Bible in 90 Days

¹² And Joseph said to him, This is the interpretation of it: The three branches are three days.

¹³ Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head and restore you to your position, and you will again put Pharaoh’s cup into his hand, as when you were his butler.

¹⁴ But think of me when it shall be well with you and show kindness, I beg of you, to me, and mention me to Pharaoh and get me out of this house.

¹⁵ For truly I was carried away from the land of the Hebrews by unlawful force, and here too I have done nothing for which they should put me into the dungeon.

¹⁶ When the chief baker saw that the interpretation was good, he said to Joseph, I also dreamed, and behold, I had three cake baskets on my head.

¹⁷ And in the uppermost basket were some of all kinds of baked food for Pharaoh, but the birds [of prey] were eating out of the basket on my head.

¹⁸ And Joseph answered, This is the interpretation of it: The three baskets are three days.

¹⁹ Within three days Pharaoh will lift up your head but will have you beheaded and hung on a tree, and [you will not so much as be given burial, but] the birds will eat your flesh.

²⁰ And on the third day, Pharaoh’s birthday, he made a feast for all his servants; and he lifted up the heads of the chief butler and the chief baker [by inviting them also] among his servants.

²¹ And he restored the chief butler to his butlership, and the butler gave the cup into Pharaoh’s hand;

²² But [Pharaoh] hanged the chief baker, as Joseph had interpreted to them.

²³ But [even after all that] the chief butler gave no thought to Joseph, but forgot [all about] him.

41 After two full years, Pharaoh dreamed that he stood by the river [Nile].

² And behold, there came up out of the river [Nile] seven well-favored cows, sleek and handsome and fat; and they grazed in the reed grass [in a marshy pasture].

³ And behold, seven other cows came up after them out of the river [Nile], ill favored and gaunt and ugly, and stood by the fat cows on the bank of the river [Nile].

⁴ And the ill-favored, gaunt, and ugly cows ate up the seven well-favored and fat cows. Then Pharaoh awoke.

⁵ But he slept and dreamed the second time; and behold, seven ears of grain came out on one stalk, plump and good.

⁶ And behold, after them seven ears [of grain] sprouted, thin and blighted by the east wind.

⁷ And the seven thin ears [of grain] devoured the seven plump and full ears. And Pharaoh awoke, and behold, it was a dream.

⁸ So when morning came his spirit was troubled, and he sent and called for all the magicians and all the wise men of Egypt. And Pharaoh told them his dreams, but not one could interpret them to [him].

⁹ Then the chief butler said to Pharaoh, I remember my faults today.

¹⁰ When Pharaoh was angry with his servants and put me in custody in the captain of the guard’s house, both me and the chief baker,

¹¹ We dreamed a dream in the same night, he and I; we dreamed each of us according to [the significance of] the interpretation of his dream.

¹² And there was there with us a young man, a Hebrew, servant to the captain of the guard and chief executioner; and we told him our dreams, and he interpreted them to us, to each man according to the significance of his dream.

¹³ And as he interpreted to us, so it came to pass; I was restored to my office [as chief butler], and the baker was hanged.

¹⁴ Then Pharaoh sent and called Joseph, and they brought him hastily out of the dungeon. But Joseph [first] shaved himself, changed his clothes, and made himself presentable; then he came into Pharaoh’s presence.

¹⁵ And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I have dreamed a dream, and there is no one who can interpret it; and I have heard it said of you that you can understand a dream and interpret it.

¹⁶ Joseph answered Pharaoh, It is not in me; God [not I] will give Pharaoh a [favorable] answer of peace.

¹⁷ And Pharaoh said to Joseph, In my dream, behold, I stood on the bank of the river [Nile];

¹⁸ And behold, there came up out of the river [Nile] seven fat, sleek, and handsome cows, and they grazed in the reed grass [of a marshy pasture].

¹⁹ And behold, seven other cows came up after them, undernourished, gaunt, and ugly [just skin and bones; such emaciated animals] as I have never seen in all of Egypt.

²⁰ And the lean and ill favored cows ate up the seven fat cows that had come first.

²¹ And when they had eaten them up, it could not be detected and known that they had eaten them, for they were still as thin and emaciated as at the beginning. Then I awoke. [But again I fell asleep and dreamed.]

²² And I saw in my dream, and behold, seven ears [of grain] growing on one stalk, plump and good.

²³ And behold, seven [other] ears, withered, thin, and blighted by the east wind, sprouted after them.

²⁴ And the thin ears devoured the seven good ears. Now I told this to the magicians, but there was no one who could tell me what it meant.

²⁵ Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, The [two] dreams are one; God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do.

²⁶ The seven good cows are seven years, and the seven good ears [of grain] are seven years; the [two] dreams are one [in their meaning].

²⁷ And the seven thin and ill favored cows that came up after them are seven years, and also the seven empty ears [of grain], blighted and shriveled by the east wind; they are seven years of hunger and famine.

²⁸ This is the message just as I have told Pharaoh: God has shown Pharaoh what He is about to do.

²⁹ Take note! Seven years of great plenty throughout all the land of Egypt are coming.

