Gen_45:1-28; Gen_46:1-34; Gen_47:1-31
Pgs. 140-148
Ch. 44-47
SECTIONXI. VAYIGGASH ALAIF YEHUDAH. AND Jehudacame near to him and said, We beseech my lord, let thy servant speak a wordbefore my lord, and let not thine anger be great with thy servant; for asPharoh so art thou. My lord asked his servants, saying, Have you a father or abrother? And we told my lord, We have an aged father, and the youngest (son) isthe son of his old age; his brother is dead; and he only remains of his mother,and his father loves him. And thou saidst to thy servants, Bring him down tome, and let me set mine eyes upon him. And we told my lord, His father cannotpart with the youth; for if our father should part with him, he would die. Andthou saidst to thy servants, If your youngest brother come not down with you,you shall not see my face again. And it was when we had gone up to our father,we told him these words of my lord. And our father said to us, Return, and buyus a little corn. And we said, We cannot go down: if our youngest brother godown with us, we will go down; for we shall not be able to see the man’s faceunless our youngest brother go down with us. And thy servant our father said tous, You know that my wife bare me two (sons). One went forth from me, and Ihave said, Dying he is dead; and I have not beheld him since. And if you takethis one also from me, and death happen to him, you will bring down my age withevil unto sheol. And now, when I come to thy servant my father, and the youthbe not with us, and his soul loveth him as his (own) soul; when he seeth thatthe youth is not with us, he will die; and thy servant will have brought downthe age of thy servant our father with mourning unto Sheol. For thy servant wassurety for the youth with our father, saying, If I bring him not to thee, letmy father hold me guilty all the days. And now let thy servant remain insteadof the youth, as the servant of my lord, and let the youth go up with hisbrothers. For how can I go up to my father, and the youth be not with me?-lestI should see the evil that will come upon my father!
XLV. AndJoseph was not able to sustain all that was being upon him; and he cried, Letevery man go out from me; and no man stood with him, while Joseph made himselfknown to his brethren. And he gave forth his voice with weeping; and theMizraee heard, and a man of Pharoh’s house heard. And Joseph said to hisbrothers, I am Joseph! Is my father yet living? And his brethren were not ableto answer him a word, for they were confounded before him. And Joseph said tohis brothers, Come near now to me. And they came near. And he said, I am Josephyour brother, whom you sold into Mizraim. And now do not be troubled,[1] <\l >and let it not be afflictive in your eyes that you sold me hither; for tosustain life did the Lord send me before you. For these two years hath faminebeen in the land, and there are yet five years in which there will be neitherseed nor harvest. And the Lord sent me before you to set a remnant in theearth, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance. And now, it was not youwho sent me hither, but (it was) from before the Lord, who hath set me to be afather[2] <\l > unto Pharoh, and to rule all the menof his house, holding power over all the land of Mizraim. Hasten, (then,) andgo up to my father, and say to him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, The Lord hathset me ruler over the Mizraim: come down to me, delay[3] <\l > not,and thous halt dwell in the land of Goshen, and be near me, thou, and thy sons,and thy sons’ children, and thy sheep and thy oxen, and all that thou hast. AndI will nourish thee[4] <\l > there; for there are yet five yearsof famine, lest thou, and the men of thy house, and all that thou hast, bewasted away. And, behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin,that in your language I speak with you. And you will show my father all myglory in Mizraim, and all that you see; and make haste, and bring down myfather hither. And he fell upon the neck of Benjamin his brother, and wept; andBenjamin wept upon his neck. And he kissed all his brothers, and wept overthem; and afterward his brothers discoursed with him. And a voice was heard inthe house of Pharoh, saying, The brothers of Joseph are come. And it waspleasing in the eyes of Pharoh, and in the eyes of his servants. And Pharohsaid to Joseph, Tell my brethren, Do this; lade your beasts and go; carry intothe land of Kenaan; and take your father and the men of your house and come tome, and I will give you the good of the land of Mizraim, and you shall eat thegood of the land. And (now) thou art commanded, this do. Take to you out of theland of Mizraim waggons for your children, and your wives; and bring yourfather, and come. And let not your eye look wistfully upon your furniture; forthe good of all the land of Mizraim is your own. And the sons of Israel did so;and Joseph gave them waggons, according to the word of Pharoh, and he gave themprovisions for the way. And he gave to every one of them vestments for wearing;and to Benjamin gave he three hundred shekels of silver, and five vestments forwearing. And to his father he sent ten asses laden with the good things ofMizraim , and ten she-asses laden with corn, and bread and provisions forthe way. And he dismissed his brethren, and they went, and he said to them, Donot contend by the way. And they went up from Mizraim and came into the land ofKenaan, unto Jakob their father. And they showed him, saying, Joseph is yetalive, and he ruleth over all the land of Mizraim! And these words wereuncertain[5] <\l > upon his heart, because he did notbelieve them. And they told him all the words of Joseph which he had spokenwith them; and he saw the waggons that Joseph had sent to fetch him; and theHoly Spirit rested upon Jakob their father. And Israel said, Great to me is thejoy! Joseph my son is yet alive; I will go, and behold him before I die.
