Genesis 44-47

Genesis 44

¹And he commanded him who was over his house, saying, Fill the men's sacks with food, as much as they can carry; and put every man's money in the mouth of his sack.

²And put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest, and his grain-money. And he did according to the word of Joseph which he had spoken.

³In the morning, when it was light, the men were sent away, they and their asses.

⁴They were gone out of the city, and not yet far off, when Joseph said to him who was over his house, Up! follow after the men; and when thou overtakest them, thou shalt say to them, Why have ye rewarded evil for good?

⁵Is not this it in which my lord drinks, and in which indeed he divines? Ye have done evil in what ye have done.

⁶And he overtook them, and he spoke to them these words.

⁷And they said to him, Why does my lord speak such words as these? Far be it from thy servants to do such a thing!

⁸Behold, the money that we found in our sacks' mouths we have brought again to thee from the land of Canaan; and how should we steal out of thy lord's house silver or gold?

⁹With whomsoever of thy servants it is found, let him die; and we also will be my lord's bondmen.

¹⁰And he said, Now also let it be according to your words: let him with whom it is found be my bondman, but ye shall be blameless.

¹¹And they hasted and laid down every man his sack on the ground, and opened every man his sack.

¹²And he searched carefully: he began at the eldest, and ended at the youngest; and the cup was found in Benjamin's sack.

¹³Then they rent their clothes, and loaded every man his ass, and they returned to the city.

¹⁴And Judah and his brethren came to Joseph's house; and he was still there; and they fell down before him to the ground.

¹⁵And Joseph said to them, What deed is this which ye have done? Did ye not know that such a man as I can certainly divine?

¹⁶And Judah said, What shall we say to my lord? what shall we speak, and how justify ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of thy servants; behold, we are my lord's bondmen, both we, and he in whose hand the cup has been found.

¹⁷And he said, Far be it from me to do so! The man in whose hand the cup has been found, he shall be my bondman; but as for you, go up in peace to your father.

¹⁸Then Judah came near to him, and said, Ah! my lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word in my lord's ears, and let not thine anger burn against thy servant; for thou art even as Pharaoh.

¹⁹My lord asked his servants, saying, Have ye a father, or a brother?

²⁰And we said to my lord, We have an aged father, and a child born to him in his old age, yet young; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother; and his father loves him.

²¹And thou saidst unto thy servants, Bring him down to me, that I may set mine eye on him.

²²And we said to my lord, The youth cannot leave his father: if he should leave his father, his father would die.

²³And thou saidst to thy servants, Unless your youngest brother come down with you, ye shall see my face no more.

²⁴And it came to pass when we came up to thy servant my father, we told him the words of my lord.

²⁵And our father said, Go again, buy us a little food.

²⁶But we said, We cannot go down: if our youngest brother be with us, then will we go down; for we cannot see the man's face unless our youngest brother is with us.

²⁷And thy servant my father said to us, Ye know that my wife bore me two sons;

²⁸and the one went out from me, and I said, He must certainly have been torn in pieces; and I have not seen him again hitherto.

²⁹And if ye take this one also from me, and mischief should befall him, ye will bring down my grey hairs with misery to Sheol.

³⁰And now, when I come to thy servant my father, and the lad is not with us, -- seeing that his life is bound up with his life,

³¹it will come to pass when he sees that the lad is not there, that he will die; and thy servants will bring down the grey hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow to Sheol.

³²For thy servant became surety for the lad to my father, saying, If I bring him not to thee, then I shall be guilty toward my father all my days.

³³And now, let thy servant stay, I pray thee, instead of the lad a bondman to my lord, and let the lad go up with his brethren;

³⁴for how should I go up to my father if the lad were not with me? -- lest I see the evil that would come on my father.

Genesis 45

¹And Joseph could not control himself before all them that stood by him, and he cried, Put every man out from me! And no man stood with him when Joseph made himself known to his brethren.

²And he raised his voice in weeping; and the Egyptians heard, and the house of Pharaoh heard.

³And Joseph said to his brethren, I am Joseph. Does my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him, for they were troubled at his presence.

⁴And Joseph said to his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.

⁵And now, be not grieved, and be not angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither, for God sent me before you to preserve life.

⁶For the famine has been these two years in the land; and yet there are five years in which there will be neither ploughing nor harvest.

⁷So God sent me before you to preserve you a remnant in the earth, and to save you alive by a great deliverance.

⁸And now it was not you that sent me here, but God; and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and governor over all the land of Egypt.

