Genesis 45-47

New King James Version

Joseph Revealed to His Brothers

45 Then Joseph could not restrain himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, “Make everyone go out from me!” So no one stood with him ^(A)while Joseph made himself known to his brothers. ² And he ^(B)wept aloud, and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard it.

³ Then Joseph said to his brothers, ^(C)“I am Joseph; does my father still live?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed in his presence. ⁴ And Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come near to me.” So they came near. Then he said: “I am Joseph your brother, ^(D)whom you sold into Egypt. ⁵ But now, do not therefore be grieved or angry with yourselves because you sold me here; ^(E)for God sent me before you to preserve life. ⁶ For these two years the ^(F)famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. ⁷ And God ^(G)sent me before you to preserve a ^[a]posterity for you in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance. ⁸ So now it was not you who sent me here, but ^(H)God; and He has made me ^(I)a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and a ^(J)ruler throughout 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 ^[b]tarry. ^10 (K)You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near to me, you and your children, your children’s children, your flocks and your herds, and all that you have. ¹¹ There I will ^(L)provide for you, lest you and your household, and all that you have, come to poverty; for there are still five years of famine.” ’

¹² “And behold, your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is ^(M)my mouth that speaks to you. ¹³ So you shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that you have seen; and you shall hurry and ^(N)bring my father down here.”

¹⁴ Then he fell on his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. ¹⁵ Moreover he ^(O)kissed all his brothers and wept over them, and after that his brothers talked with him.

¹⁶ Now the report of it was heard in Pharaoh’s house, saying, “Joseph’s brothers have come.” So it pleased Pharaoh and his servants well. ¹⁷ And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this: Load your animals and depart; go to the land of Canaan. ¹⁸ Bring your father and your households and come to me; I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you will eat ^(P)the ^[c]fat of the land. ¹⁹ Now you are commanded—do this: Take carts out of the land of Egypt for your little ones and your wives; bring your father and come. ²⁰ Also do not be concerned about your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’ ”

²¹ Then the sons of Israel did so; and Joseph gave them ^(Q)carts,^[d] according to the command of Pharaoh, and he gave them provisions for the journey. ²² He gave to all of them, to each man, ^(R)changes of garments; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and ^(S)five changes of garments. ²³ And he sent to his father these things: ten donkeys loaded with the good things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain, bread, and food for his father for the journey. ²⁴ So he sent his brothers away, and they departed; and he said to them, “See that you do not become troubled along the way.”

²⁵ Then they went up out of Egypt, and came to the land of Canaan to Jacob their father. ²⁶ And they told him, saying, “Joseph is still alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt.” ^(T)And Jacob’s heart stood still, because he did not believe them. ²⁷ But when they told him all the words which Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the carts which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit ^(U)of Jacob their father revived. ²⁸ Then Israel said, “It is enough. Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”

Jacob’s Journey to Egypt^(V)

46 So Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to ^(W)Beersheba, and offered sacrifices ^(X)to the God of his father Isaac. ² Then God spoke to Israel ^(Y)in the visions of the night, and said, “Jacob, Jacob!”

And he said, “Here I am.”

³ So He said, “I am God, ^(Z)the God of your father; do not fear to go down to Egypt, for I will ^(AA)make of you a great nation there. ^4 (AB)I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely ^(AC)bring you up again; and ^(AD)Joseph ^[e]will put his hand on your eyes.”

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

⁸ Now ^(AH)these were the names of the children of Israel, Jacob and his sons, who went to Egypt: ^(AI)Reuben was Jacob’s firstborn. ⁹ The ^(AJ)sons of Reuben were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. ^10 (AK)The sons of Simeon were ^[g]Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, ^[h]Jachin, ^[i]Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman. ¹¹ The sons of ^(AL)Levi were Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. ¹² The sons of ^(AM)Judah were ^(AN)Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah (but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan). ^(AO)The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul. ¹³ The sons of Issachar were Tola, ^[j]Puvah, ^[k]Job, and Shimron. ¹⁴ The ^(AP)sons of Zebulun were Sered, Elon, and Jahleel. ¹⁵ These were the ^(AQ)sons 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.

