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The Family of Jacob goes to Egypt

46 So Israel began his journey, taking with him all that he had.[a] When he came to Beer Sheba[b] he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. God spoke to Israel in a vision during the night[c] and said, “Jacob, Jacob!” He replied, “Here I am!” He said, “I am God,[d] the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there. I will go down with you to Egypt and I myself will certainly bring you back from there.[e] Joseph will close your eyes.”[f]

Then Jacob started out[g] from Beer Sheba, and the sons of Israel carried their father Jacob, their little children, and their wives in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent along to transport him. Jacob and all his descendants took their livestock and the possessions they had acquired in the land of Canaan, and they went to Egypt.[h] He brought with him to Egypt his sons and grandsons,[i] his daughters and granddaughters—all his descendants.

These are the names of the sons of Israel who went to Egypt—Jacob and his sons: Reuben, the firstborn of Jacob.

The sons of Reuben: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.
10 The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar, and Shaul (the son of a Canaanite woman).
11 The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
12 The 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.
13 The sons of Issachar: Tola, Puah,[j] Jashub,[k] and Shimron.
14 The sons of Zebulun: Sered, Elon, and Jahleel.
15 These were the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan Aram, along with Dinah his daughter. His sons and daughters numbered thirty-three in all.[l]
16 The sons of Gad: Zephon,[m] Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli.
17 The sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and Serah their sister.
The sons of Beriah were Heber and Malkiel.
18 These were the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter. She bore these to Jacob, sixteen in all.
19 The sons of Rachel the wife of Jacob: Joseph and Benjamin.
20 Manasseh and Ephraim were born to Joseph in the land of Egypt. Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On,[n] bore them to him.
21 The sons of Benjamin:[o] Bela, Beker, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim and Ard.
22 These were the sons of Rachel who were born to Jacob, fourteen in all.
23 The son of Dan: Hushim.[p]
24 The sons of Naphtali: Jahziel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem.
25 These were the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to Rachel his daughter. She bore these to Jacob, seven in all.

26 All the direct descendants of Jacob who went to Egypt with him were sixty-six in number. (This number does not include the wives of Jacob’s sons.)[q] 27 Counting the two sons[r] of Joseph who were born to him in Egypt, all the people of the household of Jacob who were in Egypt numbered seventy.[s]

28 Jacob[t] sent Judah before him to Joseph to accompany him to Goshen.[u] So they came to the land of Goshen. 29 Joseph harnessed his chariot and went up to meet his father Israel in Goshen. When he met him,[v] he hugged his neck and wept on his neck for quite some time.

30 Israel said to Joseph, “Now let me die since I have seen your face and know that you are still alive.”[w] 31 Then Joseph said to his brothers and his father’s household, “I will go up and tell Pharaoh,[x] ‘My brothers and my father’s household who were in the land of Canaan have come to me. 32 The men are shepherds;[y] they take care of livestock.[z] They have brought their flocks and their herds and all that they have.’ 33 Pharaoh will summon you and say, ‘What is your occupation?’ 34 Tell him, ‘Your servants have taken care of cattle[aa] from our youth until now, both we and our fathers,’ so that you may live in the land of Goshen,[ab] for everyone who takes care of sheep is disgusting[ac] to the Egyptians.”

