Joseph Deals Kindly with His Brothers

45 Then Joseph could not control himself in front of everyone standing before him, and he shouted, “Have everyone leave me!” So there ^[a]was no one with him ^(A)when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. ² Then ^(B)he ^[b]wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard about it. ³ And Joseph said to his brothers, “^(C)I am Joseph! ^(D)Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, for ^(E)they were terrified in his presence.

⁴ Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come ^[c]closer to me.” And they came ^[d]closer. And he said, “I am your brother Joseph, whom you ^(F)sold to Egypt. ⁵ Now do not be grieved or angry ^[e]with yourselves because ^(G)you sold me here, for ^(H)God sent me ahead of you ^[f]to save lives. ⁶ For the famine has been in the land ^(I)these two years, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. ⁷ So ^(J)God sent me ahead of you to ensure for you a remnant on the earth, and to ^[g]keep you alive by a great deliverance. ⁸ Now, therefore, it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a ^(K)father to Pharaoh and lord of all his household, and ruler over all the land of Egypt. ⁹ Hurry and go up to my father, and ^(L)say to him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: “God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay. ¹⁰ For you shall live in the land of ^(M)Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your ^[h]grandchildren, and your flocks and your herds and all that you have. ¹¹ There I will also ^(N)provide for you, for there are still five years of famine to come, and you and your household and all that you have would be impoverished.”’ ¹² Behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is my mouth which is speaking to you. ¹³ Now you must tell my father of all my splendor in Egypt, and all that you have seen; and you must hurry and ^(O)bring my father down here.” ¹⁴ Then he fell on his brother Benjamin’s neck and ^(P)wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. ¹⁵ And he kissed all his brothers and wept on them, and afterward his brothers talked with him.

¹⁶ Now when ^(Q)the ^[i]news was heard in Pharaoh’s house ^[j]that Joseph’s brothers had come, it ^[k]pleased Pharaoh and his servants. ¹⁷ Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this: load your livestock and ^[l]go to the land of Canaan, ¹⁸ and take your father and your households and come to me; and ^(R)I will give you the ^[m]best of the land of Egypt, and you will eat the fat of the land.’ ¹⁹ Now you are ordered, ‘Do this: ^[n]take ^(S)wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring your father and come. ²⁰ And do not ^[o]concern yourselves with your property, for the ^[p]best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’”

²¹ Then the sons of Israel did so; and Joseph gave them ^(T)wagons according to the ^[q]command of Pharaoh, and gave them provisions for the journey. ²² To ^[r]each of them he gave ^(U)changes of garments, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and ^(V)five changes of garments. ²³ And to his father he sent ^[s]the following: ten male donkeys loaded with the ^[t]best things of Egypt, ten female donkeys loaded with grain, bread, and sustenance for his father ^[u]on the journey.

²⁴ So he sent his brothers away, and ^[v]as they departed, he said to them, “Do not ^[w]quarrel on the journey.” ²⁵ Then they went up from Egypt, and came to the land of Canaan, to their father Jacob. ²⁶ And they told him, saying, “Joseph is still alive, and indeed he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” But ^[x]he was stunned, for ^(W)he did not believe them. ²⁷ When they told him all the words of Joseph that he had spoken to them, and when he saw the ^(X)wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, then the spirit of their father Jacob revived. ²⁸ Then Israel said, “It is enough; my son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”

Jacob Is Buried

50 Then Joseph fell on his father’s face, and wept over him and kissed him. ² Joseph commanded his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians ^(A)embalmed Israel. ³ Now forty days were ^[a]required for ^[b]it, for ^[c]such is the period required for embalming. And the Egyptians ^(B)wept for him seventy days.

⁴ When the days of ^[d]mourning for him were past, Joseph spoke to the household of Pharaoh, saying, “If now I have found favor in your sight, please speak ^[e]to Pharaoh, saying, ⁵ ‘^(C)My father made me swear, saying, “Behold, I am about to die; in my grave ^(D)which I dug for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me.” Now then, please let me go up and bury my father; then I will return.’” ⁶ Pharaoh said, “Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear.”

⁷ So Joseph went up to bury his father, and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household and all the elders of the land of Egypt, ⁸ and all the household of Joseph and his brothers and his father’s household; they left only their little ones and their flocks and their herds in the land of Goshen. ⁹ Chariots with teams of horses also went up with him; and it was a very great company. ¹⁰ When they came to the ^[f]threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they ^(E)mourned there with a very great and ^[g]sorrowful lamentation; and he ^[h]observed seven days of mourning for his father. ¹¹ Now when the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at ^[i]the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a ^[j]grievous ^[k]mourning for the Egyptians.” Therefore it was named ^[l]Abel-mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan.

Burial at Machpelah

¹² And so his sons did for him as he had commanded them; ¹³ for his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in ^(F)the cave of the field of Machpelah opposite Mamre, which Abraham had bought along with the field as a ^[m]burial site from Ephron the Hittite. ¹⁴ And after he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brothers, and all who had gone up with him to bury his father.

