Genesis 45-50

New American Bible (Revised Edition)

Chapter 45

The Truth Revealed.^{[a] 1} Joseph could no longer restrain himself in the presence of all his attendants, so he cried out, “Have everyone withdraw from me!” So no one attended him when he made himself known to his brothers. ² But his sobs were so loud that the Egyptians heard him, and so the news reached Pharaoh’s house. ^3 (A)“I am Joseph,” he said to his brothers. “Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could give him no answer, so dumbfounded were they at him.

⁴ “Come closer to me,” Joseph told his brothers. When they had done so, he said: “I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. ⁵ But now do not be distressed, and do not be angry with yourselves for having sold me here. It was really for the sake of saving lives that God sent me here ahead of you.^{(B) 6} The famine has been in the land for two years now, and for five more years cultivation will yield no harvest. ⁷ God, therefore, sent me on ahead of you to ensure for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives in an extraordinary deliverance. ⁸ So it was not really you but God who had me come here; and he has made me a father to Pharaoh,^[b] lord of all his household, and ruler over the whole land of Egypt.

^9 [c]“Hurry back, then, to my father and tell him: ‘Thus says your son Joseph: God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me without delay.^{(C) 10} You can settle in the region of Goshen,^[d] where you will be near me—you and your children and children’s children, your flocks and herds, and everything that you own. ¹¹ I will provide for you there in the five years of famine that lie ahead, so that you and your household and all that are yours will not suffer want.’ ¹² Surely, you can see for yourselves, and Benjamin can see for himself, that it is I who am speaking to you. ¹³ Tell my father all about my high position in Egypt and all that you have seen. But hurry and bring my father down here.” ¹⁴ Then he threw his arms around his brother Benjamin and wept on his shoulder. ¹⁵ Joseph then kissed all his brothers and wept over them; and only then were his brothers able to talk with him.

¹⁶ The news reached Pharaoh’s house: “Joseph’s brothers have come.” Pharaoh and his officials were pleased. ¹⁷ So Pharaoh told Joseph: “Say to your brothers: ‘This is what you shall do: Load up your animals and go without delay to the land of Canaan. ¹⁸ There get your father and your households, and then come to me; I will assign you the best land in Egypt, where you will live off the fat of the land.’^{(D) 19} Instruct them further: ‘Do this. Take wagons from the land of Egypt for your children and your wives and bring your father back here. ²⁰ Do not be concerned about your belongings, for the best in the whole land of Egypt shall be yours.’”

²¹ The sons of Israel acted accordingly. Joseph gave them the wagons, as Pharaoh had ordered, and he supplied them with provisions for the journey. ²² He also gave to each of them a set of clothes, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels of silver and five sets of clothes. ²³ Moreover, what he sent to his father was ten donkeys loaded with the finest products of Egypt and another ten loaded with grain and bread and provisions for his father’s journey. ²⁴ As he sent his brothers on their way, he told them, “Do not quarrel on the way.”

²⁵ So they went up from Egypt and came to the land of Canaan, to their father Jacob. ²⁶ When they told him, “Joseph is still alive—in fact, it is he who is governing all the land of Egypt,” he was unmoved, for he did not believe them. ²⁷ But when they recounted to him all that Joseph had told them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to transport him, the spirit of their father Jacob came to life. ²⁸ “Enough,” said Israel. “My son Joseph is still alive! I must go and see him before I die.”

Chapter 46

Migration to Egypt. ^1 [e]Israel set out with all that was his. When he arrived at Beer-sheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. ² There God, speaking to Israel in a vision by night, called: Jacob! Jacob! He answered, “Here I am.” ³ Then he said: I am God,^[f] the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you a great nation. ⁴ I will go down to Egypt with you and I will also bring you back here, after Joseph has closed your eyes.

⁵ So Jacob departed from Beer-sheba, and the sons of Israel put their father and their wives and children on the wagons that Pharaoh had sent to transport him. ⁶ They took with them their livestock and the possessions they had acquired in the land of Canaan. So Jacob and all his descendants came to Egypt.^{(E) 7} His sons and his grandsons, his daughters and his granddaughters—all his descendants—he took with him to Egypt.

⁸ These are the names of the Israelites, Jacob and his children, who came to Egypt.

Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn,^{(F) 9 [g]}and the sons of Reuben: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.^{(G) 10} The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, son of a Canaanite woman.^{(H) 11} The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.^{(I) 12} The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah—but Er and Onan had died in the land of Canaan; and the sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.^{(J) 13} The sons of Issachar: Tola, Puah, Jashub, and Shimron.^{(K) 14} The sons of Zebulun: Sered, Elon, and Jahleel.^{(L) 15} These were the sons whom Leah bore to Jacob in Paddan-aram, along with his daughter Dinah—thirty-three persons in all, sons and daughters.

