Genesis 46–47

Jacob’s Journey to Egypt

46So Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to ^aBeersheba, and offered sacrifices ^bto the God of his father Isaac. ²Then God spoke to Israel ^cin the visions of the night, and said, “Jacob, Jacob!”

And he said, “Here I am.”

³So He said, “I am God, ^dthe God of your father; do not fear to go down to Egypt, for I will ^emake of you a great nation there. ^4fI will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely ^gbring you up again; and ^hJoseph ¹will put his hand on your eyes.”

⁵Then ⁱJacob arose from Beersheba; and the sons of Israel carried their father Jacob, their little ones, and their wives, in the ²carts ^jwhich Pharaoh had sent to carry him. ⁶So they took their livestock and their goods, which they had acquired in the land of Canaan, and went to Egypt, ^kJacob and all his descendants with him. ⁷His sons and his sons’ sons, his daughters and his sons’ daughters, and all his descendants he brought with him to Egypt.

⁸Now ^lthese were the names of the children of Israel, Jacob and his sons, who went to Egypt: ^mReuben was Jacob’s firstborn. ⁹The ⁿsons of Reuben were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. ^10oThe sons of Simeon were ³Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, ⁴Jachin, ⁵Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman. ¹¹The sons of ^pLevi were Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. ¹²The sons of ^qJudah were ^rEr, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah (but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan). ^sThe sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul. ¹³The sons of Issachar were Tola, ⁶Puvah, ⁷Job, and Shimron. ¹⁴The ^tsons of Zebulun were Sered, Elon, and Jahleel. ¹⁵These were the ^usons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Padan Aram, with his daughter Dinah. All the persons, his sons and his daughters, were thirty-three.

¹⁶The sons of Gad were ⁸Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, ⁹Ezbon, Eri, ¹Arodi, and Areli. ^17vThe sons of Asher were Jimnah, Ishuah, Isui, Beriah, and Serah, their sister. And the sons of Beriah were Heber and Malchiel. ^18wThese were the sons of Zilpah, ^xwhom Laban gave to Leah his daughter; and these she bore to Jacob: sixteen persons.

¹⁹The ^ysons of Rachel, ^zJacob’s wife, were Joseph and Benjamin. ^20aAnd to Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On, bore to him. ^21bThe sons of Benjamin were Belah, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, ^cEhi, Rosh, ^dMuppim, ²Huppim, and Ard. ²²These were the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob: fourteen persons in all.

²³The son of Dan was ³Hushim. ^24eThe sons of Naphtali were ⁴Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and ⁵Shillem. ^25fThese were the sons of Bilhah, ^gwhom Laban gave to Rachel his daughter, and she bore these to Jacob: seven persons in all.

^26hAll the persons who went with Jacob to Egypt, who came from his body, ⁱbesides Jacob’s sons’ wives, were sixty-six persons in all. ²⁷And the sons of Joseph who were born to him in Egypt were two persons. ^jAll the persons of the house of Jacob who went to Egypt were seventy.

Jacob Settles in Goshen

²⁸Then he sent Judah before him to Joseph, ^kto point out before him the way to Goshen. And they came ^lto the land of Goshen. ²⁹So Joseph made ready his ^mchariot and went up to Goshen to meet his father Israel; and he presented himself to him, and ⁿfell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while.

³⁰And Israel said to Joseph, ^o“Now let me die, since I have seen your face, because you are still alive.”

³¹Then Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, ^p“I will go up and tell Pharaoh, and say to him, ‘My brothers and those of my father’s house, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me. ³²And the men are ^qshepherds, for their occupation has been to feed livestock; and they have brought their flocks, their herds, and all that they have.’ ³³So it shall be, when Pharaoh calls you and says, ^r‘What is your occupation?’ ³⁴that you shall say, ‘Your servants’ ^soccupation has been with livestock ^tfrom our youth even till now, both we and also our fathers,’ that you may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is ^uan ⁶abomination to the Egyptians.”

47Then Joseph ^awent and told Pharaoh, and said, “My father and my brothers, their flocks and their herds and all that they possess, have come from the land of Canaan; and indeed they are in ^bthe land of Goshen.” ²And he took five men from among his brothers and ^cpresented them to Pharaoh. ³Then Pharaoh said to his brothers, ^d“What is your occupation?”

And they said to Pharaoh, ^e“Your servants are shepherds, both we and also our fathers.” ⁴And they said to Pharaoh, ^f“We have come to dwell in the land, because your servants have no pasture for their flocks, ^gfor the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now therefore, please let your servants ^hdwell in the land of Goshen.”

⁵Then Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, saying, “Your father and your brothers have come to you. ⁶ⁱThe land of Egypt is before you. Have your father and brothers dwell in the best of the land; let them dwell ^jin the land of Goshen. And if you know any competent men among them, then make them chief herdsmen over my livestock.”

⁷Then Joseph brought in his father Jacob and set him before Pharaoh; and Jacob ^kblessed Pharaoh. ⁸Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How old are you?”

⁹And Jacob said to Pharaoh, ^l“The days of the years of my ¹pilgrimage are ^mone hundred and thirty years; ⁿfew and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and ^othey have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.” ¹⁰So Jacob ^pblessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh.

¹¹And Joseph situated his father and his brothers, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of ^qRameses, ^ras Pharaoh had commanded. ¹²Then Joseph provided ^shis father, his brothers, and all his father’s household with bread, according to the number in their families.

Joseph Deals with the Famine

¹³Now there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very severe, ^tso that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine. ^14uAnd Joseph gathered up 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.

¹⁵So when the money failed in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us bread, for ^vwhy should we die in your presence? For the money has failed.”

¹⁶Then Joseph said, “Give your livestock, and I will give you bread for your livestock, if the money is gone.” ¹⁷So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the cattle of the herds, and for the donkeys. Thus he ²fed them with bread in exchange for all their livestock that year.

¹⁸When that year had ended, they came to him the next year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that our money is gone; my lord also has our herds of livestock. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our lands. ¹⁹Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants of Pharaoh; give us seed, that we may ^wlive and not die, that the land may not be desolate.”

²⁰Then Joseph ^xbought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for every man of the Egyptians sold his field, because the famine was severe upon them. So the land became Pharaoh’s. ²¹And as for the people, he ³moved them into the cities, from one end of the borders of Egypt to the other end. ^22yOnly the land of the ^zpriests he did not buy; for the priests had rations allotted to them by Pharaoh, and they ate their rations which Pharaoh gave them; therefore they did not sell their lands.

²³Then Joseph said to the people, “Indeed I have bought you and your land this day for Pharaoh. Look, here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land. ²⁴And it shall come to pass in the harvest that you shall give one-fifth to Pharaoh. Four-fifths shall be your own, as seed for the field and for your food, for those of your households and as food for your little ones.”

²⁵So they said, “You have saved ^aour lives; let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.” ²⁶And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt to this day, that Pharaoh should have one-fifth, ^bexcept for the land of the priests only, which did not become Pharaoh’s.

Joseph’s Vow to Jacob

²⁷So Israel ^cdwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions there and ^dgrew and multiplied exceedingly. ²⁸And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the length of Jacob’s life was one hundred and forty-seven years. ²⁹When the time ^edrew near that Israel must die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “Now if I have found favor in your sight, please ^fput your hand under my thigh, and ^gdeal kindly and truly with me. ^hPlease do not bury me in Egypt, ³⁰but ⁱlet me lie with my fathers; you shall carry me out of Egypt and ^jbury me in their burial place.”

And he said, “I will do as you have said.”

³¹Then he said, “Swear to me.” And he swore to him. So ^kIsrael bowed himself on the head of the bed.