Genesis 44-49

Modern English Version

Joseph Detains Benjamin

44 Then he commanded the steward of 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. ² Put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest, along with his grain money.” And he did according to what Joseph had spoken.

³ As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away, they and their donkeys. ⁴ When they were gone out of the city, but not yet far off, Joseph said to his steward, “Get up, follow after the men. When you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you rewarded evil for good? ⁵ Is this not the one from which my lord drinks and uses as he practices divination? You have done evil in doing this.’ ”

⁶ So he overtook them, and he spoke to them these same words. ⁷ They said to him, “Why does my lord say these words? Far be it from your servants that they should do such a thing. ⁸ Look, we brought back to you from the land of Canaan the money that we found in the top of our sacks. Why then would we steal silver or gold from your lord’s house? ⁹ Whichever of your servants is found with it shall die, and the rest of us will become my lord’s slaves.”

¹⁰ He said, “Now let it also be according to your words. He with whom it is found shall be my slave, and you will be blameless.”

¹¹ Then every man hurriedly took down his sack to the ground, and every man opened his sack. ¹² He searched, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest. The cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. ¹³ Then they tore their clothes, and every man loaded his donkey and returned to the city.

¹⁴ When Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, he was still there; and they fell to the ground before him. ¹⁵ Joseph said to them, “What deed is this that you have done? Did you not know that such a man as I can certainly practice divination?”

¹⁶ And Judah said, “What shall we say to my lord? What shall we speak? Or how shall we clear ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants. Here we are, my lord’s servants, both we and he also in whose possession the cup was found.”

¹⁷ But he said, “Far be it from me that I should do so. The man in whose possession the cup was found shall be my slave; but as for you, go up in peace to your father.”

Judah’s Plea for Benjamin

¹⁸ Then Judah approached him and said, “O my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord’s ears, and do not be angry with your servant, for you are equal to Pharaoh. 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, and a young brother, the child of his old age. 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, so 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, his father would die.’ ²³ You said to your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.’ ²⁴ When we went back to your servant, my father, we told him the words of my lord.

²⁵ “Our father said, ‘Go again and buy us a little food.’ ²⁶ We said, ‘We cannot 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 was torn in pieces,” and I have not seen him since. ²⁹ And if you take this one also from me and he is harmed, you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.’

³⁰ “Now therefore when I come to your servant, my father, and the boy is not with us, as his life is bound up in the boy’s life, ³¹ when 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 the grave. ³² For your servant became surety for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I fail to bring him to you, then I shall bear the blame to my father forever.’

³³ “Now therefore, please let your servant stay as a slave to my lord instead of the boy, and let the boy go up with his brothers. ³⁴ For how can I go up to my father if the boy is not with me, lest perhaps I see the evil that would find my father?”

Joseph Reveals His Identity

45 Then Joseph could not restrain himself before all who stood by him, and he cried out, “Make every man go out from me.” So no man stood with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. ² He wept so loudly that the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard about it.

³ Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed in his presence.

⁴ Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come near to me,” and they came near. Then he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. ⁵ Now do not be upset or angry with yourselves because 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 still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. ⁷ God sent me ahead of you to preserve you as a remnant on the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

⁸ “So now it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of his entire household and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt. ⁹ Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says, “God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not delay. ¹⁰ And you will dwell in the land of Goshen, and you will be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, along with your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. ¹¹ I will provide for you there, for there are still five years of famine to come, lest you and your household, and all that you have, come to poverty.” ’

¹² “Your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is my mouth that is speaking to you. ¹³ You must tell my father of all my glory in Egypt and of all that you have seen, and you must hurry and 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 kissed all his brothers and wept on them. After that his brothers talked with him.

¹⁶ When the news reached Pharaoh’s palace that Joseph’s brothers had come, it pleased Pharaoh and his servants. ¹⁷ Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this. Load your animals and go to the land of Canaan. ¹⁸ Get your father and your households and come to me, and I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you shall eat the fat of the land.’

