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47 Then Joseph went to Pharaoh and said, “My father and my brothers and their flocks and cattle and all they own have come from the land of Canaan. See, they are in the land of Goshen.” He took five men from among his brothers, and brought them to Pharaoh. Then Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What is your work?” So they said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, both we and our fathers.” They said to Pharaoh, “We have come to live in the land, for there is no field with food for our flocks. The time without food is hard in the land of Canaan. So now we ask of you, let your servants live in the land of Goshen.”

Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you. The land of Egypt is in front of you. Have your father and your brothers live in the best of the land. Let them live in the land of Goshen. And if you know any able men among them, put my cattle in their care.”

Then Joseph brought his father Jacob to Pharaoh. Jacob prayed that good would come to Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How old are you?” Jacob answered Pharaoh, “I have traveled on this earth for 130 years. The years of my life have been few and full of sorrow, and less than the years that my fathers lived.” 10 Then Jacob prayed that good would come to Pharaoh, and went away from him.

11 So Joseph made a place for his father and his brothers. He gave them a part of the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had told him. 12 Joseph gave food to his father and his brothers and all his father’s family, for the needs of their children.

No Food Anywhere but in Egypt

13 Now there was no food in the land for the time without food was very hard. So the people in the land of both Egypt and Canaan became weak because of hunger. 14 So Joseph gathered all the money that was found in Egypt and Canaan for the grain they bought. And Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house. 15 When the money was gone from the lands of Egypt and Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us food! Why should we die in front of you? For we have no more money.”

16 Then Joseph said, “Give your cattle. I will give you food in trade for your cattle, because your money is gone.” 17 So they brought their animals to Joseph. And Joseph gave them food in trade for the horses and flocks and cattle and donkeys. He fed them that year in trade for their animals.

18 When that year ended, they came to him the next year. They said, “We will not hide from my lord that our money is all gone. And the cattle belong to my lord. There is nothing left for our lord except our bodies and our lands. 19 Why should we die in front of you and our lands be wasted? Buy us and our land in trade for food. We and our land will work for Pharaoh. Give us seed, so that we may live and not die, and so the land will not be wasted.”

20 So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh. For every Egyptian sold his field, because the time without food was hard for them. So the land became Pharaoh’s. 21 He had the people move to the cities from one end of Egypt to the other, to work for Pharaoh. 22 Only the land of the religious leaders he did not buy. For the religious leaders received money from Pharaoh. They lived on the money Pharaoh gave them. So they did not sell their land.

23 Then Joseph said to the people, “See, today I have bought you and your land for Pharaoh. Now here is seed for you to plant in the fields. 24 At gathering time, you must give a fifth part to Pharaoh. Keep the rest to have seeds for the field, and to feed yourselves and your children and those of your houses.”

25 So they said, “You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the eyes of my lord. We will be Pharaoh’s servants.” 26 Joseph made it a law in the land of Egypt that Pharaoh should have the fifth part. It is a law to this day. Only the land of the religious leaders did not become Pharaoh’s.

Jacob’s Last Wish

27 Now Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in Goshen. They became richer there, and had children, and grew to a very large number. 28 Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So Jacob had lived 147 years in all. 29 When the time came for Israel to die, he called his son Joseph. He said to him, “If I have found favor in your eyes, give me your promise to be kind and faithful to me. I ask of you, do not bury me in Egypt. 30 But let me lie down with my fathers. Carry me out of Egypt and bury me where they are buried.” And Joseph said, “I will do as you have said.” 31 Jacob said, “Promise me.” So Joseph gave him his promise. Then Israel bowed in worship at the head of the bed.

Jacob and Joseph’s Sons

48 After this Joseph was told, “See, your father is sick.” So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim with him. When Jacob was told, “Your son Joseph has come to you,” Israel gathered his strength and sat up in bed. Then Jacob said to Joseph, “The All-powerful God showed Himself to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and He brought good to me. He said to me, ‘See, I will give you many children. I will make you a group of nations. And I will give this land to your children and to your children’s children after you. It will belong to them forever.’ Now your two sons, who were born to you in Egypt before I came to you here, are mine. Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, as Reuben and Simeon are. The children born to you after them will be yours. They will be called by the names of their brothers in their share of what the family is to receive. For when I came from Paddan, Rachel died by my side in the land of Canaan before we came to Ephrath. I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).” When Israel saw Joseph’s sons, he said, “Who are these?” Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons, whom God has given me here.” So Israel said, “Bring them to me, so I may pray that good will come to them.”

