Bible in 90 Days

¹² Joseph said to him, “This is its interpretation: The three branches are three days. ¹³ Within three days, Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your office. You will place Pharaoh’s cup into his hand, the way you used to do when you were his cupbearer. ¹⁴ But remember me when everything is going well for you. Please show kindness to me, and mention me to Pharaoh, and bring me out of this jail, ¹⁵ because I was kidnapped from the land of the Hebrews, and I also have done nothing here to deserve to be put into the dungeon.”

¹⁶ When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was favorable, he said to Joseph, “I also had a dream. I saw three baskets of white bread on my head. ¹⁷ In the top basket there were all kinds of baked goods for Pharaoh, but the birds ate them out of the basket on my head.”

¹⁸ Joseph answered, “This is its interpretation: The three baskets are three days. ¹⁹ Within three days, Pharaoh will lift up your head from upon you and will hang you on a tree, and the birds will eat your flesh off of you.”

²⁰ And so it was that on the third day, which was Pharaoh’s birthday, Pharaoh had a feast prepared for all his officials, and he lifted up the head of the chief cupbearer and the head of the chief baker among his officials. ²¹ He restored the chief cupbearer to his position again, and he again placed the cup into Pharaoh’s hand. ²² But he hanged the chief baker, just as Joseph had explained to them. ²³ Nevertheless, the chief cupbearer did not remember Joseph, but forgot him.

Pharaoh’s Dreams

41 At the end of two full years Pharaoh also had a dream. In the dream he was standing beside the river. ² There, right in front of him, seven beautiful, fat cows came up out of the river and were grazing in the marsh grass. ³ Just then seven ugly, thin cows came up out of the river behind them, and they stood beside the other cows on the bank of the river. ⁴ The ugly, thin cows ate up the seven beautiful, fat cows. Then Pharaoh woke up.

⁵ Pharaoh fell asleep again and dreamed a second time. He saw seven healthy, good heads of grain come up on one stalk. ⁶ Right after that, seven thin heads of grain, blasted by the east wind, sprang up after them. ⁷ The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven healthy, full heads. Pharaoh woke up and realized that it was a dream. ⁸ The next morning he was very troubled, so he sent for all of Egypt’s magicians^[a] and wise men. Pharaoh told them his dreams, but there was no one who could interpret them for Pharaoh.

⁹ Then the chief cupbearer said to Pharaoh, “Today I remember my faults. ¹⁰ Pharaoh was angry with his servants and put me in custody in the house of the captain of the guard—me and the chief baker. ¹¹ We each had a dream during the same night—he and I. Each of us dreamed a dream that had its own interpretation. ¹² There was a young man with us, a Hebrew, a servant to the captain of the guard, and we told him our dreams, and he interpreted our dreams for us. To each man he gave the interpretation of his dream. ¹³ It turned out exactly as he interpreted them for us. Pharaoh restored me to my office but hanged the chief baker.”

¹⁴ Then Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and they brought him quickly out of the dungeon. Joseph shaved, changed his clothing, and went to Pharaoh.

¹⁵ Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I had a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it. I have heard it said about you, that when you hear a dream, you can interpret it.”

¹⁶ Joseph answered Pharaoh, “It is not in my power. God will give Pharaoh an answer to give him peace of mind.”

¹⁷ Pharaoh spoke to Joseph: “In my dream, there I was, standing on the bank of the river. ¹⁸ Suddenly seven fat, beautiful cows came up out of the river and were grazing in the marsh grass. ¹⁹ Just then seven poor cattle, very ugly and thin, came up after them. They were uglier than any I had ever seen in the whole land of Egypt. ²⁰ The thin, ugly cattle ate up the first seven cattle, the fat ones, ²¹ and when they had eaten them up, you could not even tell that they had eaten them, because they were still as ugly as they were at the beginning. Then I woke up.

²² “Later I had another dream, in which I saw seven heads of grain grow on one stalk. They were full and good. ²³ Then I saw seven heads of grain spring up after them. They were withered, thin, and blasted by the east wind. ²⁴ The thin heads of grain swallowed up the seven good heads of grain. I told the dream to the magicians, but there was no one who could explain it to me.”

