Joseph Reveals His Identity
1. Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Send everyone away from me!” So none of them stood with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers.
2. And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh’s household heard about it.
3. Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him because they were terrified at his presence.
4. “Please come closer,” Joseph said to his brothers. So they came closer, and he said, “I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.
5. But now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.
6. For two years now the famine has been in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing or harvesting.
7. God sent me before you to preserve you as a remnant on the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
8. So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of all his household, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
Joseph Sends for His Father
9. Now hurry back to my father and tell him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me without delay.
10. You shall live in the land of Goshen, where you shall be near me—you, your children, your grandchildren, your flocks, your herds, and all you have.
11. There I will provide for you, for there are still five years of famine to come, lest you and your household and all that you have come to poverty.’
12. Look! Your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is I who am speaking to you.
13. Tell my father of all my glory in Egypt and of all you have seen, and bring him quickly.”
14. Then Joseph threw his arms around Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin embraced him, weeping.
15. And Joseph kissed each of his brothers and wept over them. Afterward his brothers talked with him.
Pharaoh Invites Jacob to Egypt
16. When the news reached Pharaoh’s house that Joseph’s brothers had come, Pharaoh and all his officials were pleased.
17. Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Tell your brothers, ‘Do this: Load your animals and return to the land of Canaan,
18. and get your father and your households, and come back to me. I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you can enjoy the fat of the land.’
19. You are also directed to tell them, ‘Do this: Take wagons from the land of Egypt for your young children and for your wives, and bring your father here.
20. Do not be concerned about your belongings, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’”
21. So the sons of Israel did this. Joseph gave them wagons as Pharaoh had instructed, and he also gave them provisions for their journey.
22. He gave each of them changes of clothes, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels of silver and five sets of clothes.
23. And he sent to his father these things: ten donkeys loaded with the best products of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain, bread, and provisions for his journey.
24. Then Joseph sent his brothers on their way, and as they were leaving, he said to them, “Do not quarrel on the journey.”
25. So they went up from Egypt and came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan.
26. “Joseph is still alive,” they said, “and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt!” But Jacob was stunned, for he did not believe them.
27. However, when they relayed all that Joseph had told them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him back, the spirit of their father Jacob was revived.
28. “Enough!” declared Israel. “My son Joseph is still alive! I will go to see him before I die.”