Genesis 47–48

¹And Joseph cometh, and declareth to Pharaoh, and saith, ‘My father, and my brethren, and their flock, and their herd, and all they have, have come from the land of Canaan, and lo, they are in the land of Goshen.’ ²And out of his brethren he hath taken five men, and setteth them before Pharaoh; ³and Pharaoh saith unto his brethren, ‘What are your works?’ and they say unto Pharaoh, ‘Thy servants are feeders of a flock, both we and our fathers;’ ⁴and they say unto Pharaoh, ‘To sojourn in the land we have come, for there is no pasture for the flock which thy servants have, for grievous is the famine in the land of Canaan; and now, let thy servants, we pray thee, dwell in the land of Goshen.’ ⁵And Pharaoh speaketh unto Joseph, saying, ‘Thy father and thy brethren have come unto thee: ⁶the land of Egypt is before thee; in the best of the land cause thy father and thy brethren to dwell—they dwell in the land of Goshen, and if thou hast known, and there are among them men of ability, then thou hast set them heads over the cattle I have.’ ⁷And Joseph bringeth in Jacob his father, and causeth him to stand before Pharaoh; and Jacob blesseth Pharaoh. ⁸And Pharaoh saith unto Jacob, ‘How many are the days of the years of thy life?’ ⁹And Jacob saith unto Pharaoh, ‘The days of the years of my sojournings are an hundred and thirty years; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not reached the days of the years of the life of my fathers, in the days of their sojournings.’ ¹⁰And Jacob blesseth Pharaoh, and goeth out from before Pharaoh. ¹¹And Joseph settleth his father and his brethren, and giveth to them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh commanded; ¹²and Joseph nourisheth his father, and his brethren, and all the house of his father with bread, according to the mouth of the infants.

¹³And there is no bread in all the land, for the famine is very grievous, and the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan are feeble because of the famine; ¹⁴and Joseph gathereth all the silver that is found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the corn that they are buying, and Joseph bringeth the silver into the house of Pharaoh. ¹⁵And the silver is consumed out of the land of Egypt, and out of the land of Canaan, and all the Egyptians come in unto Joseph, saying, ‘Give to us bread—why do we die before thee, though the money hath ceased?’ ¹⁶and Joseph saith, ‘Give your cattle; and I give to you for your cattle, if the money hath ceased.’ ¹⁷And they bring in their cattle unto Joseph, and Joseph giveth to them bread, for the horses, and for the cattle of the flock, and for the cattle of the herd, and for the asses; and he tendeth them with bread, for all their cattle, during that year. ¹⁸And that year is finished, and they come in unto him on the second year, and say to him, ‘We do not hide from my lord, that since the money hath been finished, and possession of the cattle is unto my lord, there hath not been left before my lord save our bodies, and our ground; ¹⁹why do we die before thine eyes, both we and our ground? buy us and our ground for bread, and we and our ground are servants to Pharaoh; and give seed, and we live, and die not, and the ground is not desolate.’ ²⁰And Joseph buyeth all the ground of Egypt for Pharaoh, for the Egyptians have sold each his field, for the famine hath been severe upon them, and the land becometh Pharaoh’s; ²¹as to the people he hath removed them to cities from the one end of the border of Egypt even unto its other end. ²²Only the ground of the priests he hath not bought, for the priests have a portion from Pharaoh, and they have eaten their portion which Pharaoh hath given to them, therefore they have not sold their ground. ²³And Joseph saith unto the people, ‘Lo, I have bought you to-day and your ground for Pharaoh; lo, seed for you, and ye have sown the ground, ²⁴and it hath come to pass in the increases, that ye have given a fifth to Pharaoh, and four of the parts are for yourselves, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for those who are in your houses, and for food for your infants.’ ²⁵And they say, ‘Thou hast revived us; we find grace in the eyes of my lord, and have been servants to Pharaoh;’ ²⁶and Joseph setteth it for a statute unto this day, concerning the ground of Egypt, that Pharaoh hath a fifth; only the ground of the priests alone hath not become Pharaoh’s.

