Genesis 44–50

Joseph Sets a Trap

44Then Joseph gave a command to the servant in charge of his house. He said, “Fill the men’s sacks with as much grain as they can carry, and put each man’s money into his sack with the grain. ²Put my silver cup in the sack of the youngest brother, along with his money for the grain.” The servant did what Joseph told him.

³At dawn the brothers were sent away with their donkeys. ⁴They were not far from the city when Joseph said to the servant in charge of his house, “Go after the men. When you catch up with them, say, ‘Why have you paid back evil for good? ⁵The cup you have stolen is the one my master uses for drinking and for explaining dreams. You have done a very wicked thing!’ ”

⁶So the servant caught up with the brothers and said to them what Joseph had told him to say.

⁷But the brothers said to the servant, “Why do you say these things? We would not do anything like that! ⁸We brought back to you from the land of Canaan the money we found in our sacks. So surely we would not steal silver or gold from your master’s house. ⁹If you find that silver cup in the sack of one of us, then let him die, and we will be your slaves.”

¹⁰The servant said, “We will do as you say, but only the man who has taken the cup will become my slave. The rest of you may go free.”

¹¹Then every brother quickly lowered his sack to the ground and opened it. ¹²The servant searched the sacks, going from the oldest brother to the youngest, and found the cup in Benjamin’s sack. ¹³The brothers tore their clothes to show they were afraid. Then they put their sacks back on the donkeys and returned to the city.

¹⁴When Judah and his brothers went back to Joseph’s house, Joseph was still there, so the brothers bowed facedown on the ground before him. ¹⁵Joseph said to them, “What have you done? Didn’t you know that a man like me can learn things by signs and dreams?”

¹⁶Judah said, “Master, what can we say? And how can we show we are not guilty? God has uncovered our guilt, so all of us will be your slaves, not just Benjamin.”

¹⁷But Joseph said, “I will not make you all slaves! Only the man who stole the cup will be my slave. The rest of you may go back safely to your father.”

¹⁸Then Judah went to Joseph and said, “Master, please let me speak plainly to you, and please don’t be angry with me. I know that you are as powerful as the king of Egypt himself. ¹⁹When we were here before, you asked us, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’ ²⁰And we answered you, ‘We have an old father. And we have a younger brother, who was born when our father was old. This youngest son’s brother is dead, so he is the only one of his mother’s children left alive, and our father loves him very much.’ ²¹Then you said to us, ‘Bring that brother to me. I want to see him.’ ²²And we said to you, ‘That young boy cannot leave his father, because if he leaves him, his father would die.’ ²³But you said to us, ‘If you don’t bring your youngest brother, you will not be allowed to see me again.’ ²⁴So we went back to our father and told him what you had said.

²⁵“Later, our father said, ‘Go again and buy us a little more food.’ ²⁶We said to our father, ‘We cannot go without our youngest brother. Without our youngest brother, we will not be allowed to see the governor.’ ²⁷Then my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife Rachel gave me two sons. ²⁸When one son left me, I thought, “Surely he has been torn apart by a wild animal,” and I haven’t seen him since. ²⁹Now you want to take this son away from me also. But something terrible might happen to him, and I would be miserable until the day I die.’ ³⁰Now what will happen if we go home to our father without our youngest brother? He is so important in our father’s life that ³¹when our father sees the young boy is not with us, he will die. And it will be our fault. We will cause the great sorrow that kills our father.

³²“I gave my father a guarantee that the young boy would be safe. I said to my father, ‘If I don’t bring him back to you, you can blame me all my life.’ ³³So now, please allow me to stay here and be your slave, and let the young boy go back home with his brothers. ³⁴I cannot go back to my father if the boy is not with me. I couldn’t stand to see my father that sad.”

Joseph Reveals Who He Is

45Joseph could not control himself in front of his servants any longer, so he cried out, “Have everyone leave me.” When only the brothers were left with Joseph, he told them who he was. ²Joseph cried so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and the people in the king’s palace heard about it. ³He said to his brothers, “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?” But the brothers could not answer him, because they were very afraid of him.

⁴So Joseph said to them, “Come close to me.” When the brothers came close to him, he said to them, “I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold as a slave to go to Egypt. ⁵Now don’t be worried or angry with yourselves because you sold me here. God sent me here ahead of you to save people’s lives. ⁶No food has grown on the land for two years now, and there will be five more years without planting or harvest. ⁷So God sent me here ahead of you to make sure you have some descendants left on earth and to keep you alive in an amazing way. ⁸So it was not you who sent me here, but God. God has made me the highest officer of the king of Egypt. I am in charge of his palace, and I am the master of all the land of Egypt.