¹⁹ “You are also commanded to say, ‘Do this: Take your wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and get your father and come. ²⁰ Also do not concern yourself with your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’ ”

²¹ So the sons of Israel did so, and Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provisions for the journey. ²² To each of them he gave a change of clothes, but he gave to Benjamin three hundred shekels of silver^[a] and five changes of clothes. ²³ To his father he sent the following: ten donkeys loaded with the best things of Egypt and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and provisions for his father on the journey. ²⁴ So he sent his brothers away, and they departed. He said to them, “Do not quarrel on the way.”

²⁵ They went up out of Egypt and came to the land of Canaan to Jacob their father. ²⁶ They told him, “Joseph is still alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt.” And Jacob’s heart stood still because he could not believe them. ²⁷ They told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. ²⁸ Then Israel said, “Enough! Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”

Jacob’s Journey to Egypt

46 So Israel set out 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 visions of the night and said, “Jacob, Jacob.”

And he said, “Here I am.”

³ Then He said, “I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. ⁴ I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you back again. And Joseph’s own hand shall close your eyes.”

⁵ Jacob arose from Beersheba, and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father and their little ones and their wives in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent to carry him. ⁶ They took their livestock and their possessions that they had acquired in the land of Canaan, and came to Egypt, Jacob and all his descendants with him. ⁷ He brought with him to Egypt his sons and his sons’ sons, his daughters and his sons’ daughters, and all his descendants.

⁸ These were the names of the sons of Israel, Jacob and his sons, who came to Egypt:

¹⁵ These were the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan Aram, with his daughter Dinah. All his sons and his daughters numbered thirty-three.

¹⁸ These were the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter; and these she bore to Jacob, sixteen in all.

²² These were the sons of Rachel who were born to Jacob, fourteen in all.

²⁵ These were the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to Rachel his daughter, and she bore these to Jacob, seven in all.

²⁶ All those who came with Jacob to Egypt, who were direct descendants, besides the wives of Jacob’s sons, were sixty-six in all. ²⁷ And the sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt, were two. All those of the house of Jacob who came to Egypt were seventy.

Jacob Settles in Goshen

²⁸ Now he sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to get directions to Goshen. And they came into the land of Goshen. ²⁹ Joseph readied his chariot and went up to Goshen to meet Israel his father. As soon as he appeared to him, he fell on his neck and wept on his neck a long time.

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

³¹ Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “I will go up and tell Pharaoh and say to him, ‘My brothers and my father’s household, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me. ³² The men are shepherds; their work has been to feed livestock, and they have brought their flocks and their herds and all that they have.’ ³³ When Pharaoh calls you and asks, ‘What is your occupation?’ ³⁴ you shall say, ‘Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth even until now, both we and our fathers,’ so that you may dwell in the land of Goshen, because every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians.”

47 Then Joseph went and told Pharaoh, “My father and my brothers and their flocks and their herds and all that they possess have come from the land of Canaan and are now in the land of Goshen.” ² He took five men from among his brothers and presented them before Pharaoh.

³ Pharaoh asked his brothers, “What is your occupation?”

And they said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, both we and also our fathers.” ⁴ They said to Pharaoh, “We have come to sojourn in the land, for your servants have no pasture for their flocks, because the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now therefore, please allow your servants to 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. Have your father and your brothers dwell in the best of the land. Have them dwell in the land of Goshen, and if you know any capable men among them, then put them in charge over my livestock.”

⁷ Then Joseph brought in Jacob his father and presented him to Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. ⁸ Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How old are you?”

⁹ And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty years. My days of the years of my life have been few and evil, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the lives of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.” ¹⁰ And Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from his presence.

¹¹ So Joseph settled his father and his brothers and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best part of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. ¹² Joseph provided food for his father, his brothers, and his father’s entire household, according to the number of their children.

Joseph and the Famine

¹³ There was no food in all the land, for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and all the land of Canaan languished because 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 that 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 food, for why should we die in your presence? For our money is gone.”

