Add parallel Print Page Options

45 Then Yosef could not control himself before all them that stood by him; and he cried, Cause kol ish to go out from me. And there stood no ish with him, while Yosef made himself known unto his achim.

And he wept aloud; and the Mitzrayim and the Bais Pharaoh heard.

And Yosef said unto his achim (brethren), I am Yosef; doth Avi yet live? And his achim could not answer him; for they were shocked with dismay at his presence.

And Yosef said unto his achim, Come near to me, now. And they came near. And he said, I am Yosef achichem (your brother), whom ye sold into Mitzrayim.

Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me here; for Elohim did send me before you to save life.

For these two years hath the ra’av (famine) been in the land; and yet there are chamesh shanim (five years), in the which there shall neither be plowing nor harvest.

And Elohim sent me before you to save you a she’erit (remnant) in the earth, and to save life for you by a peletah gedolah (great deliverance, escape).

So now it was not you that sent me here, but HaElohim; and He hath made me as an Av to Pharaoh, and adon of all his Bais, and Moshel throughout kol Eretz Mitzrayim.

Haste ye, and go up to Avi, and say unto him, Thus saith thy ben, Yosef, Elohim hath made me as adon kol Mitzrayim; come down unto me, tarry not;

10 And thou shalt dwell in Eretz Goshen, and thou shalt be karov (near) unto me, thou, and thy banim, and thy bnei banecha, and thy tzon, and thy bakar, and all that thou hast [see Yn 14:3 OJBC]:

11 And there will I nourish thee; for yet there are chamesh shanim of ra’av (famine); lest thou, and thy bais, and all that thou hast, come to destitution.

12 And, hinei, your eyes see, and the eyes of achi Binyamin, that it is my mouth that speaketh unto you.

13 And ye shall tell Avi of kol kevod b’Mitzrayim, and of all that ye have seen; and ye shall haste and bring down Avi here.

14 And he fell upon the neck of Binyamin achiv, and wept; and Binyamin wept upon his neck.

15 Moreover he kissed all his achim, and wept upon them; and after that his achim talked with him.

16 And the news thereof was heard in Bais Pharaoh saying, Achei Yosef are come; and it pleased Pharaoh well, and his avadim.

17 And Pharaoh said unto Yosef, Say unto thy achim, This do ye; load your beasts, and go, get you unto Eretz Kena’an;

18 And take Avichem and your households, and come unto me; and I will give you the best of Eretz Mitzrayim, ye shall eat the chelev haaretz.

19 Now thou art commanded, this do ye; take you agalot (wagons) out of Eretz Mitzrayim for your little ones, and for your nashim, and bring Avichem, and come.

20 Also regard not your kelim; for the best of kol Eretz Mitzrayim is yours.

21 And the Bnei Yisroel did so; and Yosef gave them agalot, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the derech.

22 To all of them he gave each man chalifot semalot; but to Binyamin he gave three hundred pieces of kesef, and chamesh chalifot semalot.

23 And to Aviv he sent after this manner; ten chamorim loaded with the best of Mitzrayim, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and lechem and provision for Aviv for the derech.

24 So he sent his achim away, and they departed; and he said unto them, See that ye not quarrel by the derech.

25 And they went up out of Mitzrayim, and came into Eretz Kena’an unto Ya’akov avihem,

26 And told him, saying, Yosef chai! Yosef is yet alive, and he is Moshel kol Eretz Mitzrayim. And Ya’akov’s lev fainted, for he believed them not [see Lk 24:10-11 OJBC].

27 And they told him kol divrei Yosef, which he had said unto them; and when he saw the agalot which Yosef had sent to carry him, the ruach Ya’akov avihem revived;

28 And Yisroel said, It is enough; Yosef Beni chai! Yosef Beni is yet alive; I will go and see him before I die.

Joseph says who he is

45 After Judah said this, Joseph could not control himself. He did not want to cry in front of all his servants. So he shouted, ‘Make everyone go away from me!’ So there was no one still there with Joseph, except his brothers. Then he told his brothers who he was. Joseph wept loudly, so that the Egyptians heard him. All the people in Pharaoh's house knew about it.

Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?’ But his brothers could not answer him because they were too frightened. They could see Joseph was there in front of them![a]

Then Joseph said to them, ‘Come near to me.’ So they did that. He said, ‘I am your brother Joseph. I am the one that you sold to become a slave in Egypt! But do not be upset. Do not be angry with yourselves because you sold me like that. No! It was God who sent me here! He sent me here before you came. He did that so that I could save people's lives. There has been a famine for two years already. No food will grow for another five years. But God sent me to come here before you. Because of that, your family would stay alive. God would do a great thing to save you and your descendants. So you did not really send me here. It was God who did that! He made me Pharaoh's most important officer, as if I am his father. I take care of everything in Pharaoh's palace. I have authority to rule over all of Egypt.[b] Now hurry back to my father. Say to him, “This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord over all Egypt. Come here to me. Come now. 10 You can live in the region called Goshen. You, your children and your grandchildren can live there. You can bring your sheep, goats and cows, together with everything that you have. In Goshen you will all be near me. 11 I will take care of you there. I will give food to you, because there will be five more years of famine. If you do not come here, you and all your family and servants will become very poor.” ’

12 Joseph continued to say to his brothers, ‘As I speak to you now, you can all see clearly that I really am Joseph. My brother Benjamin also knows that. 13 Tell my father about the authority that I have here in Egypt. Tell him about everything that you have seen here. Then bring my father here quickly.’

14 Then Joseph hugged his brother Benjamin and he wept. Benjamin hugged Joseph and he also wept. 15 Joseph continued to weep as he kissed each of his other brothers too. After this, his brothers began to talk to Joseph.

16 Pharaoh then heard that Joseph's brothers had arrived in Egypt. Pharaoh and his officers were happy to know that. 17 Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘Tell your brothers to do this. Say to them, “Put food on your donkeys and return home to Canaan. 18 Then bring your father and your families to come here to me. I will give you the best land in Egypt to live on. You will have all the best things that the land gives to you.”  19 You must also tell your brothers, “Take some carts from here in Egypt. Your wives and children can ride in them to come back here. Bring your father and come quickly. 20 Do not worry. You do not have to bring all your things from your own country. The best things of Egypt will belong to you.” ’

21 So Jacob's sons did what Pharaoh said. Joseph gave them carts as Pharaoh had told him to do. He also gave them food for their journey. 22 Joseph gave new clothes to each of his brothers. But he gave 300 silver coins and five sets of clothes to Benjamin. 23 Joseph also sent these things to his father:

10 donkeys that carried the best things from Egypt,

10 female donkeys that carried food and grain,

and other food for his father's journey.

24 Then Joseph sent his brothers to start their journey. As they left, he said to them, ‘Do not argue with each other on your way home!’

25 The brothers left Egypt and they returned home to their father Jacob in Canaan. 26 They told him, ‘Joseph is still alive! He rules over all of Egypt!’ Jacob was so surprised that he did not believe what they said. 27 So Jacob's sons told him everything that Joseph had said to them. Jacob saw the carts that Joseph had sent to carry him back to Egypt. Then Jacob felt stronger again. 28 Jacob said, ‘Now I believe you! My son Joseph is still alive! I will go and see him before I die.’

Footnotes

  1. 45:3 The brothers were frightened because they had sold Joseph, as a slave. They did not know what Joseph would do to them.
  2. 45:8 Joseph knew that God had a plan for everything that had happened to him in Egypt. God wanted Jacob and his family to stay alive when there was a famine.