¹⁶ The sons of Gad were ^[l]Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, ^[m]Ezbon, Eri, ^[n]Arodi, and Areli. ^17 (AR)The sons of Asher were Jimnah, Ishuah, Isui, Beriah, and Serah, their sister. And the sons of Beriah were Heber and Malchiel. ^18 (AS)These were the sons of Zilpah, ^(AT)whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter; and these she bore to Jacob: sixteen persons.

¹⁹ The ^(AU)sons of Rachel, ^(AV)Jacob’s wife, were Joseph and Benjamin. ^20 (AW)And 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. ^21 (AX)The sons of Benjamin were Belah, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, ^(AY)Ehi, Rosh, ^(AZ)Muppim, ^[o]Huppim, and Ard. ²² These were the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob: fourteen persons in all.

²³ The son of Dan was ^[p]Hushim. ^24 (BA)The sons of Naphtali were ^[q]Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and ^[r]Shillem. ^25 (BB)These were the sons of Bilhah, ^(BC)whom Laban gave to Rachel his daughter, and she bore these to Jacob: seven persons in all.

^26 (BD)All the persons who went with Jacob to Egypt, who came from his body, ^(BE)besides 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 persons. ^(BF)All the persons of the house of Jacob who went to Egypt were seventy.

Jacob Settles in Goshen

²⁸ Then he sent Judah before him to Joseph, ^(BG)to point out before him the way to Goshen. And they came ^(BH)to the land of Goshen. ²⁹ So Joseph made ready his ^(BI)chariot and went up to Goshen to meet his father Israel; and he presented himself to him, and ^(BJ)fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while.

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

³¹ Then Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, ^(BL)“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. ³² And the men are ^(BM)shepherds, for their occupation has been to feed livestock; and they have brought their flocks, their herds, and all that they have.’ ³³ So it shall be, when Pharaoh calls you and says, ^(BN)‘What is your occupation?’ ³⁴ that you shall say, ‘Your servants’ ^(BO)occupation has been with livestock ^(BP)from our youth even till now, both we and also our fathers,’ that you may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is ^(BQ)an^[s] abomination to the Egyptians.”

Joseph Is Governor of Egypt

47 Then Joseph ^(BR)went 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 ^(BS)the land of Goshen.” ² And he took five men from among his brothers and ^(BT)presented them to Pharaoh. ³ Then Pharaoh said to his brothers, ^(BU)“What is your occupation?”

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

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

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

⁹ And Jacob said to Pharaoh, ^(CC)“The days of the years of my ^[t]pilgrimage are ^(CD)one hundred and thirty years; ^(CE)few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and ^(CF)they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.” ¹⁰ So Jacob ^(CG)blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh.

¹¹ And 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 ^(CH)Rameses, ^(CI)as Pharaoh had commanded. ¹² Then Joseph provided ^(CJ)his father, his brothers, and all his father’s household with bread, according to the number in their families.

Joseph Deals with the Famine

¹³ Now there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very severe, ^(CK)so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine. ^14 (CL)And 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.

¹⁵ So 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 ^(CM)why should we die in your presence? For the money has failed.”

¹⁶ Then Joseph said, “Give your livestock, and I will give you bread for your livestock, if the money is gone.” ¹⁷ So 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 ^[u]fed them with bread in exchange for all their livestock that year.

¹⁸ When 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. ¹⁹ Why 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 ^(CN)live and not die, that the land may not be desolate.”

²⁰ Then Joseph ^(CO)bought 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. ²¹ And as for the people, he ^[v]moved them into the cities, from one end of the borders of Egypt to the other end. ^22 (CP)Only the land of the ^(CQ)priests 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.

²³ Then 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. ²⁴ And 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.”

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

Joseph’s Vow to Jacob

²⁷ So Israel ^(CT)dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions there and ^(CU)grew and multiplied exceedingly. ²⁸ And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the length of Jacob’s life was one hundred and forty-seven years. ²⁹ When the time ^(CV)drew near that Israel must die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “Now if I have found favor in your sight, please ^(CW)put your hand under my thigh, and ^(CX)deal kindly and truly with me. ^(CY)Please do not bury me in Egypt, ³⁰ but ^(CZ)let me lie with my fathers; you shall carry me out of Egypt and ^(DA)bury me in their burial place.”

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

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