In the Bible

Joseph is reunited with his family

¹  Now when Jacob saw that there was grain in Egypt, Jacob said to his sons, “Why do you look at one another?” 

²  And he said, “I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die.”

³  Joseph’s ten brothers went down to buy grain in Egypt. 

⁴ But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, with his brothers for he said, “Perhaps some harm might happen to him.” 

⁵ Thus the sons of Israel came to buy grain among those who came, for the famine was in the land of Canaan.

⁶  Now Joseph was the governor over the land, and it was he who sold to all the people of the land. So Joseph’s brothers came and bowed themselves down before him with their faces to the ground. 

⁷ Joseph saw his brothers, and he recognized them, but he pretended to be a stranger to them and spoke harshly to them. He said to them, “From where do you come?” And they said, “From the land of Canaan to buy food.”

⁸ Joseph knew his brothers, but they did not know him.

⁹ Joseph also remembered the dreams that he had dreamed of them. He said to them, “You are spies! You came to see the nakedness of the land!”

¹⁰ They said to him, “No, my lord, your servants have come only to buy food.

¹¹ We are all one man’s sons. We are honest men. Your servants are not spies.”

¹² But he said to them, “No, you have come to see the nakedness of the land!”

¹³ They said, “Your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. The youngest is with our father today, and one is no longer living.”

¹⁴ Joseph said to them, “It is as I said to you, ‘You are spies!’ 

¹⁵ Here is how you will be tested. By the life of Pharaoh, you will not leave here unless your youngest brother comes here. 

¹⁶ Send one of you, and let him get your brother, and you will be kept in prison, so that your words may be tested, whether there be any truth in you. Or else, by the life of Pharaoh, you are surely spies.”

¹⁷ He put them all together in custody for three days.

¹⁸ Joseph said to them the third day, “Do this and live, for I fear God. 

¹⁹ If you are honest men, let one of your brothers be confined in your prison house. The rest of you go and carry grain for the famine of your households.

²⁰ Nevertheless, bring your youngest brother to me so that your words may be verified and you shall not die.” And they did so.

²¹ Then they said one to another, “We are guilty concerning our brother, because we saw the anguish of his soul when he pleaded with us, but we would not listen. Therefore, this distress has come upon us.”

²² Reuben answered them, saying, “Did I not speak to you, saying, ‘Do not sin against the boy’; and you would not listen? Therefore, his blood is now required of us.” 

²³ They did not know that Joseph understood them, for he spoke to them through an interpreter.

²⁴ He turned himself away from them and wept, but then turned back to them again and spoke with them. Then he took Simeon from them and bound him before their eyes.

²⁵ Joseph then gave the command to fill their sacks with grain and to restore every man’s money to his sack and to give them provisions for the way. And it was done for them.

²⁶ They loaded their donkeys with the grain and departed from there.

²⁷ As one of them opened his sack to give his donkey feed in the lodging place, he saw his money. It was in the mouth of his sack. 

²⁸ And he said to his brothers, “My money has been returned. Here it is in my sack!” Then their hearts sank, and they were afraid, saying to one another, “What is this that God has done to us?”

²⁹ They came to Jacob their father in the land of Canaan and told him all that had happened to them, saying, 

³⁰ “The man, the lord of the land, spoke harshly to us and took us for spies of the country. 

³¹ And we said to him, ‘We are honest men. We are not spies. 

³² We are twelve brothers, all sons of our father. One is no longer living, and the youngest is with our father today in the land of Canaan.’

³³ “The man, the lord of the country, said to us, ‘Here is how I may know that you are honest men. Leave one of your brothers here with me, take food for the famine of your households, and be gone. 

³⁴ But bring your youngest brother back to me. Then I will know that you are not spies, but that you are honest men. Then I will deliver your brother to you, and you may trade in the land.’ ”

³⁵ As they emptied their sacks, every man’s bundle of money was in his sack. When both they and their father saw the bundles of money, they were afraid.

³⁶ Then Jacob their father said to them, “You have bereaved me of my children! Joseph is no more, Simeon is no more, and you will take Benjamin away. All these things are against me.”

³⁷ Reuben spoke to his father, saying, “Kill my two sons if I fail to bring him to you. Put him in my hands, and I will bring him back to you.”