¹⁶ Joseph said, “Give 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 food in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the herds, and the donkeys; and he fed them with food 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 it from our lord, that our money is all spent. Our 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 food, and we and our land will be slaves to Pharaoh. Also give us seed, so that we may live and not die, so that the land will not be desolate.”

²⁰ So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for every Egyptian man sold his field because the famine was severe on them. So the land became Pharaoh’s. ²¹ As for the people, he removed them to cities from one end of the borders of Egypt to the other end. ²² Only the land of the priests he did not buy; for the priests had an allotment from Pharaoh, and they lived off their allotment that Pharaoh gave them. Therefore they did not sell their lands.

²³ Then Joseph said to the people, “I have bought you and your land today for Pharaoh; here is seed for you so you may sow the land. ²⁴ At the harvest, you must give a fifth part to Pharaoh and four parts will be your own, as seed for the field and for your food and for those of your households and for food for your little ones.”

²⁵ They said, “You have saved our lives. Let us find grace in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s slaves.”

²⁶ So Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth part, except from the land of the priests, which did not become Pharaoh’s.

Jacob’s Request of Joseph

²⁷ Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen, and they had possessions there and grew and became very numerous.

²⁸ And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years, so the years of Jacob’s life were one hundred and forty-seven years. ²⁹ When the time drew near when Israel would die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “If now I have found grace in your sight, please put your hand under my thigh and deal kindly and truly with me. Please do not bury me in Egypt, ³⁰ but let me lie with my fathers. Carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place.”

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

³¹ And he said, “Swear to me,” and he swore to him. Then Israel bowed himself at the head of his bed.

Jacob Blesses Joseph’s Sons

48 After these things, Joseph was told, “Your father is sick.” So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim with him. ² When Jacob was told, “Your son Joseph is coming to you,” Israel strengthened himself and sat up in the bed.

³ Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me. ⁴ And He said to me, ‘I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make you into a multitude of people and will give this land to your descendants after you for an everlasting possession.’

⁵ “Now your two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine. ⁶ Any children you have after them will be yours and will be called by the names of their brothers in their inheritance. ⁷ As for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died beside me in the land of Canaan on the way, when there was still some distance to get to Ephrath, and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).”

⁸ Then Israel saw Joseph’s sons and said, “Whose are these?”

⁹ And Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons, whom God has given me in this place.”

And he said, “Please bring them to me, and I will bless them.”

¹⁰ Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age, so that he could not see. So Joseph brought them near to him, and he kissed them and embraced them.

¹¹ Israel said to Joseph, “I never thought I would see your face, but here God has also shown me your children.”

¹² So Joseph took them from beside his knees, and he bowed down with his face to the ground. ¹³ Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them near him. ¹⁴ Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, crossing his hands, for Manasseh was the firstborn.

¹⁵ He blessed Joseph and said,

¹⁷ When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him, and he took hold of his father’s hand to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. ¹⁸ Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head.”

¹⁹ His father refused and said, “I know it, my son, I know it. He will also become a people, and he will also be great, but truly his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become a multitude of nations.” ²⁰ He blessed them that day, saying,

So he set Ephraim before Manasseh.

²¹ Israel said to Joseph, “I am about to die, but God will be with you and return you again to the land of your fathers. ²² Moreover, I have given to you one portion more than your brothers, which I took out of the hand of the Amorites with my sword and my bow.”

Jacob Blesses His Sons^(A)

49 Jacob called to his sons and said, “Gather yourselves together, so that I may tell you what will befall you in the last days.

²⁸ These are all the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them. He blessed them, each with the blessing appropriate to him.

The Death of Jacob

²⁹ Then he charged them and said to them, “I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, ³⁰ in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought along with the field from Ephron the Hittite as a burial place. ³¹ They buried Abraham and Sarah his wife there. They buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife there, and I buried Leah there. ³² The field and the cave that is there were purchased from the children of Heth.”

³³ When Jacob finished instructing his sons, he drew his feet into the bed, breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.