²⁵ Joseph said to Pharaoh, “The dream of Pharaoh is one. God has declared to Pharaoh what he is about to do. ²⁶ The seven good cattle are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years. It is one dream. ²⁷ The seven thin, ugly cattle that came up after them are seven years, and also the seven empty heads of grain blasted by the east wind. They will be seven years of famine. ²⁸ This is the very thing that I told Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what he is about to do. ²⁹ Look, seven years of great abundance are coming throughout the whole land of Egypt. ³⁰ Seven years of famine will come up after them, and all the abundance in the land of Egypt will be forgotten. The famine will consume the land, ³¹ and the abundance will not be remembered in the land because of the famine that follows, for it will be very severe. ³² The double dream was shown to Pharaoh, because this matter is established by God, and God will bring it to pass very soon.”

Joseph Comes to Power

³³ “Let Pharaoh, therefore, look for a man who is wise and discerning, and set him over the land of Egypt. ³⁴ When Pharaoh does this, let him appoint overseers over the land to collect one fifth of the produce of the land of Egypt during the seven years of abundance. ³⁵ Let them collect all this food from these good years that are coming. Accumulate grain under the authority of Pharaoh to provide food for the cities, and let them store it. ³⁶ The food will be a reserve for the land against the seven years of famine that will take place in the land of Egypt so that the land does not perish because of the famine.”

³⁷ The plan seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his officials. ³⁸ Pharaoh said to his officials, “Can we find anyone else like this man, a man who has the spirit of God?”

³⁹ Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Because God has shown you all of this, there is no one as discerning and wise as you are. ⁴⁰ You shall be in charge of my house, and all my people will submit to your word. Only in regard to the throne will I be greater than you.” ⁴¹ Pharaoh also said to Joseph, “Look, I have appointed you over the whole land of Egypt.”

⁴² Pharaoh took his signet ring off of his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand. He dressed Joseph in robes made from the best linen and put a gold chain around his neck. ⁴³ He had him ride in the second best chariot that he had. Men went ahead of him crying out, “Kneel down!”^[b] Pharaoh appointed him over the whole land of Egypt. ⁴⁴ Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I am Pharaoh, but in the whole land of Egypt no one will lift up his hand or his foot without your permission.” ⁴⁵ Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath Paneah, and he gave him Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, as a wife. Joseph went out and began to rule over the land of Egypt.

⁴⁶ Joseph was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and traveled throughout the whole land of Egypt. ⁴⁷ During the seven years of abundance the earth produced plentiful harvests. ⁴⁸ He collected all the food during the seven good years in the land of Egypt, and he stored up the food in the cities. In every city he stored the food from the fields that were around the city. ⁴⁹ Joseph stored up a huge amount of grain, like the sand of the sea. Finally he stopped keeping track, because it was too much to measure.

⁵⁰ Two sons were born to Joseph before the first year of famine arrived. Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, gave birth to them. ⁵¹ Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, because he said, “God has made me forget all my trouble and all my father’s house.”^{[c] 52} He named the second son Ephraim. He said, “Yes, God has made me fruitful in the land where I was afflicted.”^[d]

⁵³ So the seven years of abundance in the land of Egypt came to an end. ⁵⁴ The seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. There was famine in every land, but in the whole land of Egypt there was bread. ⁵⁵ When the whole land of Egypt was starving, the people cried to Pharaoh for bread, and Pharaoh said to all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph. Do whatever he tells you.” ⁵⁶ The famine spread over the face of the whole earth. Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians. The famine was severe in the land of Egypt. ⁵⁷ The whole world came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain, because the famine was severe all over the whole world.

Joseph and His Brothers

42 When Jacob heard that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why are you standing here looking at each other?” ² He also said, “Listen, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us there, so that we may live and not die.” ³ So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt. ⁴ But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin along with his other brothers, because he said, “Something bad might happen to him.”

