Genesis 46-48

New King James Version

Jacob’s Journey to Egypt^(A)

46 So Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to ^(B)Beersheba, and offered sacrifices ^(C)to the God of his father Isaac. ² Then God spoke to Israel ^(D)in the visions of the night, and said, “Jacob, Jacob!”

And he said, “Here I am.”

³ So He said, “I am God, ^(E)the God of your father; do not fear to go down to Egypt, for I will ^(F)make of you a great nation there. ^4 (G)I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also surely ^(H)bring you up again; and ^(I)Joseph ^[a]will put his hand on your eyes.”

⁵ Then ^(J)Jacob arose from Beersheba; and the sons of Israel carried their father Jacob, their little ones, and their wives, in the ^[b]carts ^(K)which Pharaoh had sent to carry him. ⁶ So they took their livestock and their goods, which they had acquired in the land of Canaan, and went to Egypt, ^(L)Jacob and all his descendants with him. ⁷ His sons and his sons’ sons, his daughters and his sons’ daughters, and all his descendants he brought with him to Egypt.

⁸ Now ^(M)these were the names of the children of Israel, Jacob and his sons, who went to Egypt: ^(N)Reuben was Jacob’s firstborn. ⁹ The ^(O)sons of Reuben were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. ^10 (P)The sons of Simeon were ^[c]Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, ^[d]Jachin, ^[e]Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman. ¹¹ The sons of ^(Q)Levi were Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. ¹² The sons of ^(R)Judah were ^(S)Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah (but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan). ^(T)The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul. ¹³ The sons of Issachar were Tola, ^[f]Puvah, ^[g]Job, and Shimron. ¹⁴ The ^(U)sons of Zebulun were Sered, Elon, and Jahleel. ¹⁵ These were the ^(V)sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Padan Aram, with his daughter Dinah. All the persons, his sons and his daughters, were thirty-three.

¹⁶ The sons of Gad were ^[h]Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, ^[i]Ezbon, Eri, ^[j]Arodi, and Areli. ^17 (W)The sons of Asher were Jimnah, Ishuah, Isui, Beriah, and Serah, their sister. And the sons of Beriah were Heber and Malchiel. ^18 (X)These were the sons of Zilpah, ^(Y)whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter; and these she bore to Jacob: sixteen persons.

¹⁹ The ^(Z)sons of Rachel, ^(AA)Jacob’s wife, were Joseph and Benjamin. ^20 (AB)And to Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-Pherah priest of On, bore to him. ^21 (AC)The sons of Benjamin were Belah, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, ^(AD)Ehi, Rosh, ^(AE)Muppim, ^[k]Huppim, and Ard. ²² These were the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob: fourteen persons in all.

²³ The son of Dan was ^[l]Hushim. ^24 (AF)The sons of Naphtali were ^[m]Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and ^[n]Shillem. ^25 (AG)These were the sons of Bilhah, ^(AH)whom Laban gave to Rachel his daughter, and she bore these to Jacob: seven persons in all.

^26 (AI)All the persons who went with Jacob to Egypt, who came from his body, ^(AJ)besides Jacob’s sons’ wives, were sixty-six persons in all. ²⁷ And the sons of Joseph who were born to him in Egypt were two persons. ^(AK)All the persons of the house of Jacob who went to Egypt were seventy.

Jacob Settles in Goshen

²⁸ Then he sent Judah before him to Joseph, ^(AL)to point out before him the way to Goshen. And they came ^(AM)to the land of Goshen. ²⁹ So Joseph made ready his ^(AN)chariot and went up to Goshen to meet his father Israel; and he presented himself to him, and ^(AO)fell on his neck and wept on his neck a good while.

³⁰ And Israel said to Joseph, ^(AP)“Now let me die, since I have seen your face, because you are still alive.”

³¹ Then Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, ^(AQ)“I will go up and tell Pharaoh, and say to him, ‘My brothers and those of my father’s house, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me. ³² And the men are ^(AR)shepherds, for their occupation has been to feed livestock; and they have brought their flocks, their herds, and all that they have.’ ³³ So it shall be, when Pharaoh calls you and says, ^(AS)‘What is your occupation?’ ³⁴ that you shall say, ‘Your servants’ ^(AT)occupation has been with livestock ^(AU)from our youth even till now, both we and also our fathers,’ that you may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is ^(AV)an^[o] abomination to the Egyptians.”

Joseph Is Governor of Egypt

47 Then Joseph ^(AW)went and told Pharaoh, and said, “My father and my brothers, their flocks and their herds and all that they possess, have come from the land of Canaan; and indeed they are in ^(AX)the land of Goshen.” ² And he took five men from among his brothers and ^(AY)presented them to Pharaoh. ³ Then Pharaoh said to his brothers, ^(AZ)“What is your occupation?”

And they said to Pharaoh, ^(BA)“Your servants are shepherds, both we and also our fathers.” ⁴ And they said to Pharaoh, ^(BB)“We have come to dwell in the land, because your servants have no pasture for their flocks, ^(BC)for the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now therefore, please let your servants ^(BD)dwell in the land of Goshen.”

⁵ Then Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, saying, “Your father and your brothers have come to you. ^6 (BE)The land of Egypt is before you. Have your father and brothers dwell in the best of the land; let them dwell ^(BF)in the land of Goshen. And if you know any competent men among them, then make them chief herdsmen over my livestock.”

⁷ Then Joseph brought in his father Jacob and set him before Pharaoh; and Jacob ^(BG)blessed Pharaoh. ⁸ Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How old are you?”