³⁰ Then there will come seven years of hunger and famine, and [there will be so much want that] all the great abundance of the previous years will be forgotten in the land of Egypt; and hunger (destitution, starvation) will exhaust (consume, finish) the land.

³¹ And the plenty will become quite unknown in the land because of that following famine, for it will be very woefully severe.

³² That the dream was sent twice to Pharaoh and in two forms indicates that this thing which God will very soon bring to pass is fully prepared and established by God.

³³ So now let Pharaoh seek out and provide a man discreet, understanding, proficient, and wise and set him over the land of Egypt [as governor].

³⁴ Let Pharaoh do this; then let him select and appoint officers over the land, and take one-fifth [of the produce] of the [whole] land of Egypt in the seven plenteous years [year by year].

³⁵ And let them gather all the food of these good years that are coming and lay up grain under the direction and authority of Pharaoh, and let them retain food [in fortified granaries] in the cities.

³⁶ And that food shall be put in store for the country against the seven years of hunger and famine that are to come upon the land of Egypt, so that the land may not be ruined and cut off by the famine.

³⁷ And the plan seemed good in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of all his servants.

³⁸ And Pharaoh said to his servants, Can we find this man’s equal, a man in whom is the spirit of God?

³⁹ And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Forasmuch as [your] God has shown you all this, there is nobody as intelligent and discreet and understanding and wise as you are.

⁴⁰ You shall have charge over my house, and all my people shall be governed according to your word [with reverence, submission, and obedience]. Only in matters of the throne will I be greater than you are.

⁴¹ Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, See, I have set you over all the land of Egypt.

⁴² And Pharaoh took off his [signet] ring from his hand and put it on Joseph’s hand, and arrayed him in [official] vestments of fine linen and put a gold chain about his neck;

⁴³ He made him to ride in the second chariot which he had, and [officials] cried before him, Bow the knee! And he set him over all the land of Egypt.

⁴⁴ And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I am Pharaoh, and without you shall no man lift up his hand or foot in all the land of Egypt.

⁴⁵ And Pharaoh called Joseph’s name Zaphenath-paneah and he gave him Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, to be his wife. And Joseph made an [inspection] tour of all the land of Egypt.

⁴⁶ Joseph [who had been in Egypt thirteen years] was thirty years old when he stood before Pharaoh king of Egypt. Joseph went out from the presence of Pharaoh and went [about his duties] through all the land of Egypt.

⁴⁷ In the seven abundant years the earth brought forth by handfuls [for each seed planted].

⁴⁸ And he gathered up all the [surplus] food of the seven [good] years in the land of Egypt and stored up the food in the cities; he stored away in each city the food from the fields around it.

⁴⁹ And Joseph gathered grain as the sand of the sea, very much, until he stopped counting, for it could not be measured.

⁵⁰ Now to Joseph were born two sons before the years of famine came, whom Asenath daughter of Potiphera, the priest of On, bore to him.

⁵¹ And Joseph called the firstborn Manasseh [making to forget], For God, said he, has made me forget all my toil and hardship and all my father’s house.

⁵² And the second he called Ephraim [to be fruitful], For [he said] God has caused me to be fruitful in the land of my affliction.

⁵³ When the seven years of plenty were ended in the land of Egypt,

⁵⁴ The seven years of scarcity and famine began to come, as Joseph had said they would; the famine was in all [the surrounding] lands, but in all of Egypt there was food.

⁵⁵ But when all the land of Egypt was weakened with hunger, the people [there] cried to Pharaoh for food; and Pharaoh said to [them] all, Go to Joseph; what he says to you, do.

⁵⁶ When the famine was over all the land, Joseph opened all the storehouses and sold to the Egyptians; for the famine grew extremely distressing in the land of Egypt.

⁵⁷ And all countries came to Egypt to Joseph to buy grain, because the famine was severe over all [the known] earth.

42 Now when Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, Why do you look at one another?

² For, he said, I have heard that there is grain in Egypt; get down there and buy [grain] for us, that we may live and not die.

³ So ten of Joseph’s brethren went to buy grain in Egypt.

⁴ But Benjamin, Joseph’s [full] brother, Jacob did not send with his brothers; for he said, Lest perhaps some harm or injury should befall him.

⁵ So the sons of Israel came to buy grain among those who came, for there was hunger and general lack of food in the land of Canaan.

⁶ Now Joseph was the governor over the land, and he it was who sold to all the people of the land; and Joseph’s [half] brothers came and bowed themselves down before him with their faces to the ground.

⁷ Joseph saw his brethren and he recognized them, but he treated them as if he were a stranger to them and spoke roughly to them. He said, Where do you come from? And they replied, From the land of Canaan to buy food.

⁸ Joseph knew his brethren, but they did not know him.

⁹ And Joseph remembered the dreams he had dreamed about them and said to them, You are spies and with unfriendly purpose you have come to observe [secretly] the nakedness of the land.

¹⁰ But they said to him, No, my lord, but your servants have come [only] to buy food.

¹¹ We are all one man’s sons; we are true men; your servants are not spies.

¹² And he said to them, No, but you have come to see the nakedness of the land.

¹³ But they said, Your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan; the youngest is today with our father, and one is not.

¹⁴ And Joseph said to them, It is as I said to you, You are spies.

