Joseph Tests His Brothers

44 Then he commanded ^pthe steward of his house, ^q“Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man’s money in the mouth of his sack, 2 and put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest, with his money for the grain.” And he did as Joseph told him.

3 As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away with their donkeys. 4 They had gone only a short distance from the city. Now Joseph said to his ^rsteward, “Up, follow after the men, and when you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you repaid evil for good?¹ 5 Is it not from this that my lord drinks, and ^sby this that he practices divination? You have done evil in doing this.’”

6 When he overtook them, he spoke to them these words. 7 They said to him, “Why does my lord speak such words as these? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing! 8 Behold, ^tthe money that we found in the mouths of our sacks we brought back to you from the land of Canaan. How then could we steal silver or gold from your lord’s house? 9 ^uWhichever of your servants is found with it shall die, and we also will be ^vmy lord’s servants.” 10 He said, “Let it be as you say: he who is found with it shall be my servant, and the rest of you shall be innocent.” 11 Then each man quickly lowered his sack to the ground, and each man opened his sack. 12 And he searched, beginning with the eldest and ending with the youngest. And the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. 13 Then they ^wtore their clothes, and every man loaded his donkey, and they returned to the city.

14 When Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, he was still there. They ^xfell before him to the ground. 15 Joseph said to them, “What deed is this that you have done? Do you not know that a man like me ^ycan indeed practice divination?” 16 And Judah said, “What shall we say to my lord? What shall we speak? Or how can we clear ourselves? God has found out ^zthe guilt of your servants; behold, we are ^amy lord’s servants, both we and he also in whose hand the cup has been found.” 17 But he said, “Far be it from me that I should do so! Only the man in whose hand the cup was found shall be my servant. But as for you, go up in peace to your father.”

18 Then Judah went up to him and said, ^b“Oh, my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord’s ears, and ^clet not your anger burn against your servant, for ^dyou are like Pharaoh himself. 19 My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father, or a brother?’ 20 And we said to my lord, ‘We have a father, an old man, ^eand a young brother, ^fthe child of his old age. His brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother’s children, and his father loves him.’ 21 Then you said to your servants, ^g‘Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him.’ 22 We said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, ^hhis father would die.’ 23 Then you said to your servants, ⁱ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall not see my face again.’

24 “When we went back to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord. 25 And when ^jour father said, ‘Go again, buy us a little food,’ 26 we said, ‘We cannot go down. If our youngest brother goes with us, then we will go down. For we cannot see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’ 27 Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me ^ktwo sons. 28 One left me, and I said, ^l“Surely he has been torn to pieces,” and I have never seen him since. 29 If you ^mtake this one also from me, ⁿand harm happens to him, you will bring down my gray hairs in evil to Sheol.’

30 “Now therefore, as soon as I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us, then, as his life is bound up in the boy’s life, 31 as soon as he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die, and your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant our father with sorrow to Sheol. 32 For your servant became a pledge of safety for the boy to my father, saying, ^o‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I shall bear the blame before my father all my life.’ 33 Now therefore, please let your servant remain instead of the boy as a servant to my lord, and let the boy go back with his brothers. 34 For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the evil that would find my father.”

Joseph Provides for His Brothers and Family

45 Then Joseph could not ^pcontrol himself before all those who stood by him. He cried, “Make everyone go out from me.” So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. 2 And he wept aloud, so that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. 3 And Joseph said to his brothers, ^q“I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence.

4 So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, ^rwhom you sold into Egypt. 5 And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, ^sfor God sent me before you to preserve life. 6 For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are ^tyet five years in which there will be neither ^uplowing nor harvest. 7 And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. 8 So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ^vruler over all the land of Egypt. 9 Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not tarry. 10 ^wYou shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, and your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. 11 ^xThere I will provide for you, for there are yet five years of famine to come, so that you and your household, and all that you have, do not come to poverty.’ 12 And now your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is ^ymy mouth that speaks to you. 13 You must tell my father of all my honor in Egypt, and of all that you have seen. Hurry and ^zbring my father down here.” 14 Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept upon his neck. 15 And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them. After that his brothers talked with him.

