CHAPTER 45
Joseph
could
no longer
control himself
before all
his attendants,
and he cried out,
“Send everyone
away
from me!”
So none
of them were with
Joseph
when he
made himself known
to
his brothers.
Joseph
said
to
his brothers,
“I
am Joseph!
Is my father
still
alive?”
But they
were unable
to answer
him,
because
they were terrified
in his presence.
Then Joseph
said
to
his brothers,
“Please
come near me.”
And they did so.
“I
am Joseph,
your brother,”
he said,
“the one
you sold
into Egypt!
And now,
do not
be distressed
or angry
with yourselves
that
you sold
me
into this place,
because
it was to save lives
that God
sent me
before you.
For
the famine
has covered
the land
these
two years,
and there will be five
more
years
without
plowing
or harvesting.
God
sent
me before you
to preserve
you
as a remnant
on the earth
and to save your lives
by a great
deliverance.
Therefore
it was not
you
who sent
me here,
but
God,
who has made me
Pharaoh's
adviser—
lord
of all
his household
and ruler
over all
the land
of Egypt.
Now return
quickly
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.
You shall settle
in the land
of Goshen
and be
near me—
you
and your children
and grandchildren,
your flocks
and herds,
and everything you own.
And there
I will provide
for you,
because
there will be five
more
years
of famine.
Otherwise,
you
and your household
and everything
you own
will come to destitution.’
Tell
my father
about all
my splendor
in Egypt
and everything
you have seen.
And bring
my father
down here
quickly.”
Then Joseph threw his arms around
his brother
Benjamin
and wept,
and Benjamin
wept
as
they embraced.
Joseph kissed
each
of his brothers
as he wept
over them.
And afterward
his brothers
talked
with him.
When the news
reached
Pharaoh’s
house
that Joseph’s
brothers
had come,
Pharaoh
and his servants
were pleased.
Pharaoh
said
to
Joseph,
“Tell
your brothers,
‘Do
as follows:
Load
your animals
and return
to the land
of Canaan.
Then bring
your father
and your families
and return
to me.
I will give
you
the best
of the land
of Egypt,
and you shall eat
from the fat
of the land.’
You
are also directed to tell them:
‘Take
wagons
from the land
of Egypt
for your young children
and your wives,
and bring
your father
and come back.
So the sons
of Israel
did
as they were told.
Joseph
gave
them wagons
as
Pharaoh
had instructed,
and he also gave
them
provisions
for their journey.
He gave
new
garments
to each of them,
but to Benjamin
he gave
three
hundred shekels
of silver
and five
sets
of clothes.
And he sent
to his father
the following:
ten
donkeys
loaded
with the best
of Egypt,
and ten
female donkeys
loaded
with grain
and bread
and provisions
for his father’s
journey.
Then Joseph sent his brothers
on their way,
and as they were leaving,
he said
to them,
“Do not
quarrel
on the way!”
“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.
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.
Then Israel
declared,
“I am convinced!
My son
Joseph
is still
alive!
I will go
to see
him before
I die.”