²⁷And Israel dwelleth in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen, and they have possession in it, and are fruitful, and multiply exceedingly; ²⁸and Jacob liveth in the land of Egypt seventeen years, and the days of Jacob, the years of his life, are an hundred and forty and seven years. ²⁹And the days of Israel are near to die, and he calleth for his son, for Joseph, and saith to him, ‘If, I pray thee, I have found grace in thine eyes, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and thou hast done with me kindness and truth; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt, ³⁰and I have lain with my fathers, and thou hast borne me out of Egypt, and buried me in their burying-place.’ And he saith, ‘I—I do according to thy word;’ ³¹and he saith, ‘Swear to me;’ and he sweareth to him, and Israel boweth himself on the head of the bed.

Chapter 48

¹And it cometh to pass, after these things, that one saith to Joseph, ‘Lo, thy father is sick;’ and he taketh his two sons with him, Manasseh and Ephraim. ²And one declareth to Jacob, and saith, ‘Lo, thy son Joseph is coming unto thee;’ and Israel doth strengthen himself, and sit upon the bed. ³And Jacob saith unto Joseph, ‘God Almighty hath appeared unto me, in Luz, in the land of Canaan, and blesseth me, ⁴and saith unto me, Lo, I am making thee fruitful, and have multiplied thee, and given thee for an assembly of peoples, and given this land to thy seed after thee, a possession age-during.

⁵‘And now, thy two sons, who are born to thee in the land of Egypt, before my coming unto thee to Egypt, mine they are; Ephraim and Manasseh, as Reuben and Simeon they are mine; ⁶and thy family which thou hast begotten after them are thine; by the name of their brethren they are called in their inheritance.

⁷‘And I—in my coming in from Padan-Aram Rachel hath died by me in the land of Canaan, in the way, while yet a kibrath of land to enter Ephrata, and I bury her there in the way of Ephrata, which is Bethlehem.’

⁸And Israel seeth the sons of Joseph, and saith, ‘Who are these?’ ⁹and Joseph saith unto his father, ‘They are my sons, whom God hath given to me in this place;’ and he saith, ‘Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I bless them.’ ¹⁰And the eyes of Israel have been heavy from age, he is unable to see; and he bringeth them nigh unto him, and he kisseth them, and cleaveth to them; ¹¹and Israel saith unto Joseph, ‘To see thy face I had not thought, and lo, God hath shewed me also thy seed.’ ¹²And Joseph bringeth them out from between his knees, and boweth himself on his face to the earth; ¹³and Joseph taketh them both, Ephraim in his right hand towards Israel’s left, and Manasseh in his left towards Israel’s right, and bringeth them nigh to him. ¹⁴And Israel putteth out his right hand, and placeth it upon the head of Ephraim, who is the younger, and his left hand upon the head of Manasseh; he hath guided his hands wisely, for Manasseh is the first-born. ¹⁵And he blesseth Joseph, and saith, ‘God, before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked habitually: God who is feeding me from my being unto this day: ¹⁶the Messenger who is redeeming me from all evil doth bless the youths, and my name is called upon them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and they increase into a multitude in the midst of the land.’ ¹⁷And Joseph seeth that his father setteth his right hand on the head of Ephraim, and it is wrong in his eyes, and he supporteth the hand of his father to turn it aside from off the head of Ephraim to the head of Manasseh; ¹⁸and Joseph saith unto his father, ‘Not so, my father, for this is the first-born; set thy right hand on his head.’ ¹⁹And his father refuseth, and saith, ‘I have known, my son, I have known; he also becometh a people, and he also is great, and yet, his young brother is greater than he, and his seed is the fulness of the nations;’ ²⁰and he blesseth them in that day, saying, ‘By thee doth Israel bless, saying, God set thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh;’ and he setteth Ephraim before Manasseh. ²¹And Israel saith unto Joseph, ‘Lo, I am dying, and God hath been with you, and hath brought you back unto the land of your fathers; ²²and I—I have given to thee one portion above thy brethren, which I have taken out of the hand of the Amorite by my sword and by my bow.’

Chapter 49