Genesis 46
46
Jacob and His Family Go to Egypt
1Jacob packed up all he had and went to Beersheba, where he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. 2God spoke to him in a vision at night and called, “Jacob, Jacob!”
“Yes, here I am,” he answered.
3“I am God, the God of your father,” he said. “Do not be afraid to go to Egypt; I will make your descendants a great nation there. 4I will go with you to Egypt, and I will bring your descendants back to this land. Joseph will be with you when you die.”
5Jacob set out from Beersheba. His sons put him, their small children, and their wives in the wagons which the king of Egypt had sent. 6#Ac 7.15 They took their livestock and the possessions they had acquired in Canaan and went to Egypt. Jacob took all his descendants with him: 7his sons, his grandsons, his daughters, and his granddaughters.
8The members of Jacob's family who went to Egypt with him were his oldest son Reuben 9and Reuben's sons: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. 10Simeon and his sons: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman. 11Levi and his sons: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. 12Judah and his sons: Shelah, Perez, and Zerah. (Judah's other sons, Er and Onan, had died in Canaan.) Perez' sons were Hezron and Hamul. 13Issachar and his sons: Tola, Puah, Jashub, and Shimron. 14Zebulun and his sons: Sered, Elon, and Jahleel. 15These are the sons that Leah had borne to Jacob in Mesopotamia, besides his daughter Dinah. In all, his descendants by Leah numbered thirty-three.
16Gad and his sons: Zephon, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arod, and Areli. 17Asher and his sons: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and their sister Serah. Beriah's sons were Heber and Malchiel. 18These sixteen are the descendants of Jacob by Zilpah, the slave woman whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah.
19Jacob's wife Rachel bore him two sons: Joseph and Benjamin. 20#Gn 41.50-52 In Egypt Joseph had two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, by Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, a priest in Heliopolis. 21Benjamin's sons were Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard. 22These fourteen are the descendants of Jacob by Rachel.
23Dan and his son Hushim. 24Naphtali and his sons: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem. 25These seven are the descendants of Jacob by Bilhah, the slave woman whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel.
26The total number of the direct descendants of Jacob who went to Egypt was sixty-six, not including his sons' wives. 27#Ac 7.14 Two sons were born to Joseph in Egypt, bringing to seventy the total number of Jacob's family who went there.
Jacob and His Family in Egypt
28Jacob sent Judah ahead to ask Joseph to meet them in Goshen. When they arrived, 29Joseph got in his chariot and went to Goshen to meet his father. When they met, Joseph threw his arms around his father's neck and cried for a long time. 30Jacob said to Joseph, “I am ready to die, now that I have seen you and know that you are still alive.”
31Then Joseph said to his brothers and the rest of his father's family, “I must go and tell the king that my brothers and all my father's family, who were living in Canaan, have come to me. 32I will tell him that you are shepherds and take care of livestock and that you have brought your flocks and herds and everything else that belongs to you. 33When the king calls for you and asks what your occupation is, 34be sure to tell him that you have taken care of livestock all your lives, just as your ancestors did. In this way he will let you live in the region of Goshen.” Joseph said this because Egyptians will have nothing to do with shepherds.
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Genesis 46
46
Migration to Egypt. 1#46:1–47:26] Jacob and his family settle in Egypt. Joseph’s economic policies. Israel set out with all that was his. When he arrived at Beer-sheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. 2There God, speaking to Israel in a vision by night, called: Jacob! Jacob! He answered, “Here I am.” 3Then he said: I am God,#I am God: more precisely according to the Hebrew text, “I am El.” “El” is here a divine name, not the common noun “god.” the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for there I will make you a great nation. 4I will go down to Egypt with you and I will also bring you back here, after Joseph has closed your eyes.
5So Jacob departed from Beer-sheba, and the sons of Israel put their father and their wives and children on the wagons that Pharaoh had sent to transport him. 6They took with them their livestock and the possessions they had acquired in the land of Canaan. So Jacob and all his descendants came to Egypt.#Ex 1:1; Jos 24:4; Jdt 5:10; Acts 7:15. 7His sons and his grandsons, his daughters and his granddaughters—all his descendants—he took with him to Egypt.
