these to Jacob—seven persons in all. ²⁶All the persons belonging to Jacob who came to Egypt who were his descendants,^a not including the wives of the sons of Jacob were sixty-six persons in all. ²⁷And the sons of Joseph who were born to him in Egypt were two persons. All the persons of the house of Jacob who came to Egypt were seventy.

²⁸He^b had sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to appear before him^c in Goshen. And they came to the land of Goshen. ²⁹Then Joseph harnessed his chariot and went up to meet Israel his father in Goshen. He presented himself to him and fell upon his neck and wept upon his neck a long time. ³⁰Then Israel said to Joseph, “Now let me die since I have seen your face, for you are still alive.” ³¹Then Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “I will go up and report to Pharaoh, and I will say to him, ‘My brothers and my father’s household who were in the land of Canaan have come to me. ³²And the men are shepherds,^d for they are men of livestock, and they have brought their flocks and their cattle and all that they have.’ ³³And it shall be that when Pharaoh calls you he will say, ‘What is your occupation?’ ³⁴Then you must say, ‘Your servants are men of livestock from our childhood until now, both we and also our ancestors,’^e so that you may dwell in the land of Goshen, for every shepherd^f is a detestable thing to Egyptians.”