¹⁵ You shall be proved by this test: by the life of Pharaoh, you shall not go away from here unless your youngest brother comes here.

¹⁶ Send one of you and let him bring your brother, and you will be kept in prison, that your words may be proved whether there is any truth in you; or else by the life of Pharaoh you certainly are spies.

¹⁷ Then he put them all in custody for three days.

¹⁸ And Joseph said to them on the third day, Do this and live! I reverence and fear God.

¹⁹ If you are true men, let one of your brothers be bound in your prison, but [the rest of] you go and carry grain for those weakened with hunger in your households.

²⁰ But bring your youngest brother to me, so your words will be verified and you shall live. And they did so.

²¹ And they said one to another, We are truly guilty about our brother, for we saw the distress and anguish of his soul when he begged us [to let him go], and we would not hear. So this distress and difficulty has come upon us.

²² Reuben answered them, Did I not tell you, Do not sin against the boy, and you would not hear? Therefore, behold, his blood is required [of us].

²³ But they did not know that Joseph understood them, for he spoke to them through an interpreter.

²⁴ And he turned away from them and wept; then he returned to them and talked with them, and took from them Simeon and bound him before their eyes.

²⁵ Then [privately] Joseph commanded that their sacks be filled with grain, every man’s money be restored to his sack, and provisions be given to them for the journey. And this was done for them.

²⁶ They loaded their donkeys with grain and left.

²⁷ And as one of them opened his sack to give his donkey fodder at the lodging place, he caught sight of his money; for behold, it was in his sack’s mouth.

²⁸ And he said to his brothers, My money is restored! Here it is in my sack! And their hearts failed them and they were afraid and turned trembling one to another, saying, What is this that God has done to us?

²⁹ When they came to Jacob their father in Canaan, they told him all that had befallen them, saying,

³⁰ The man who is the lord of the land spoke roughly to us and took us for spies of the country.

³¹ And we said to him, We are true men, not spies.

³² We are twelve brothers with the same father; one is no more, and the youngest is today with our father in the land of Canaan.

³³ And the man, the lord of the country, said to us, By this test I will know whether or not you are honest men: leave one of your brothers here with me and take grain for your famishing households and be gone.

³⁴ Bring your youngest brother to me; then I will know that you are not spies, but that you are honest men. And I will deliver to you your brother [whom I have kept bound in prison], and you may do business in the land.

³⁵ When they emptied their sacks, behold, every man’s parcel of money was in his sack! When both they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid.

³⁶ And Jacob their father said to them, You have bereaved me! Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and you would take Benjamin from me. All these things are against me!

³⁷ And Reuben said to his father, Slay my two sons if I do not bring [Benjamin] back to you. Deliver him into my keeping, and I will bring him back to you.

³⁸ But [Jacob] said, My son shall not go down with you, for his brother is dead and he alone is left [of his mother’s children]; if harm or accident should befall him on the journey you are to take, you would bring my hoary head down to Sheol (the place of the dead) with grief.

43 But the hunger and destitution and starvation were very severe and extremely distressing in the land [Canaan].

² And when [the families of Jacob’s sons] had eaten up the grain which the men had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, Go again; buy us a little food.

³ But Judah said to him, The man solemnly and sternly warned us, saying, You shall not see my face again unless your brother is with you.

⁴ If you will send our brother with us, we will go down [to Egypt] and buy you food;

⁵ But if you will not send him, we will not go down; for the man said to us, You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.

⁶ And Israel said, Why did you do me such a wrong and suffer this evil to come upon me by telling the man that you had another brother?

⁷ And they said, The man asked us straightforward questions about ourselves and our relatives. He said, Is your father still alive? Have you another brother? And we answered him accordingly. How could we know that he would say, Bring your brother down here?

⁸ And Judah said to Israel his father, Send the lad with me and we will arise and go, that we may live and not die, both we and you and also our little ones.

⁹ I will be security for him; you shall require him of me [personally]; if I do not bring him back to you and put him before you, then let me bear the blame forever.

¹⁰ For if we had not lingered like this, surely by now we would have returned the second time.

¹¹ And their father Israel said to them, If it must be so, now do this; take of the choicest products in the land in your sacks and carry down a present to the man, a little balm (balsam) and a little honey, aromatic spices and gum (of rock rose) or ladanum, pistachio nuts, and almonds.

¹² And take double the [grain] money with you; and the money that was put back in the mouth of your sacks, carry it again with you; there is a possibility that [its being in your sacks] was an oversight.

¹³ Take your brother and arise and return to the man;

¹⁴ May God Almighty give you mercy and favor before the man, that he may release to you your other brother and Benjamin. If I am bereaved [of my sons], I am bereaved.

¹⁵ Then the men took the present, and they took double the [grain] money with them, and Benjamin; and they arose and went down to Egypt and stood before Joseph.

¹⁶ And when Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, Bring the men into the house and kill an animal and make ready, for the men will dine with me at noon.

¹⁷ And the man did as Joseph ordered and brought the men to Joseph’s house.

¹⁸ The men were afraid because they were brought to Joseph’s house; and they said, We are brought in because of the money that was returned in our sacks the first time we came, so that he may find occasion to accuse and assail us, take us for slaves, and seize our donkeys.

