Genesis 46:26-47:12

Good News Translation

²⁶The total number of the direct descendants of Jacob who went to Egypt was sixty-six, not including his sons' wives. ²⁷^(A)Two sons were born to Joseph in Egypt, bringing to seventy the total number of Jacob's family who went there.

Jacob and His Family in Egypt

²⁸Jacob sent Judah ahead to ask Joseph to meet them in Goshen. When they arrived, ²⁹Joseph got in his chariot and went to Goshen to meet his father. When they met, Joseph threw his arms around his father's neck and cried for a long time. ³⁰Jacob said to Joseph, “I am ready to die, now that I have seen you and know that you are still alive.”

³¹Then Joseph said to his brothers and the rest of his father's family, “I must go and tell the king that my brothers and all my father's family, who were living in Canaan, have come to me. ³²I will tell him that you are shepherds and take care of livestock and that you have brought your flocks and herds and everything else that belongs to you. ³³When the king calls for you and asks what your occupation is, ³⁴be sure to tell him that you have taken care of livestock all your lives, just as your ancestors did. In this way he will let you live in the region of Goshen.” Joseph said this because Egyptians will have nothing to do with shepherds.

47 So Joseph took five of his brothers and went to the king. He told him, “My father and my brothers have come from Canaan with their flocks, their herds, and all that they own. They are now in the region of Goshen.” ²He then presented his brothers to the king. ³The king asked them, “What is your occupation?”

“We are shepherds, sir, just as our ancestors were,” they answered. ⁴“We have come to live in this country, because in the land of Canaan the famine is so severe that there is no pasture for our flocks. Please give us permission to live in the region of Goshen.” ⁵The king said to Joseph, “Now that your father and your brothers have arrived, ⁶the land of Egypt is theirs. Let them settle in the region of Goshen, the best part of the land. And if there are any capable men among them, put them in charge of my own livestock.”

⁷Then Joseph brought his father Jacob and presented him to the king. Jacob gave the king his blessing, ⁸and the king asked him, “How old are you?”

⁹Jacob answered, “My life of wandering has lasted a hundred and thirty years. Those years have been few and difficult, unlike the long years of my ancestors in their wanderings.” ¹⁰Jacob gave the king a farewell blessing and left. ¹¹Then Joseph settled his father and his brothers in Egypt, giving them property in the best of the land near the city of Rameses, as the king had commanded. ¹²Joseph provided food for his father, his brothers, and all the rest of his father's family, including the very youngest.