Jacob Moves to Egypt

46 So Israel set out with all that he had, and came to ^(A)Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the ^(B)God of his father Isaac. ² And ^(C)God spoke to Israel ^[a]in visions of the night and said, “^(D)Jacob, Jacob.” And he said, “Here I am.” ³ Then He said, “^(E)I am God, the God of your father; do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will ^(F)make you into a great nation there. ^4 (G)I will go down with you to Egypt, and ^(H)I will also assuredly bring you up again; and ^(I)Joseph will ^[b]close your eyes.”

⁵ Then Jacob left Beersheba, and the sons of Israel carried their father Jacob and their little ones and their wives in the ^(J)wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him. ⁶ They also took their livestock and their possessions, which they had acquired in the land of Canaan, and ^(K)came to Egypt, Jacob and all his ^[c]descendants with him: ⁷ his sons and his grandsons with him, his daughters and his granddaughters, and all his ^[d]descendants he brought with him to Egypt.

Those Who Came to Egypt

⁸ Now these are the ^(L)names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt, Jacob and his sons: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn. ⁹ And the sons of Reuben: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. ¹⁰ And the ^(M)sons of Simeon: ^[e]Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, ^[f]Jachin, ^[g]Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman. ¹¹ And the sons of Levi: ^[h]Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. ¹² And the sons of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah (but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan). And the ^(N)sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul. ¹³ And the sons of Issachar: Tola, ^[i]Puvvah, ^[j]Iob, and Shimron. ¹⁴ And 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; ^[k]all his sons and his daughters numbered thirty-three. ¹⁶ And the ^(O)sons of Gad: ^[l]Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, ^[m]Ezbon, Eri, ^[n]Arodi, and Areli. ¹⁷ And the ^(P)sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and their sister Serah. And the ^(Q)sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel. ¹⁸ These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah; and she bore to Jacob these sixteen persons. ¹⁹ The sons of Jacob’s wife Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. ^20 (R)Now 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 And the ^(S)sons of Benjamin: Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, ^[o]Ehi, Rosh, ^[p]Muppim, ^[q]Huppim, and Ard. ²² These are the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob; there were fourteen persons in all. ²³ And the sons of Dan: ^[r]Hushim. ²⁴ And the sons of Naphtali: ^[s]Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and ^[t]Shillem. ²⁵ These are the ^(T)sons of Bilhah, whom ^(U)Laban gave to his daughter Rachel, and she bore these to Jacob; there were seven persons in all. ^26 (V)All the people belonging to Jacob, who came to Egypt, ^[u]his direct descendants, not including the wives of Jacob’s sons, were sixty-six persons in all, ²⁷ and the sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt, were ^[v]two; ^(W)all the people of the house of Jacob, who came to Egypt, were seventy.

²⁸ Now Jacob sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph, to ^[w]guide him to ^(X)Goshen; and they came into the land of Goshen. ²⁹ And Joseph ^[x]prepared his chariot and went up to Goshen to meet his father Israel; as soon as he appeared to him, Joseph threw himself on his neck and ^(Y)wept on his neck a long time. ³⁰ Then Israel said to Joseph, “Now let me die, since I have seen your face, that you are still alive.” ³¹ But Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “^(Z)I will go up and tell Pharaoh, and will say to him, ‘My brothers and my father’s household, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me; ³² and the men are shepherds, for they have been ^[y]keepers of livestock; and they have brought their flocks and their herds and all that they have.’ ³³ When Pharaoh calls for you and says, ‘^(AA)What is your occupation?’ ³⁴ you shall say, ‘Your servants have been ^[z](AB)keepers of livestock since our youth even until now, both we and our fathers,’ so that you may live in the land of ^(AC)Goshen; for every shepherd is an ^(AD)abomination to the Egyptians.”

