Genesis 45–46

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 Benjamin. ²⁰In Egypt, Joseph became the father of Manasseh and Ephraim by his wife Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On.

²¹Benjamin’s sons were Bela, Beker, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard.

²²These are the sons of Jacob by his wife Rachel. There were fourteen persons in this part of Jacob’s family.

²³Dan’s son was Hushim.

²⁴Naphtali’s sons were Jahziel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem.

²⁵These are Jacob’s sons by Bilhah, the slave girl whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel. There were seven persons in this part of Jacob’s family.

²⁶So the total number of Jacob’s direct descendants who went to Egypt was sixty-six, not counting the wives of Jacob’s sons. ²⁷Joseph had two sons born in Egypt, so the total number in the family of Jacob in Egypt was seventy.

Jacob Arrives in Egypt

²⁸Jacob sent Judah ahead of him to see Joseph in Goshen. When Jacob and his people came into the land of Goshen, ²⁹Joseph prepared his chariot and went to meet his father Israel in Goshen. As soon as Joseph saw his father, he hugged him, and cried there for a long time.

³⁰Then Israel said to Joseph, “Now I am ready to die, because I have seen your face and I know you are still alive.”

³¹Joseph said to his brothers and his father’s family, “I will go and tell the king you are here. I will say, ‘My brothers and my father’s family have left the land of Canaan and have come here to me. ³²They are shepherds and take care of farm animals, and they have brought their flocks and their herds and everything they own with them.’ ³³When the king calls you, he will ask, ‘What work do you do?’ ³⁴This is what you should tell him: ‘We, your servants, have taken care of farm animals all our lives. Our ancestors did the same thing.’ Then the king will allow you to settle in the land of Goshen, away from the Egyptians, because they don’t like to be near shepherds.”