¹⁶ The sons of Gad: Zephon, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arod, and Areli.^{(M) 17} The sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, and Beriah, with their sister Serah; and the sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel.^{(N) 18} These are the children of Zilpah, whom Laban had given to his daughter Leah; these she bore to Jacob—sixteen persons in all.

¹⁹ The sons of Jacob’s wife Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. ²⁰ In the land of Egypt Joseph became the father of Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, priest of Heliopolis, bore to him.^{(O) 21} The sons of Benjamin: Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ahiram, Shupham, Hupham, and Ard.^{(P) 22} These are the sons whom Rachel bore to Jacob—fourteen persons in all.

²³ The sons of Dan: Hushim.^{(Q) 24} The sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem.^{(R) 25} These are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban had given to his daughter Rachel; these she bore to Jacob—seven persons in all.

²⁶ Jacob’s people who came to Egypt—his direct descendants, not counting the wives of Jacob’s sons—numbered sixty-six persons in all.^{(S) 27} Together with Joseph’s sons who were born to him in Egypt—two persons—all the people comprising the household of Jacob who had come to Egypt amounted to seventy persons^[h] in all.^(T)

²⁸ Israel had sent Judah ahead to Joseph, so that he might meet him in Goshen. On his arrival in the region of Goshen, ²⁹ Joseph prepared his chariot and went up to meet his father Israel in Goshen. As soon as Israel made his appearance, Joseph threw his arms around him and wept a long time on his shoulder. ³⁰ And Israel said to Joseph, “At last I can die, now that I have seen for myself that you are still alive.”

³¹ Joseph then said to his brothers and his father’s household: “I will go up and inform Pharaoh, telling him: ‘My brothers and my father’s household, whose home is in the land of Canaan, have come to me. ³² The men are shepherds, having been owners of livestock;^[i] and they have brought with them their flocks and herds, as well as everything else they own.’ ³³ So when Pharaoh summons you and asks what your occupation is, ³⁴ you must answer, ‘We your servants, like our ancestors, have been owners of livestock from our youth until now,’ in order that you may stay in the region of Goshen, since all shepherds are abhorrent to the Egyptians.”

Chapter 47

Settlement in Goshen. ¹ Joseph went and told Pharaoh, “My father and my brothers have come from the land of Canaan, with their flocks and herds and everything else they own; and they are now in the region of Goshen.” ² He then presented to Pharaoh five of his brothers whom he had selected from their full number. ³ When Pharaoh asked them, “What is your occupation?” they answered, “We, your servants, like our ancestors, are shepherds. ⁴ We have come,” they continued, “in order to sojourn in this land, for there is no pasture for your servants’ flocks, because the famine has been severe in the land of Canaan. So now please let your servants settle in the region of Goshen.”^{(U) 5} Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Now that your father and your brothers have come to you, ⁶ the land of Egypt is at your disposal; settle your father and brothers in the pick of the land. Let them settle in the region of Goshen. And if you know of capable men among them, put them in charge of my livestock.” ⁷ Then Joseph brought his father Jacob and presented him to Pharaoh. And Jacob blessed Pharaoh. ⁸ Then Pharaoh asked Jacob, “How many years have you lived?” ⁹ Jacob replied: “The years I have lived as a wayfarer amount to a hundred and thirty. Few and hard have been these years of my life, and they do not compare with the years that my ancestors lived as wayfarers.”^{[j] 10} Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh and withdrew from his presence.

¹¹ Joseph settled his father and brothers and gave them a holding in Egypt on the pick of the land, in the region of Rameses,^[k] as Pharaoh had ordered. ¹² And Joseph provided food for his father and brothers and his father’s whole household, down to the youngest.

Joseph’s Land Policy. ¹³ Since there was no food in all the land because of the extreme severity of the famine, and the lands of Egypt and Canaan were languishing from hunger, ¹⁴ Joseph gathered in, as payment for the grain that they were buying, all the money that was to be found in Egypt and Canaan, and he put it in Pharaoh’s house. ¹⁵ When all the money in Egypt and Canaan was spent, all the Egyptians came to Joseph, pleading, “Give us food! Why should we perish in front of you? For our money is gone.” ¹⁶ “Give me your livestock if your money is gone,” replied Joseph. “I will give you food in return for your livestock.” ¹⁷ So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and he gave them food in exchange for their horses, their flocks of sheep and herds of cattle, and their donkeys. Thus he supplied them with food in exchange for all their livestock in that year. ¹⁸ That year ended, and they came to him in the next one and said: “We cannot hide from my lord that, with our money spent and our livestock made over to my lord, there is nothing left to put at my lord’s disposal except our bodies and our land. ¹⁹ Why should we and our land perish before your very eyes? Take us and our land in exchange for food, and we will become Pharaoh’s slaves and our land his property; only give us seed, that we may survive and not perish, and that our land may not turn into a waste.”