³⁸ But Jacob said, “My son must not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he alone is left. If harm should happen to him on the journey you are to make, then you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.”

Genesis 43

¹   Now the famine was severe in the land. 

²  When they had eaten up the grain which they had brought out of Egypt, their father said to them, “Go back and buy us a little food.”

³ Judah spoke to him, saying, “The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ 

⁴ If you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy food for you. 

⁵ But if you will not send him, we will not go down. For the man said to us, ‘You will not see my face unless your brother is with you.’ ”

⁶ Israel said, “Why did you treat me so badly as to tell the man that you had another brother?”

⁷ And they said, “The man asked us directly about ourselves and our family, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?’ So we answered his questions. How could we even know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?”

⁸ And Judah said to Israel his father, “Send the boy with me, and we will arise and go, so that we may live and not die, both we and you, and also our little ones. 

⁹ I will be a surety for him. You may hold me personally responsible for him. If I fail to bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever. 

¹⁰ For if we had not delayed, we could have returned twice.”

¹¹ Their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, do this. Take some of the best fruits in the land in your bags, and carry down a present for the man: a little balm and a little honey, spices, and myrrh, pistachio nuts and almonds.

¹² Take double the money with you, along with the money that was brought back in the mouths of your sacks. Carry it with you again. Perhaps it was a mistake. 

¹³ Also, take your brother and arise, return to the man. 

¹⁴ And may God Almighty give you mercy before the man, so that he may send away your other brother, along with Benjamin. As for me, if I am bereaved, I am bereaved.”

¹⁵ The men took the gift, and they took double the money with them, along with Benjamin. Then they went on their way down to Egypt and stood before Joseph. 

¹⁶ When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the house steward, “Bring these men home, slaughter an animal and prepare it, for these men will dine with me at noon.”

¹⁷ The man did as Joseph ordered, so the man brought the men into Joseph’s house. 

¹⁸ The men were afraid because they were brought into Joseph’s house. They said, “We have been brought in because of the money that was returned in our sacks the first time, so that he may seek occasion against us and fall upon us and take us for slaves with our donkeys.”

¹⁹ They approached the steward of Joseph’s house, and they spoke with him at the entrance of the house. 

²⁰ They said, “My lord, we indeed came down the first time to buy food. 

²¹ When we came to the lodging place, we opened our sacks and realized every man’s money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight. So we have brought it again with us. 

²² We have also brought additional money with us to buy food. We cannot tell who put our money in our sacks.”

²³ He said, “Be at peace; do not be afraid. Your God and the God of your father has given you treasure in your sacks. I had your money.” Then he brought Simeon out to them.

²⁴ The man brought the men into Joseph’s house and gave them water to wash their feet and gave feed to their donkeys. 

²⁵ Then they made ready the gift for Joseph’s coming at noon, for they heard that they would be eating a meal there.

²⁶ When Joseph came home, they brought into the house to him the present that they had with them and bowed themselves to him to the ground. 

²⁷ He asked them about their well-being and said, “Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?”

²⁸ And they answered, “Your servant our father is in good health. He is still alive.” And they bowed down their heads and prostrated themselves.

²⁹ He lifted up his eyes and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, and said, “Is this your younger brother of whom you spoke to me?” And he said, “God be gracious to you, my son.” 

³⁰ Joseph hurried out, for he was deeply moved over his brother and sought a place to weep. So he entered into his chamber and wept there.

³¹ Then he washed his face and came out. Controlling himself, he said, “Serve the food.”

³² They served him by himself and them by themselves and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because the Egyptians could not eat a meal with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians. 

³³ They sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth, and the men looked at one another in astonishment. 

³⁴ He gave them portions from his own table, but Benjamin’s serving was five times more than any of theirs. So they drank and feasted with him.

Genesis 44

¹ Then he commanded the steward of his house, saying, “Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put every man’s money in the mouth of his sack. 

² Put my cup, the silver cup, in the mouth of the sack of the youngest, along with his grain money.” And he did according to what Joseph had spoken.

³ As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away, they and their donkeys. 

⁴ When they were gone out of the city, but not yet far off, Joseph said to his steward, “Get up, follow after the men. When you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you rewarded evil for good? 