¹⁹ So they came near to the steward of Joseph’s house and talked with him at the door of the house,

²⁰ And said, O sir, we came down truly the first time to buy food;

²¹ And when we came to the inn, we opened our sacks and there was each man’s money, full weight, returned in the mouth of his sack. Now we have brought it back again.

²² And we have brought down with us other money to buy food; we do not know who put our money in our sacks.

²³ But [the steward] said, Peace be to you, fear not; your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks. I received your money. And he brought Simeon out to them.

²⁴ And the man brought the men into Joseph’s house and gave them water, and they washed their feet; and he gave their donkeys provender.

²⁵ And they made ready the present they had brought for Joseph before his coming at noon, for they heard that they were to dine there.

²⁶ And when Joseph came home, they brought into the house to him the present which they had with them, and bowed themselves to him to the ground.

²⁷ He asked them of their welfare and said, Is your old father well, of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?

²⁸ And they answered, Your servant our father is in good health; he is still alive. And they bowed down their heads and made obeisance.

²⁹ And he looked up and saw his [full] brother Benjamin, his mother’s [only other] son, and said, Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me? And he said, God be gracious to you, my son!

³⁰ And Joseph hurried from the room, for his heart yearned for his brother, and he sought privacy to weep; so he entered his chamber and wept there.

³¹ And he washed his face and went out, and, restraining himself, said, Let dinner be served.

³² And [the servants] set out [the food] for [Joseph] by himself, and for [his brothers] by themselves, and for those Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, according to the Egyptian custom not to eat food with the Hebrews; for that is an abomination to the Egyptians.

³³ And [Joseph’s brothers] were given seats before him—the eldest according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth; and the men looked at one another amazed [that so much was known about them].

³⁴ [Joseph] took and sent helpings to them from before him, but Benjamin’s portion was five times as much as any of theirs. And they drank freely and were merry with him.

44 And he commanded the steward of his house, saying, Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put every man’s money in his sack’s mouth.

² And put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack’s mouth of the youngest, with his grain money. And [the steward] did according to what Joseph had said.

³ As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away, they and their donkeys.

⁴ When they had left the city and were not yet far away, Joseph said to his steward, Up, follow after the men; and when you overtake them, say to them, Why have you rewarded evil for good? [Why have you stolen the silver cup?]

⁵ Is it not my master’s drinking cup with which he divines [the future]? You have done wrong in doing this.

⁶ And the steward overtook them, and he said to them these same words.

⁷ They said to him, Why does my lord say these things? Far be it from your servants to do such a thing!

⁸ Note that the money which we found in the mouths of our sacks we brought back to you from the land of Canaan. Is it likely then that we would steal from your master’s house silver or gold?

⁹ With whomever of your servants [your master’s cup] is found, not only let that one die, but the rest of us will be my lord’s slaves.

¹⁰ And the steward said, Now let it be as you say: he with whom [the cup] is found shall be my slave, but [the rest of] you shall be blameless.

¹¹ Then quickly every man lowered his sack to the ground and every man opened his sack.

¹² And [the steward] searched, beginning with the eldest and stopping with the youngest; and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack.

¹³ Then they rent their clothes; and after each man had loaded his donkey again, they returned to the city.

¹⁴ Judah and his brethren came to Joseph’s house, for he was still there; and they fell prostrate before him.

¹⁵ Joseph said to them, What is this thing that you have done? Do you not realize that such a man as I can certainly detect and know by divination [everything you do without other knowledge of it]?

¹⁶ And Judah said, What shall we say to my lord? What shall we reply? Or how shall we clear ourselves, since God has found out and exposed the iniquity of your servants? Behold, we are my lord’s slaves, the rest of us as well as he with whom the cup is found.

¹⁷ But [Joseph] said, God forbid that I should do that; but the man in whose hand the cup is found, he shall be my servant; and as for [the rest of] you, arise and go in peace to your father.

¹⁸ Then Judah came close to [Joseph] and said, O my lord, let your servant, I pray you, speak a word to you in private, and let not your anger blaze against your servant, for you are as Pharaoh [so I will speak as if directly to him].

¹⁹ My lord asked his servants, saying, Have you a father or a brother?

²⁰ And we said to my lord, We have a father—an old man—and a young [brother, the] child of his old age; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother’s [offspring], and his father loves him.

²¹ And you said to your servants, Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him.

²² And we said to my lord, The lad cannot leave his father; for if he should do so, his father would die.

²³ And you told your servants, Unless your youngest brother comes with you, you shall not see my face again.

²⁴ And when we went back to your servant my father, we told him what my lord had said.

²⁵ And our father said, Go again and buy us a little food.

²⁶ But we said, We cannot go down. If our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down; for we may not see the man’s face except our youngest brother is with us.

²⁷ And your servant my father said to us, You know that [Rachel] my wife bore me two sons:

²⁸ And the one went out from me, and I said, Surely he is torn to pieces, and I have never seen him since.

²⁹ And if you take this son also from me, and harm or accident should befall him, you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow and evil to Sheol (the place of the dead).

