18. Then Judah came near to him, and said, “Oh, my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord’s ears, and don’t let your anger burn against your servant; for you are even as Pharaoh.
19. My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father, or a brother?’
20. We said to my lord, ‘We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother; and his father loves him.’
21. You said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him.’
22. We said to my lord, ‘The boy can’t leave his father: for if he should leave his father, his father would die.’
23. You said to your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will see my face no more.’
24. It happened when we came up to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord.
25. Our father said, ‘Go again, buy us a little food.’
26. We said, ‘We can’t go down. If our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down: for we may not see the man’s face, unless our youngest brother is with us.’
27. Your servant, my father, said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons:
28. And the one went out from me, and I said, “Surely he is torn in pieces;” and I haven’t seen him since.
29. If you take this one also from me, and harm happens to him, you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.’
30. Now therefore when I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us; seeing that his life is bound up in the boy’s life;
31. It will happen, when he sees that the boy is no more, that he will die. Your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant, our father, with sorrow to Sheol.
32. For your servant became collateral for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I don’t bring him to you, then I will bear the blame to my father forever.’
33. Now therefore, please let your servant stay instead of the boy, a bondservant to my lord; and let the boy go up with his brothers.
34. For how will I go up to my father, if the boy isn’t with me?„lest I see the evil that will come on my father.”
Chapter 45
1. Then Joseph couldn’t control himself before all those who stood before him, and he cried, “Cause every man to go out from me!” No one else stood with him, while Joseph made himself known to his brothers.
2. He wept aloud. The Egyptians heard, and the house of Pharaoh heard.
3. Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph ! Does my father still live?” His brothers couldn’t answer him; for they were terrified at his presence.
4. Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” They came near. “He said, I am Joseph , your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.
5. Now don’t be grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.
6. For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are yet five years, in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest.
7. God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to save you alive by a great deliverance.
8. So now it wasn’t you who sent me here, but God, and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of all his house, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
9. Hurry, and go up to my father, and tell him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says, “God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me. Don’t wait.
10. You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you will be near to me, you, your children, your children’s children, your flocks, your herds, and all that you have.
11. There I will nourish you; for there are yet five years of famine; lest you come to poverty, you, and your household, and all that you have.”’
12. Behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin , that it is my mouth that speaks to you.
13. You shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that you have seen. You shall hurry and bring my father down here.”
14. He fell on his brother Benjamin ’s neck, and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck.
15. He kissed all his brothers, and wept on them. After that his brothers talked with him.
16. The report of it was heard in Pharaoh’s house, saying, “ Joseph ’s brothers have come.” It pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants.
17. Pharaoh said to Joseph , “Tell your brothers, ‘Do this. Load your animals, and go, travel to the land of Canaan.
18. Take your father and your households, and come to me, and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and you will eat the fat of the land.’
19. Now you are commanded: do this. Take wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come.
20. Also, don’t concern yourselves about your belongings, for the good of all of the land of Egypt is yours.”
21. The sons of Israel did so. Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way.
22. He gave each one of them changes of clothing, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of clothing.
23. To his father, he sent after this manner: ten donkeys loaded with the good things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and provision for his father by the way.
24. So he sent his brothers away, and they departed. He said to them, “See that you don’t quarrel on the way.”
25. They went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan, to Jacob their father.
26. They told him, saying, “ Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” His heart fainted, for he didn’t believe them.
27. They told him all the words of Joseph , which he had said to them. When he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob , their father, revived.
28. Israel said, “It is enough. Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”
Chapter 46
1. Israel traveled with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father, Isaac .
2. God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, “ Jacob , Jacob !” He said, “Here I am.”
3. He said, “I am God, the God of your father. Don’t be afraid to go down into Egypt, for there I will make of you a great nation.
4I. Will go down with you into Egypt. I will also surely bring you up again. Joseph will close your eyes.”
5. Jacob rose up from Beersheba, and the sons of Israel carried Jacob , their father, their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him.
6. They took their livestock, and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob , and all his seed with him,
7. His sons, and his sons’ sons with him, his daughters, and his sons’ daughters, and he brought all his seed with him into Egypt.
8. These are the names of the children of Israel , who came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons: Reuben , Jacob ’s firstborn.
9. 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 Levi : Gershon , Kohath , and Merari .
12. The sons of Judah : Er , Onan , Shelah , Perez , and Zerah ; but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.