Footnotes

  1. Genesis 46:1 tn Heb “and Israel journeyed, and all that was his.”
  2. Genesis 46:1 sn Beer Sheba. See Gen 21:31; 28:10.
  3. Genesis 46:2 tn Heb “in visions of the night.” The plural form has the singular meaning, probably as a plural of intensity.
  4. Genesis 46:3 tn Heb “the God.”
  5. Genesis 46:4 tn Heb “and I, I will bring you up, also bringing up.” The independent personal pronoun before the first person imperfect verbal form draws attention to the speaker/subject, while the infinitive absolute after the imperfect strongly emphasizes the statement: “I myself will certainly bring you up.”
  6. Genesis 46:4 tn Heb “and Joseph will put his hand upon your eyes.” This is a promise of peaceful death in Egypt with Joseph present to close his eyes.
  7. Genesis 46:5 tn Heb “arose.”
  8. Genesis 46:6 tn Heb “and they took their livestock and their possessions which they had acquired in the land of Canaan and they went to Egypt, Jacob and all his offspring with him.” The order of the clauses has been rearranged in the translation for stylistic reasons.
  9. Genesis 46:7 tn The Hebrew text adds “with him” here. This is omitted in the translation because it is redundant in English style (note the same phrase earlier in the verse).
  10. Genesis 46:13 tc The MT reads “Puvah” (cf. Num 26:23); Smr and Syriac read “Puah” (cf. 1 Chr 7:1).
  11. Genesis 46:13 tc The MT reads יוֹב (yov, “Job,”) but Smr, supported by the LXX, reads יָשׁוּב (yashuv, “Jashub”) (see Num 26:24; 1 Chr 7:1).
  12. Genesis 46:15 tn Heb “all the lives of his sons and his daughters, thirty-three.”
  13. Genesis 46:16 tc The MT reads “Ziphion,” but see Num 26:15, Smr and the LXX, all of which read “Zephon.”
  14. Genesis 46:20 sn On is another name for the city of Heliopolis.
  15. Genesis 46:21 sn The sons of Benjamin. It is questionable whether youthful Benjamin had ten sons by the time he went into Egypt, but it is not impossible. If Benjamin was born when Joseph was six or seven, he was ten when Joseph was sold into Egypt, and would have been thirty-two at this point. Some suggest that the list originally served another purpose and included the names of all who were in the immediate family of the sons, whether born in Canaan or later in Egypt.
  16. Genesis 46:23 tn This name appears as “Shuham” in Num 26:42. The LXX reads “Hashum” here.
  17. Genesis 46:26 tn Heb “All the people who went with Jacob to Egypt, the ones who came out of his body, apart from the wives of the sons of Jacob, all the people were sixty-six.”sn The number sixty-six includes the seventy-one descendants (including Dinah) listed in vv. 8-25 minus Er and Onan (deceased), and Joseph, Manasseh, and Ephraim (already in Egypt).
  18. Genesis 46:27 tn The LXX reads “nine sons,” probably counting the grandsons of Joseph born to Ephraim and Manasseh (cf. 1 Chr 7:14-20).
  19. Genesis 46:27 tn Heb “And the sons of Joseph who were born to him in Egypt were two people; all the people belonging to the house of Jacob who came to Egypt were seventy.”sn The number seventy includes Jacob himself and the seventy-one descendants (including Dinah, Joseph, Manasseh, and Ephraim) listed in vv. 8-25, minus Er and Onan (deceased). The LXX gives the number as “seventy-five” (cf. Acts 7:14).
  20. Genesis 46:28 tn Heb “and he”; the referent (Jacob) has been specified in the translation for clarity.
  21. Genesis 46:28 tn Heb “to direct before him to Goshen.”
  22. Genesis 46:29 tn Heb “and he appeared to him.”
  23. Genesis 46:30 tn Heb “after my seeing your face that you are still alive.”
  24. Genesis 46:31 tn Heb “tell Pharaoh and say to him.”
  25. Genesis 46:32 tn Heb “feeders of sheep.”
  26. Genesis 46:32 tn Heb “for men of livestock they are.”
  27. Genesis 46:34 tn Heb “your servants are men of cattle.”
  28. Genesis 46:34 sn So that you may live in the land of Goshen. Joseph is apparently trying to stress to Pharaoh that his family is self-sufficient, that they will not be a drain on the economy of Egypt. But they will need land for their animals and so Goshen, located on the edge of Egypt, would be a suitable place for them to live. The settled Egyptians were uneasy with nomadic people, but if Jacob and his family settled in Goshen they would represent no threat.
  29. Genesis 46:34 tn Heb “is an abomination.” The Hebrew word תּוֹעֵבָה (toʿevah, “abomination”) describes something that is loathsome or off-limits. For other practices the Egyptians considered disgusting, see Gen 43:32 and Exod 8:22.

46 And Yisroel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Be’erah Sheva, and offered zevakhim unto Elohei Aviv Yitzchak.

And Elohim spoke unto Yisroel in the marot halailah, and said, Ya’akov, Ya’akov. And he said, Hineni.