³⁰ Now therefore, when I come to your servant my father and the lad is not with us, since his life is bound up in the lad’s life and his soul knit with the lad’s soul,

³¹ When he sees that the lad is not with us, he will die; and your servants will be responsible for his death and will bring down the gray hairs of your servant our father with sorrow to Sheol.

³² For your servant became security for the lad to my father, saying, If I do not bring him to you, then I will bear the blame to my father forever.

³³ Now therefore, I pray you, let your servant remain instead of the youth [to be] a slave to my lord, and let the young man go home with his [half] brothers.

³⁴ For how can I go up to my father if the lad is not with me?—lest I witness the woe and the evil that will come upon my father.

45 Then Joseph could not restrain himself [any longer] before all those who stood by him, and he called out, Cause every man to go out from me! So no one stood there with Joseph while he made himself known to his brothers.

² And he wept and sobbed aloud, and the Egyptians [who had just left him] heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard about it.

³ And Joseph said to his brothers, I am Joseph! Is my father still alive? And his brothers could not reply, for they were distressingly disturbed and dismayed at [the startling realization that they were in] his presence.

⁴ And Joseph said to his brothers, Come near to me, I pray you. And they did so. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt!

⁵ But now, do not be distressed and disheartened or vexed and angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me ahead of you to preserve life.

⁶ For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years more in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest.

⁷ God sent me before you to preserve for you a posterity and to continue a remnant on the earth, to save your lives by a great escape and save for you many survivors.

⁸ So now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

⁹ Hurry and go up to my father and tell him, Your son Joseph says this to you: God has put me in charge of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not delay.

¹⁰ You will live in the land of Goshen, and you will be close to me—you and your children and your grandchildren, your flocks, your herds, and all you have.

¹¹ And there I will sustain and provide for you, so that you and your household and all that are yours may not come to poverty and want, for there are yet five [more] years of [the scarcity, hunger, and starvation of] famine.

¹² Now notice! Your own eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin can see that I am talking to you personally [in your language and not through an interpreter].

¹³ And you shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt and of all that you have seen; and you shall hurry and bring my father down here.

¹⁴ And he fell on his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck.

¹⁵ Moreover, he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them; and after that his brothers conversed with him.

¹⁶ When the report was heard in Pharaoh’s house that Joseph’s brothers had come, it pleased Pharaoh and his servants well.

¹⁷ And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Tell your brothers this: Load your animals and return to the land of Canaan,

¹⁸ And get your father and your households and come to me. And I will give you the best in the land of Egypt and you will live on the fat of the land.

¹⁹ You therefore command them, saying, You do this: take wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring your father and come.

²⁰ Also do not look with regret or concern upon your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.

²¹ And the sons of Israel did so; and Joseph gave them wagons, as the order of Pharaoh permitted, and gave them provisions for the journey.

²² To each of them he gave changes of raiment, but to Benjamin he gave 300 pieces of silver and five changes of raiment.

²³ And to his father he sent as follows: ten donkeys loaded with the good things of Egypt, and ten she-donkeys laden with grain, bread, and nourishing food and provision for his father [to supply all who were with him] on the way.

²⁴ So he sent his brothers away, and they departed, and he said to them, See that you do not disagree (get excited, quarrel) along the road.

²⁵ So they went up out of Egypt and came into the land of Canaan to Jacob their father,

²⁶ And they said to him, Joseph is still alive! And he is governor over all the land of Egypt! And Jacob’s heart began to stop beating and [he almost] fainted, for he did not believe them.

²⁷ But when they told him all the words of Joseph which he had said to them, and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived [and warmth and life returned].

²⁸ And Israel said, It is enough! Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.

46 So Israel made his journey with all that he had and came to Beersheba [a place hallowed by sacred memories] and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.^(A)

² And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night, and said, Jacob! Jacob! And he said, Here am I.

³ And He said, I am God, the God of your father; do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will there make of you a great nation.

⁴ I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you [your people Israel] up again; and Joseph will put his hand upon your eyes [when they are about to close in death].

⁵ So Jacob arose and set out from Beersheba, and Israel’s sons conveyed their father, their little ones, and their wives in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent to carry him.

⁶ And they took their cattle and the gains which they had acquired in the land of Canaan and came into Egypt, Jacob and all his offspring with him:

⁷ His sons and his sons’ sons with him, his daughters and his sons’ daughters—all his offspring he brought with him into Egypt.

⁸ And these are the names of the descendants of Israel who came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn.

⁹ And the sons of Reuben: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.

¹⁰ The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman.

¹¹ The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

¹² The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah; but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. And the sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.

¹³ The sons of Issachar: Tola, Puvah, Iob, and Shimron.

¹⁴ The sons of Zebulun: Sered, Elon, and Jahleel.

¹⁵ These are the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Padan-aram, together with his daughter Dinah. All of his sons and his daughters numbered thirty-three.

¹⁶ The sons of Gad: Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli.

¹⁷ The sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and Serah their sister. And the sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel.

¹⁸ These are the sons of Zilpah, [the maid] whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter. And these she bore to Jacob—sixteen persons all told.

¹⁹ The sons of Rachel, Jacob’s wife: Joseph and Benjamin.

²⁰ And to Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, bore to him.

²¹ And the sons of ^[a]Benjamin: Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard.