16 When the report was heard in Pharaoh’s house, “Joseph’s brothers have come,” it pleased Pharaoh and his servants. 17 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this: load your beasts and go back to the land of Canaan, 18 and take your father and your households, and come to me, and ^aI will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you shall eat the fat of the land.’ 19 And you, Joseph, are commanded to say, ‘Do this: take ^bwagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring your father, and come. 20 Have no concern for¹ your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’”

21 The sons of Israel did so: and Joseph gave them ^bwagons, according to the command of Pharaoh, and gave them provisions for the journey. 22 To each and all of them he gave ^ca change of clothes, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels² of silver and ^dfive changes of clothes. 23 To his father he sent as follows: ten donkeys loaded with the good things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain, bread, and provision for his father on the journey. 24 Then he sent his brothers away, and as they departed, he said to them, ^e“Do not quarrel on the way.”

25 So they went up out of Egypt and came to the land of Canaan to their father Jacob. 26 And they told him, “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” And his heart became numb, for he did not believe them. 27 But when they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them, and when he saw ^fthe wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. 28 And Israel said, “It is enough; Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”

Joseph Brings His Family to Egypt

46 So Israel took his journey with all that he had and came to ^gBeersheba, and offered sacrifices ^hto the God of his father Isaac. 2 And God spoke to Israel ⁱin visions of the night and said, “Jacob, Jacob.” And he said, “Here I am.” 3 Then he said, “I am God, ^jthe God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will ^kmake you into a great nation. 4 I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also ^lbring you up again, and ^mJoseph’s hand shall close your eyes.”

5 Then Jacob set out from Beersheba. The sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons ⁿthat Pharaoh had sent to carry him. 6 They also took their livestock and their goods, which they had gained in the land of Canaan, and ^ocame into Egypt, Jacob and all his offspring with him, 7 his sons, and his sons’ sons with him, his daughters, and his sons’ daughters. All his offspring he brought with him into Egypt.

8 ^pNow ^qthese are the names of the descendants of Israel, who came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons. ^rReuben, Jacob’s firstborn, 9 and the sons of Reuben: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. 10 The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman. 11 The sons of ^sLevi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. 12 The sons of ^tJudah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah (but ^uEr and Onan died in the land of Canaan); and the sons of ^vPerez were Hezron and Hamul. 13 ^wThe sons of Issachar: Tola, Puvah, Yob, and Shimron. 14 The sons of Zebulun: Sered, Elon, and Jahleel. 15 These are the sons of Leah, ^xwhom she bore to Jacob in Paddan-aram, together with his daughter Dinah; altogether his sons and his daughters numbered thirty-three.

16 The sons of Gad: Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli. 17 ^yThe sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, with Serah their sister. And the sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel. 18 ^zThese are the sons of Zilpah, ^awhom Laban gave to Leah his daughter; and these she bore to Jacob—sixteen persons.

19 The sons of Rachel, Jacob’s wife: Joseph and Benjamin. 20 And ^bto Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera the priest of ^cOn, bore to him. 21 And ^dthe sons of Benjamin: Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard. 22 These are the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob—fourteen persons in all.

23 The son¹ of Dan: Hushim. 24 ^eThe sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem. 25 ^fThese are the sons of Bilhah, ^gwhom Laban gave to Rachel his daughter, and these she bore to Jacob—seven persons in all.

26 All the persons belonging to Jacob who came into Egypt, who were his own descendants, not including Jacob’s sons’ wives, were sixty-six persons in all. 27 And the sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt, were two. ^hAll the persons of the house of Jacob who came into Egypt were seventy.

Jacob and Joseph Reunited

28 He had sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to show the way before him in Goshen, and they came ⁱinto the land of Goshen. 29 Then Joseph prepared his chariot and went up to meet Israel his father in Goshen. He presented himself to him and ^jfell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while. 30 Israel said to Joseph, ^k“Now let me die, since I have seen your face and know that you are still alive.” 31 Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, ^l“I will go up and tell Pharaoh and will say to him, ‘My brothers and my father’s household, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me. 32 ^mAnd the men are shepherds, for they have been keepers of livestock, and they have brought their flocks and their herds and all that they have.’ 33 When Pharaoh calls you and says, ^m‘What is your occupation?’ 34 you shall say, ^m‘Your servants have been keepers of livestock ⁿfrom our youth even until now, both we and our fathers,’ in order that you may dwell ^oin the land of Goshen, for every shepherd is ^pan abomination to the Egyptians.”