⁹Haste and go up to my father, and say to him, Thus says thy son Joseph: God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, tarry not.

¹⁰And thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near to me, thou, and thy sons, and thy sons' sons, and thy sheep, and thy cattle, and all that thou hast.

¹¹And there will I maintain thee; for yet there are five years of famine; in order that thou be not impoverished, thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast.

¹²And behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth which speaks to you.

¹³And tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that ye have seen, and haste and bring down my father hither.

¹⁴And he fell on his brother Benjamin's neck, and wept; and Benjamin wept on his neck.

¹⁵And he kissed all his brethren, and wept upon them; and after that his brethren talked with him.

¹⁶And the report was heard in Pharaoh's house, saying, Joseph's brethren are come. And it was good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his bondmen.

¹⁷And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Say to thy brethren, Do this: load your beasts and depart, go into the land of Canaan,

¹⁸and take your father and your households, and come to me; and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and ye shall eat the fat of the land.

¹⁹And thou art commanded -- this do: take waggons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and take up your father, and come.

²⁰And let not your eye regret your stuff; for the good of all the land of Egypt shall be yours.

²¹And the sons of Israel did so; and Joseph gave them waggons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way.

²²To each one of them all he gave changes of clothing; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of clothing.

²³And to his father he sent this: ten asses laden with the good things of Egypt, and ten she-asses laden with corn and bread, and food for his father by the way.

²⁴And he sent his brethren away, and they departed. And he said to them, Do not quarrel on the way.

²⁵And they went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan to Jacob their father.

²⁶And they told him, saying, Joseph is still alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt. And his heart fainted, for he did not believe them.

²⁷And they spoke to him all the words of Joseph, which he had spoken to them. And he saw the waggons that Joseph had sent to carry him. And the spirit of Jacob their father revived.

²⁸And Israel said, It is enough: Joseph my son is yet alive; I will go and see him before I die.

Genesis 46

¹And Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beer-sheba; and he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.

²And God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night and said, Jacob, Jacob! And he said, Here am I.

³And he said, I am God, the God of thy father: fear not to go down to Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation.

⁴I will go down with thee to Egypt, and I will also certainly bring thee up; and Joseph shall put his hand on thine eyes.

⁵And Jacob rose up from Beer-sheba; and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, and their little ones, and their wives, on the waggons that Pharaoh had sent to carry him.

⁶And they took their cattle, and their goods which they had acquired in the land of Canaan, and came to Egypt, Jacob and all his seed with him;

⁷his sons and his sons' sons with him, his daughters and his sons' daughters and all his seed he brought with him to Egypt.

⁸And these are the names of the sons of Israel who came into Egypt: Jacob and his sons. Jacob's firstborn, Reuben.

⁹And the sons of Reuben: Enoch, and Phallu, and Hezron, and Carmi.

¹⁰-- And the sons of Simeon: Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Saul the son of a Canaanitish woman.

¹¹-- And the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

¹²-- And the sons of Judah: Er, and Onan, and Shelah, and Pherez, and Zerah; but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. And the sons of Pherez were Hezron and Hamul.

¹³-- And the sons of Issachar: Tola, and Puah, and Job, and Shimron.

¹⁴-- And the sons of Zebulun: Sered, and Elon, and Jahleel.

¹⁵-- These are the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Padan-Aram; and his daughter, Dinah. All the souls of his sons and his daughters were thirty-three.

¹⁶And the sons of Gad: Ziphion and Haggi, Shuni and Ezbon, Eri, and Arodi, and Areli.

¹⁷-- And the sons of Asher: Jimnah, and Jishvah, and Jishvi, and Beriah; and Serah their sister; and the sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel.

¹⁸-- These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter; and she bore these to Jacob: sixteen souls.

¹⁹The sons of Rachel Jacob's wife: Joseph and Benjamin.

²⁰And to Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asnath bore to him, the daughter of Potipherah the priest in On.

²¹-- And the sons of Benjamin: Belah, and Becher, and Ashbel, Gera and Naaman, Ehi and Rosh, Muppim, and Huppim, and Ard.

²²-- These are the sons of Rachel who were born to Jacob: all the souls were fourteen.

²³And the sons of Dan: Hushim.

²⁴-- And the sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel, and Guni, and Jezer, and Shillem.

²⁵-- These are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to Rachel his daughter; and she bore these to Jacob: all the souls were seven.

²⁶All the souls that came with Jacob to Egypt, that had come out of his loins, besides Jacob's sons' wives: all the souls were sixty-six.