⁵ The sons of Israel were among those who came to buy grain because of the famine in the land of Canaan. ⁶ Joseph was the governor over the land. He was the one who sold grain to all the people of the land. Joseph’s brothers came and bowed down to him with their faces to the ground. ⁷ Joseph saw his brothers and recognized them, but he acted like a stranger toward them and spoke harshly to them. He asked them, “Where did you come from?”

They said, “From the land of Canaan to buy food.”

⁸ Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him. ⁹ Joseph remembered the dreams that he had dreamed about them and said to them, “You are spies! You have come to see where the land is exposed.”

¹⁰ They said to him, “No, my lord, your servants have come to buy food. ¹¹ We are all one man’s sons. We are honest men. Your servants are not spies.”

¹² He said to them, “No, you have come to see where the land is exposed!”

¹³ They said, “We, your servants, are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. Listen, at the present time the youngest remains with our father, and one is no more.”

¹⁴ Joseph said to them, “It is just as I said. You are spies! ¹⁵ This is how you will be tested: By the life of Pharaoh, you shall never get out of here, unless your youngest brother comes here. ¹⁶ Send one of you to get your brother. The rest of you will be kept under arrest, so that your words may be tested, whether you are telling the truth. Otherwise, by the life of Pharaoh, you are spies.” ¹⁷ He kept them all together, confined in the jail for three days.

¹⁸ On the third day Joseph said to them, “Do what I tell you and you will live, because I fear God. ¹⁹ If you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined in the jail, but the rest of you go and deliver grain to your houses to relieve the famine. ²⁰ Bring your youngest brother to me so that your words may be verified, and you will not die.” So they did as he said.

²¹ They said to one another, “We are certainly guilty concerning our brother, because we saw the misery of his soul when he begged us, but we would not listen. That is why this misery has come upon us.”

²² Reuben answered them, “Didn’t I tell you, ‘Do not sin against the boy’? But you would not listen. So now payment for his blood is being required from us.”

²³ They did not know that Joseph understood them, because an interpreter was being used between them. ²⁴ Joseph turned away from them and wept. After he returned and spoke to them, he seized Simeon from among them and tied him up before their very eyes. ²⁵ Then Joseph gave a command to fill their containers with grain, to return each man’s money into his sack, and to give them food for the journey. So all this was done for them.

²⁶ They loaded their donkeys with their grain and departed from there. ²⁷ When one of them opened his sack at the lodging place to give his donkey food, he saw his money. It was right there in the mouth of his bag. ²⁸ He said to his brothers, “My money has been returned! Look, there it is, in my bag!” Their hearts sank, and they turned to one another trembling and said, “What is this that God has done to us?”

²⁹ They came to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan and told him everything that had happened to them. They said, ³⁰ “The man, the lord of the land, spoke harshly to us and accused us of being spies against the country. ³¹ We said to him, ‘We are honest men. We are not spies. ³² We are twelve brothers, sons of our father. One brother is no more, and at the present time the youngest is with our father in the land of Canaan.’ ³³ That man, the lord of the land, said to us, ‘This is how I will know that you are honest men: Leave one of your brothers with me. Take grain to relieve the famine at your houses, and go on your way. ³⁴ Bring your youngest brother to me. Then I will know that you are not spies, but that you are honest men. Then I will release your brother to you, and you will be allowed to conduct business in the land.’”

³⁵ Then as they emptied their sacks, they were surprised to see that each man’s pouch of money was in his sack. When they and their father saw their pouch of money, they were afraid.

³⁶ Jacob, their father, said to them, “You have deprived me of my children! Joseph is no more. Simeon is no more. And now you want to take Benjamin away. All these things are against me.”

³⁷ Reuben spoke to his father, “You may put my two sons to death if I do not bring him back to you. Entrust him to my care, and I will bring him back to you again.”

³⁸ Jacob said, “My son shall not go down with you, since his brother is dead, and he alone is left. If he has a mishap on the journey that you are taking, you will bring my gray hairs down to the grave with sorrow.”

