Genesis 45

Joseph Provides for His Brothers and Family

1Then Joseph could not #ch. 43:31; [Esth. 5:10]control himself before all those who stood by him. He cried, “Make everyone go out from me.” So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. 2And he wept aloud, so that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it. 3And Joseph said to his brothers, #Acts 7:13“I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed at his presence.

4So Joseph said to his brothers, “Come near to me, please.” And they came near. And he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, #ch. 37:28whom you sold into Egypt. 5And now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, #ch. 50:20; Ps. 105:16, 17for God sent me before you to preserve life. 6For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are #ch. 41:30 yet five years in which there will be neither #Ex. 34:21; Deut. 21:4; 1 Sam. 8:12; [Isa. 30:24]plowing nor harvest. 7And God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors. 8So 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 #ver. 26; ch. 41:43ruler over all the land of Egypt. 9Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not tarry. 10#ch. 46:34; 47:1, 4, 6, 27; 50:8; Ex. 8:22; [ch. 47:11; Josh. 10:41]You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, and your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. 11#ch. 47:12; 50:21There I will provide for you, for there are yet five years of famine to come, so that you and your household, and all that you have, do not come to poverty.’ 12And now your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is #[ch. 42:23]my mouth that speaks to you. 13You must tell my father of all my honor in Egypt, and of all that you have seen. Hurry and #Acts 7:14bring my father down here.” 14Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept upon his neck. 15And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them. After that his brothers talked with him.

16When the report was heard in Pharaoh’s house, “Joseph’s brothers have come,” it pleased Pharaoh and his servants. 17And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this: load your beasts and go back to the land of Canaan, 18and take your father and your households, and come to me, and #ch. 47:6I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you shall eat the fat of the land.’ 19And you, Joseph, are commanded to say, ‘Do this: take #ch. 46:5wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring your father, and come. 20Have no concern for#45:20 Hebrew Let your eye not pity your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’”

21The sons of Israel did so: and Joseph gave them #[See ver. 19 above]wagons, according to the command of Pharaoh, and gave them provisions for the journey. 22To each and all of them he gave #[2 Kgs. 5:5, 22, 23] a change of clothes, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels#45:22 A shekel was about 2/5 ounce or 11 grams of silver and #[ch. 43:34]five changes of clothes. 23To his father he sent as follows: ten donkeys loaded with the good things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain, bread, and provision for his father on the journey. 24Then he sent his brothers away, and as they departed, he said to them, #[ch. 42:22]“Do not quarrel on the way.”

25So they went up out of Egypt and came to the land of Canaan to their father Jacob. 26And they told him, “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” And his heart became numb, for he did not believe them. 27But when they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them, and when he saw #ver. 19, 21; ch. 46:5the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. 28And Israel said, “It is enough; Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”

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Genesis 45

CHAPTER 45

1Joseph might no longer abstain himself, while many men stood there before him; wherefore he commanded that all men should go out, and that none alien were present in the knowing of Joseph and his brethren.

2And Joseph raised up his voice with weeping, which the Egyptians heard, and all the household of Pharaoh.

3And he said to his brethren, I am Joseph; liveth my father yet? His brethren might not answer, and were aghast with full much dread.

4To whom Joseph said meekly, Cometh nigh to me. And when they had nighed nigh, he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt;

5do not ye dread, neither seem it to be hard to you, that ye sold me into these countries; for God hath sent me before you into Egypt for your health.

6For it is two years that hunger began to be in the land, yet five more years shall pursue, in which men shall not be able to ear, neither reap;

7and God before-sent me, that ye be kept alive on earth, and may have meats to live.

8I was sent hither not by your counsel, but by God’s will, which hath made me as the father of Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and prince in all the land of Egypt.

9Haste ye, and goeth up to my father, and ye shall say to him, Thy son Joseph sendeth these things to thee; God hath made me lord of all the land of Egypt; come down here to me, and tarry not,

10and dwell in the land of Goshen; and thou shalt be beside me, thou, and thy sons, and the sons of thy sons, thy sheep, and thy great beasts, and all things which thou wieldest,

11and there I shall feed thee; for yet five years of hunger be left, lest both thou perish, and thine house, and all things which thou wieldest.

12Lo! your eyes, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that my mouth speaketh to you;

13tell ye to my father all my glory, and all things which ye saw in Egypt; haste ye, and bring ye him to me.

14And when he had embraced, and felled into the neck of Benjamin, his brother, he wept, the while also Benjamin wept in like manner on the neck of Joseph.

15And Joseph kissed all his brethren, and wept on them all; after which things they were hardy to speak to him.

16And it was heard, and published by famous word in the king’s hall, The brethren of Joseph be come. And Pharaoh joyed, and all his household;

17and Pharaoh said to Joseph, that he should command his brethren, and say to them, Charge ye your beasts, and go ye into the land of Canaan,

18and take ye from thence your father, and your kindred, and come ye back to me; and I shall give you all the goods of Egypt, that ye eat the marrow of the land.

19Command thou also, that they take wains of the land of Egypt to the carriage of their little children, and wives, and say thou, Take ye your father, and haste ye in coming soon,

20neither leave ye anything of the appurtenance of your house, for all the riches of Egypt shall be yours.

21The sons of Israel did as it was commanded to them; to which Joseph gave wains, by the behest of Pharaoh, and meats in the way;

22and he commanded two stoles to be brought forth to each; forsooth he gave to Benjamin three hundred pieces of silver, with five of the best stoles;

23and he sent to his father so much of silver, and of clothes, and he added to them ten male asses, that should bear of the riches of Egypt, and so many female asses, bearing wheat and loaves in the way.

24Therefore he let go his brethren, and said to them going forth, Be ye not wroth in the way.

25Which went up from Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan, to their father Jacob;

26and they told to him, and said, Joseph, thy son, liveth, and he is lord in all the land of Egypt. And when this was heard, Jacob waked as of a grievous sleep; nevertheless he believed not to them.

27They told on the contrary to him all the order of the thing; and when Jacob had seen the wains, and all things which Joseph had sent, his spirit lived again,

28and he said, It sufficeth to me, if Joseph my son liveth yet; I shall go and see him before that I die.

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