²⁰ So Joseph acquired all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh. Each of the Egyptians sold his field, since the famine weighed heavily upon them. Thus the land passed over to Pharaoh, ²¹ and the people were reduced to slavery, from one end of Egypt’s territory to the other. ²² Only the priests’ lands Joseph did not acquire. Since the priests had a fixed allowance from Pharaoh and lived off the allowance Pharaoh had granted them, they did not have to sell their land.

²³ Joseph told the people: “Now that I have acquired you and your land for Pharaoh, here is your seed for sowing the land. ²⁴ But when the harvest is in, you must give a fifth of it to Pharaoh, while you keep four-fifths as seed for your fields and as food for yourselves and your households and as food for your children.” ²⁵ “You have saved our lives!” they answered. “We have found favor with my lord; now we will be Pharaoh’s slaves.” ²⁶ Thus Joseph made it a statute for the land of Egypt, which is still in force, that a fifth of its produce should go to Pharaoh. Only the land of the priests did not pass over to Pharaoh.

Israel Blesses Ephraim and Manasseh. ²⁷ Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the region of Goshen. There they acquired holdings, were fertile, and multiplied greatly.^{(V) 28 [l]}Jacob lived in the land of Egypt for seventeen years; the span of his life came to a hundred and forty-seven years. ²⁹ When the time approached for Israel to die, he called his son Joseph and said to him: “If it pleases you, put your hand under my thigh as a sign of your enduring fidelity to me; do not bury me in Egypt. ³⁰ When I lie down with my ancestors, take me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place.”^(W) “I will do as you say,” he replied. ³¹ But his father demanded, “Swear it to me!” So Joseph swore to him. Then Israel bowed at the head of the bed.^[m]

Chapter 48

^1 [n]Some time afterward, Joseph was informed, “Your father is failing.” So he took along with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. ² When Jacob was told, “Your son Joseph has come to you,” Israel rallied his strength and sat up in bed.

^3 (X)Jacob then said to Joseph: “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz^[o] in the land of Canaan, and blessing me, ⁴ he said, ‘I will make you fertile and multiply you and make you into an assembly of peoples, and I will give this land to your descendants after you as a permanent possession.’ ⁵ So now your two sons who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I joined you here, shall be mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine as much as Reuben and Simeon are mine. ⁶ Progeny born to you after them shall remain yours; but their heritage shall be recorded in the names of their brothers. ^7 (Y)I do this because, when I was returning from Paddan, your mother Rachel died, to my sorrow, during the journey in Canaan, while we were still a short distance from Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath [now Bethlehem].”^[p]

⁸ When Israel saw Joseph’s sons, he asked, “Who are these?” ⁹ “They are my sons,” Joseph answered his father, “whom God has given me here.” “Bring them to me,” said his father, “that I may bless them.” ¹⁰ Now Israel’s eyes were dim from age; he could not see well. When Joseph brought his sons close to him, he kissed and embraced them. ¹¹ Then Israel said to Joseph, “I never expected to see your face again, and now God has allowed me to see your descendants as well!”

¹² Joseph removed them from his father’s knees and bowed down before him with his face to the ground. ¹³ Then Joseph took the two, Ephraim with his right hand, to Israel’s left, and Manasseh with his left hand, to Israel’s right, and brought them up to him. ¹⁴ But Israel, crossing his hands, put out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim, although he was the younger, and his left hand on the head of Manasseh, although he was the firstborn. ¹⁵ Then he blessed them with these words:

¹⁷ When Joseph saw that his father had laid his right hand on Ephraim’s head, this seemed wrong to him; so he took hold of his father’s hand, to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s, ¹⁸ saying, “That is not right, father; the other one is the firstborn; lay your right hand on his head!” ¹⁹ But his father refused. “I know it, son,” he said, “I know. That one too shall become a people, and he too shall be great. Nevertheless, his younger brother shall surpass him, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.” ²⁰ So he blessed them that day and said, “By you shall the people of Israel pronounce blessings, saying, ‘God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.’” Thus he placed Ephraim before Manasseh.^(AA)

²¹ Then Israel said to Joseph: “I am about to die. But God will be with you and will restore you to the land of your ancestors. ^22 (AB)As for me, I give to you, as to the one above his brothers, Shechem, which I captured from the Amorites with my sword and bow.”^[q]

Chapter 49

Jacob’s Testament.^{[r] 1} Jacob called his sons and said: “Gather around, that I may tell you what is to happen to you in days to come.