²² These are the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob—fourteen persons in all.

²³ The son of Dan: Hushim.

²⁴ The sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem.

²⁵ These are the sons of Bilhah, [the maid] whom Laban gave to Rachel his daughter. And she bore these to Jacob—seven persons in all.

²⁶ All the persons who came with Jacob into Egypt—who were his own offspring, not counting the wives of Jacob’s sons—were sixty-six persons all told.

²⁷ And the sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt, were two persons. All the persons of the house of Jacob [including Joseph and Jacob himself], who came into Egypt, were seventy.

²⁸ And he sent Judah before him to Joseph, to direct him to Goshen and meet him there; and they came into the land of Goshen.

²⁹ Then Joseph made ready his chariot and went up to meet Israel his father in Goshen; and he presented himself and gave distinct evidence of himself to him [that he was Joseph], and [each] fell on the [other’s] neck and wept on his neck a good while.

³⁰ And Israel said to Joseph, Now let me die, since I have seen your face [and know] that you are still alive.

³¹ Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, I will go up and tell Pharaoh and say to him, My brothers and my father’s household, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me.

³² And the men are shepherds, for their occupation has been keeping livestock, and they have brought their flocks and their herds and all that they have.

³³ When Pharaoh calls you and says, What is your occupation?

³⁴ You shall say, Your servants’ occupation has been as keepers of livestock from our youth until now, both we and our fathers before us—in order that you may live in the land of Goshen, for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians.

47 Then Joseph came and told Pharaoh, My father and my brothers, with their flocks and their herds and all that they own, have come from the land of Canaan, and they are in the land of Goshen.

² And from among his brothers he took five men and presented them to Pharaoh.

³ And Pharaoh said to his brothers, What is your occupation? And they said to Pharaoh, Your servants are shepherds, both we and our fathers before us.

⁴ Moreover, they said to Pharaoh, We have come to sojourn in the land, for your servants have no pasture for our flocks, for the famine is very severe in Canaan. So now, we pray you, let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen.

⁵ And Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, saying, Your father and your brothers have come to you.

⁶ The land of Egypt is before you; make your father and your brothers dwell in the best of the land. Let them live in the land of Goshen. And if you know of any men of ability among them, put them in charge of my cattle.

⁷ Then Joseph brought in Jacob his father and presented him before Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.

⁸ And Pharaoh asked Jacob, How old are you?

⁹ Jacob said to Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are 130 years; few and evil have the days of the years of my life been, and they have ^[b]not attained to those of the life of my fathers in their pilgrimage.

¹⁰ And Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from his presence.

¹¹ Joseph settled his father and brethren and gave them a possession in Egypt in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses (Goshen), as Pharaoh commanded.

¹² And Joseph supplied his father and his brethren and all his father’s household with food, according to [the needs of] their families.

¹³ [In the course of time] there was no food in all the land, for the famine was distressingly severe, so that the land of Egypt and all the land of Canaan hung in doubt and wavered by reason of the hunger (destitution, starvation) of the famine.

¹⁴ And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan [in payment] for the grain which they bought, and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house.

¹⁵ And when the money was exhausted in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, Give us food! Why should we die before your very eyes? For we have no money left.

¹⁶ Joseph said, Give up your livestock, and I will give you food in exchange for [them] if your money is gone.

¹⁷ So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and [he] gave them food in exchange for the horses, flocks, cattle of the herds, and the donkeys; and he supplied them with food in exchange for all their livestock that year.

¹⁸ When that year was ended, they came to [Joseph] the second year and said to him, We will not hide from my lord [the fact] that our money is spent; my lord also has our herds of livestock; there is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our lands.

¹⁹ Why should we perish before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we and our land will be servants to Pharaoh. And give us seed [to plant], that we may live and not die, and that the land may not be desolate.

²⁰ And Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for the Egyptians sold every man his field because of the overwhelming severity of the famine upon them. The land became Pharaoh’s,

²¹ And as for the people, he removed them to cities and practically made slaves of them [at their own request], from one end of the borders of Egypt to the other.

²² Only the priests’ land he did not buy, for the priests had a fixed pension from Pharaoh and lived on the amount Pharaoh gave them. So they did not sell their land.

²³ Then Joseph said to the people, Behold, I have today bought you and your land for Pharaoh. Now here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land.

²⁴ At [harvest time when you reap] the increase, you shall give one-fifth of it to Pharaoh, and four-fifths shall be your own to use for seed for the field and as food for you and those of your households and for your little ones.

²⁵ And they said, You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord; and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.

²⁶ And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt—to this day—that Pharaoh should have the fifth part [of the crops]; it was the priests’ land only which did not become Pharaoh’s.

²⁷ And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they gained possessions there and grew and multiplied exceedingly.

²⁸ And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years; so Jacob reached the age of 147 years.

²⁹ When the time drew near that Israel must die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, If now I have found favor in your sight, ^[c]put your hand under my thigh and [promise to] deal loyally and faithfully with me. Do not bury me, I beg of you, in Egypt,

³⁰ But let me lie with my fathers; you shall carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burying place. And [Joseph] said, I will do as you have directed.

³¹ Then Jacob said, Swear to me [that you will do it]. And he swore to him. And Israel bowed himself upon the head of the bed.

