Bible-Reading.comGenesis 46
1Israel traveled with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father, Isaac.
2God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, “Jacob, Jacob!” He said, “Here I am.”
3He said, “I am God, the God of your father. Don’t be afraid to go down into Egypt, for there I will make of you a great nation.
4I will go down with you into Egypt. I will also surely bring you up again. Joseph’s hand will close your eyes.”
5Jacob rose up from Beersheba, and the sons of Israel carried Jacob, their father, their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him.
6They took their livestock, and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt—Jacob, and all his offspring with him,
7his sons, and his sons’ sons with him, his daughters, and his sons’ daughters, and he brought all his offspring with him into Egypt.
8These are the names of the children of Israel, who came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn.
9The sons of Reuben: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.
10The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman.
11The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
12The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah; but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.
13The sons of Issachar: Tola, Puvah, Iob, and Shimron.
14The sons of Zebulun: Sered, Elon, and Jahleel.
15These are the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan Aram, with his daughter Dinah. All the souls of his sons and his daughters were thirty-three.
16The sons of Gad: Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli.
17The sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and Serah their sister. The sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel.
18These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah, his daughter, and these she bore to Jacob, even sixteen souls.
19The sons of Rachel, Jacob’s wife: Joseph and Benjamin.
20To Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, bore to him.
21The sons of Benjamin: Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard.
22These are the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob: all the souls were fourteen.
23The son of Dan: Hushim.
24The sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem.
25These are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to Rachel, his daughter, and these she bore to Jacob: all the souls were seven.
26All the souls who came with Jacob into Egypt, who were his direct offspring, in addition to Jacob’s sons’ wives, all the souls were sixty-six.
27The sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt, were two souls. All the souls of the house of Jacob, who came into Egypt, were seventy.
28Jacob sent Judah before him to Joseph, to show the way before him to Goshen, and they came into the land of Goshen.
29Joseph prepared his chariot, and went up to meet Israel, his father, in Goshen. He presented himself to him, and fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while.
30Israel said to Joseph, “Now let me die, since I have seen your face, that you are still alive.”
31Joseph said to his brothers, and to his father’s house, “I will go up, and speak with Pharaoh, and will tell him, ‘My brothers, and my father’s house, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me.
32These men are shepherds, for they have been keepers of livestock, and they have brought their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have.’
33It will happen, when Pharaoh summons you, and will say, ‘What is your occupation?’
34that you shall say, ‘Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth even until now, both we, and our fathers:’ that you may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians.”
Genesis 47
1Then Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, and said, “My father and my brothers, with their flocks, their herds, and all that they own, have come out of the land of Canaan; and behold, they are in the land of Goshen.”
2From among his brothers he took five men, and presented them to Pharaoh.
3Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What is your occupation?” They said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, both we, and our fathers.”
4They also said to Pharaoh, “We have come to live as foreigners in the land, for there is no pasture for your servants’ flocks. For the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now therefore, please let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen.”
5Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, saying, “Your father and your brothers have come to you.
6The land of Egypt is before you. Make your father and your brothers dwell in the best of the land. Let them dwell in the land of Goshen. If you know any able men among them, then put them in charge of my livestock.”
7Joseph brought in Jacob, his father, and set him before Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.
8Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How old are you?”
9Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The years of my pilgrimage are one hundred thirty years. The days of the years of my life have been few and evil. They have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.”
10Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from the presence of Pharaoh.
11Joseph placed his father and his brothers, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.
12Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all of his father’s household with bread, according to the sizes of their families.
13There was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine.
14Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the grain which they bought: and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house.
15When the money was all spent in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph, and said, “Give us bread, for why should we die in your presence? For our money fails.”
16Joseph said, “Give me your livestock; and I will give you food for your livestock, if your money is gone.”
17They brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, and for the flocks, and for the herds, and for the donkeys: and he fed them with bread in exchange for all their livestock for that year.