⁵ Is this not the one from which my lord drinks and uses as he practices divination? You have done evil in doing this.’ ”

⁶ So he overtook them, and he spoke to them these same words. 

⁷ They said to him, “Why does my lord say these words? Far be it from your servants that they should do such a thing. 

⁸ Look, we brought back to you from the land of Canaan the money that we found in the top of our sacks. Why then would we steal silver or gold from your lord’s house? 

⁹ Whichever of your servants is found with it shall die, and the rest of us will become my lord’s slaves.”

¹⁰ He said, “Now let it also be according to your words. He with whom it is found shall be my slave, and you will be blameless.”

¹¹ Then every man hurriedly took down his sack to the ground, and every man opened his sack. 

¹² He searched, beginning with the oldest and ending with the youngest. The cup was found in Benjamin’s sack. 

¹³ Then they tore their clothes, and every man loaded his donkey and returned to the city.

¹⁴ When Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house, he was still there; and they fell to the ground before him. 

¹⁵ Joseph said to them, “What deed is this that you have done? Did you not know that such a man as I can certainly practice divination?”

¹⁶ And Judah said, “What shall we say to my lord? What shall we speak? Or how shall we clear ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants. Here we are, my lord’s servants, both we and he also in whose possession the cup was found.”

¹⁷ But he said, “Far be it from me that I should do so. The man in whose possession the cup was found shall be my slave; but as for you, go up in peace to your father.”

¹⁸ Then Judah approached him and said, “O my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord’s ears, and do not be angry with your servant, for you are equal to Pharaoh. 

¹⁹ My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father or a brother?’ 

²⁰ And we said to my lord, ‘We have a father, an old man, and a young brother, the child of his old age. His brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother, and his father loves him.’

²¹ “You said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me, so that I may set my eyes on him.’ 

²² We said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.’ 

²³ You said to your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will not see my face again.’ 

²⁴ When we went back to your servant, my father, we told him the words of my lord.

²⁵ “Our father said, ‘Go again and buy us a little food.’ 

²⁶ We said, ‘We cannot go down. If our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down, for we may not see the man’s face, unless our youngest brother is with us.’

²⁷ “Your servant, my father, said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons. 

²⁸ And the one went out from me, and I said, “Surely he was torn in pieces,” and I have not seen him since. 

²⁹ And if you take this one also from me and he is harmed, you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to the grave.’

³⁰ “Now therefore when I come to your servant, my father, and the boy is not with us, as his life is bound up in the boy’s life, 

³¹ when he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die, and your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant, our father, with sorrow to the grave. 

³² For your servant became surety for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I fail to bring him to you, then I shall bear the blame to my father forever.’

³³ “Now therefore, please let your servant stay as a slave to my lord instead of the boy, and let the boy go up with his brothers. 

³⁴ For how can I go up to my father if the boy is not with me, lest perhaps I see the evil that would find my father?”

Genesis 45

 1Then Joseph could not restrain himself before all who stood by him, and he cried out, “Make every man go out from me.” So no man stood with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers. 

  ² He wept so loudly that the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard about it.

  ³ Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed in his presence.

  ⁴ Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come near to me,” and they came near. Then he said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt. 

  ⁵ Now do not be upset or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life. 

  ⁶ For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvesting. 

  ⁷ God sent me ahead of you to preserve you as a remnant on the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

  ⁸ “So now it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of his entire household and a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

 ⁹ Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says, “God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not delay. 

¹⁰ And you will dwell in the land of Goshen, and you will be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, along with your flocks, your herds, and all that you have. 

¹¹ I will provide for you there, for there are still five years of famine to come, lest you and your household, and all that you have, come to poverty.” ’

¹² “Your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is my mouth that is speaking to you. 

¹³ You must tell my father of all my glory in Egypt and of all that you have seen, and you must hurry and bring my father down here.”

¹⁴ Then he fell on his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. 

¹⁵ Moreover he kissed all his brothers and wept on them. After that his brothers talked with him.

¹⁶ When the news reached Pharaoh’s palace that Joseph’s brothers had come, it pleased Pharaoh and his servants. 

¹⁷ Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this. Load your animals and go to the land of Canaan. 

¹⁸ Get your father and your households and come to me, and I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you shall eat the fat of the land.’