43 The famine in the land was severe, ² so when they had eaten all the grain that they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go back and buy a little more food for us.”

³ Judah said to him, “The man sternly warned us, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ ⁴ If you send our brother with us, we will go down and buy food for you, ⁵ but if you do not send him, we will not go down, because the man said to us, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’”

⁶ Israel said, “Why did you treat me so badly by telling the man that you had another brother?”

⁷ They said, “The man interrogated us about ourselves and about our relatives. He asked, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ We just answered his questions. Is there any way we could have known that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down here’?”

⁸ Judah said to his father Israel, “Send the boy with me, and we will get up and go, so that we may live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones. ⁹ I will serve as a guarantee for him. You can hold me accountable for him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him in front of you, then let me bear the blame forever. ¹⁰ Look, if we had not delayed, we certainly could have returned for a second time by now.”

¹¹ Their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then this is what you should do: Put some of the best products of the land into your containers and take a gift for the man: a little balm, a little honey, spices and myrrh, pistachios and almonds. ¹² Also take double the amount of silver with you. Take back the silver that was returned into the mouths of your bags. Perhaps it was an oversight. ¹³ Also take your brother. Get going and return to the man. ¹⁴ May God Almighty grant you mercy before the man, so that he will release your other brother and Benjamin to you. But if I am deprived of my children, I am deprived.”

¹⁵ The men took that present, and they took double the amount of silver with them. They also took Benjamin. They got up, went down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph. ¹⁶ When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the manager^[e] of his house, “Bring the men into the house. Butcher an animal and prepare it, for the men will dine with me at noon.”

¹⁷ The manager did as Joseph commanded and brought the men to Joseph’s house. ¹⁸ The brothers were afraid, because they were brought to Joseph’s house. They said, “Because of the money that was returned into our bags the first time, we are being brought in, so that he may find a pretext against us, pounce on us, seize us as slaves, and take our donkeys.”

¹⁹ They approached the manager of Joseph’s house and spoke to him at the door of the house. ²⁰ They said, “Please, my lord, we really did come down the first time to buy food. ²¹ When we came to the lodging place, we opened our bags, and to our surprise each man’s silver was in the mouth of his bag, the full amount of our money.^[f] We have brought it back with us. ²² We have also brought down with us additional money to buy food. We do not know who put our money into our bags.”

²³ He said, “There is no problem. Do not be afraid. Your God, the God of your father, has given you treasure in your bags. I received your money.” He brought Simeon out to them. ²⁴ The man brought the men into Joseph’s house and gave them water, so they could wash their feet. He gave their donkeys fodder. ²⁵ They prepared the gift for Joseph, who was coming at noon, because they heard that they would be eating bread there.

²⁶ When Joseph came home, they presented him with the gift that they had brought to the house, and they bowed down to the ground in front of him. ²⁷ He asked them about their welfare: “Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?”

²⁸ They said, “Your servant, our father, is well. He is still alive.”^[g] They bowed down and prostrated themselves.

²⁹ Joseph looked up and saw Benjamin, his brother, his mother’s son, and he asked, “Is this your youngest brother, the one you told me about?” He said, “God be gracious to you, my son.” ³⁰ Joseph hurried out, because he was overcome by his emotions over his brother, and he looked for a place to weep. He went into his room and wept there. ³¹ Then he washed his face and came out. After he regained control of himself, he said, “Serve the meal.”

³² They served Joseph by himself, the brothers by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because the Egyptians do not eat with Hebrews, for that is repulsive to the Egyptians. ³³ The brothers were seated in front of him. They were lined up in order, starting with the firstborn based on his birthright down to the youngest based on his youth, and the men expressed their amazement to each other. ³⁴ He sent servings to them from his table, but Benjamin’s portion was five times as much as any of theirs. They were drinking and they were feeling the effects.^[h]

44 Joseph commanded the manager of his house, “Fill the men’s bags with food, as much as they can carry. Put each man’s money into the mouth of his bag. ² Put my cup, the silver cup, into the mouth of the bag of the youngest, along with his money for the grain.” The manager did exactly what Joseph told him to do.