10 Now Israel’s eyes had become weak from being old, and he could not see. So Joseph brought them near to him. And Israel kissed them and put his arms around them. 11 Israel said to Joseph, “I never thought I would see your face. But see, God has let me see your children also.” 12 Then Joseph took them from his knees, and bowed to the ground. 13 Then taking Ephraim with his right hand, Joseph put him at Israel’s left side. And with his left hand he put Manasseh at Israel’s right side, placing them near him. 14 But Israel put out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim, the younger son. And he put his left hand on Manasseh’s head, crossing his hands. But Manasseh was the first-born. 15 Then he prayed that good would come to Joseph, and said, “The God with Whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God Who has been my Shepherd all my life to this day, 16 the Angel Who has set me free from all sin, bring good to the boys. May my name and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac live on in them. May they become a great nation on the earth.”

17 When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on Ephraim’s head, he was not pleased. He took his father’s hand to move it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. 18 Joseph said to his father, “Not this way, my father, for this one is the first-born. Place your right hand on his head.” 19 But his father would not, and said, “I know, my son, I know. He will become a nation also, and he also will be great. But his younger brother will be greater than he. His children and their children’s children will become many nations.” 20 Then he prayed that day that good would come to them. He said, “By you Israel will pray that good will come, saying, ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh!’” So he placed Ephraim before Manasseh.

21 Then Israel said to Joseph, “See, I am about to die. But God will be with you. He will return you to the land of your fathers. 22 I have given you more than your brothers. I have given you the side of the mountain that I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow.”

Jacob’s Last Words to His Sons

49 Then Jacob called his sons and said, “Gather yourselves together so that I may tell you what will happen to you in the days to come. Gather together and hear, O sons of Jacob. Listen to your father Israel.

“Reuben, you are my first-born, my power and the beginning of my strength, first in pride and first in power. But because you are as wild as water, the first place will not be yours. It is because you went to your father’s bed and made it unclean.

“Simeon and Levi are brothers. They hurt others with their swords. May my soul not have a part in their secrets, nor my shining-greatness be joined to them. Because in their anger they killed men and for no reason they hurt cattle. Their anger will be punished, for it is bad. Their bad temper will be punished, for it is bad. I will divide them in Jacob and spread them apart in Israel.

“Judah, your brothers will praise you. Your hand will be on the neck of those who hate you. Your father’s sons will bow down to you. Judah is a young lion. Like a lion full of meat, you have become great, my son. He lies down and sleeps like a lion. And as a lion, who is willing to wake him? 10 The right of a ruler will not leave Judah. The ruler’s special stick will not go from between his feet, until Shiloh comes. Then the people will obey Him. 11 He ties his young donkey to the vine, his donkey’s young one to the best vine. He washes his clothes in wine, his coats in the blood of grapes. 12 His eyes are darker than wine. And his teeth are whiter than milk.

13 “Zebulun will live beside the sea and be a safe place for ships. His land will lie beside Sidon.

14 “Issachar is a strong donkey lying down between the loads. 15 He saw that a resting place was good and that the land was pleasing. So he made his shoulder ready to carry loads. He let himself be a servant.

16 “Dan will judge his people, as one of the families of Israel. 17 Dan will be a snake in the way, a snake in the road, that bites the horse’s heels so that the man falls off. 18 I wait for Your saving power, O Lord.

19 “A group of soldiers will go against Gad. But he will go against them at their heels.

20 “Asher’s food will be rich. He will give pleasing food to kings.

21 “Naphtali is a female deer let loose who gives beautiful young ones.