¹⁹ “You are also commanded to say, ‘Do this: Take your wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and get your father and come.

²⁰ Also do not concern yourself with your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’ ”

²¹ So the sons of Israel did so, and Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provisions for the journey. 

²² To each of them he gave a change of clothes, but he gave to Benjamin three hundred shekels of silver and five changes of clothes. 

²³ To his father he sent the following: ten donkeys loaded with the best things of Egypt and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and provisions for his father on the journey. 

²⁴ So he sent his brothers away, and they departed. He said to them, “Do not quarrel on the way.”

²⁵ They went up out of Egypt and came to the land of Canaan to Jacob their father. 

²⁶ They told him, “Joseph is still alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt.” And Jacob’s heart stood still because he could not believe them.

²⁷ They told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. 

²⁸ Then Israel said, “Enough! Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”

Genesis 46

  ¹  So Israel set out with all that he had and came to Beersheba and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.

  ² God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, “Jacob, Jacob.” And he said, “Here I am.”

  ³ Then He said, “I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there.

 ⁴ I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely bring you back again. And Joseph’s own hand shall close your eyes.”

  ⁵ Jacob arose from Beersheba, and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father and their little ones and their wives in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent to carry him. 

  ⁶ They took their livestock and their possessions that they had acquired in the land of Canaan, and came to Egypt, Jacob and all his descendants with him. 

  ⁷ He brought with him to Egypt his sons and his sons’ sons, his daughters and his sons’ daughters, and all his descendants.

  ⁸ These were the names of the sons of Israel, Jacob and his sons, who came to Egypt:

¹⁵ These were the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan Aram, with his daughter Dinah. All his sons and his daughters numbered thirty-three.

¹⁸ These were the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter; and these she bore to Jacob, sixteen in all.

²² These were the sons of Rachel who were born to Jacob, fourteen in all.

²⁵ These were the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to Rachel his daughter, and she bore these to Jacob, seven in all.

²⁶ All those who came with Jacob to Egypt, who were direct descendants, besides the wives of Jacob’s sons, were sixty-six in all. 

²⁷ And the sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt, were two. All those of the house of Jacob who came to Egypt were seventy.

²⁸ Now he sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to get directions to Goshen. And they came into the land of Goshen. 

²⁹ Joseph readied his chariot and went up to Goshen to meet Israel his father. As soon as he appeared to him, he fell on his neck and wept on his neck a long time.

³⁰ Israel said to Joseph, “Now let me die, since I have seen your face, because you are still alive.”

³¹ Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “I will go up and tell Pharaoh and say to him, ‘My brothers and my father’s household, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me. 

³² The men are shepherds; their work has been to feed livestock, and they have brought their flocks and their herds and all that they have.’ 

³³ When Pharaoh calls you and asks, ‘What is your occupation?’ 

³⁴ you shall say, ‘Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth even until now, both we and our fathers,’ so that you may dwell in the land of Goshen, because every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians.”

Genesis 47

  ¹  Then Joseph went and told Pharaoh, “My father and my brothers and their flocks and their herds and all that they possess have come from the land of Canaan and are now in the land of Goshen.”

 ² He took five men from among his brothers and presented them before Pharaoh.

  ³ Pharaoh asked his brothers, “What is your occupation?”  And they said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, both we and also our fathers.”

 ⁴ They said to Pharaoh, “We have come to sojourn in the land, for your servants have no pasture for their flocks, because the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now therefore, please allow your servants to dwell in the land of Goshen.”

  ⁵ Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, saying, “Your father and your brothers have come to you.

 ⁶ The land of Egypt is before you. Have your father and your brothers dwell in the best of the land. Have them dwell in the land of Goshen, and if you know any capable men among them, then put them in charge over my livestock.”

  ⁷ Then Joseph brought in Jacob his father and presented him to Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh. 

  ⁸ Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How old are you?”

  ⁹ And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred and thirty years. My days of the years of my life have been few and evil, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the lives of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.” 

 ¹⁰ And Jacob blessed Pharaoh and went out from his presence.

 ¹¹ So Joseph settled his father and his brothers and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best part of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. 

¹² Joseph provided food for his father, his brothers, and his father’s entire household, according to the number of their children.

August 2015
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