³ As soon as it became light in the morning, the men were sent on their way, with their donkeys. ⁴ When they had left the city and still were not very far away, Joseph said to his manager, “Get up. Pursue those men. When you overtake them, ask them, ‘Why have you repaid evil for good? ⁵ Isn’t this the cup that my lord drinks from and that he uses for divination? By doing this you have done evil.’” ⁶ The steward caught up to them and spoke those words to them.

⁷ They replied to him, “Why does my lord say such things? Your servants would never do such a thing! ⁸ That money, which we found in the mouths of our bags—we brought it back to you from the land of Canaan. Why then would we steal silver or gold out of your lord’s house? ⁹ If your cup is found with any of your servants, let him die, and we also will be my lord’s slaves.”

¹⁰ He said, “Fine, it will be just as you have said. If it is found with anyone, he will be my slave, and the rest of you will be blameless.”

¹¹ Then each man quickly lowered his bag to the ground, and each man opened his bag. ¹² The manager searched, beginning with the oldest and finishing with the youngest, and the cup was found in Benjamin’s bag. ¹³ Then they tore their clothing, and each man loaded his donkey and returned to the city.

¹⁴ When Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, he was still there. They fell to the ground before him. ¹⁵ Joseph said to them, “What did you think you were doing? Didn’t you know that a man like me can discover things by divination?”

¹⁶ Judah said, “What can we tell my lord? What can we say? How can we clear ourselves? God has exposed the guilt of your servants. Here we are. We are my lord’s slaves, both we and the one in whose hand the cup was found.”

¹⁷ Joseph said, “I would never do that. The man in whose hand the cup was found will be my slave, but as for the rest of you, go up in peace to your father.”

¹⁸ Then Judah approached him and said, “O my lord, please let your servant speak to my lord directly. Do not let your anger burn against your servant, because you are just like Pharaoh. ¹⁹ My lord asked his servants, ‘Do you have a father or a brother?’ ²⁰ We said to my lord, ‘We have a father, an old man, and a child from his old age, a young one. His brother is dead, and he alone is left from his mother, and his father loves him.’ ²¹ You said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me, so that I may see him with my own eyes.’ ²² We said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father, for if he were to leave his father, his father would die.’ ²³ You said to your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will never see my face again.’ ²⁴ And so it was that when we came to your servant, my father, we told him about the words of my lord. ²⁵ Our father said, ‘Go again. Buy us a little food.’ ²⁶ We said, ‘We cannot go down. If our youngest brother is with us, we will go down, because we cannot 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 gave birth to two sons for me. ²⁸ The one has departed from me and I said, “I am sure he is torn to pieces,” and I have not seen him since. ²⁹ If you take this one away from me as well, and mishap comes upon him, you will bring my gray hairs down to the grave with sorrow.’ ³⁰ So now when I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us, since my father’s life is bound up in the boy’s life, ³¹ when he sees that the boy is no more, he will die. Your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant, our father, to the grave with sorrow. ³² For your servant became a guarantee for the boy to my father. I said, ‘If I do not bring him to you, then I will bear the blame before my father forever.’ ³³ So 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? How could I stand to see the evil that will come on my father?”

45 Joseph was unable to control himself in front of all his attendants, so he called out, “Send everyone out from my presence!” When no one else was left with him, Joseph revealed himself to his brothers. ² He wept out loud. The Egyptians heard him, and the house of Pharaoh heard about it. ³ Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?”

His brothers could not answer him, because they were terrified by his presence. ⁴ Joseph said to his brothers, “Come closer to me, please.”

