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.”