Genesis 47-50

Common English Bible

47 Joseph went to inform Pharaoh and said, “My father and brothers with their flocks, herds, and everything they own have come from the land of Canaan and are now in the land of Goshen.” ²From all of his brothers, he selected five men and presented them before Pharaoh.

³Pharaoh said to Joseph’s brothers, “What do you do?”

They said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, both we and our ancestors.” ⁴They continued, “We’ve come to the land as immigrants because the famine is so severe in the land of Canaan that there are no more pastures for your servants’ flocks. Please allow your servants to settle in the land of Goshen.”

⁵Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since your father and brothers have arrived, ⁶the land of Egypt is available to you. Settle your father and brothers in the land’s best location. Let them live in the land of Goshen. And if you know capable men among them, put them in charge of my own livestock.”

⁷Joseph brought his father Jacob and gave him an audience with Pharaoh. Jacob blessed Pharaoh, ⁸and Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How old are you?”

⁹Jacob said to Pharaoh, “I’ve been a traveler for 130 years. My years have been few and difficult. They don’t come close to the years my ancestors lived during their travels.” ¹⁰Jacob blessed Pharaoh and left Pharaoh’s presence. ¹¹Joseph settled his father and brothers and gave them property in the land of Egypt, in the best location in the land of Rameses, just as Pharaoh had ordered. ¹²Joseph provided food for his father, his brothers, and his father’s entire household, in proportion to the number of children.

Joseph centralizes power in Egypt

¹³There was no food in the land because the famine was so severe. The land of Egypt and the land of Canaan dried up from the famine. ¹⁴Joseph collected all of the silver to be found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan for the grain, which people came to buy, and he deposited it in Pharaoh’s treasury. ¹⁵The silver from the land of Egypt and from the land of Canaan had been spent, and all of the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us food. Why should we die before your eyes, just because the silver is gone?”

¹⁶Joseph said, “Give me your livestock, and I will give you food for your livestock if the silver is gone.” ¹⁷So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them food for the horses, flocks, cattle, and donkeys. He got them through that year with food in exchange for all of their livestock.

¹⁸When that year was over, they came to him the next year and said to him, “We can’t hide from my master that the silver is spent and that we’ve given the livestock to my master. All that’s left for my master is our corpses and our farmland. ¹⁹Why should we die before your eyes, we and our farmland too? Buy us and our farms for food, and we and our farms will be under Pharaoh’s control. Give us seed so that we can stay alive and not die, and so that our farmland won’t become unproductive.” ²⁰So Joseph bought all of Egypt’s farmland for Pharaoh because every Egyptian sold his field when the famine worsened. So the land became Pharaoh’s. ²¹He moved the people to the cities^[a] from one end of Egypt to the other. ²²However, he didn’t buy the farmland of the priests because Pharaoh allowed the priests a subsidy, and they were able to eat from the subsidy Pharaoh gave them. Therefore, they didn’t have to sell their farmland.

²³Joseph said to the people, “Since I’ve now purchased you and your farmland for Pharaoh, here’s seed for you. Plant the seed on the land. ²⁴When the crop comes in, you must give one-fifth to Pharaoh. You may keep four-fifths for yourselves, for planting fields, and for feeding yourselves, those in your households, and your children.”

²⁵The people said, “You’ve saved our lives. If you wish, we will be Pharaoh’s slaves.” ²⁶So Joseph made a law that still exists today: Pharaoh receives one-fifth from Egypt’s farmland. Only the priests’ farmland didn’t become Pharaoh’s.

Jacob blesses Ephraim and Manasseh

²⁷Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen. They settled in it, had many children, and became numerous. ²⁸After Jacob had lived in the land of Egypt for seventeen years, and after he had lived a total of 147 years, ²⁹Israel’s death approached. He summoned his son Joseph and said to him, “If you would be so kind, lay your hand under my thigh, and be loyal and true to me. Don’t bury me in Egypt. ³⁰When I lie down with my fathers, carry me from Egypt and bury me in their grave.”

Joseph said, “I will do just as you say.”

³¹Israel said, “Give me your word!” and Joseph gave his word. Then Israel slumped down at the head of the bed.

48 After this happened, Joseph was told,^[b] “Your father is getting weaker,” so he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim with him. ²When Jacob was informed,^[c] “Your son Joseph is here now,” he^[d] pulled himself together and sat up in bed. ³Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty^[e] appeared to me in Luz in the land of Canaan. He blessed me ⁴and said to me, ‘I am about to give you many children, to increase your numbers, and to make you a large group of peoples. I will give this land to your descendants following you as an enduring possession.’ ⁵Now, your two sons born to you in the land of Egypt before I arrived in Egypt are my own. Ephraim and Manasseh are just like Reuben and Simeon to me. ⁶Your family who is born to you after them are yours, but their inheritance will be determined under their brothers’ names. ⁷When I came back from Paddan-aram,^[f] Rachel died, to my sorrow, on the road in the land of Canaan, with some distance yet to go to Ephrathah, so I buried her there near the road to Ephrathah,^[g] which is Bethlehem.”