They came closer. He said, “I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. ⁵ Now do not be upset or angry with yourselves for selling me to this place, since God sent me ahead of you to preserve life. ⁶ For two years now the famine has been in the land, and there are still five more years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest. ⁷ God sent me ahead of you to preserve you as survivors on the earth, and to keep you alive by a great act of deliverance. ⁸ So it was not you who sent me here, but God, and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord over his entire household, and ruler over the whole land of Egypt. ⁹ Hurry, 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. Do not delay. ¹⁰ You shall live in the land of Goshen, where you will be close to me—you, your children, your grandchildren, your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. ¹¹ I will take care of you here, for there are still five years of famine. Otherwise you will come to ruin, you, and your household, and all that you have.”’ ¹² Pay attention. Your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is my mouth that speaks to you. ¹³ You shall tell my father all about my position of honor in Egypt and about everything that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.”

¹⁴ He threw his arms around his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his shoulder. ¹⁵ He kissed all his brothers and wept over them. After that his brothers talked with him.

¹⁶ This report was heard in Pharaoh’s house: “Joseph’s brothers have come.” This pleased Pharaoh and his officials.

¹⁷ Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Tell your brothers, ‘Load your animals. Travel quickly to the land of Canaan. ¹⁸ Get your father and your households, and return to me, and I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you will eat the rich food of the land. ¹⁹ Now I command you to do this: Take carts^[i] from the land of Egypt for your little ones and your wives, and bring your father here. ²⁰ Also, do not worry about your belongings, for the best of the whole land of Egypt is yours.’”

²¹ So that is what the sons of Israel did. Joseph gave them carts as Pharaoh had commanded, and he gave them supplies for the journey. ²² He gave each one of them a change of clothing, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of clothing. ²³ He sent the following to his father: ten donkeys loaded with the best things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and supplies for his father on the journey. ²⁴ So he dismissed his brothers, and they departed. He said to them, “See to it that you do not quarrel on the way.”

²⁵ They went up from Egypt and came to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan. ²⁶ They told him, “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” He was stunned^[j] because he did not believe them. ²⁷ They told Jacob every word that Joseph had said to them. When he saw the carts that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived.

²⁸ Israel said, “It is enough. Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”

Jacob Goes to Egypt

46 Israel traveled with all that he had until he came to Beersheba, where he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. ² God called to Israel in a vision at night, “Jacob, Jacob!”

Jacob said, “I am here.”

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

⁵ Jacob set out from Beersheba, and the sons of Israel transported Jacob their father, their little ones, and their wives in the carts that Pharaoh had sent to transport him. ⁶ They took their livestock and their property that they had acquired in the land of Canaan and came into Egypt—Jacob, and all his offspring with him, ⁷ his sons and his grandsons, his daughters and his granddaughters. So he brought all his offspring with him into Egypt.

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

²⁶ The total number of souls who came with Jacob into Egypt, who were his direct descendants, besides Jacob’s sons’ wives, was sixty-six. ²⁷ The sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt, were two souls.

The total number of the souls in the house of Jacob who came into Egypt was seventy.^[l]

²⁸ Jacob sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to lead the way to Goshen. And so they arrived in the land of Goshen. ²⁹ Joseph prepared his chariot and went to meet Israel his father in Goshen. He approached him, hugged him, and wept on his shoulder for a long time. ³⁰ Israel said to Joseph, “Now I am ready to die, since I have seen you face-to-face and you are still alive.”

³¹ Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s family, “I will go up and speak with Pharaoh. I will tell him, ‘My brothers and my father’s household, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me. ³² These men are shepherds. They make their living taking care of livestock, and they have brought with them their flocks and their herds, and all that they have.’ ³³ This is what you should say when Pharaoh summons 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.’ Ask for the right to live in the land of Goshen, for every shepherd is repulsive to the Egyptians.”

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

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

They answered Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, both we and our fathers.” ⁴ They said to Pharaoh, “We have come to reside as aliens 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 let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen.”

⁵ Pharaoh responded to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you. ⁶ The land of Egypt is open to you. Arrange for your father and your brothers to dwell in the best of the land. Let them settle in the land of Goshen. If you know any capable men among them, then put them in charge of my livestock.”

⁷ Joseph brought Jacob his father and presented him to Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. ⁸ Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How many are the days and the years of your life?”