Jacob’s Family Settles in Goshen

47 Then ^(AE)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 ^(AF)Goshen.” ² And he took five men from among his brothers and ^(AG)presented them to Pharaoh. ³ Then Pharaoh said to his brothers, “^(AH)What is your occupation?” So they said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are ^(AI)shepherds, both we and our fathers.” ⁴ They also said to Pharaoh, “^(AJ)We have come to reside in the land, for there is no pasture for your servants’ flocks, for ^(AK)the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now, therefore, please let your servants ^(AL)live in the land of Goshen.” ⁵ Then Pharaoh said to ^[aa]Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you. ⁶ The land of Egypt is ^[ab]at your disposal; settle your father and your brothers in ^(AM)the best of the land, let them live in the land of Goshen; and if you know any ^(AN)capable men among them, then ^[ac]put them in charge of my livestock.”

⁷ Then Joseph brought his father Jacob and ^[ad]presented him to Pharaoh; and Jacob ^(AO)blessed Pharaoh. ⁸ And Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How many ^[ae]years have you lived?” ⁹ So Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The ^[af](AP)years of my living abroad are ^[ag]130; few and ^[ah]unpleasant have been the ^[ai]years of my life, nor have they ^[aj]attained ^(AQ)the ^[ak]years ^[al]that my fathers lived during the days of their living abroad.” ¹⁰ So Jacob ^(AR)blessed Pharaoh, and went out from ^[am]his presence. ¹¹ Now Joseph settled his father and his brothers and gave them property in the land of Egypt, in ^(AS)the best of the land, in the land of ^(AT)Rameses, as Pharaoh had ordered. ¹² Joseph also ^(AU)provided his father and his brothers and all his father’s household with ^[an]food, according to the ^[ao]number of their little ones.

¹³ Now there was no ^[ap]food in all the land, because the famine was very severe, so that ^(AV)the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine. ¹⁴ And ^(AW)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 ^[aq]food, for ^(AX)why should we die in your presence? For our money is ^[ar]gone.” ¹⁶ Then Joseph said, “Give up your livestock, and I will give you food for your livestock, since your money is ^[as]gone.” ¹⁷ So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them ^[at]food in exchange for the horses and the ^[au]flocks and the herds and the donkeys; and he ^[av]fed them with ^[aw]food in exchange for all their livestock ^[ax]that year. ¹⁸ But when that year ended, they came to him the ^[ay]next year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord the fact that our money is all spent, and the ^[az]livestock are my lord’s. There is nothing left ^[ba]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 ^[bb]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 ^[bc]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 ^[bd]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 [be]At the harvest you shall give a ^(AY)fifth to Pharaoh, and ^[bf]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; ^(AZ)only the land of the priests ^[bg]did not become Pharaoh’s.

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

²⁹ When ^[bj](BD)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, ^(BE)place your hand under my thigh now and ^(BF)deal with me in kindness and ^[bk]faithfulness: please do not bury me in Egypt, ³⁰ but when I ^(BG)[bl]lie down with my fathers, you shall carry me out of Egypt and bury me in ^(BH)their burial place.” And he said, “I will do as you have said.” ³¹ And he said, “^(BI)Swear to me.” So he swore to him. Then ^(BJ)Israel bowed in worship at the head of the bed.

Israel’s Last Days

48 Now it came about after these things that ^[bm]Joseph was told, “Behold, your father is sick.” So he took his two sons ^(BK)Manasseh and Ephraim with him. ² When ^[bn]it was told to Jacob, “Behold, your son Joseph has come to you,” Israel ^[bo]collected his strength and sat ^[bp]up in the bed. ³ Then Jacob said to Joseph, “^[bq](BL)God Almighty appeared to me at ^(BM)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 ^[br]descendants after you as ^(BN)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; ^(BO)Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as ^(BP)Reuben and Simeon are. ⁶ But your children that you have fathered after them shall be yours; they shall be called by the ^[bs]names of their brothers in their inheritance. ⁷ Now as for me, when I came from ^(BQ)Paddan, ^(BR)Rachel died, ^[bt]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 ^(BS)saw Joseph’s sons, he said, “Who are these?” ⁹ And Joseph said to his father, “^(BT)They are my sons, whom God has given me here.” So he said, “Bring them to me, please, so that ^(BU)I may bless them.” ¹⁰ Now ^(BV)the eyes of Israel were so ^[bu]dim from age that he could not see. And ^[bv]Joseph brought them close to him, and he ^(BW)kissed them and embraced them. ¹¹ And Israel said to Joseph, “I never ^[bw]expected to see your face, and behold, God has let me see your ^[bx]children as well!” ¹² Then Joseph ^[by]took them from his knees, and ^(BX)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 ^(BY)Manasseh was the firstborn. ¹⁵ And he blessed Joseph, and said,

¹⁷ When Joseph saw that his father ^(CE)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 ^(CF)his ^[cc]descendants shall become ^[cd]a multitude of nations.” ²⁰ So ^(CG)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 ^(CH)God will be with you, and ^(CI)bring you back to the land of your fathers. ²² And I give you one ^[ce]portion more than your brothers, ^(CJ)which I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow.”