⁸When Israel saw Joseph’s sons, he said, “Who are these?”

⁹Joseph told his father, “They’re my sons, whom God gave me here.”

Israel said, “Bring them to me and I will bless them.” ¹⁰Because Israel’s eyesight had failed from old age and he wasn’t able to see, Joseph brought them close to him, and he kissed and embraced them.

¹¹Israel said to Joseph, “I didn’t expect I’d see your face, but now God has shown me your children too.” ¹²Then Joseph took them from Israel’s knees, and he bowed low with his face to the ground. ¹³Joseph took both of them, Ephraim in his right hand at Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand at Israel’s right hand, and brought them close to him. ¹⁴But Israel put out his right hand and placed it on the head of Ephraim, the younger one, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, crossing his hands because Manasseh was the oldest son. ¹⁵He blessed them^[h] and said,

“May the God before whom my fathers
        Abraham and Isaac walked,
may the God who was my shepherd
        from the beginning until this day,
¹⁶may the divine messenger who protected me from all harm,
        bless the young men.
Through them may my name be kept alive
        and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac.
May they grow into a great multitude
        throughout the land.”

¹⁷When Joseph saw that his father had placed his right hand on Ephraim’s head, he was upset and grasped his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. ¹⁸Joseph said to his father, “No, my father! This is the oldest son. Put your right hand on his head.”

¹⁹But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He’ll become a people too, and he’ll also be great. But his younger brother will be greater than he will, and his descendants will become many nations.” ²⁰Israel blessed them that day, saying,

“Through you, Israel will pronounce blessings, saying,
‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’”

So Israel put Ephraim before Manasseh. ²¹Then Israel said to Joseph, “I’m about to die. God will be with you and return you to the land of your fathers. ²²I’m giving you one portion more than to your brothers,^[i] a portion that I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow.”

Jacob reveals his sons’ destinies

49 Jacob summoned his sons and said, “Gather around so that I can tell you what will happen to you in the coming days.

²Assemble yourselves and listen, sons of Jacob;
        listen to Israel your father.
³Reuben, you are my oldest son,
    my strength and my first contender,^[j]
    superior in status and superior in might.
⁴As wild as the waters, you won’t endure,
    for you went up to your father’s bed,
    you went up^[k] and violated my couch.
⁵Simeon and Levi are brothers,
        weapons of violence their stock in trade.
⁶May I myself never enter their council.
May my honor never be linked to their group;
        for when they were angry, they killed men,
        and whenever they wished, they maimed oxen.
⁷Cursed be their anger; it is violent,
        their rage; it is relentless.
I’ll divide them up within Jacob
        and disperse them within Israel.
⁸Judah, you are the one your brothers will honor;
        your hand will be on the neck of your enemies;
        your father’s sons will bow down to you.
⁹Judah is a lion’s cub;
        from the prey, my son, you rise up.
He lies down and crouches like a lion;
        like a lioness—who dares disturb him?
¹⁰The scepter won’t depart from Judah,
        nor the ruler’s staff from among his banners.^[l]
Gifts will be brought to him;
        people will obey him.
¹¹He ties his male donkey to the vine,
        the colt of his female donkey to the vine’s branches.
He washes his clothes in wine,
        his garments in the blood of grapes.
¹²His eyes are darker than wine,
        and his teeth whiter than milk.
¹³Zebulun will live at the seashore;
        he’ll live at the harbor of ships,
        his border will be at Sidon.
¹⁴Issachar is a sturdy donkey,
        bedding down beside the village hearths.^[m]
¹⁵He saw that a resting place was good
        and that the land was pleasant.
He lowered his shoulder to haul loads
        and joined the work gangs.
¹⁶Dan^[n] will settle disputes for his people,
        as one of Israel’s tribes.
¹⁷Dan will be a snake on the road,
        a serpent on the path,
biting a horse’s heels,
        so its rider falls backward.
¹⁸I long for your victory, Lord.
¹⁹Gad^[o] will be attacked by attackers,
        but he’ll attack their back.
²⁰Asher^[p] grows fine foods,
        and he will supply the king’s delicacies.
²¹Naphtali is a wild doe
        that gives birth to beautiful fawns.^[q]
²²Joseph is a young bull,^[r]
        a young bull by a spring,
        who strides with oxen.^[s]
²³They attacked him fiercely and fired arrows;
        the archers attacked him furiously.
²⁴But his bow stayed strong,
        and his forearms were nimble,^[t]
            by the hands of the strong one of Jacob,
            by the name of the shepherd, the rock of Israel,
²⁵                by God, your father, who supports you,
            by the Almighty^[u] who blesses you
                with blessings from the skies above
                and blessings from the deep sea below,
                blessings from breasts and womb.
²⁶The blessings of your father exceed
            the blessings of the eternal mountains,^[v]
            the wealth of the everlasting hills.
        May they all rest on Joseph’s head,
            on the forehead of the one set apart from his brothers.
²⁷Benjamin is a wolf who hunts:
        in the morning he devours the prey;
        in the evening he divides the plunder.”