XLVI. AndIsrael journeyed, and all that he had, and came to Beershava; and he offeredsacrifices to the God of his father Izhak. And the Lord spake to Israel in avision of the night, and said, Jakob, Jakob. And he said, Behold, I am. And Hesaid, I am God, the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Mizraim; for agreat people will I make thee there. I will go down with thee into Mizraim, andwill surely bring thee up; but Joseph shall lay his hand upon thine eyes. AndJakob arose from Beershava. And the sons of Israel carried Jakob their father,and their children, and their wives, in the waggons which Pharoh had sent tofetch them. And they took their flocks and their substance which they had gottenin the land of Kenaan, and came to Mizraim, Jakob and all his sons with him.His sons, and his son’s sons with him, his daughters, and the daughters of hissons, and all his seed, he brought with him into Mizraim. And theseare the names of the sons of Israel which came into Mizraim, Jakob and hissons. The firstborn of Jakob, Reuben. And the sons of Reuben., Hanuk andPhallu, Hesron and Karmi. And the sons of Sheemon, Jemuel, and Janin, and Ahad,and Jakin, and Zochar, and Shaul, the son of a Kenaanitha. And the sons ofLevi, Gershon, Kehath, and Merari. And the sons of Jehuda, Er, and Onan, andShelah, and Pharets, and Zarach. But Er and Onan had died in the land ofKenaan. And the sons of Pharets, Heshron and Chamul. And the sons of Issakar, Tola,and Pheua, and Job, and Semeron. And the sons of Zabulon, Sered, and Elon, andJahleel. These are the sons of Leah, which she bare to Jakob in Padan Aram, andDinah his daughter; all the souls, his sons and his daughters, thirty andthree. And the children of Gad, Sephyon and Haggi, Shuni and Ezbon, Eri, andArodi, and Areli. And the sons of Asher, Jemna, and Jesva, and Jesvi, andBeriah, and Serach, their sister. And the sons of Beriah, Heber and Malchiel.These are the sons of Zilpha, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter; and shebare these unto Jakob, sixteen souls. The sons of Rahel, the wife of Jakob,Joseph and Benjamin. And to Joseph were born in the land of Mizraim Menashe andEphraim, whom Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, prince of On, bare unto him. Andthe sons of Benjamin, Bela, and Bekor, and Ashbel, Gera, and Naaman, Achi, andRosh, Muppim, and Huphim, and Arede. These are the sons of Rahel which wereborn to Jakob; all the souls fourteen. And the sons of Dan, Hushim: and thesons of Naphtali, Jahziel, and Guni, and Jezer, and Shilem. These are thechildren of Billah, whom Laban gave to Rahel his daughter, and she bare them toJakob; all the souls seven. All the souls which went with Jakob into Mizraim, which came forth from his loins, besidesthe wives of Jakob’s sons, all the souls, sixty and six. And the sons ofJoseph, which were born to him in Mizraim, two souls. All the souls of thehouse of Jakob which went into Mizraim were seventy. And hesent Jehuda before him to Joseph, to make the way clear before him at Goshen,and he came to the land of Goshen. And Joseph arrayed his chariot, and went upto meet Israel his father in Goshen. And he saw him, and fell upon his neck,and wept. And he wept still upon his neck! And Israel said to Joseph, I could-dieat this time! I have consolation now that I have seen thy face; for thou artyet alive. And Joseph said to his brothers, and to the house of his father, Iwill go up and show Pharoh, and will tell him, My brethren and the house of myfather, who were in the land of Kenaan, have come to me. But the men areshepherds of sheep: for the men are masters of flocks, and their sheep and oxenand all that they have they have brought. And it shall be when Pharoh callethyou, and shall ask you, What is your employment? you will say, Thy servantshave been men, the masters of flocks from our youth until now; both we and ourfathers: that you may dwell in the land of Goshen; because the Mizraee keep ata distance all shepherds of flocks.
