Genesis 44:27-45:11

New International Version

²⁷ “Your servant my father^(A) said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons.^{(B) 28} One of them went away from me, and I said, “He has surely been torn to pieces.”^(C) And I have not seen him since.^{(D) 29} If you take this one from me too and harm comes to him, you will bring my gray head down to the grave^(E) in misery.’^(F)

³⁰ “So now, if the boy is not with us when I go back to your servant my father,^(G) and if my father, whose life is closely bound up with the boy’s life,^{(H) 31} sees that the boy isn’t there, he will die.^(I) Your servants^(J) will bring the gray head of our father down to the grave^(K) in sorrow. ³² Your servant guaranteed the boy’s safety to my father. I said, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, I will bear the blame before you, my father, all my life!’^(L)

³³ “Now then, please let your servant remain here as my lord’s slave^(M) in place of the boy,^(N) and let the boy return with his brothers. ³⁴ How can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? No! Do not let me see the misery^(O) that would come on my father.”^(P)

Joseph Makes Himself Known

45 Then Joseph could no longer control himself^(Q) before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Have everyone leave my presence!”^(R) So there was no one with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers. ² And he wept^(S) so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh’s household heard about it.^(T)

³ Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still living?”^(U) But his brothers were not able to answer him,^(V) because they were terrified at his presence.^(W)

⁴ Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me.”^(X) When they had done so, he said, “I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt!^{(Y) 5} And now, do not be distressed^(Z) and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here,^(AA) because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.^{(AB) 6} For two years now there has been famine^(AC) in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing and reaping. ⁷ But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant^(AD) on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.^[a](AE)

⁸ “So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God.^(AF) He made me father^(AG) to Pharaoh, lord of his entire household and ruler of all Egypt.^{(AH) 9} Now hurry^(AI) back 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; don’t delay.^{(AJ) 10} You shall live in the region of Goshen^(AK) and be near me—you, your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and all you have.^{(AL) 11} I will provide for you there,^(AM) because five years of famine^(AN) are still to come. Otherwise you and your household and all who belong to you will become destitute.’^(AO)