⁵ “You must then say in the presence of the Lord your God, ‘My ancestor Jacob was a wandering Aramean who went to live as a foreigner in Egypt. His family arrived few in number, but in Egypt they became a large and mighty nation.

²² When your ancestors went down into Egypt, there were only seventy of them. But now the Lord your God has made you as numerous as the stars in the sky!

²⁷ In addition, Joseph had two sons^[a] who were born in Egypt. So altogether, there were seventy^[b] members of Jacob’s family in the land of Egypt.

The Brothers Return to Egypt

43 But the famine continued to ravage the land of Canaan. ² When the grain they had brought from Egypt was almost gone, Jacob said to his sons, “Go back and buy us a little more food.”

²⁰ Jacob outwitted Laban the Aramean, for they set out secretly and never told Laban they were leaving.

¹¹ I will take care of you there, for there are still five years of famine ahead of us. Otherwise you, your household, and all your animals will starve.’”

⁷ God has sent me ahead of you to keep you and your families alive and to preserve many survivors.^[a]

¹² Also take double the money that was put back in your sacks, as it was probably someone’s mistake.

²⁴ But the previous night God had appeared to Laban the Aramean in a dream and told him, “I’m warning you—leave Jacob alone!”

¹⁵ So Jacob went to Egypt. He died there, as did our ancestors.