25“Later our father said, ‘Go back and procure some food for us.’ 26We answered, ‘We cannot go down; only if our youngest brother is with us can we go down, for we may not a-show our faces to the man-a unless our youngest brother is with us.’ 27Your servant my father said to us, ‘As you know, my wife bore me two sons. 28But one is gone from me, and I said: Alas, he was torn by a beast! And I have not seen him since. 29If you take this one from me, too, and he meets with disaster, you will send my white head down to Sheol in sorrow.’
30“Now, if I come to your servant my father and the boy is not with us—since his own life is so bound up with his—31when he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die, and your servants will send the white head of your servant our father down to Sheol in grief. 32Now your servant has pledged himself for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, I shall stand guilty before my father forever.’ 33Therefore, please let your servant remain as a slave to my lord instead of the boy, and let the boy go back with his brothers. 34For how can I go back to my father unless the boy is with me? Let me not be witness to the woe that would overtake my father!”
45 Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Have everyone withdraw from me!” So there was no one else about when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. 2His sobs were so loud that the Egyptians could hear, and so the news reached Pharaoh’s palace.
3Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph. Is my father still well?” But his brothers could not answer him, so dumfounded were they on account of him.
4Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come forward to me.” And when they came forward, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, he whom you sold into Egypt. 5Now, do not be distressed or reproach yourselves be- cause you sold me hither; it was to save life that God sent me ahead of you. 6It is now two years that there has been famine in the land, and there are still five years to come in which there shall be no yield from tilling. 7God has sent me ahead of you to ensure your survival on earth, and to save your lives in an extraordinary deliverance. 8So, it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of all his household, and ruler over the whole land of Egypt.
9“Now, hurry back to my father and say to him: Thus says your son Joseph, ‘God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me without delay. 10You will dwell in the region of Goshen, where you will be near me—you and your children and your grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and all that is yours. 11There I will provide for you—for there are yet five years of famine to come—that you and your household and all that is yours may not suffer want.’ 12You can see for yourselves, and my brother Benjamin for himself, that it is indeed I who am speaking to you. 13And you must tell my father everything about my high station in Egypt and all that you have seen; and bring my father here with all speed.”
14With that he embraceda his brother Benjamin around the neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. 15He kissed all his brothers and wept upon them; only then were his brothers able to talk to him.
16The news reached Pharaoh’s palace: “Joseph’s brothers have come.” Pharaoh and his courtiers were pleased. 17And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do as follows: load up your beasts and go at once to the land of Canaan. 18Take your father and your households and come to me; I will give you the best of the land of Egypt and you shall live off the fat of the land.’ 19And you are bidden [to add], ‘Do as follows: take from the land of Egypt wagons for your children and your wives, and bring your father here. 20And never mind your belongings, for the best of all the land of Egypt shall be yours.’ ”
21The sons of Israel did so; Joseph gave them wagons as Pharaoh had commanded, and he supplied them with provisions for the journey. 22To each of them, moreover, he gave a change of clothing; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and severalb changes of clothing. 23And to his father he sent the following: ten he-asses laden with the best things of Egypt, and ten she-asses laden with grain, bread, and provisions for his father on the journey. 24As he sent his brothers off on their way, he told them. “Do not be quarrelsome on the way.”
25They went up from Egypt and came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan. 26And they told him, “Joseph is still alive; yes, he is ruler over the whole land of Egypt.” His heart went numb, for he did not believe them. 27But when they recounted all that Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to transport him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. 28“Enough!” said Israel. “My son Joseph is still alive! I must go and see him before I die.”
46 So Israel set out with all that was his, and he came to Beer-sheba, where he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. 2God called to Israel in a vision by night: “Jacob! Jacob!” He answered, “Here.” 3And He said. “I am God, the God of your father. Fear not to go down to Egypt, for I will make you there into a great nation. 4I Myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I Myself will also bring you back; and Joseph’s hand shall close your eyes.”
5So Jacob set out from Beer-sheba. The sons of Israel put their father Jacob and their children and their wives in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent to transport him; 6and they took along their livestock and the wealth that they had amassed in the land of Canaan. Thus Jacob and all his offspring with him came to Egypt: 7he brought with him to Egypt his sons and grandsons, his daughters and granddaughters—all his offspring.
8These are the names of the Israelites, Jacob and his descendants, who came to Egypt.
Jacob’s first-born Reuben; 9Reuben’s sons: Enoch,a Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. 10Simeon’s sons: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Saulb the son of a Canaanite woman. 11Levi’s sons: Gershon, Kohath, and Mer- ari. 12Judah’s sons: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah—but Er and Onan had died in the land of Canaan; and Perez’s sons were Hezron and Hamul. 13Issachar’s sons: Tola, Puvah, lob, and Shimron. 14Zebulun’s sons: Sered, Elon, and Jahleel. 15Those were the sons whom Leah bore to Jacob in Paddan-aram, in addition to his daughter Dinah. Persons in all, male and female: 33.c
16Gad’s sons: Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli. 17Asher’s sons: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, and Beriah, and their sister Serah. Beriah’s sons: Heber and Malchiel. 18These were the descendants of Zil- pah, whom Laban had given to his daughter Leah. These she bore to Jacob—16 persons.
19The sons of Jacob’s wife Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin. 20To Joseph were born in the land of Egypt Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath daughter of Poti-phera priest of On bore to him. 21Benjamin’s sons: Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard. 22These were the descendants of Rachel who were born to Jacob—14 persons in all.
23Dan’s son:d Hushim. 24Naphtali’s sons: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shil- lem. 25These were the descendants of Bilhah, whom Laban had given to his daughter Rachel. These she bore to Jacob—7 persons in all.
26All the persons belonging to Jacob who came to Egypte—his own issue, aside from the wives of Jacob’s sons—all these persons numbered 66. 27And Joseph’s sons who were born to him in Egypt were two in number. Thus the total of Jacob’s household who came to Egypt was seventy persons.f
28He had sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph, to point the way before him to Goshen. So when they came to the region of Goshen, 29Joseph orderedg his chariot and went to Goshen to meet his father Israel; he presented himself to him and, embracing him around the neck, he wept on his neck a good while. 30Then Israel said to Joseph, “Now I can die, having seen for myself that you are still alive.”
31Then Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “I will go up and tell the news to Pharaoh, and say to him, ‘My brothers and my father’s household, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me. 32The men are shepherds; they have always been breeders of livestock, and they have brought with them their flocks and herds and all that is theirs.’ 33So when Pharaoh summons you and asks, ‘What is your occu- pation?’ 34you shall answer, ‘Your servants have been breeders of livestock from the start until now, both we and our fathers’—so that you may stay in the region of Goshen. For all shepherds are abhorrent to Egyptians.”
47 Then