¹⁵ When Joseph’s brothers had seen that their father was dead, they said, “^(G)What if Joseph holds a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong which we did to him!” ¹⁶ So they sent instructions to Joseph, saying, “Your father commanded us before he died, saying, ¹⁷ ‘This is what you shall say to Joseph: “Please forgive, I beg you, the offense of your brothers and their sin, for they did you wrong.”’ And now, please forgive the offense of the servants of the God of your father.” And Joseph wept when they spoke to him. ¹⁸ Then his brothers also came and ^(H)fell down before him and said, “Behold, we are your servants.” ¹⁹ But Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid, for am I in God’s place? ²⁰ As for you, ^(I)you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good in order to bring about ^[n]this present result, to keep many people alive. ²¹ So therefore, do not be afraid; ^(J)I will provide for you and your little ones.” So he comforted them and spoke ^[o]kindly to them.

Death of Joseph

²² Now Joseph stayed in Egypt, he and his father’s household, and Joseph lived 110 years. ²³ Joseph saw the third generation of Ephraim’s sons; also the sons of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were ^(K)born on Joseph’s knees. ²⁴ Joseph said to his brothers, “^(L)I am about to die, but God will assuredly ^[p]take care of you and bring you up from this land to the land which He ^[q]promised on oath to ^(M)Abraham, to ^(N)Isaac, and to ^(O)Jacob.” ²⁵ Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, “God will assuredly ^[r]take care of you, and ^(P)you shall carry my bones up from here.” ²⁶ So Joseph died at the age of 110 years; and they ^(Q)embalmed him and placed him in a coffin in Egypt.

13 Then the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, ² “^(A)Sanctify to Me every firstborn, the firstborn of every womb among the sons of Israel, among people and animals alike; it belongs to Me.”

³ And Moses said to the people, “^(B)Remember this day in which you departed from Egypt, from the house of ^[a]slavery; for ^(C)by ^[b]a powerful hand the Lord brought you out from this place. ^(D)And nothing with yeast shall be eaten. ⁴ On this day in the ^(E)month of Abib, you are about to go out from here. ⁵ And it shall be when the Lord ^(F)brings you to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, which ^(G)He swore to your fathers to give you, a land flowing with milk and honey, ^(H)that you shall ^[c]perform this rite in this month. ⁶ For ^(I)seven days you shall eat unleavened bread, and on the seventh day there shall be a feast to the Lord. ⁷ Unleavened bread shall be eaten throughout the seven days; and ^(J)nothing with yeast shall ^[d]be seen among you, nor shall any dough with yeast ^[e]be seen among you in all your borders. ⁸ And ^(K)you shall tell your son on that day, saying, ‘It is because of what the Lord did for me when I came out of Egypt.’ ⁹ And ^(L)it shall ^[f]serve as a sign to you on your hand, and as a reminder ^[g]on your forehead, that the law of the Lord may be in your mouth; for with ^(M)a powerful hand the Lord brought you out of Egypt. ¹⁰ Therefore, you shall ^(N)keep this ordinance at its appointed time from ^[h]year to year.

¹¹ “Now when ^(O)the Lord brings you to the land of the Canaanite, as ^(P)He swore to you and to your fathers, and gives it to you, ^12 (Q)you shall ^[i]devote to the Lord every firstborn of a womb, and every firstborn offspring of an animal that you own; the males belong to the Lord. ¹³ But ^(R)every firstborn of a donkey you shall redeem with a lamb, but if you do not redeem it, then you shall break its neck; and ^(S)every ^[j]firstborn among your sons you shall redeem. ^14 (T)And it shall be when your son asks you in time to come, saying, ‘What is this?’ then you shall say to him, ‘^(U)With ^[k]a powerful hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt, from the house of ^[l]slavery. ¹⁵ And it came about, when Pharaoh was stubborn about letting us go, that the ^(V)Lord put to death every firstborn in the land of Egypt, from human firstborns to animal firstborns. Therefore, I sacrifice to the Lord the males, every firstborn of a womb, but every firstborn of my sons I redeem.’ ¹⁶ So ^(W)it shall ^[m]serve as a sign on your hand and as ^[n]phylacteries ^[o]on your forehead, for with ^[p]a powerful hand the Lord brought us out of Egypt.”

God Leads the People

¹⁷ Now when Pharaoh had let the people go, God did not lead them by the way of the land of the Philistines, even though it was near; for God said, “^(X)The people might change their minds when they see war, and return to Egypt.” ¹⁸ Therefore God led the people around by way of the wilderness to the ^[q]Red Sea; and the sons of Israel went up ^(Y)in battle formation from the land of Egypt. ¹⁹ And Moses took ^(Z)the bones of Joseph with him, for he had made the sons of Israel solemnly swear, saying, “God will certainly ^[r]take care of you, and you shall carry my bones from here with you.” ²⁰ Then they set out from ^(AA)Succoth and camped in Etham, on the edge of the wilderness. ²¹ And ^(AB)the Lord was going before them in a pillar of cloud by day to lead them on the way, and in a pillar of fire by night to give them light, so that they might ^[s]travel by day and by night. ^22 [t]He ^(AC)did not take away the pillar of cloud by day, nor the pillar of fire by night, from the presence of the people.