²⁸These are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them. He blessed them by giving each man his own particular blessing.

Jacob’s death and burial

²⁹Jacob ordered them, “I am soon to join my people. Bury me with my ancestors in the cave that’s in the field of Ephron the Hittite; ³⁰in the cave that’s in the field of Machpelah near Mamre in the land of Canaan that Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite as a burial property. ³¹That is where Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried, and where Isaac and his wife Rebekah are buried, and where I buried Leah. ³²It is the field and the cave in it that belonged to the Hittites.” ³³After he finished giving orders to his sons, he put his feet up on the bed, took his last breath, and joined his people.

50 Joseph fell across his father’s body, wept over him, and kissed him. ²Joseph then ordered the physicians in his service to embalm his father, and the physicians embalmed Israel. ³They mourned for him forty days because that is the period required for embalming. Then the Egyptians mourned him for seventy days. ⁴After the period of mourning had passed, Joseph spoke to Pharaoh’s household: “If you approve my request, give Pharaoh this message: ⁵My father made me promise, telling me, ‘I’m about to die. You must bury me in the tomb I dug for myself in the land of Canaan.’ Now, let me leave and let me bury my father, and then I will return.”

⁶Pharaoh replied, “Go, bury your father as you promised.”

⁷So Joseph left to bury his father. All of Pharaoh’s servants went with him, together with the elder statesmen in his household and all of the elder statesmen in the land of Egypt, ⁸Joseph’s entire household, his brothers, and his father’s household. Only the children, flocks, and cattle remained in the land of Goshen. ⁹Even chariots and horsemen went with him; it was a huge collection of people. ¹⁰When they arrived at the threshing floor of Atad on the other side of the Jordan River, they observed a solemn, deeply sorrowful period of mourning. He grieved seven days for his father.

¹¹When the Canaanites who lived in the land saw the observance of grief on Atad’s threshing floor, they said, “This is a solemn observance of grief by the Egyptians.” Therefore, its name is Abel-mizraim.^[w] It is on the other side of the Jordan River. ¹²Israel’s sons did for him just as he had ordered. ¹³His sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah near Mamre, which Abraham had purchased as burial property from Ephron the Hittite. ¹⁴Then^[x] Joseph returned to Egypt, he, his brothers, and everyone who left with him to bury his father.

Joseph and his brothers in Egypt

¹⁵When Joseph’s brothers realized that their father was now dead, they said, “What if Joseph bears a grudge against us, and wants to pay us back seriously for all of the terrible things we did to him?” ¹⁶So they approached^[y] Joseph and said, “Your father gave orders before he died, telling us, ¹⁷‘This is what you should say to Joseph. “Please, forgive your brothers’ sins and misdeeds, for they did terrible things to you. Now, please forgive the sins of the servants of your father’s God.”’” Joseph wept when they spoke to him.

¹⁸His brothers wept^[z] too, fell down in front of him, and said, “We’re here as your slaves.”

¹⁹But Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I God? ²⁰You planned something bad for me, but God produced something good from it, in order to save the lives of many people, just as he’s doing today. ²¹Now, don’t be afraid. I will take care of you and your children.” So he put them at ease and spoke reassuringly to them.

²²Thus Joseph lived in Egypt, he and his father’s household. Joseph lived 110 years ²³and saw Ephraim’s grandchildren. The children of Machir, Manasseh’s son, were also born on Joseph’s knees. ²⁴Joseph said to his brothers, “I’m about to die. God will certainly take care of you and bring you out of this land to the land he promised to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” ²⁵Joseph made Israel’s sons promise, “When God takes care of you, you must bring up my bones out of here.” ²⁶Joseph died when he was 110 years old. They embalmed him and placed him in a coffin in Egypt.