48 Some time after these things occurred, someone told Joseph, Behold, your father is sick. And he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim [and went to Goshen].

² When Jacob was told, Your son Joseph has come to you, Israel collected his strength and sat up on the bed.

³ And Jacob said to Joseph, God Almighty appeared to me at Luz [Bethel] in the land of Canaan and blessed me

⁴ And said to me, Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make you a multitude of people and will give this land to your descendants after you as an everlasting possession.^(B)

⁵ And now your two sons, [Ephraim and Manasseh], who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine. [I am adopting them, and now] as Reuben and Simeon, [they] shall be mine.

⁶ But other sons who may be born after them shall be your own; and they shall be called after the names of these [two] brothers and reckoned as belonging to them [when they come] into their inheritance.

⁷ And as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died at my side in the land of Canaan on the way, when yet there was but a little way to come to Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem.

⁸ When Israel [almost blind] saw Joseph’s sons, he said, Who are these?

⁹ And Joseph said to his father, They are my sons, whom God has given me in this place. And he said, Bring them to me, I pray you, that I may bless them.

¹⁰ Now Israel’s eyes were dim from age, so that he could not see. And Joseph brought them near to him, and he kissed and embraced them.

¹¹ Israel said to Joseph, I had not thought that I would see your face, but see, God has shown me your offspring also.

¹² Then Joseph took [the boys] from [his father’s embrace] and he bowed [before him] with his face to the earth.

¹³ Then Joseph took both [boys], Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel’s left, and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel’s right, and brought them close to him.

¹⁴ And Israel reached out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, ^[d]crossing his hands intentionally, for Manasseh was the firstborn.

¹⁵ Then [Jacob] blessed Joseph and said, God [Himself], before Whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac lived and walked habitually, God [Himself], Who has [been my Shepherd and has led and] fed me from the time I came into being until this day,

¹⁶ The ^[e]redeeming Angel [that is, the Angel the Redeemer—not a created being but the Lord Himself] Who has redeemed me continually from every evil, bless the lads! And let my name be perpetuated in them [may they be worthy of having their names coupled with mine], and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them become a multitude in the midst of the earth.

¹⁷ When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on Ephraim’s head, it displeased him; and he held up his father’s hand to move it to Manasseh’s head.

¹⁸ And Joseph said, Not so, my father, for this is the firstborn; put your right hand upon his head.

¹⁹ But his father refused and said, I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people and shall be great; but his younger brother shall be ^[f]greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations.

²⁰ And he blessed them that day, saying, By you shall Israel bless [one another], saying, May God make you like Ephraim and like Manasseh. And he set Ephraim before Manasseh.

²¹ And Israel said to Joseph, Behold, I [am about to] die, but God will be with you and bring you again to the land of your fathers.

²² Moreover, I have given to you [Joseph] one portion [Shechem, one mountain slope] more than any of your brethren, which I took [reclaiming it] out of the hand of the Amorites with my sword and with my bow.^(C)

49 And Jacob called for his sons and said, Gather yourselves together [around me], that I may tell you what shall befall you ^[g]in the latter or last days.

² Gather yourselves together and hear, you sons of Jacob; and hearken to Israel your father.

³ Reuben, you are my ^[h]firstborn, my might, the beginning (the firstfruits) of my manly strength and vigor; [your birthright gave you] the preeminence in dignity and the preeminence in power.

⁴ But unstable and boiling over like water, you shall ^[i]not excel and have the preeminence [of the firstborn], because you went to your father’s bed; you defiled it—he went to my couch!^(D)

⁵ Simeon and Levi are brothers [equally headstrong, deceitful, vindictive, and cruel]; their swords are weapons of violence.^(E)

⁶ O my soul, come not into their secret council; unto their assembly let not my honor be united [for I knew nothing of their plot], because in their anger they slew men [an honored man, Shechem, and the Shechemites], and in their self-will they disabled oxen.

⁷ Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce, and their wrath, for it was cruel. I will divide them in Jacob and ^[j]scatter them in Israel.

⁸ Judah, you are the one whom your brothers shall praise; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down to you.

⁹ Judah, a lion’s cub! With the prey, my son, you have gone high up [the mountain]. He stooped down, he crouched like a lion, and like a lioness—who dares provoke and rouse him?^(F)

¹⁰ The scepter or leadership shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until Shiloh [the Messiah, the Peaceful One] comes to Whom it belongs, and to Him shall be the obedience of the people.^(G)

¹¹ Binding His foal to the vine and His donkey’s colt to the choice vine, He washes His garments in wine and His clothes in the blood of grapes.^(H)

¹² His eyes are darker and more sparkling than wine, and His teeth whiter than milk.

¹³ Zebulun shall live toward the seashore, and he shall be a haven and a landing place for ships; and his border shall be toward Sidon.

¹⁴ Issachar is a strong-boned donkey crouching down between the sheepfolds.

¹⁵ And he saw that rest was good and that the land was pleasant; and he bowed his shoulder to bear [his burdens] and became a servant to tribute [subjected to forced labor].

¹⁶ Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel.

¹⁷ Dan shall be a serpent by the way, a horned snake in the path, that bites at the horse’s heels, so that his rider falls backward.

