Genesis 45

¹ Then Joseph could not control his feelings in front of all his retainers, and he exclaimed, ‘Let everyone leave me’. No one therefore was present with him while Joseph made himself known to his brothers,

² but he wept so loudly that all the Egyptians heard, and the news reached Pharaoh’s palace.

³ Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am Joseph. Is my father really still alive?’ His brothers could not answer him, they were so dismayed at the sight of him.

⁴ Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘Come closer to me’. When they had come closer to him he said, ‘I am your brother Joseph whom you sold into Egypt.

⁵ But now, do not grieve, do not reproach yourselves for having sold me here, since God sent me before you to preserve your lives.

⁶ For this is the second year there has been famine in the country, and there are still five years to come of no ploughing or reaping.

⁷ God sent me before you to make sure that your race would have survivors in the land and to save your lives, many lives at that.

⁸ So it was not you who sent me here but God, and he has made me father[*a] to Pharaoh, lord of all his household and administrator of the whole land of Egypt.

⁹ Return quickly to your father and tell him, “Your son Joseph says this: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me at once.

¹⁰ You shall live in the country of Goshen[*b] where you will be near me, you, your children and your grandchildren, your flocks, your cattle and all your possessions.

¹¹ I will provide for you there, for there are still five years of famine, and I do not want you to be in need, you and your household and all you have.”

¹² You can see with your own eyes, and my brother Benjamin can see too that it is my own mouth speaking to you.

¹³ Give my father a full report of all the honour I enjoy in Egypt, and of all you have seen. Then hurry and bring my father down here.’

¹⁴ Then throwing his arms round the neck of his brother Benjamin he wept; and Benjamin wept on his shoulder.

¹⁵ He kissed all his brothers, weeping over them. After which his brothers talked with him.

¹⁶ News reached Pharaoh’s palace that Joseph’s brothers had come, and Pharaoh was pleased to hear it, as were his servants.

¹⁷ Pharaoh told Joseph, ‘Say to your brothers, “Do this: load your beasts and go off to the land of Canaan.

¹⁸ Fetch your father and families, and come back to me. I will give you the best the land of Egypt offers, and you shall feed on the fat of the land.”

¹⁹ And you, for your part, give them this command: “Do this: take waggons from the land of Egypt, for your little ones and your wives. Get your father and come.

²⁰ Never mind about your property, for the best that the land of Egypt offers is yours.”‘

²¹ Israel’s sons did as they were told. Joseph gave them waggons as Pharaoh had ordered, and he gave them provisions for the journey.

²² To each and every one he gave a festal garment, and to Benjamin three hundred shekels of silver and five festal garments.

²³ And he sent his father ten donkeys laden with the best that Egypt offered, and ten she-donkeys laden with grain, bread and food for his father’s journey.

²⁴ Then he sent his brothers on their way. His final words to them were, ‘Do not be upset on the journey’.

²⁵ And so they left Egypt. When they reached the land of Canaan and their father Jacob,

²⁶ they gave him this report, ‘Joseph is still alive. Indeed it is he who is administrator of the whole land of Egypt.’ But he was as one stunned, for he did not believe them.

²⁷ However, when they told him all Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the waggons that Joseph had sent to fetch him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived,

²⁸ and Israel said, ‘That is enough! My son Joseph is still alive. I must go and see him before I die.’