⁹ Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days and the years of my wandering are one hundred thirty years. The days and the years of my life have been few and full of trouble, and they have not been as many as the days and the years of the lives of my fathers during the days of their wandering.” ¹⁰ Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from the presence of Pharaoh.

¹¹ Joseph settled his father and his brothers and gave them property in the land of Egypt, in the best part of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. ¹² Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all of his father’s household with food, based on the number in their families.

The Famine

¹³ There was no food in all the land because the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan grew weak because of the famine. ¹⁴ Joseph collected all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan as payment for the grain that they purchased, and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s palace. ¹⁵ When all the money in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan had been spent, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us bread, for why should we die right in front of your eyes? Look, our money is running out.”

¹⁶ So 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 food in exchange for the horses, and for the flocks, and for the herds, and for the donkeys. He supplied them with food for that year in exchange for all their livestock. ¹⁸ When that year was ended, they came to him during the second year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord the fact that our money is all spent, and the herds of livestock belong to my lord. My lord can see that we have nothing left but our bodies and our lands. ¹⁹ Why should we die right in front of your eyes, both we and our land? Purchase us and our land in exchange for bread, and we along with our land will serve Pharaoh. Give us seed, so that we may live and not die, so that the land will not be desolate.”

²⁰ So Joseph purchased all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh, because every man among the Egyptians sold his field, because the famine had them in its grip, and the land became Pharaoh’s. ²¹ As for the people, he made them all servants from one end of the territory of Egypt all the way to the other end of it.^{[m] 22} The land that belonged to the priests was the only land that he did not purchase, because the priests had a regular allotment from Pharaoh and ate from the allotment that Pharaoh gave them. That is why they did not sell their land. ²³ Then Joseph said to the people, “Since I have purchased you and your land today for Pharaoh, here is seed for you to sow the land. ²⁴ This is what you shall do at the harvests: Give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four fifths will be your own share, which you can use as seed to sow the field and as food for yourselves, for everyone in your household, and 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 regulation concerning the farmland in Egypt to this day, that Pharaoh should receive a fifth of the produce. Only the land of the priests did not become Pharaoh’s.

²⁷ Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen, and they acquired possessions for themselves there. They were fruitful and multiplied greatly. ²⁸ Jacob lived in the land of Egypt for seventeen years. So the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were one hundred forty-seven years. ²⁹ The time drew near that Israel must die, so he called his son Joseph and said to him, “If now I have found favor in your sight, please put your hand under my thigh and deal kindly and truthfully with me. Please do not bury me in Egypt, ³⁰ but when I rest with my fathers, you are to carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place.”

He said, “I will do as you have said.”

³¹ He said, “Swear to me,” and he swore to him. Israel bowed himself on the head post of the bed.^[n]

Jacob Blesses Ephraim and Manasseh

48 Sometime after these things Joseph was told, “Come right away. Your father is sick.” So he took his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, with him. ² Jacob was told, “Look, your son Joseph is coming to you,” so Israel gathered his strength and sat up on the bed.

³ Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me. ⁴ He said to me, ‘I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make you into a community of peoples, and I will give this land to your descendants after you as a permanent possession.’ ⁵ Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, will be counted as mine. Ephraim and Manasseh will count as my sons the same as Reuben and Simeon. ⁶ Your sons that you father after them will count as your own. For receiving their inheritance they will be registered under the name of their brothers. ⁷ As for me, when I came back from Paddan, to my loss^[o] Rachel died on the journey in the land of Canaan when we were still some distance from Ephrath, and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).”

⁸ Israel saw Joseph’s sons and asked, “Who are these boys?”

⁹ Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons, whom God has given me here.”

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

¹⁰ Now the eyes of Israel were failing because of his age, and he could not see. Joseph brought the boys close to Jacob, and he kissed them and embraced them. ¹¹ Israel said to Joseph, “I did not think I would see your face, but now God has let me see your offspring also.” ¹² Joseph moved them from Jacob’s lap, and he bowed down with his face to the ground. ¹³ Joseph led them both. He led Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them close to him. ¹⁴ But Israel, crossing his hands, stretched out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, though 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, he was displeased. He held up 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, my son. I know. He also will become a people, and he also will be great. However, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his descendants will become a multitude of nations.” ²⁰ He blessed them that day with these words: “Israel will pronounce a blessing using your name, saying, ‘May God make you like Ephraim and like Manasseh.’” So he placed Ephraim ahead of Manasseh.