8These are the names of the Israelites, Jacob and his children, who came to Egypt.
Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn,#Ex 1:2. 9#This genealogical list is based on the clan lists (Nm 26:5–50) from the Mosaic period. and the sons of Reuben: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.#Ex 6:14; Nm 26:5; 1 Chr 5:3. 10The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, son of a Canaanite woman.#Ex 6:15; Nm 26:12; 1 Chr 4:24. 11The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.#Ex 6:16; Nm 3:17; 26:57; 1 Chr 6:1. 12The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah—but Er and Onan had died in the land of Canaan; and the sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.#Gn 38:3–10, 29–30; Nm 26:19; Ru 4:12; 1 Chr 2:5. 13The sons of Issachar: Tola, Puah, Jashub, and Shimron.#Nm 26:23–24; 1 Chr 7:1. 14The sons of Zebulun: Sered, Elon, and Jahleel.#Nm 26:26. 15These were the sons whom Leah bore to Jacob in Paddan-aram, along with his daughter Dinah—thirty-three persons in all, sons and daughters.
16The sons of Gad: Zephon, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arod, and Areli.#Nm 26:15–16. 17The sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, and Beriah, with their sister Serah; and the sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel.#Nm 26:44; 1 Chr 7:30–31. 18These are the children of Zilpah, whom Laban had given to his daughter Leah; these she bore to Jacob—sixteen persons in all.
19The sons of Jacob’s wife Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. 20In the land of Egypt Joseph became the father of Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, priest of Heliopolis, bore to him.#Gn 41:50; Nm 26:28, 35. 21The sons of Benjamin: Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ahiram, Shupham, Hupham, and Ard.#Nm 26:38; 1 Chr 7:6; 8:1–4. 22These are the sons whom Rachel bore to Jacob—fourteen persons in all.
23The sons of Dan: Hushim.#Nm 26:42. 24The sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem.#Nm 26:48–49; 1 Chr 7:13. 25These are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban had given to his daughter Rachel; these she bore to Jacob—seven persons in all.
26Jacob’s people who came to Egypt—his direct descendants, not counting the wives of Jacob’s sons—numbered sixty-six persons in all.#Ex 1:5. 27Together with Joseph’s sons who were born to him in Egypt—two persons—all the people comprising the household of Jacob who had come to Egypt amounted to seventy persons#Seventy persons: it is difficult to get this exact number by adding up the persons mentioned in the preceding genealogies. One might assume it refers to Jacob and sixty-nine descendants, excluding Er and Onan but including Dinah. Ex 1:5 repeats the number but excludes Jacob. Dt 10:22 refers to seventy persons descending to Egypt. The best solution is to take the number as expressing totality. Since there are seventy nations in chap. 10, it is likely that the text is drawing a parallel between the two entities and suggesting that Israel “represents” the nations before God. in all.#Ex 1:5; Dt 10:22; Acts 7:14.
28Israel had sent Judah ahead to Joseph, so that he might meet him in Goshen. On his arrival in the region of Goshen, 29Joseph prepared his chariot and went up to meet his father Israel in Goshen. As soon as Israel made his appearance, Joseph threw his arms around him and wept a long time on his shoulder. 30And Israel said to Joseph, “At last I can die, now that I have seen for myself that you are still alive.”
31Joseph then said to his brothers and his father’s household: “I will go up and inform Pharaoh, telling him: ‘My brothers and my father’s household, whose home is in the land of Canaan, have come to me. 32The men are shepherds, having been owners of livestock;#Owners of livestock: the phrase occurs only here and in v. 34. The difference between this term and “shepherds” is not clear, for the brothers do not mention it to Pharaoh in 47:3. and they have brought with them their flocks and herds, as well as everything else they own.’ 33So when Pharaoh summons you and asks what your occupation is, 34you must answer, ‘We your servants, like our ancestors, have been owners of livestock from our youth until now,’ in order that you may stay in the region of Goshen, since all shepherds are abhorrent to the Egyptians.”
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