⁴ So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, ^(A)whom you sold into Egypt. ⁵ And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, ^(B)for God sent me before you to preserve life. ⁶ For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are ^(C)yet five years in which there will be neither ^(D)plowing nor harvest. ⁷ And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. ⁸ So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ^(E)ruler over all the land of Egypt.

²⁰ As for you, you meant evil against me, but ^(A)God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people^[a] should be kept alive, as they are today.