XLVII. AndJoseph came and showed Pharoh, and said, My father and my brethren, and theirsheep and their oxen, and all that they have, are come from the land of Kenaan,and, behold, they are in the land of Goshen. And of the extreme[6] <\l > of hisbrethren he took five men, and made them stand before Pharoh. And Pharoh saidto his brethren, What are your employments? And they said to Pharoh, thyservants are shepherds; both we and our fathers. And they said to Pharoh, Todwell in the land are we come for there is no pasture for thy servants’ flocks;for the famine prevails in the land of Kenaan, and we pray thee let thyservants dwell in the land of Goshen. And Pharoh spake to Joseph, saying, Thyfather and thy brethren are come to thee; the land of Mizraim is before thee inthe best of it let thy father and thy brethren dwell, (even) in the land ofGoshen: and if thou know any of them to be men of ability, appoint them to bechiefs over my flocks. And Joseph brought Jakob his father, and presented himbefore Pharoh: and Jakob blessed Pharoh. And Pharoh said to Jakob, How many arethe days of the years of thy life? And Jakob said to Pharoh, The days of theyears of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty years. Few and evil have beenthe days of the years of my life, and I have not attained to the days of theyears of the life of my fathers, in the days of their pilgrimage. And Jakobblessed Pharoh, and went out from before Pharoh. And Joseph made his father andhis brethren to dwell, and gave them a possession in the land of Mizraim, inthe best of the land, in the land of Ramesis, as Pharoh had commanded. AndJoseph sustained[7] <\l > his father and his brethren, and allthe house of his father, with bread, according to the mouth of the family (ofeach). And there was no bread in all the land; for the famine prevailedgreatly, and the people of the land of Mizraim and the people of the land ofKenaan failed before the famine. And Joseph collected all the money which wasfound in the land of Mizraim and in the land of Kenaan, for the corn which theybought. And Joseph brought the money into the house of Pharoh. And the moneywas finished from the land of Mizraim and from the land of Kenaan; and all theMizraee came to Joseph, saying, Give us bread: for why should we die beforethee? for the money is finished. And Joseph said, Bring your cattle, and I willgive you provision, if your money is finished. And they brought their cattle toJoseph, and Joseph gave them bread for their horses, and for their flocks ofsheep, and for their herds of oxen, and for their asses, and for all theircattle; he fed[8] <\l > them with bread for that year. Andthat year was completed; and they came to him in the second year, and said tohim, We will not conceal it from our lord, but the money is ended, and (we havedelivered up) our cattle to our lord, and there is nothing left before our lordbut our bodies and our land. Why should we perish before thee, both we and ourland? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants toPharoh, and give us seed corn, that we may live and not die, and the land maynot be desolate. And Joseph acquired all the land of Mizraim for Pharoh; forthe Mizraee sold every man his portion, because the famine prevailed over them,and the land became Pharoh’s. And the people he made him[9] <\l > topass from city to city, from one end of the limit of Mizraim to the other. Onlythe land of the priests he did not buy; for a portion (was given) by Pharoh tothe priests: and they ate their portion which Pharoh gave them; therefore theysold not their land. And Joseph said to the people, Behold, I have bought youthis day and your land for Pharoh. Behold, (I give) you seed corn, that you maysow the land. And it shall be, when it bringeth forth produce, that you shallgive one in five to Pharoh, and four parts shall be yours, of the corn of thefield, that you and the men of your house may eat, and your little ones havefood. And they said, Thou hast preserved us; may we find grace in the eyes ofmy lord, and we will be the servants of Pharoh. And Joseph made it a statuteunto this day over the land of Mizraim, that one of five should be given toPharoh; only the land of the priests alone was not Pharoh’s. And Israel dweltin the land of Mizraim in the land of Goshen, and possessed it: and theyincreased and multiplied greatly.
[1] Sam. Vers."be not afflicted."
[1] Sam. Vers."a friend."
[1] Sam. Vers."stand not."
[1] Sam. Vers."I will give thee sufficiency."
[1] Or."faint."
[1] Of theentire number comprised between the first and last?
[1] Sam. Vers."sufficiently fed."
[1] Sam. Vers."he allotted them bread."
[1] Thusliterally following the Hebrew.
[1] <\l > Sam. Vers. "be notafflicted."
[2] <\l > Sam. Vers. "a friend."
[3] <\l > Sam. Vers. "stand not."
[4] <\l > Sam. Vers. "I will give theesufficiency."
[5] <\l > Or. "faint."
[6] <\l > Of the entire number comprisedbetween the first and last?
[7] <\l > Sam. Vers. "sufficientlyfed."
[8] <\l > Sam. Vers. "he allotted thembread."
[9] <\l > Thus literally following the Hebrew.