²⁷And the sons of Joseph who were born to him in Egypt, were two souls. All the souls of the house of Jacob that came to Egypt were seventy.

²⁸And he sent Judah before him to Joseph, to give notice before he came to Goshen. And they came into the land of Goshen.

²⁹Then Joseph yoked his chariot, and went up to meet Israel his father, to Goshen, and he presented himself to him; and he fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while.

³⁰And Israel said to Joseph, Now let me die, after I have seen thy face, since thou still livest.

³¹And Joseph said to his brethren and to his father's house, I will go up, and tell Pharaoh, and say to him, My brethren and my father's house, who were in the land of Canaan, are come to me;

³²and the men are shepherds, for they have been occupied with cattle; and they have brought their sheep, and their cattle, and all that they have.

³³And it shall come to pass that when Pharaoh shall call you and say, What is your occupation?

³⁴then ye shall say, Thy servants are men that have been occupied with cattle from our youth even until now, both we and our fathers; in order that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians.

Genesis 47

¹And Joseph came and told Pharaoh and said, My father and my brethren, and their sheep and their cattle, and all that they have, are come out of the land of Canaan; and behold, they are in the land of Goshen.

²And he took from the whole number of his brethren, five men, and set them before Pharaoh.

³And Pharaoh said to his brethren, What is your occupation? And they said to Pharaoh, Thy servants are shepherds, both we and our fathers.

⁴And they said to Pharaoh, To sojourn in the land are we come; for there is no pasture for the sheep that thy servants have, for the famine is grievous in the land of Canaan; and now, we pray thee, let thy servants dwell in the land of Goshen.

⁵And Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, saying, Thy father and thy brethren are come to thee.

⁶The land of Egypt is before thee; in the best of the land settle thy father and thy brethren: let them dwell in the land of Goshen. And if thou knowest men of activity among them, then set them as overseers of cattle over what I have.

⁷And Joseph brought Jacob his father, and set him before Pharaoh. And Jacob blessed Pharaoh.

⁸And Pharaoh said to Jacob, How many are the days of the years of thy life?

⁹And Jacob said to Pharaoh, The days of the years of my sojourning are a hundred and thirty years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they do not attain to the days of the years of the life of my fathers, in the days of their sojourning.

¹⁰And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from Pharaoh.

¹¹And Joseph settled his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.

¹²And Joseph maintained his father, and his brethren, and all his father's household, with bread, according to the number of the little ones.

¹³And there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very grievous; and the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan were exhausted through the famine.

¹⁴And 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.

¹⁵And when money came to an end in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph, saying, Give us bread! for why should we die before thee? for our money is all gone.

¹⁶And Joseph said, Give your cattle, and I will give you for your cattle, if your money be all gone.

¹⁷And they brought their cattle to Joseph; and Joseph gave them bread for horses, and for flocks of sheep, and for herds of cattle, and for asses; and he fed them with bread for all their cattle that year.

¹⁸And that year ended; and they came to him the second year, and said to him, We will not hide it from my lord that since our money is come to an end, and the herds of cattle are in the possession of my lord, nothing is left before my lord but our bodies and our land.

¹⁹Why should we die before thine eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be bondmen to Pharaoh; and give seed, that we may live, and not die, and that the land be not desolate.

²⁰And Joseph bought all the soil of Egypt for Pharaoh; for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine prevailed over them; and the land became Pharaoh's.

²¹And as for the people, he removed them into the cities, from one end of the borders of Egypt even to the other end of it.

²²Only the land of the priests he did not buy; for the priests had an assigned portion from Pharaoh, and ate their assigned portion which Pharaoh had given them; so they did not sell their land.

²³And Joseph said to the people, Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh: lo, here is seed for you, and sow the land.

²⁴And it shall come to pass in the increase that ye shall give the fifth to Pharaoh, and the four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for your little ones.

²⁵And they said, Thou hast saved us alive. Let us find favour in the eyes of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's bondmen.

²⁶And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt to this day, that the fifth should be for Pharaoh, except the land of the priests: theirs alone did not become Pharaoh's.

²⁷And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen; and they had possessions in it, and were fruitful and multiplied exceedingly.

²⁸And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years; and the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were a hundred and forty-seven years.

²⁹And the days of Israel approached that he should die. And he called his son Joseph, and said to him, If now I have found favour in thine eyes, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me: bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt;

³⁰but when I shall lie with my fathers, thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their sepulchre. And he said, I will do according to thy word.

³¹And he said, Swear to me; and he swore to him. And Israel worshipped on the bed's head.