Genesis 45

Joseph Tells His Brothers Who He Is

1 # Ac 7.13. Since Joseph could no longer control his feelings in front of his servants, he sent them out of the room. When he was alone with his brothers, he told them, “I am Joseph.” 2Then he cried so loudly that the Egyptians heard him and told about it in the king's#45.2 the king: See the note at 12.15. palace.

3Joseph asked his brothers if his father was still alive, but they were too frightened to answer. 4Joseph told them to come closer to him, and when they did, he said:

Yes, I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt. 5Don't worry or blame yourselves for what you did. God is the one who sent me ahead of you to save lives.

6There has already been a famine for two years, and for five more years no one will plow fields or harvest grain. 7But God sent me on ahead of you to keep your families alive and to save you in this wonderful way. 8After all, you weren't really the ones who sent me here—it was God. He made me the highest official in the king's court and placed me over all Egypt.

9 # Ac 7.14. Now hurry back and tell my father that his son Joseph says, “God has made me ruler of Egypt. Come here as quickly as you can. 10You will live near me in the region of Goshen with your children and grandchildren, as well as with your sheep, goats, cattle, and everything else you own. 11I will take care of you there during the next five years of famine. But if you don't come, you and your family and your animals will starve to death.”

12All of you, including my brother Benjamin, can tell by what I have said that I really am Joseph. 13Tell my father about my great power here in Egypt and about everything you have seen. Hurry and bring him here.

14Joseph and Benjamin hugged each other and started crying. 15Joseph was still crying as he kissed each of his other brothers. After this, they started talking with Joseph.

16When it was told in the palace that Joseph's brothers had come, the king and his officials were happy. 17So the king said to Joseph:

Tell your brothers to load their donkeys and return to Canaan. 18Tell them to bring their father and their families here. I will give them the best land in Egypt, and they can eat and enjoy everything that grows there. 19Also tell your brothers to take some wagons from Egypt for their wives and children to ride in. And be sure they bring their father. 20They can leave their possessions behind, because they will be given the best of everything in Egypt.

21Jacob's sons agreed to do what the king had said. And Joseph gave them wagons and food for their trip home, just as the king had ordered. 22Joseph gave some new clothes to each of his brothers, but to Benjamin he gave five new outfits and 300 pieces of silver. 23To his father he sent ten donkeys loaded with the best things in Egypt, and ten other donkeys loaded with grain and bread and other food for the return trip. 24Then he sent his brothers off and told them, “Don't argue on the way home!”

25Joseph's brothers left Egypt, and when they arrived in Canaan, 26they told their father that Joseph was still alive and was the ruler of Egypt. But their father was so surprised that he could not believe them. 27Then they told him everything Joseph had said. When he saw the wagons Joseph had sent, he felt much better 28and said, “Now I can believe you! My son Joseph must really be alive, and I will get to see him before I die.”

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Berĕshith (Genesis) 45

1And Yosĕph was unable to restrain himself before all those who stood by him, and he called out, “Have everyone go out from me!” So no one stood with him while Yosĕph made himself known to his brothers.

2And he wept aloud, and the Mitsrites and the house of Pharaoh heard it.

3And Yosĕph said to his brothers, “I am Yosĕph, is my father still alive?” But his brothers were unable to answer him, for they trembled before him.

4Then Yosĕph said to his brothers, “Please come near to me.” And when they came near, he said, “I am Yosĕph your brother, whom you sold into Mitsrayim.

5“And now, do not be grieved nor displeased with yourselves because you sold me here, for Elohim sent me before you to preserve life.

6“For two years now the scarcity of food has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there is neither ploughing nor harvesting.

7“And Elohim sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to give life to you by a great escape.

8So then, you did not send me here, but Elohim. And He has set me for a father to Pharaoh, and master of all his house, and a ruler throughout all the land of Mitsrayim.”

9Hurry and go up to my father, and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Yosĕph, Elohim has made me master of all Mitsrayim. Come down to me, do not delay.

10“And you shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and be near to me, you and your children, your children’s children, your flocks and your herds, and all that you have.

11“And I shall provide for you there, lest you and your household, and all that you have, come to poverty, because five years of scarcity of food are still to come.” ’

12“And look, your eyes and the eyes of my brother Binyamin see that it is my mouth that speaks to you.

13“And you shall inform my father of all my esteem in Mitsrayim, and of all that you have seen. And you shall hurry and bring my father down here.”

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

15And he kissed all his brothers and wept over them, and after that his brothers spoke with him.

16And the report of it was heard by the house of Pharaoh, saying, “The brothers of Yosĕph have come.” And it was good in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of his servants.

17And Pharaoh said to Yosĕph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this: Load your beasts and go, enter the land of Kena‛an,

18and take your father and your households and come to me, and I give you the best of the land of Mitsrayim, and you eat the fat of the land.

19And you, you have been commanded, do this: Take wagons out of the land of Mitsrayim for your little ones and your wives. And you shall bring your father, and come.

20And do not be concerned about your goods, for the best of all the land of Mitsrayim is yours.’ ”

21And the sons of Yisra’ĕl did so. And Yosĕph gave them wagons, according to the mouth of Pharaoh, and he gave them food for the journey.

22He gave to all of them, to each man, changes of garments, but to Binyamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of garments.

23And he sent to his father this: ten donkeys loaded with the best of Mitsrayim, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain, and bread, and food for his father for the journey.

24So he sent his brothers away, and they left. And he said to them, “Do not quarrel along the way.”

25And they went up out of Mitsrayim, and came to the land of Kena‛an to Ya‛aqoḇ their father.

26And they told him, saying, “Yosĕph is still alive, and he is governor over all the land of Mitsrayim.” And Ya‛aqoḇ’s heart ceased, for he did not believe them.

27But when they spoke to him all the words which Yosĕph had spoken to them, and when he saw the wagons which Yosĕph had sent to transport him, the spirit of Ya‛aqoḇ their father revived.

28And Yisra’ĕl said, “Enough! My son Yosĕph is still alive. Let me go and see him before I die.”

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