²¹ Israel said to Joseph, “You see that I am dying, but God will be with you and will bring you again to the land of your fathers. ²² In addition, I have given to you one share more than your brothers: the ridge of Shechem^[p] that I took out of the hand of the Amorites with my sword and with my bow.”

Jacob Blesses His Sons

49 Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather together, so that I can declare to you what will happen to you in the days to come.” ^[q]

²⁸ All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke to them when he blessed them. He blessed each one with the appropriate blessing. ²⁹ He instructed them and said to them, “I am going 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 at Machpelah, which is near Mamre in the land of Canaan, which Abraham purchased along with the field from Ephron the Hittite as a burial place. ³¹ There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife. There they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah. ³² The field and the cave that is in it was purchased from the descendants of Heth.”^[z]

The Death and Burial of Jacob

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

50 Joseph put his face against his father’s face, wept over him, and kissed him. ² Joseph commanded the physicians who served him to embalm his father, so the physicians embalmed Israel. ³ Forty days were set aside for him, for that is how many days it takes to embalm. The Egyptians mourned for him for seventy days.

⁴ When the days of mourning for Jacob were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh. He said, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak directly to Pharaoh for me and say ⁵ that my father made me take an oath. He said to me, ‘Look, I am dying. Bury me in my tomb that I have dug for myself in the land of Canaan.’ Now therefore, please let me go up and bury my father, and I will return here again.”

⁶ Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, just as he made you swear to do.”

⁷ Joseph went up to bury his father, and all the officials of Pharaoh went up with him: the senior officials of Pharaoh’s household, all the elders of the land of Egypt, ⁸ all the household of Joseph, his brothers, and his father’s household. Only their little ones, their flocks, and their herds were left in the land of Goshen. ⁹ Both chariots and horsemen went up with him. It was a very great entourage.

¹⁰ They came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is on the other side of the Jordan, and there they mourned with a very loud and bitter lament. Joseph mourned for his father seven days. ¹¹ When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, witnessed the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a very solemn mourning by the Egyptians.” That is why they named the place Abel Mizraim.^[aa] It is beyond the Jordan. ¹² His sons did for him just what he commanded them to do: ¹³ They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field at Machpelah, which Abraham had purchased along with the field. He purchased it from Ephron the Hittite, as a piece of property for a burial site near Mamre. ¹⁴ After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt—he and his brothers, and all who had gone up with him to bury his father.

Joseph and His Brothers

¹⁵ When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us and will pay us back in full for all of the evil that we did to him.”

¹⁶ They sent the following message to Joseph: “Before he died your father commanded us, ¹⁷ ‘You are to tell Joseph, “Please forgive the offense of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you.”’ Now, please forgive the offense of the servants of the God of your father.”

Joseph wept when they spoke to him.

¹⁸ His brothers also came and fell down in front of him, and they said, “See now, we are your servants.”

¹⁹ Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God? ²⁰ You meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring this to pass and to keep many people alive, as it is this day. ²¹ Now therefore, do not be afraid. I will nourish you and your little ones.” He comforted them and spoke to them in a kind way.

The Death of Joseph

²² Joseph lived in Egypt, he and his father’s household. Joseph lived one hundred ten years. ²³ He saw Ephraim’s children to the third generation. The children also of Makir, the son of Manasseh, were placed on Joseph’s knees when they were born. ²⁴ Joseph said to his brothers, “I am dying, but God will surely visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” ²⁵ Joseph made the descendants of Israel swear an oath. He said, “God will surely visit you. Then you shall carry my bones up from here.” ²⁶ So Joseph died when he was one hundred ten years old, and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.