²⁸ So I am all the more anxious to send him back to you, for I know you will be glad to see him, and then I will not be so worried about you.

⁴ I long to see you again, for I remember your tears as we parted. And I will be filled with joy when we are together again.

²² So you have sorrow now, but I will see you again; then you will rejoice, and no one can rob you of that joy.

³ We proclaim to you what we ourselves have actually seen and heard so that you may have fellowship with us. And our fellowship is with the Father and with his Son, Jesus Christ. ⁴ We are writing these things so that you may fully share our joy.^[a]

²⁶ I am sending him because he has been longing to see you, and he was very distressed that you heard he was ill. ²⁷ And he certainly was ill; in fact, he almost died. But God had mercy on him—and also on me, so that I would not have one sorrow after another.

³ That is why I wrote to you as I did, so that when I do come, I won’t be grieved by the very ones who ought to give me the greatest joy. Surely you all know that my joy comes from your being joyful.

³⁸ They were sad most of all because he had said that they would never see him again. Then they escorted him down to the ship.

¹¹ Then Jacob said to Joseph, “I never thought I would see your face again, but now God has let me see your children, too!”

²⁹ Joseph prepared his chariot and traveled to Goshen to meet his father, Jacob. When Joseph arrived, he embraced his father and wept, holding him for a long time. ³⁰ Finally, Jacob said to Joseph, “Now I am ready to die, since I have seen your face again and know you are still alive.”

²⁷ But when they repeated to Jacob everything Joseph had told them, and when he saw the wagons Joseph had sent to carry him, their father’s spirits revived.

²⁸ Then Jacob exclaimed, “It must be true! My son Joseph is alive! I must go and see him before I die.”