Genesis 45
45
Joseph Tells Who He Is
1Joseph could not control himself any longer. He cried in front of all the people who were there. Joseph said, “Tell everyone to leave here.” So all the people left. Only the brothers were left with Joseph. Then he told them who he was. 2Joseph continued to cry, and all the Egyptian people in Pharaoh’s house heard it. 3He said to his brothers, “I am your brother Joseph. Is my father doing well?” But the brothers did not answer him because they were confused and afraid.
4So Joseph said to his brothers again, “Come here to me. I beg you, come here.” When the brothers went to him, he said to them, “I am your brother Joseph. I am the one you sold as a slave to Egypt. 5Now don’t be worried. Don’t be angry with yourselves for what you did. It was God’s plan for me to come here. I am here to save people’s lives. 6This terrible famine has continued for two years now, and there will be five more years without planting or harvest. 7So God sent me here ahead of you so that I can save your people in this country. 8It was not your fault that I was sent here. It was God’s plan. God made me like a father to Pharaoh. I am the governor over all his house and over all Egypt.”
Israel Invited to Egypt
9Joseph said, “Hurry up and go to my father. Tell him his son Joseph sent this message: ‘God made me the governor of Egypt. So come here to me quickly. Don’t wait. 10You can live near me in the land of Goshen. You, your children, your grandchildren, and all of your animals are welcome here. 11I will take care of you during the next five years of hunger. So you and your family will not lose everything you own.’
12“Surely you can see that I really am Joseph. Even my brother Benjamin knows it is me, your brother, talking to you. 13So tell my father about the honor I have received here in Egypt. Tell him about everything you have seen here. Now hurry, go bring my father back to me.” 14Then Joseph hugged his brother Benjamin, and they both began crying. 15Then Joseph cried as he kissed all his brothers. After this, the brothers began talking with him.
16Pharaoh learned that Joseph’s brothers had come to him. This news spread throughout Pharaoh’s house. Pharaoh and his servants were very excited! 17So Pharaoh told Joseph, “Tell your brothers to take all the food they need and go back to the land of Canaan. 18Tell them to bring your father and their families back here to me. I will give you the best land in Egypt to live on. And your family can eat the best food we have here. 19Also give your brothers some of our best wagons. Tell them to go to Canaan and bring your father and all the women and children back in the wagons. 20Don’t worry about bringing all of their belongings. We can give them the best of Egypt.”
21So the sons of Israel did this. Joseph gave them good wagons just as Pharaoh had promised. And Joseph gave them enough food for their trip. 22He gave each brother a suit of beautiful clothes. But to Benjamin he gave five suits of beautiful clothes and 300 pieces of silver. 23Joseph also sent gifts to his father. He sent ten donkeys with bags full of many good things from Egypt. And he sent ten female donkeys loaded with grain, bread, and other food for his father on his trip back. 24Then Joseph told his brothers to go. While they were leaving, he said to them, “Go straight home, and don’t fight on the way.”
25So the brothers left Egypt and went to their father in the land of Canaan. 26They told him, “Father, Joseph is still alive! And he is the governor over the whole country of Egypt.”
Their father did not know what to think. At first he didn’t believe them. 27But then they told him everything Joseph had said. Then their father saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to bring him back to Egypt, and he became excited and very happy. 28Israel said, “Now I believe you. My son Joseph is still alive! I am going to see him before I die!”
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© 1987, 2004 Bible League International
B'resheet (Gen) 45
45
1At last Yosef could no longer control his feelings in front of his attendants and cried, “Get everybody away from me!” So no one else was with him when Yosef revealed to his brothers who he was. 2He wept aloud, and the Egyptians heard, and Pharaoh’s household heard. 3Yosef said to his brothers, “I am Yosef! Is it true that my father is still alive?” His brothers couldn’t answer him, they were so dumbfounded at seeing him. 4Yosef said to his brothers, “Please! Come closer.” And they came closer. He said, “I am Yosef, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. 5But don’t be sad that you sold me into slavery here or angry at yourselves, because it was God who sent me ahead of you to preserve life. 6The famine has been over the land for the last two years, and for yet another five years there will be neither plowing nor harvest. 7God sent me ahead of you to ensure that you will have descendants on earth and to save your lives in a great deliverance. (iii) 8So it was not you who sent me here, but God; and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of all his household and ruler over the whole land of Egypt. 9Hurry, go up to my father, and tell him, ‘Here is what your son Yosef says: “God has made me lord of all Egypt! Come down to me, don’t delay! 10You will live in the land of Goshen and be near me — you, your children, your grandchildren, flocks, herds, everything you own. 11I will provide for you there, so that you won’t become poverty-stricken, you, your household and all that you have; because five years of famine are yet to come.”’ 12Here! Your own eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Binyamin, that it is my own mouth speaking to you. 13Tell my father how honored I am in Egypt and everything you have seen, and quickly bring my father down here!” 14Then he embraced his brother Binyamin and wept, and Binyamin wept on his neck, 15and he kissed all his brothers and wept on them. After that, his brothers talked with him.
16The report of this reached Pharaoh’s house: “Yosef’s brothers have come”; and Pharaoh and his servants were pleased. 17Pharaoh said to Yosef, “Tell your brothers, ‘Here is what you are to do. Load up your animals, go to the land of Kena‘an, 18take your father and your families, and come back to me. I will give you good property in Egypt, and you will eat the fat of the land.
(iv) 19“‘Moreover — and this is an order — do this: take wagons from the land of Egypt to carry your little ones and your wives, and bring your father, and come. 20Don’t worry about your stuff, because everything good in the land of Egypt is yours.’”
21The sons of Isra’el acted accordingly; and Yosef gave them wagons, as Pharaoh had ordered, and gave them provisions for their journey. 22To each of them he gave a set of new clothes; but to Binyamin he gave seven-and-a-half pounds of silver and five sets of new clothes. 23Likewise, to his father he sent ten donkeys loaded with the finest goods Egypt produced, as well as ten female donkeys loaded with grain, bread and food for his father to eat on the return journey. 24Thus he sent his brothers on their way, and they left; he said to them, “Don’t quarrel among yourselves while you’re traveling!”
25So they went up out of Egypt, entered the land of Kena‘an and came to Ya‘akov their father. 26They told him, “Yosef is still alive! He is ruler over the whole land of Egypt!” He was stunned at the news; he couldn’t believe them. 27So they reported to him everything Yosef had said to them; but it was only when he saw the wagons which Yosef had sent to carry him that the spirit of Ya‘akov their father began to revive. (v) 28Isra’el said, “Enough! My son Yosef is still alive! I must go and see him before I die.”
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