18When that year was ended, they came to him the second year, and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord how our money is all spent, and the herds of livestock are my lord’s. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands.
19Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants to Pharaoh. Give us seed, that we may live, and not die, and that the land won’t be desolate.”
20So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for every man of the Egyptians sold his field, because the famine was severe on them, and the land became Pharaoh’s.
21As for the people, he moved them to the cities from one end of the border of Egypt even to the other end of it.
22Only he didn’t buy the land of the priests, for the priests had a portion from Pharaoh, and ate their portion which Pharaoh gave them. That is why they didn’t sell their land.
23Then Joseph said to the people, “Behold, I have bought you and your land today for Pharaoh. Behold, here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land.
24It will happen at the harvests, that you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four parts will be your own, for seed of the field, for your food, for them of your households, and for food for your little ones.”
25They said, “You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.”
26Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth. Only the land of the priests alone didn’t become Pharaoh’s.
27Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen; and they got themselves possessions therein, and were fruitful, and multiplied exceedingly.
28Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were one hundred forty-seven years.
29The time came near that Israel must die, and he called his son Joseph, and said to him, “If now I have found favor in your sight, please put your hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me. Please don’t bury me in Egypt,
30but when I sleep with my fathers, you shall carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying place.” Joseph said, “I will do as you have said.”
31Israel said, “Swear to me,” and he swore to him. Then Israel bowed himself on the bed’s head.
Genesis 48
1After these things, someone said to Joseph, “Behold, your father is sick.” He took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.
2Someone told Jacob, and said, “Behold, your son Joseph comes to you,” and Israel strengthened himself, and sat on the bed.
3Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me,
4and said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful, and multiply you, and I will make of you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your offspring after you for an everlasting possession.’
5Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you into Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh, even as Reuben and Simeon, will be mine.
6Your offspring, whom you become the father of after them, will be yours. They will be called after the name of their brothers in their inheritance.
7As for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died beside me in the land of Canaan on the way, when there was still some distance to come to Ephrath, and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (also called Bethlehem).”
8Israel saw Joseph’s sons, and said, “Who are these?”
9Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons, whom God has given me here.” He said, “Please bring them to me, and I will bless them.”
10Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he couldn’t see well. Joseph brought them near to him; and he kissed them, and embraced them.
11Israel said to Joseph, “I didn’t think I would see your face, and behold, God has let me see your offspring also.”
12Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth.
13Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them near to him.
14Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it on Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, guiding his hands knowingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn.
15He blessed Joseph, and said, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has fed me all my life long to this day,
16the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads, and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac. Let them grow into a multitude upon the earth.”
17When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him. He held up his father’s hand, to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head.
18Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, for this is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head.”
19His father refused, and said, “I know, my son, I know. He also will become a people, and he also will be great. However, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his offspring will become a multitude of nations.”
20He blessed them that day, saying, “Israel will bless in your name, saying, ‘God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh’” He set Ephraim before Manasseh.
21Israel said to Joseph, “Behold, I am dying, but God will be with you, and bring you again to the land of your fathers.
22Moreover I have given to you one portion above your brothers, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.”
Genesis 49
1Jacob called to his sons, and said: “Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which will happen to you in the days to come.
2Assemble yourselves, and hear, you sons of Jacob. Listen to Israel, your father.
3“Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength, excelling in dignity, and excelling in power.
4Boiling over like water, you shall not excel, because you went up to your father’s bed, then defiled it. He went up to my couch.
5“Simeon and Levi are brothers. Their swords are weapons of violence.
6My soul, don’t come into their council. My glory, don’t be united to their assembly; for in their anger they killed men. In their self-will they hamstrung cattle.
7Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel. I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.
8“Judah, your brothers will praise you. Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies. Your father’s sons will bow down before you.
9Judah is a lion’s cub. From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down, he crouched as a lion, as a lioness. Who will rouse him up?
10The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs. The obedience of the peoples will be to him.
11Binding his foal to the vine, his donkey’s colt to the choice vine, he has washed his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes.
