Genesis 47-48

New American Standard Bible

Jacob’s Family Settles in Goshen

47 Then ^(A)Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, and said, “My father and my brothers and their flocks and their herds and all that they have, have come out of the land of Canaan; and behold, they are in the land of ^(B)Goshen.” ² And he took five men from among his brothers and ^(C)presented them to Pharaoh. ³ Then Pharaoh said to his brothers, “^(D)What is your occupation?” So they said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are ^(E)shepherds, both we and our fathers.” ⁴ They also said to Pharaoh, “^(F)We have come to reside in the land, for there is no pasture for your servants’ flocks, for ^(G)the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now, therefore, please let your servants ^(H)live in the land of Goshen.” ⁵ Then Pharaoh said to ^[a]Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you. ⁶ The land of Egypt is ^[b]at your disposal; settle your father and your brothers in ^(I)the best of the land, let them live in the land of Goshen; and if you know any ^(J)capable men among them, then ^[c]put them in charge of my livestock.”

⁷ Then Joseph brought his father Jacob and ^[d]presented him to Pharaoh; and Jacob ^(K)blessed Pharaoh. ⁸ And Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How many ^[e]years have you lived?” ⁹ So Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The ^[f](L)years of my living abroad are ^[g]130; few and ^[h]unpleasant have been the ^[i]years of my life, nor have they ^[j]attained ^(M)the ^[k]years ^[l]that my fathers lived during the days of their living abroad.” ¹⁰ So Jacob ^(N)blessed Pharaoh, and went out from ^[m]his presence. ¹¹ Now Joseph settled his father and his brothers and gave them property in the land of Egypt, in ^(O)the best of the land, in the land of ^(P)Rameses, as Pharaoh had ordered. ¹² Joseph also ^(Q)provided his father and his brothers and all his father’s household with ^[n]food, according to the ^[o]number of their little ones.

¹³ Now there was no ^[p]food in all the land, because the famine was very severe, so that ^(R)the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine. ¹⁴ And ^(S)Joseph collected all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan in payment 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 saying, “Give us ^[q]food, for ^(T)why should we die in your presence? For our money is ^[r]gone.” ¹⁶ Then Joseph said, “Give up your livestock, and I will give you food for your livestock, since your money is ^[s]gone.” ¹⁷ So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them ^[t]food in exchange for the horses and the ^[u]flocks and the herds and the donkeys; and he ^[v]fed them with ^[w]food in exchange for all their livestock ^[x]that year. ¹⁸ But when that year ended, they came to him the ^[y]next year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord the fact that our money is all spent, and the ^[z]livestock are my lord’s. There is nothing left ^[aa]for my lord except our bodies and our lands. ¹⁹ Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for ^[ab]food, and we and our land will be slaves to Pharaoh. So give us seed, so that we may live and not die, and that the land may not be desolate.”

Result of the Famine

²⁰ So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for ^[ac]every Egyptian sold his field, because the famine was severe upon them. So the land became Pharaoh’s. ²¹ As for the people, he relocated them to the cities from one end of Egypt’s border to the other. ²² Only the land of the priests he did not buy, because the priests had an allotment from Pharaoh, and they ^[ad]lived off the allotment which Pharaoh gave them. Therefore, they did not sell their land. ²³ Then Joseph said to the people, “Behold, today I have purchased you and your land for Pharaoh; now, here is seed for you, and you may sow the land. ^24 [ae]At the harvest you shall give a ^(U)fifth to Pharaoh, and ^[af]four-fifths shall be your own for seed of the field and for your food, and for those of your households and as food for your little ones.” ²⁵ So they said, “You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s slaves.” ²⁶ Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt, valid to this day, that Pharaoh was to have the fifth; ^(V)only the land of the priests ^[ag]did not become Pharaoh’s.

²⁷ Now Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in ^[ah]Goshen, and they ^(W)acquired property in it and ^(X)were fruitful and became very numerous. ²⁸ And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt for ^(Y)seventeen years; so the ^[ai]length of Jacob’s life was 147 years.

²⁹ When ^[aj](Z)the time for Israel to die drew near, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “Please, if I have found favor in your sight, ^(AA)place your hand under my thigh now and ^(AB)deal with me in kindness and ^[ak]faithfulness: please do not bury me in Egypt, ³⁰ but when I ^(AC)[al]lie down with my fathers, you shall carry me out of Egypt and bury me in ^(AD)their burial place.” And he said, “I will do as you have said.” ³¹ And he said, “^(AE)Swear to me.” So he swore to him. Then ^(AF)Israel bowed in worship at the head of the bed.

Israel’s Last Days

48 Now it came about after these things that ^[am]Joseph was told, “Behold, your father is sick.” So he took his two sons ^(AG)Manasseh and Ephraim with him. ² When ^[an]it was told to Jacob, “Behold, your son Joseph has come to you,” Israel ^[ao]collected his strength and sat ^[ap]up in the bed. ³ Then Jacob said to Joseph, “^[aq](AH)God Almighty appeared to me at ^(AI)Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me, ⁴ and He said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and numerous, and I will make you a multitude of peoples, and will give this land to your ^[ar]descendants after you as ^(AJ)an everlasting possession.’ ⁵ Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; ^(AK)Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as ^(AL)Reuben and Simeon are. ⁶ But your children that you have fathered after them shall be yours; they shall be called by the ^[as]names of their brothers in their inheritance. ⁷ Now as for me, when I came from ^(AM)Paddan, ^(AN)Rachel died, ^[at]to my sorrow, in the land of Canaan on the journey, when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath. I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).”

⁸ When Israel ^(AO)saw Joseph’s sons, he said, “Who are these?” ⁹ And Joseph said to his father, “^(AP)They are my sons, whom God has given me here.” So he said, “Bring them to me, please, so that ^(AQ)I may bless them.” ¹⁰ Now ^(AR)the eyes of Israel were so ^[au]dim from age that he could not see. And ^[av]Joseph brought them close to him, and he ^(AS)kissed them and embraced them. ¹¹ And Israel said to Joseph, “I never ^[aw]expected to see your face, and behold, God has let me see your ^[ax]children as well!” ¹² Then Joseph ^[ay]took them from his knees, and ^(AT)bowed with his face to the ground. ¹³ And Joseph took them both, Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel’s left, and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel’s right, and brought them close to him. ¹⁴ But Israel reached out his right hand and placed it on the head of Ephraim, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, crossing his hands, although ^(AU)Manasseh was the firstborn. ¹⁵ And he blessed Joseph, and said,

¹⁷ When Joseph saw that his father ^(BA)placed his right hand on Ephraim’s head, it displeased him; and he grasped his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. ¹⁸ And Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn. Place your right hand on his head.” ¹⁹ But 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 shall be greater than he, and ^(BB)his ^[bc]descendants shall become ^[bd]a multitude of nations.” ²⁰ So ^(BC)he blessed them that day, saying,

And so he put Ephraim before Manasseh. ²¹ Then Israel said to Joseph, “Behold, I am about to die, but ^(BD)God will be with you, and ^(BE)bring you back to the land of your fathers. ²² And I give you one ^[be]portion more than your brothers, ^(BF)which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow.”