⁹ And Jacob said to Pharaoh, ^(BH)“The days of the years of my ^[p]pilgrimage are ^(BI)one hundred and thirty years; ^(BJ)few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and ^(BK)they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.” ¹⁰ So Jacob ^(BL)blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh.

¹¹ And Joseph situated 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 ^(BM)Rameses, ^(BN)as Pharaoh had commanded. ¹² Then Joseph provided ^(BO)his father, his brothers, and all his father’s household with bread, according to the number in their families.

Joseph Deals with the Famine

¹³ Now there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very severe, ^(BP)so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine. ^14 (BQ)And Joseph 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.

¹⁵ So when the money failed in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “Give us bread, for ^(BR)why should we die in your presence? For the money has failed.”

¹⁶ Then Joseph said, “Give your livestock, and I will give you bread for your livestock, if the money is gone.” ¹⁷ So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the cattle of the herds, and for the donkeys. Thus he ^[q]fed them with bread in exchange for all their livestock that year.

¹⁸ When that year had ended, they came to him the next year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that our money is gone; my lord also has our herds of livestock. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our lands. ¹⁹ Why 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 of Pharaoh; give us seed, that we may ^(BS)live and not die, that the land may not be desolate.”

²⁰ Then Joseph ^(BT)bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for every man of the Egyptians sold his field, because the famine was severe upon them. So the land became Pharaoh’s. ²¹ And as for the people, he ^[r]moved them into the cities, from one end of the borders of Egypt to the other end. ^22 (BU)Only the land of the ^(BV)priests he did not buy; for the priests had rations allotted to them by Pharaoh, and they ate their rations which Pharaoh gave them; therefore they did not sell their lands.

²³ Then Joseph said to the people, “Indeed I have bought you and your land this day for Pharaoh. Look, here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land. ²⁴ And it shall come to pass in the harvest that you shall give one-fifth to Pharaoh. Four-fifths shall be your own, as seed for the field and for your food, for those of your households and as food for your little ones.”

²⁵ So they said, “You have saved ^(BW)our lives; let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants.” ²⁶ And Joseph made it a law over the land of Egypt to this day, that Pharaoh should have one-fifth, ^(BX)except for the land of the priests only, which did not become Pharaoh’s.

Joseph’s Vow to Jacob

²⁷ So Israel ^(BY)dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the country of Goshen; and they had possessions there and ^(BZ)grew and multiplied exceedingly. ²⁸ And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the length of Jacob’s life was one hundred and forty-seven years. ²⁹ When the time ^(CA)drew near that Israel must die, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “Now if I have found favor in your sight, please ^(CB)put your hand under my thigh, and ^(CC)deal kindly and truly with me. ^(CD)Please do not bury me in Egypt, ³⁰ but ^(CE)let me lie with my fathers; you shall carry me out of Egypt and ^(CF)bury me in their burial place.”

And he said, “I will do as you have said.”

³¹ Then he said, “Swear to me.” And he swore to him. So ^(CG)Israel bowed himself on the head of the bed.

Jacob Blesses Joseph’s Sons^(CH)

48 Now it came to pass after these things that Joseph was told, “Indeed your father is sick”; and he took with him his two sons, ^(CI)Manasseh and Ephraim. ² And Jacob was told, “Look, your son Joseph is coming to you”; and Israel ^[s]strengthened himself and sat up on the bed. ³ Then Jacob said to Joseph: “God ^(CJ)Almighty appeared to me at ^(CK)Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me, ⁴ and said to me, ‘Behold, I will ^(CL)make you fruitful and multiply you, and I will make of you a multitude of people, and ^(CM)give this land to your descendants after you ^(CN)as an everlasting possession.’ ⁵ And now your ^(CO)two sons, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; as Reuben and Simeon, they shall be mine. ⁶ Your ^[t]offspring ^[u]whom you beget after them shall be yours; they will be called by the name of their brothers in their inheritance. ⁷ But as for me, when I came from Padan, ^(CP)Rachel died beside me in the land of Canaan on the way, when there was but a little distance to go to Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).”

⁸ Then Israel saw Joseph’s sons, and said, “Who are these?”

⁹ Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons, whom God has given me in this place.”

And he said, “Please bring them to me, and ^(CQ)I will bless them.” ¹⁰ Now ^(CR)the eyes of Israel were dim with age, so that he could not see. Then Joseph brought them near him, and he ^(CS)kissed them and embraced them. ¹¹ And Israel said to Joseph, ^(CT)“I had not thought to see your face; but in fact, God has also shown me your offspring!”

¹² So Joseph brought them from beside his knees, and he bowed down with his face to the earth. ¹³ And Joseph took them both, Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel’s left hand, and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel’s right hand, and brought them near him. ¹⁴ Then Israel stretched out his right hand and ^(CU)laid it on Ephraim’s head, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, ^(CV)guiding his hands knowingly, for Manasseh was the ^(CW)firstborn. ¹⁵ And ^(CX)he blessed Joseph, and said:

¹⁷ Now when Joseph saw that his father ^(DC)laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him; so he took hold of his father’s hand to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. ¹⁸ And Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.”

¹⁹ But his father refused and said, ^(DD)“I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; but truly ^(DE)his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his descendants shall become a multitude of nations.”

²⁰ So he blessed them that day, saying, ^(DF)“By you Israel will bless, saying, ‘May God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh!’ ” And thus he set Ephraim before Manasseh.

²¹ Then Israel said to Joseph, “Behold, I am dying, but ^(DG)God will be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers. ²² Moreover ^(DH)I have given to you one ^[v]portion above your brothers, which I took from the hand ^(DI)of the Amorite with my sword and my bow.”