Genesis 45
45
The Truth Revealed.#Joseph reveals his identity and the family is reconciled. 1Joseph could no longer restrain himself in the presence of all his attendants, so he cried out, “Have everyone withdraw from me!” So no one attended him when he made himself known to his brothers. 2But his sobs were so loud that the Egyptians heard him, and so the news reached Pharaoh’s house. 3#Acts 7:13. “I am Joseph,” he said to his brothers. “Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could give him no answer, so dumbfounded were they at him.
4“Come closer to me,” Joseph told his brothers. When they had done so, he said: “I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. 5But now do not be distressed, and do not be angry with yourselves for having sold me here. It was really for the sake of saving lives that God sent me here ahead of you.#Gn 50:20. 6The famine has been in the land for two years now, and for five more years cultivation will yield no harvest. 7God, therefore, sent me on ahead of you to ensure for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives in an extraordinary deliverance. 8So it was not really you but God who had me come here; and he has made me a father to Pharaoh,#Father to Pharaoh: a term applied to a vizier in ancient Egypt. lord of all his household, and ruler over the whole land of Egypt.
9#In these verses, as in 46:31–47:5a, all from the Yahwist source, Joseph in his own name invites his father and brothers to come to Egypt. Only after their arrival is Pharaoh informed of the fact. On the other hand, in 45:16–20, which scholars have traditionally attributed to the Elohist source, it is Pharaoh himself who invites Joseph’s family to migrate to his domain. “Hurry back, then, to my father and tell him: ‘Thus says your son Joseph: God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me without delay.#Acts 7:14. 10You can settle in the region of Goshen,#The region of Goshen: the meaning of the term is unknown. It is found in no Egyptian source. It is generally thought to be in the modern Wadi Tumilat in the eastern part of the Nile Delta. where you will be near me—you and your children and children’s children, your flocks and herds, and everything that you own. 11I will provide for you there in the five years of famine that lie ahead, so that you and your household and all that are yours will not suffer want.’ 12Surely, you can see for yourselves, and Benjamin can see for himself, that it is I who am speaking to you. 13Tell my father all about my high position in Egypt and all that you have seen. But hurry and bring my father down here.” 14Then he threw his arms around his brother Benjamin and wept on his shoulder. 15Joseph then kissed all his brothers and wept over them; and only then were his brothers able to talk with him.
16The news reached Pharaoh’s house: “Joseph’s brothers have come.” Pharaoh and his officials were pleased. 17So Pharaoh told Joseph: “Say to your brothers: ‘This is what you shall do: Load up your animals and go without delay to the land of Canaan. 18There get your father and your households, and then come to me; I will assign you the best land in Egypt, where you will live off the fat of the land.’#Acts 7:14. 19Instruct them further: ‘Do this. Take wagons from the land of Egypt for your children and your wives and bring your father back here. 20Do not be concerned about your belongings, for the best in the whole land of Egypt shall be yours.’”
21The sons of Israel acted accordingly. Joseph gave them the wagons, as Pharaoh had ordered, and he supplied them with provisions for the journey. 22He also gave to each of them a set of clothes, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels of silver and five sets of clothes. 23Moreover, what he sent to his father was ten donkeys loaded with the finest products of Egypt and another ten loaded with grain and bread and provisions for his father’s journey. 24As he sent his brothers on their way, he told them, “Do not quarrel on the way.”
25So they went up from Egypt and came to the land of Canaan, to their father Jacob. 26When they told him, “Joseph is still alive—in fact, it is he who is governing all the land of Egypt,” he was unmoved, for he did not believe them. 27But when they recounted to him all that Joseph had told them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to transport him, the spirit of their father Jacob came to life. 28“Enough,” said Israel. “My son Joseph is still alive! I must go and see him before I die.”
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Confraternity of Christian Doctrine, Inc
Genesis 45
45
1And Joseph hath not been able to refrain himself before all those standing by him, and he calleth, ‘Put out every man from me;’ and no man hath stood with him when Joseph maketh himself known unto his brethren,
2and he giveth forth his voice in weeping, and the Egyptians hear, and the house of Pharaoh heareth.
3And Joseph saith unto his brethren, ‘I [am] Joseph, is my father yet alive?’ and his brethren have not been able to answer him, for they have been troubled at his presence.
4And Joseph saith unto his brethren, ‘Come nigh unto me, I pray you,’ and they come nigh; and he saith, ‘I [am] Joseph, your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt;
5and now, be not grieved, nor let it be displeasing in your eyes that ye sold me hither, for to preserve life hath God sent me before you.
6‘Because these two years the famine [is] in the heart of the land, and yet [are] five years, [in] which there is neither ploughing nor harvest;
7and God sendeth me before you, to place of you a remnant in the land, and to give life to you by a great escape;
8and now, ye — ye have not sent me hither, but God, and He doth set me for a father to Pharaoh, and for lord to all his house, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
9‘Haste, and go up unto my father, then ye have said to him, Thus said Joseph thy son, God hath set me for lord to all Egypt; come down unto me, stay not,
10and thou hast dwelt in the land of Goshen, and been near unto me, thou and thy sons, and thy son's sons, and thy flock, and thy herd, and all that thou hast,
11and I have nourished thee there — for yet [are] five years of famine — lest thou become poor, thou and thy household, and all that thou hast.
12‘And lo, your eyes are seeing, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that [it is] my mouth which is speaking unto you;
13and ye have declared to my father all my honour in Egypt, and all that ye have seen, and ye have hasted, and have brought down my father hither.’
14And he falleth on the neck of Benjamin his brother, and weepeth, and Benjamin hath wept on his neck;
15and he kisseth all his brethren, and weepeth over them; and afterwards have his brethren spoken with him.
16And the sound hath been heard in the house of Pharaoh, saying, ‘Come have the brethren of Joseph;’ and it is good in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants,
17and Pharaoh saith unto Joseph, ‘Say unto thy brethren, This do ye: lade your beasts, and go, enter ye the land of Canaan,
18and take your father, and your households, and come unto me, and I give to you the good of the land of Egypt, and eat ye the fat of the land.
19‘Yea, thou — thou hast been commanded: this do ye, take for yourselves out of the land of Egypt, waggons for your infants, and for your wives, and ye have brought your father, and come;
20and your eye hath no pity on your vessels, for the good of all the land of Egypt [is] yours.’
21And the sons of Israel do so, and Joseph giveth waggons to them by the command of Pharaoh, and he giveth to them provision for the way;
22to all of them hath he given — to each changes of garments, and to Benjamin he hath given three hundred silverlings, and five changes of garments;
23and to his father he hath sent thus: ten asses bearing of the good things of Egypt, and ten she-asses bearing corn and bread, even food for his father for the way.
24And he sendeth his brethren away, and they go; and he saith unto them, ‘Be not angry in the way.’
25And they go up out of Egypt, and come in to the land of Canaan, unto Jacob their father,
26and they declare to him, saying, ‘Joseph [is] yet alive,’ and that he [is] ruler over all the land of Egypt; and his heart ceaseth, for he hath not given credence to them.
27And they speak unto him all the words of Joseph, which he hath spoken unto them, and he seeth the waggons which Joseph hath sent to bear him away, and live doth the spirit of Jacob their father;
28and Israel saith, ‘Enough! Joseph my son [is] yet alive; I go and see him before I die.’
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