Jacob’s Family Settles in Goshen

47 So Joseph ^qwent in and told Pharaoh, “My father and my brothers, with their flocks and herds and all that they possess, have come from the land of Canaan. They are now in ^rthe land of Goshen.” 2 And from among his brothers he took five men and ^spresented them to Pharaoh. 3 Pharaoh said to his brothers, ^t“What is your occupation?” And they said to Pharaoh, ^u“Your servants are shepherds, as our fathers were.” 4 They said to Pharaoh, ^v“We have come to sojourn in the land, for there is no pasture for your servants’ flocks, for the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. And now, please let your servants dwell ^win the land of Goshen.” 5 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you. 6 The land of Egypt is before you. Settle your father and your brothers ^xin the best of the land. ^yLet them settle in the land of Goshen, and if you know any ^zable men among them, put them in charge of my livestock.”

7 Then Joseph brought in Jacob his father and stood him before Pharaoh, ^aand Jacob blessed Pharaoh. 8 And Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How many are the days of the years of your life?” 9 And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my ^bsojourning are 130 years. ^cFew and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and ^dthey have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their ^bsojourning.” 10 And Jacob ^eblessed Pharaoh and went out from the presence of Pharaoh. 11 Then Joseph settled 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 ^fRameses, ^gas Pharaoh had commanded. 12 And Joseph ^hprovided his father, his brothers, and all his father’s household with food, according to the number of their dependents.

Joseph and the Famine

13 Now there was no food in all the land, for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished by reason of the famine. 14 ⁱAnd Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, in exchange for the grain that they bought. And Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house. 15 And when the money was all spent in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us food. ^jWhy should we die before your eyes? For our money is gone.” 16 And Joseph answered, “Give your livestock, and I will give you food in exchange for your livestock, if your money is gone.” 17 So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them food in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the herds, and the donkeys. He supplied them with food in exchange for all their livestock that year. 18 And when that year was ended, they came to him the following year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that our money is all spent. The herds of livestock are my lord’s. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our land. 19 Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? ^kBuy us and our land for food, and we with our land will be servants to Pharaoh. And give us seed that we may live and not die, and that the land may not be desolate.”

20 So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for all the Egyptians sold their fields, because the famine was severe on them. The land became Pharaoh’s. 21 As for the people, he made servants of them¹ from one end of Egypt to the other. 22 ^lOnly the land of the priests he did not buy, for the priests had a fixed allowance from Pharaoh and lived on the allowance that Pharaoh gave them; therefore they did not sell their land.

23 Then Joseph said to the people, “Behold, I have this day bought you and your land for Pharaoh. Now here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land. 24 And at the harvests you shall give a ^mfifth to Pharaoh, and four fifths shall be your own, as seed for the field and as food for yourselves and your households, and as food for your little ones.” 25 And they said, “You have saved our lives; ⁿmay it please my lord, we will be servants to Pharaoh.” 26 So Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt, and it stands to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth; ^othe land of the priests alone did not become Pharaoh’s.

27 Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, ^pin the land of Goshen. ^qAnd they gained possessions in it, and were fruitful and multiplied greatly. 28 And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. ^rSo the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were 147 years.

29 And ^swhen the time drew near that Israel must die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “If now ^tI have found favor in your sight, ^uput your hand under my thigh and ^vpromise to deal kindly and truly with me. ^wDo not bury me in Egypt, 30 but let me lie with my fathers. Carry me out of Egypt and ^xbury me in their burying place.” He answered, “I will do as you have said.” 31 And he said, “Swear to me”; and he swore to him. Then ^yIsrael bowed himself upon the head of his bed.²

Jacob Blesses Ephraim and Manasseh

48 After this, Joseph was told, “Behold, your father is ill.” So he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. 2 And it was told to Jacob, “Your son Joseph has come to you.” Then Israel summoned his strength and sat up in bed. 3 And Jacob said to Joseph, ^z“God Almighty¹ appeared to me at ^aLuz in the land of Canaan and blessed me, 4 and said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make of you a company of peoples and will give this land to your offspring after you ^bfor an everlasting possession.’ 5 And now your ^ctwo sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, ^dare mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are. 6 And the children that you fathered after them shall be yours. They shall be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance. 7 As for me, when I came from Paddan, to my sorrow ^eRachel died in the land of Canaan on the way, when there was still some distance² to go to Ephrath, and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).”