Farewell and Death. ²⁸ All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said about them, as he blessed them. To each he gave a suitable blessing. ²⁹ Then he gave them this charge: “Since I am about to be gathered to my people, bury me with my ancestors in the cave that lies in the field of Ephron the Hittite, ³⁰ the cave in the field of Machpelah, facing on Mamre, in the land of Canaan, the field that Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite for a burial ground.^{(AF) 31} There Abraham and his wife Sarah are buried, and so are Isaac and his wife Rebekah, and there, too, I buried Leah— ³² the field and the cave in it that had been purchased from the Hittites.”

³³ When Jacob had finished giving these instructions to his sons, he drew his feet into the bed, breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.

Chapter 50

Jacob’s Funeral. ¹ Joseph flung himself upon his father and wept over him as he kissed him. ² Then Joseph ordered the physicians in his service to embalm his father. When the physicians embalmed Israel, ³ they spent forty days at it, for that is the full period of embalming; and the Egyptians mourned him for seventy days. ⁴ When the period of mourning was over, Joseph spoke to Pharaoh’s household. “If you please, appeal to Pharaoh, saying: ⁵ My father made me swear: ‘I am dying. Bury me in my grave that I have prepared for myself in the land of Canaan.’ So now let me go up to bury my father. Then I will come back.”^{(AG) 6} Pharaoh replied, “Go and bury your father, as he made you promise on oath.”

⁷ So Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went all of Pharaoh’s officials who were senior members of his household and all the other elders of the land of Egypt, ⁸ as well as Joseph’s whole household, his brothers, and his father’s household; only their children and their flocks and herds were left in the region of Goshen. ⁹ Chariots, too, and horsemen went up with him; it was a very imposing retinue.

¹⁰ When they arrived at Goren-ha-atad,^[aa] which is beyond the Jordan, they held there a very great and solemn memorial service; and Joseph observed seven days of mourning for his father. ¹¹ When the Canaanites who inhabited the land saw the mourning at Goren-ha-atad, they said, “This is a solemn funeral on the part of the Egyptians!” That is why the place was named Abel-mizraim. It is beyond the Jordan.

¹² Thus Jacob’s sons did for him as he had instructed them. ¹³ They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave in the field of Machpelah, facing on Mamre, the field that Abraham had bought for a burial ground from Ephron the Hittite.^(AH)

¹⁴ After Joseph had buried his father he returned to Egypt, together with his brothers and all who had gone up with him for the burial of his father.

Plea for Forgiveness. ^15 [ab]Now that their father was dead, Joseph’s brothers became fearful and thought, “Suppose Joseph has been nursing a grudge against us and now most certainly will pay us back in full for all the wrong we did him!” ¹⁶ So they sent to Joseph and said: “Before your father died, he gave us these instructions: ¹⁷ ‘Thus you shall say to Joseph: Please forgive the criminal wrongdoing of your brothers, who treated you harmfully.’ So now please forgive the crime that we, the servants of the God of your father, committed.” When they said this to him, Joseph broke into tears. ¹⁸ Then his brothers also proceeded to fling themselves down before him and said, “We are your slaves!” ¹⁹ But Joseph replied to them: “Do not fear. Can I take the place of God? ²⁰ Even though you meant harm to me, God meant it for good, to achieve this present end, the survival of many people.^{(AI) 21} So now, do not fear. I will provide for you and for your children.” By thus speaking kindly to them, he reassured them.^(AJ)

²² Joseph remained in Egypt, together with his father’s household. He lived a hundred and ten years. ²³ He saw Ephraim’s children to the third generation, and the children of Manasseh’s son Machir were also born on Joseph’s knees.^(AK)

Death of Joseph. ²⁴ Joseph said to his brothers: “I am about to die. God will surely take care of you and lead you up from this land to the land that he promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.”^{(AL) 25} Then, putting the sons of Israel under oath, he continued, “When God thus takes care of you, you must bring my bones up from this place.”^{(AM) 26} Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten. He was embalmed and laid to rest in a coffin in Egypt.^(AN)