⁹“So leave quickly and go to my father. Tell him, ‘Your son Joseph says: God has made me master over all Egypt. Come down to me quickly. ¹⁰Live in the land of Goshen where you will be near me. Your children, your grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and all that you have will also be near me. ¹¹I will care for you during the next five years of hunger so that you and your family and all that you have will not starve.’

¹²“Now you can see for yourselves, and so can my brother Benjamin, that the one speaking to you is really Joseph. ¹³So tell my father about how powerful I have become in Egypt. Tell him about everything you have seen. Now hurry and bring him back to me.” ¹⁴Then Joseph hugged his brother Benjamin and cried, and Benjamin cried also. ¹⁵And Joseph kissed all his brothers and cried as he hugged them. After this, his brothers talked with him.

¹⁶When the king of Egypt and his officers learned that Joseph’s brothers had come, they were very happy. ¹⁷So the king said to Joseph, “Tell your brothers to load their animals and go back to the land of Canaan ¹⁸and bring their father and their families back here to me. I will give them the best land in Egypt, and they will eat the best food we have here. ¹⁹Tell them to take some wagons from Egypt for their children and their wives and to bring their father back also. ²⁰Tell them not to worry about bringing any of their things with them, because we will give them the best of what we have in Egypt.”

²¹So the sons of Israel did this. Joseph gave them wagons as the king had ordered and food for their trip. ²²He gave each brother a change of clothes, but he gave Benjamin five changes of clothes and about seven and one-half pounds of silver. ²³Joseph also sent his father ten donkeys loaded with the best things from Egypt and ten female donkeys loaded with grain, bread, and other food for his father on his trip back. ²⁴Then Joseph told his brothers to go. As they were leaving, he said to them, “Don’t quarrel on the way home.”

²⁵So the brothers left Egypt and went to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan. ²⁶They told him, “Joseph is still alive and is the ruler over all the land of Egypt.” Their father was shocked and did not believe them. ²⁷But when the brothers told him everything Joseph had said, and when Jacob saw the wagons Joseph had sent to carry him back to Egypt, he felt better. ²⁸Israel ⁿ said, “Now I believe you. My son Joseph is still alive, and I will go and see him before I die.”

Jacob Goes to Egypt

46So Israel ⁿ took all he had and started his trip. He went to Beersheba, where he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. ²During the night God spoke to Israel in a vision and said, “Jacob, Jacob.”

And Jacob answered, “Here I am.”

³Then God said, “I am God, the God of your father. Don’t be afraid to go to Egypt, because I will make your descendants a great nation there. ⁴I will go to Egypt with you, and I will bring you out of Egypt again. Joseph’s own hands will close your eyes when you die.”

⁵Then Jacob left Beersheba. The sons of Israel loaded their father, their children, and their wives in the wagons the king of Egypt had sent. ⁶They also took their farm animals and everything they had gotten in Canaan. So Jacob went to Egypt with all his descendants—⁷his sons and grandsons, his daughters and granddaughters. He took all his family to Egypt with him.

Jacob’s Family

⁸Now these are the names of the children of Israel who went into Egypt (Jacob and his descendants).

Reuben was Jacob’s first son. ⁹Reuben’s sons were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.

¹⁰Simeon’s sons were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar, and Shaul (Simeon’s son by a Canaanite woman).

¹¹Levi’s sons were Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

¹²Judah’s sons were Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah (but Er and Onan had died in the land of Canaan). Perez’s sons were Hezron and Hamul.

¹³Issachar’s sons were Tola, Puah, Jashub, and Shimron.

¹⁴Zebulun’s sons were Sered, Elon, and Jahleel.

¹⁵These are the sons of Leah and Jacob born in Northwest Mesopotamia, in addition to his daughter Dinah. There were thirty-three persons in this part of Jacob’s family.

¹⁶Gad’s sons were Zephon, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli.

¹⁷Asher’s sons were Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, and Beriah, and their sister was Serah. Beriah’s sons were Heber and Malkiel.

¹⁸These are Jacob’s sons by Zilpah, the slave girl whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah. There were sixteen persons in this part of Jacob’s family.

¹⁹The sons of Jacob’s wife Rachel were Joseph and…