13. The sons of Issachar : Tola , Puvah , Iob , and Shimron .
14. The sons of Zebulun : Sered , Elon , and Jahleel .
15. These are the sons of Leah , whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan Aram, with his daughter Dinah . All the souls of his sons and his daughters were thirty-three.
16. The sons of Gad : Ziphion , Haggi , Shuni , Ezbon , Eri , Arodi , and Areli .
17. The sons of Asher : Imnah , Ishvah , Ishvi , Beriah , and Serah their sister. The sons of Beriah : Heber and Malchiel .
18. These are the sons of Zilpah , whom Laban gave to Leah , his daughter, and these she bore to Jacob , even sixteen souls.
19. The sons of Rachel , Jacob ’s wife: Joseph and Benjamin .
20. To Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim , whom Asenath , the daughter of Potiphera , priest of On, bore to him.
21. The 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 : all the souls were fourteen.
24. The sons of Naphtali : Jahzeel , Guni , Jezer , and Shillem .
25. These are the sons of Bilhah , whom Laban gave to Rachel , his daughter, and these she bore to Jacob : all the souls were seven.
26. All the souls who came with Jacob into Egypt, who were his direct descendants, besides Jacob ’s sons’ wives, all the souls were sixty-six.
27. The sons of Joseph , who were born to him in Egypt, were two souls. All the souls of the house of Jacob , who came into Egypt, were seventy.
28. He sent Judah before him to Joseph , to show the way before him to Goshen, and they came into the land of Goshen.
29. Joseph made ready his chariot, and went up to meet Israel , his father, in Goshen. He presented himself to him, and fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while.
30. Israel said to Joseph , “Now let me die, since I have seen your face, that you are still alive.”
31. Joseph said to his brothers, and to his father’s house, “I will go up, and speak with Pharaoh, and will tell him, ‘My brothers, and my father’s house, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me.
32. These 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. It will happen, when Pharaoh summons you, and will say, ‘What is your occupation?’
34. That you shall say, ‘Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth even until now, both we, and our fathers:’ that you may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians.”
Chapter 47
1. Then Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, and said, “My father and my brothers, with their flocks, their herds, and all that they own, have come out of the land of Canaan; and behold, they are in the land of Goshen.”
2. From among his brothers he took five men, and presented them to Pharaoh.
3. Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What is your occupation?” They said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, both we, and our fathers.”
4. They said to Pharaoh, “We have come to live as foreigners in the land, for there is no pasture for your servants’ flocks. For the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now therefore, please let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen.”
5. Pharaoh spoke to Joseph , saying, “Your father and your brothers have come to you.
6. The land of Egypt is before you. Make your father and your brothers dwell in the best of the land. Let them dwell in the land of Goshen. If you know any able men among them, then put them in charge of my livestock.”
7. Joseph brought in Jacob , his father, and set him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.
8. Pharaoh said to Jacob , “How many are the days of the years of your life?”
9. Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred thirty years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.”
10. Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from the presence of Pharaoh.
11. Joseph placed 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 Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.
12. Joseph nourished his father, his brothers, and all of his father’s household, with bread, according to their families.
13. There was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine.
14. 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. 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 bread, for why should we die in your presence? For our money fails.”
16. Joseph said, “Give me your livestock; and I will give you food for your livestock, if your money is gone.”
17. They brought their livestock to Joseph , and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, and for the flocks, and for the herds, and for the donkeys: and he fed them with bread in exchange for all their livestock for that year.
18. When that year was ended, they came to him the second year, and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord how our money is all spent, and the herds of livestock are my lord’s. 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 to Pharaoh. Give us seed, that we may live, and not die, and that the land won’t be desolate.”
20. So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine was severe on them, and the land became Pharaoh’s.
21. As for the people, he moved them to the cities from one end of the border of Egypt even to the other end of it.
22. Only he didn’t buy the land of the priests, for the priests had a portion from Pharaoh, and ate their portion which Pharaoh gave them. That is why they didn’t sell their land.
23. Then Joseph said to the people, “Behold, I have bought you and your land today for Pharaoh. Behold, here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land.
24. It will happen at the harvests, that you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four parts will be your own, for seed of the field, for your food, for them of your households, and for food for your little ones.”
25. They said, “You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.”
26. Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth. Only the land of the priests alone didn’t become Pharaoh’s.
27. Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen; and they got themselves possessions therein, and were fruitful, and multiplied exceedingly.