And He said, I am El Elohei Avicha; fear not to go down to Mitzrayim; for there I will make thee a Goy Gadol;

I will go down with thee to Mitzrayim; and I will also surely bring thee up again; and Yosef shall put his yad upon thine eyes.

And Ya’akov rose up from Be’er-Sheva; and the Bnei Yisroel carried Ya’akov Avichem, and their little ones, and their nashim, in the agalot which Pharaoh had sent to carry him.

And they took their mikneh, and their possessions, which they had acquired in Eretz Kena’an, and came to Mitzrayim, Ya’akov, and all his zera with him;

His banim, and his bnei banim with him, his banot, and his banot banim, and all his zera brought he with him to Mitzrayim.

And these are the shemot Bnei Yisroel, which came to Mitzrayim: Ya’akov and his banim: Reuven, bechor Ya’akov;

And the Bnei Reuven: Chanoch, and Phallu, and Chetzron, and Carmi.

10 And the Bnei Shimon: Yemuel, and Yamin, and Ohad, and Yachin, and Tzochar, and Shaul Ben HaKena’anit.

11 And the Bnei Levi: Gershon, Kehat, and Merari.

12 And the Bnei Yehudah: Er, and Onan, and Shelah, and Peretz, and Zarach; but Er and Onan died in Eretz Kena’an. And the Bnei Peretz were Chetzron and Chamul.

13 And the Bnei Yissakhar: Tola, and Phuvah, and Yov, and Shimron.

14 And the Bnei Zevulun: Sered, Elon, and Yachle’el.

15 These are the Bnei Leah, which she bore unto Ya’akov in Padan Aram, with his bat Dinah; kol nefesh of his banim and his banot were thirty and three.

16 And the Bnei Gad: Tziphyon, Chaggi, Shuni, Etzbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli.

17 And the Bnei Asher: Yimnah, and Yishvah, and Yishvi, and Beriah, and Serach their achot; and the Bnei Beriah: Chever, and Malki’el.

18 These are the Bnei Zilpah, whom Lavan gave to Leah his bat, and these she bore unto Ya’akov, even sixteen nefesh.

19 The Bnei Rachel eshet Ya’akov: Yosef, and Binyamin.

20 And unto Yosef in Eretz Mitzrayim were born Menasheh and Ephrayim, which Asenat Bat Poti Phera kohen of On bore unto him.

21 And the Bnei Binyamin were Belah, and Becher, and Ashbel, Gera, and Naaman, Echi, and Rosh, Muppim, and Chuppim, and Ard.

22 These are the Bnei Rachel, which were born to Ya’akov; kol nefesh were fourteen.

23 And the Bnei Dan: Chushim.

24 And the Bnei Naphtali: Yachtze’el, and Guni, and Yetzer, and Shillem.

25 These are the Bnei Bilhah, which Lavan gave unto Rachel his bat, and she bore these unto Ya’akov; kol nefesh were shivah.

26 Kol hanefesh that came with Ya’akov to Mitzrayim, which came out of his loins, apart from the nashim of the Bnei Ya’akov, kol nefesh were threescore and six;

27 And the Bnei Yosef, which were born to him in Mitzrayim, were two nefesh; kol hanefesh of Bais Ya’akov, which came into Mitzrayim, were shivim (seventy).

28 And he sent Yehudah before him unto Yosef, to direct his face unto Goshen; and they came into Eretz Goshen.

29 And Yosef made ready his merkavah, and went up to meet Yisroel Aviv, to Goshen, and presented himself unto him; and he fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a long time.

30 And Yisroel said unto Yosef, Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, because thou art yet alive.

31 And Yosef said unto his achim, and unto Bais Aviv, I will go up, and speak to Pharaoh, and say unto him, My achim and Bais Avi, which were in Eretz Kena’an, are come unto me;

32 And the anashim are roei tzon (shepherds), keepers of livestock; and they have brought their tzon, and their bakar, and all that they have.

33 And it shall come to pass, when Pharaoh shall call you, and shall say, What is ma’aseichem (your occupation)?

34 That ye shall say, Thy avadim hath been keepers of livestock from our youth even until now, both we, and also Avoteinu; that ye may dwell in Eretz Goshen; for every ro’eh tzon is a toevat Mitzrayim.