12His eyes will be red with wine, his teeth white with milk.
13“Zebulun will dwell at the haven of the sea. He will be for a haven of ships. His border will be on Sidon.
14“Issachar is a strong donkey, lying down between the saddlebags.
15He saw a resting place, that it was good, the land, that it was pleasant. He bows his shoulder to the burden, and becomes a servant doing forced labor.
16“Dan will judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.
17Dan will be a serpent on the trail, an adder in the path, that bites the horse’s heels, so that his rider falls backward.
18I have waited for your salvation, LORD.
19“A troop will press on Gad, but he will press on their heel.
20“Asher’s food will be rich. He will produce royal dainties.
21“Naphtali is a doe set free, who bears beautiful fawns.
22“Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine by a spring. His branches run over the wall.
23The archers have severely grieved him, shot at him, and persecuted him:
24But his bow remained strong. The arms of his hands were made strong, by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, (from there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel),
25even by the God of your father, who will help you, by the Almighty, who will bless you, with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies below, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb.
26The blessings of your father have prevailed above the blessings of my ancestors, above the boundaries of the ancient hills. They will be on the head of Joseph, on the crown of the head of him who is separated from his brothers.
27“Benjamin is a ravenous wolf. In the morning he will devour the prey. At evening he will divide the plunder.”
28All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke to them, and blessed them. He blessed everyone according to his own blessing.
29He instructed them, and said to them, “I am to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,
30in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite as a burial place.
31There they buried Abraham and Sarah, his wife. There they buried Isaac and Rebekah, his wife, and there I buried Leah:
32the field and the cave that is therein, which was purchased from the children of Heth.”
33When Jacob finished charging his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, breathed his last breath, and was gathered to his people.
Genesis 50
1Joseph fell on his father’s face, wept on him, and kissed him.
2Joseph commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father; and the physicians embalmed Israel.
3Forty days were used for him, for that is how many days it takes to embalm. The Egyptians wept for Israel for seventy days.
4When the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke to Pharaoh’s staff, saying, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the ears of Pharaoh, saying,
5‘My father made me swear, saying, “Behold, I am dying. Bury me in my grave which I have dug for myself in the land of Canaan.” Now therefore, please let me go up and bury my father, and I will come again.’”
6Pharaoh said, “Go up, and bury your father, just like he made you swear.”
7Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, all the elders of the land of Egypt,
8all the house of Joseph, his brothers, and his father’s house. Only their little ones, their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen.
9Both chariots and horsemen went up with him. It was a very great company.
10They came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and there they lamented with a very great and severe lamentation. He mourned for his father seven days.
11When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous mourning by the Egyptians.” Therefore its name was called Abel Mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan.
12His sons did to him just as he commanded them,
13for his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field, as a possession for a burial site, from Ephron the Hittite, near Mamre.
14Joseph returned into Egypt—he, and his brothers, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father.
15When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be that Joseph will hate us, and will fully pay us back for all the evil which we did to him.”
16They sent a message to Joseph, saying, “Your father commanded before he died, saying,
17‘You shall tell Joseph, “Now please forgive the disobedience of your brothers, and their sin, because they did evil to you.”’ Now, please forgive the disobedience of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him.
18His brothers also went and fell down before his face; and they said, “Behold, we are your servants.”
19Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid, for am I in the place of God?
20As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to save many people alive, as is happening today.
21Now therefore don’t be afraid. I will provide for you and your little ones.” He comforted them, and spoke kindly to them.
22Joseph lived in Egypt, he, and his father’s house. Joseph lived one hundred ten years.
23Joseph saw Ephraim’s children to the third generation. The children also of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were born on Joseph’s knees.
24Joseph said to his brothers, “I am dying, but God will surely visit you, and bring you up out of this land to the land which he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”
25Joseph took an oath from the children of Israel, saying, “God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here.”
26So Joseph died, being one hundred ten years old, and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.