Jesus Teaches in Parables

13 On that day Jesus had gone out of ^(A)the house and was sitting ^(B)by the sea. ² And large crowds gathered to Him, so ^(C)He got into a boat and sat down, and the whole crowd was standing on the beach.

³ And He told them many things in ^(D)parables, saying, “Behold, the sower went out to sow; ⁴ and as he sowed, some seeds fell beside the road, and the birds came and ate them up. ⁵ Others fell on the rocky places, where they did not have much soil; and they sprang up immediately, because they had no depth of soil. ⁶ But after the sun rose, they were scorched; and because they had no root, they withered away. ⁷ Others fell ^[a]among the thorns, and the thorns came up and choked them out. ⁸ But others fell on the good soil and yielded a crop, some a ^(E)hundred, some sixty, and some thirty times as much. ^9 (F)The one who has ears, ^[b]let him hear.”

An Explanation for Parables

¹⁰ And the disciples came up and said to Him, “Why do You speak to them in parables?” ¹¹ And ^[c]Jesus answered them, “^(G)To you it has been granted to know the mysteries of the kingdom of heaven, but to them it has not been granted. ^12 (H)For whoever has, to him more shall be given, and he will have an abundance; but whoever does not have, even what he has shall be taken away from him. ¹³ Therefore I speak to them in parables; because while ^(I)seeing they do not see, and while hearing they do not hear, nor do they understand. ¹⁴ And ^[d]in their case the prophecy of Isaiah is being fulfilled, which says,

^16 (L)But blessed are your eyes, because they see; and your ears, because they hear. ¹⁷ For truly I say to you that ^(M)many prophets and righteous people longed to see what you see, and did not see it, and to hear what you hear, and did not hear it.

The Sower Explained

¹⁸ “^(N)Listen then to the parable of the sower. ¹⁹ When anyone hears ^(O)the ^[i]word of the kingdom and does not understand it, ^(P)the evil one comes and snatches away what has been sown in his heart. This is the one sown with seed beside the road. ²⁰ The one sown with seed on the rocky places, this is the one who hears the word and immediately receives it with joy; ²¹ yet he has no firm root in himself, but is only temporary, and when affliction or persecution occurs because of the ^[j]word, immediately he ^[k](Q)falls away. ²² And the one sown with seed among the thorns, this is the one who hears the word, and the anxiety of ^(R)the ^[l]world and the ^(S)deceitfulness of wealth choke the word, and it ^[m]becomes unfruitful. ²³ But the one sown with seed on the good soil, this is the one who hears the word and understands it, who indeed bears fruit and produces, some ^(T)a hundred, some sixty, and some thirty times as much.”

Weeds among Wheat

²⁴ Jesus presented another parable to them, saying, “^(U)The kingdom of heaven ^[n]is like a man who sowed good seed in his field. ²⁵ But while his men were sleeping, his enemy came and sowed ^[o]weeds among the wheat, and left. ²⁶ And when the ^[p]wheat sprouted and produced grain, then the weeds also became evident. ²⁷ And the slaves of the landowner came and said to him, ‘Sir, did you not sow good seed in your field? ^[q]How then does it have weeds?’ ²⁸ And he said to them, ‘^[r]An enemy has done this!’ The slaves *said to him, ‘Do you want us, then, to go and gather them up?’ ²⁹ But he *said, ‘No; while you are gathering up the weeds, you may uproot the wheat with them. ³⁰ Allow both to grow together until the harvest; and at the time of the harvest I will say to the reapers, “First gather up the weeds and bind them in bundles to burn them; but ^(V)gather the wheat into my barn.”’”