Genesis 47–48

Chapter 47

Jacob’s Family Settles in Goshen

¹Then ^aJoseph went in and told Pharaoh, and said, “My father and my brothers and their flocks and their herds and all that they have, have come out of the land of Canaan; and behold, they are in the land of ^bGoshen.”

²He took five men from among his brothers and ^apresented them to Pharaoh.

³Then Pharaoh said to his brothers, “^aWhat is your occupation?” So they said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are ^bshepherds, both we and our fathers.”

⁴They said to Pharaoh, “^aWe have come to sojourn in the land, for there is no pasture for your servants’ flocks, for ^bthe famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now, therefore, please let your servants ^1clive in the land of Goshen.”

⁵Then Pharaoh said to ¹Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you.

⁶“The land of Egypt is ¹at your disposal; ²settle your father and your brothers in ^athe best of the land, let them ³live in the land of Goshen; and if you know any ^bcapable men among them, then ⁴put them in charge of my livestock.”

⁷Then Joseph brought his father Jacob and ¹presented him to Pharaoh; and Jacob ^ablessed Pharaoh.

⁸Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How many ¹years have you lived?”

⁹So Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The ^1ayears of my sojourning are one hundred and ²thirty; few and ³unpleasant have been the years of my life, nor have they ⁴attained ^bthe years ⁵that my fathers lived during the days of their sojourning.”

¹⁰And Jacob ^ablessed Pharaoh, and went out from ¹his presence.

¹¹So Joseph ¹settled his father and his brothers and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in ^athe best of the land, in the land of ^bRameses, as Pharaoh had ordered.

¹²Joseph ^aprovided his father and his brothers and all his father’s household with ¹food, according to their little ones.

¹³Now there was no ¹food in all the land, because the famine was very severe, so that ^athe land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine.

^14aJoseph gathered all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan for the grain which they bought, and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house.

¹⁵When the money was all spent in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph ¹and said, “Give us ²food, for ^awhy should we die in your presence? For our money ³is gone.”

¹⁶Then Joseph said, “Give up your livestock, and I will give you food for your livestock, since your money ¹is gone.”

¹⁷So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them ¹food in exchange for the horses and the ²flocks and the herds and the donkeys; and he ³fed them with food in exchange for all their livestock ⁴that year.

¹⁸When that year was ended, they came to him the ¹next year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that our money is all spent, and the ²cattle are my lord’s. There is nothing left ³for my lord except our bodies and our lands.

¹⁹“Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for ¹food, and we and our land will be slaves to Pharaoh. So give us seed, that we may live and not die, and that the land may not be desolate.”

Result of the Famine

²⁰So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for ¹every Egyptian sold his field, because the famine was severe upon them. Thus the land became Pharaoh’s.

²¹As for the people, he removed them to the cities from one end of Egypt’s border to the other.

²²Only the land of the priests he did not buy, for the priests had an allotment from Pharaoh, and they ¹lived off the allotment which Pharaoh gave them. Therefore, they did not sell their land.

²³Then Joseph said to the people, “Behold, I have today bought you and your land for Pharaoh; now, here is seed for you, and you may sow the land.

²⁴“¹At the harvest you shall give a ^afifth to Pharaoh, and ²four-fifths shall be your own for seed of the field and for your food and for those of your households and as food for your little ones.”

²⁵So they said, “You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s slaves.”

²⁶Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt valid to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth; ^aonly the land of the priests ¹did not become Pharaoh’s.

²⁷Now Israel ¹lived in the land of Egypt, in ²Goshen, and they ^aacquired property in it and ^bwere fruitful and became very numerous.

²⁸Jacob lived in the land of Egypt ^aseventeen years; so the ¹length of Jacob’s life was one hundred and forty-seven years.

²⁹When ^1athe time for Israel to die drew near, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “Please, if I have found favor in your sight, ^bplace now your hand under my thigh and ^cdeal with me in kindness and ²faithfulness. Please do not bury me in Egypt,

³⁰but when I ^alie down with my fathers, you shall carry me out of Egypt and bury me in ^btheir burial place.” And he said, “I will do as you have said.”

³¹He said, “^aSwear to me.” So he swore to him. Then ^bIsrael bowed in worship at the head of the bed.

Chapter 48

Israel’s Last Days

¹Now it came about after these things that ¹Joseph was told, “Behold, your father is sick.” So he took his two sons ^aManasseh and Ephraim with him.

²When ¹it was told to Jacob, “Behold, your son Joseph has come to you,” Israel ²collected his strength and sat ³up in the bed.

³Then Jacob said to Joseph, “^1aGod Almighty appeared to me at ^bLuz in the land of Canaan and blessed me,

⁴and He said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and numerous, and I will make you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your ¹descendants after you for ^aan everlasting possession.’

⁵“Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; ^aEphraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as ^bReuben and Simeon are.

⁶“But your offspring that ¹have been born after them shall be yours; they shall be called by the ²names of their brothers in their inheritance.

⁷“Now as for me, when I came from ^aPaddan, ^bRachel died, ¹to my sorrow, in the land of Canaan on the journey, when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).”

⁸When Israel ^asaw Joseph’s sons, he said, “Who are these?”

⁹Joseph said to his father, “^aThey are my sons, whom God has given me here.” So he said, “Bring them to me, please, that ^bI may bless them.”

¹⁰Now ^athe eyes of Israel were so dim from age that he could not see. Then ¹Joseph brought them close to him, and he ^bkissed them and embraced them.

¹¹Israel said to Joseph, “I never ¹expected to see your face, and behold, God has let me see your ²children as well.”

¹²Then Joseph ¹took them from his knees, and ^abowed with his face to the ground.

¹³Joseph took them both, Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel’s left, and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel’s right, and brought them close to him.

¹⁴But Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, ¹crossing his hands, ²although ^aManasseh was the firstborn.

¹⁵He blessed Joseph, and said,

“^aThe God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked,

^bThe God who has been my shepherd ¹all my life to this day,

^16aThe angel who has redeemed me from all evil,

^bBless the lads;

And may my name ¹live on in them,

And the ²names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac;

And ^cmay they grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.”

¹⁷When Joseph saw that his father ^alaid his right hand on Ephraim’s head, it displeased him; and he grasped his father’s hand to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head.

¹⁸Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn. Place your right hand on his head.”

¹⁹But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know; he also will become a people and he also will be great. However, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and ^ahis ¹descendants shall become a ²multitude of nations.”

^20aHe blessed them that day, saying,

“By you Israel will pronounce blessing, saying,

‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh!’ ”

Thus he put Ephraim before Manasseh.

²¹Then Israel said to Joseph, “Behold, I am about to die, but ^aGod will be with you, and ^bbring you back to the land of your fathers.

²²“I give you one ¹portion more than your brothers, ^awhich I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow.”