22 “Joseph is a branch with much fruit, a branch with much fruit by a well. It grows over the wall. 23 The men fought against him with their bows. They sent arrows toward him and made it hard for him. 24 But his bow did not shake. His arms were made strong by the hands of the Powerful One of Jacob, by the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel, 25 by the God of your father Who helps you, and by the All-powerful Who brings good to you. He brings good from heaven above, and from the deep that lies below, and from the body of a mother. 26 More good has come to your father than to my fathers before me, as lasting as the hills that last forever. May this good be on the head of Joseph, on the crown of him who was divided from his brothers.

27 “Benjamin is a hungry wolf. In the morning he eats the animals he has caught. And in the evening he divides what he has taken.”

28 All these are the twelve family groups of Israel. This is what their father said to them when he prayed that good would come to them. He prayed for each of them to receive the good they should have.

The Death of Jacob

29 Then he told them, “I will soon be with my people who have died before me. Bury me with my fathers in the grave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite, 30 in the grave that is in the field of Machpelah, east of Mamre, in the land of Canaan. Abraham bought this grave and the field from Ephron the Hittite for a burying place. 31 There they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah. There they buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah. And there I buried Leah. 32 The field and the grave that is in it were bought from the sons of Heth.”

33 When Jacob finished telling his sons what to do, he lay back down on his bed and died.

50 Then Joseph threw himself upon his father, and cried over him and kissed him. Joseph told his servants the doctors to make his father ready to be buried. So the doctors made Israel ready. Forty days were needed for this. For this is how much time it took for making the body ready to be buried. And the Egyptians cried for him seventy days.

When the days of sorrow for him were past, Joseph said to those of Pharaoh’s house, “If now I have found favor in your eyes, speak to Pharaoh, saying, ‘My father had me make a promise to him. He said, “See, I am about to die. Bury me in my grave which I dug for myself in the land of Canaan.” So let me go and bury my father. Then I will return.’” Pharaoh answered, “Go and bury your father as he made you promise.”

So Joseph went to bury his father. With him went all the servants of Pharaoh, the leaders of his house and all the important men of the land of Egypt, and all those of the house of Joseph, and his brothers, and those of his father’s house. They left only their little ones and their flocks and cattle in the land of Goshen. Wagons and men on horses went with him also. It was a very large group of people.

10 They came to the grain-floor of Atad on the other side of the Jordan. There they cried with much sorrow. Joseph cried in sorrow for his father for seven days. 11 When those who lived in the land, the Canaanites, saw the people crying in sorrow at the grain-floor of Atad, they said, “This is a great sorrow for the Egyptians.” So the place was given the name Abel-mizraim. It is on the other side of the Jordan.

12 Jacob’s sons did as he had told them. 13 They carried him to the land of Canaan. They buried him in the grave of the field of Machpelah, east of Mamre, which Abraham had bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite for a burying place. 14 After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone with him to bury his father.

Joseph Tells His Brothers Not to Be Afraid

15 When Joseph’s brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, “It may be now that Joseph will hate us, and pay us in return for all the wrong that we did to him!” 16 So they sent word to Joseph, saying, “Before he died, our father told us, 17 ‘You say to Joseph, “Forgive the wrong-doing of your brothers and their sin. For they did a bad thing to you.”’ Now we beg you, forgive the wrong-doing of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph cried when they spoke to him. 18 Then his brothers came and fell down in front of him and said, “See, we are your servants.”

19 But Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid. Am I in the place of God? 20 You planned to do a bad thing to me. But God planned it for good, to make it happen that many people should be kept alive, as they are today. 21 So do not be afraid. I will take care of you and your little ones.” He gave them comfort and words of kindness.

The Death of Joseph

22 Joseph and his father’s family stayed in Egypt. And Joseph lived 110 years. 23 He lived long enough to see Ephraim’s grandchildren. And the sons of Manasseh’s son Machir were held on Joseph’s knees. 24 Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die. But God will take care of you. He will bring you from this land to the land that He promised to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob.” 25 Then Joseph made the sons of Israel promise. He said, “God will take care of you. And you will carry my bones from here.” 26 So Joseph died after living 110 years. They made his body ready, and he was put in a grave in Egypt.