¹⁸ I wait for Your salvation, O Lord.

¹⁹ Gad—a raiding troop shall raid him, but he shall raid at their heels and assault them [victoriously].

²⁰ Asher’s food [supply] shall be rich and fat, and he shall yield and deliver royal delights.

²¹ Naphtali is a hind let loose which yields lovely fawns.

²² Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a well (spring or fountain), whose branches run over the wall.

²³ Skilled archers have bitterly attacked and sorely worried him; they have shot at him and persecuted him.

²⁴ But his bow remained strong and steady and rested in the Strength that does not fail him, for the arms of his hands were made strong and active by the hands of the Mighty God of Jacob, by the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,^(I)

²⁵ By the God of your father, Who will help you, and by the Almighty, Who will bless you with blessings of the heavens above, blessings lying in the deep beneath, blessings of the breasts and of the womb.

²⁶ The blessings of your father [on you] are greater than the blessings of my forefathers [Abraham and Isaac on me] and are as lasting as the bounties of the eternal hills; they shall be on the head of Joseph, and on the crown of the head of him who was the consecrated one and the one separated from his brethren and [the one who] is prince among them.

²⁷ Benjamin is a ^[k]ravenous wolf, in the morning devouring the prey and at night dividing the spoil.

²⁸ All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them as he blessed them, blessing each one according to the blessing suited to him.

²⁹ He charged them and said to them, I am to be gathered to my [departed] people; bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,

³⁰ In the cave in the field at Machpelah, east of Mamre in the land of Canaan, that Abraham bought, along with the field of Ephron the Hittite, to possess as a cemetery.^(J)

³¹ There they buried Abraham and Sarah his wife, there they buried Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I buried Leah.

³² The purchase of the field and the cave that is in it was from the sons of Heth.

³³ When Jacob had finished commanding his sons, he drew his feet up into the bed and breathed his last and was gathered to his [departed] people.

50 Then Joseph fell upon his father’s face and wept over him and kissed him.

² And Joseph ordered his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel.

³ Then forty days were devoted [to this purpose] for him, for that is the customary number of days required for those who are embalmed. And the Egyptians wept and bemoaned him [as they would for royalty] for seventy days.

⁴ And when the days of his weeping and deep grief were past, Joseph said to [the nobles of] the house of Pharaoh, If now I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, to Pharaoh [for Joseph was dressed in mourning and could not do so himself], saying,

⁵ My father made me swear, saying, I am about to die; in my tomb which I hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me. So now let me go up, I pray you, and bury my father, and I will come again.

⁶ And Pharaoh said, Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear.

⁷ And Joseph went up [to Canaan] to bury his father; and with him went all the officials of Pharaoh—the nobles of his court, and the elders of his house and all the nobles and elders of the land of Egypt—

⁸ And all the household of Joseph and his brethren and his father’s household. Only their little ones and their flocks and herds they left in the land of Goshen.

⁹ And there went with [Joseph] both chariots and horsemen; and it was a very great company.

¹⁰ And they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond [west of] the Jordan, and there they mourned with a great lamentation and extreme demonstrations of sorrow [according to Egyptian custom]; and [Joseph] made a mourning for his father seven days.

¹¹ When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at the floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning for the Egyptians. Therefore the place was called Abel-mizraim [mourning of Egypt]; it is west of the Jordan.

¹² Thus [Jacob’s] sons did for him as he had commanded them.

¹³ For his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, east of Mamre, which Abraham bought, along with the field, for a possession as a burying place from Ephron the Hittite.

¹⁴ After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt, he and his brethren and all who had gone up with him.

¹⁵ When Joseph’s brethren saw that their father was dead, they said, Perhaps now Joseph will hate us and will pay us back for all the evil we did to him.

¹⁶ And they sent a messenger to Joseph, saying, Your father commanded before he died, saying,

¹⁷ So shall you say to Joseph: Forgive (take up and away all resentment and all claim to requital concerning), I pray you now, the trespass of your brothers and their sin, for they did evil to you. Now, we pray you, forgive the trespass of the servants of your father’s God. And Joseph wept when they spoke thus to him.

¹⁸ Then his brothers went and fell down before him, saying, See, we are your servants (your slaves)!

¹⁹ And Joseph said to them, Fear not; for am I in the place of God? [Vengeance is His, not mine.]

²⁰ As for you, you thought evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring about that many people should be kept alive, as they are this day.

²¹ Now therefore, do not be afraid. I will provide for and support you and your little ones. And he comforted them [imparting cheer, hope, strength] and spoke to their hearts [kindly].

²² Joseph dwelt in Egypt, he and his father’s household. And Joseph lived 110 years.

²³ And Joseph saw Ephraim’s children of the third generation; the children also of Machir son of Manasseh were brought up on Joseph’s knees.

²⁴ And Joseph said to his brethren, I am going to die. But God will surely visit you and bring you out of this land to the land He swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob [to give you].

²⁵ And Joseph took an oath from the sons of Israel, saying, God will surely visit you, and you will carry up my bones from here.

²⁶ So Joseph died, being 110 years old; and they embalmed him, and he was put ^[l]in a coffin in Egypt.