Genesis 37-50

EasyEnglish Bible

Joseph and his brothers

37 Jacob lived in Canaan, the land where his father had lived.^[a]

² This is the report about Jacob and his family.

Joseph was Jacob's son. When he was 17 years old, he took care of his father's sheep and goats. He did this together with his brothers. These were the sons of his father's wives, Bilhah and Zilpah. Sometimes Joseph told his father bad things about his brothers.

³ Jacob loved Joseph more than he loved any of his other sons. This was because Joseph was born when Jacob was old. So Jacob made a special coat for Joseph. ⁴ Joseph's brothers knew that Jacob loved him more than he loved them. So they hated Joseph. They could not say anything nice to him.

⁵ One night, Joseph had a dream and he told his brothers about it. When they heard about the dream, Joseph's brothers hated him even more than they did before. ⁶ Joseph said to his brothers, ‘Listen to what happened in my dream: ⁷ We were out in the field tying the crops together into bundles. Then my bundle stood up. Your bundles stood in a circle round my bundle. And all your bundles bent down to respect my bundle.’

⁸ Joseph's brothers said to him, ‘Do you really think that you will be like a king and rule over us like that?’ They hated Joseph even more because of what he told them about his dream.

⁹ Then Joseph had another dream and he told his brothers about it. He said, ‘Listen to me. I have had another dream. This is what happened: The sun, the moon and 11 stars bent down in front of me.’ ¹⁰ Joseph told his father and his brothers about the dream. Jacob, his father, was angry with him. He said to Joseph, ‘You should not tell us about a dream like that! Do you really think that I, your mother and your brothers will come and bend down in front of you?’ ¹¹ Joseph's brothers were very jealous of him. But Jacob thought carefully about what Joseph had said.

¹² One day, Joseph's brothers had taken their father's sheep to eat grass in the fields. This was near Shechem city. ¹³ Jacob said to Joseph, ‘You know that your brothers have taken my sheep to eat grass near Shechem. I want you to go to them.’ Joseph replied, ‘I am ready to go.’ ¹⁴ So Jacob said to Joseph, ‘Go and see if your brothers are well. See if the sheep have enough grass to eat. Then come back and tell me news about them.’ Then Jacob sent Joseph from the Valley of Hebron to go to them. ¹⁵ When Joseph arrived near Shechem and he was walking in the fields there, a man met him. He asked Joseph, ‘What are you looking for?’ ¹⁶ Joseph replied, ‘I am looking for my brothers. They have taken the sheep to eat grass. Please tell me where they are.’ ¹⁷ The man said, ‘They have moved away from here. I heard them say, “Let us go to Dothan.” ’

So Joseph went to look for his brothers. He found them at Dothan. ¹⁸ But his brothers recognized Joseph, while he was still far away. Before he had arrived where they were, they decided on a way to kill him. ¹⁹ They said to each other, ‘Here comes the man who likes to dream! ²⁰ We will kill him. We can throw him into one of the dry wells. We can tell people that a wild animal ate him. Then his dreams will never become true!’

²¹ When Reuben heard this, he tried to save Joseph from the other brothers. He said, ‘We should not kill him. ²² Do not even get his blood on your hands. Just throw him into this dry well here in the wilderness. But do not attack him.’ Reuben said this to save Joseph, so that his brothers would not kill him. Then later, Reuben could take Joseph back to his father.

²³ So Joseph arrived at where his brothers were. He was wearing his special coat, but they took it off him. ²⁴ Then they took hold of Joseph and they threw him into the empty well. It had no water in it.

²⁵ Then the brothers sat down to eat their meal. They looked up and they saw a group of Ishmaelites coming towards them. They were coming from Gilead region. They were riding on camels that carried spices, and different kinds of oils for medicine. They were taking them to sell in Egypt.

²⁶ Judah said to his brothers, ‘We could kill our brother and then hide his body. But then we will not get anything for ourselves. ²⁷ So let us sell him to these Ishmaelites. We do not need to hurt him. Then we will not have to kill him. We should remember that he is our brother. He is our own relative.’ Judah's brothers agreed with what he said. ²⁸ When the Midianite traders came near to Joseph's brothers, they pulled him out of the dry well. They sold him to the Ishmaelites for 20 silver coins. The Ishmaelites took Joseph with them to Egypt.

²⁹ Later, Reuben returned to the dry well. He saw that Joseph was not there. He tore his clothes because he was very upset. ³⁰ Reuben went back to his brothers. He said to them, ‘The boy is not in the well! What can I do now?’^[b]

³¹ Then the brothers killed a goat. They took its blood and they put the blood all over Joseph's special coat. ³² They took the coat back to their father and they told him, ‘We found this coat. Look at it. Tell us if it is your son's coat.’ ³³ Jacob saw that it was Joseph's coat. He said, ‘It is my son's coat! A wild animal must have eaten him! The animal has torn Joseph's body into pieces.’

³⁴ Jacob was so upset that he tore his own clothes. He put on clothes made from sackcloth to show how sad he was. He wept for many days because his son had died.

³⁵ All Jacob's sons and daughters came to comfort him. But Jacob was very sad, so they could not make him happy. Jacob said, ‘I will be sad until the day that I die, because my son is dead.’ Jacob wept because Joseph was dead.

³⁶ While this was happening, the Midianites took Joseph into Egypt. They sold him to Potiphar, one of Pharaoh's officers. Potiphar had authority over all of Pharaoh's guards.

Judah's family^[c]

38 At that time, Judah left his brothers. He went to stay with a man from the town of Adullam. His name was Hirah. ² While he was there, Judah met the daughter of a Canaanite man called Shua. Judah married her and he had sex with her. ³ She became pregnant, and she gave birth to a son. Judah gave him the name ‘Er’. ⁴ His wife became pregnant again, and she gave birth to another son. She gave him the name ‘Onan’. ⁵ Later, she gave birth to another son. She gave him the name ‘Shelah’. She gave birth to Shelah in Kezib.

⁶ Judah found a wife for his oldest son, Er. Her name was Tamar. ⁷ But the Lord saw that Er, Judah's firstborn son, was very bad. So the Lord caused him to die. ⁸ Then Judah said to Onan, ‘You should marry your dead brother's wife and have sex with her. You are her dead husband's brother. You must have a son who will become your dead brother's descendant.’^[d]

⁹ But Onan did not want Tamar to give birth to his child. He knew that the child would not belong to him. So when he had sex with his brother's wife Tamar, he made his semen go onto the ground. Onan did this so that Tamar would not give birth to a child for his dead brother.

¹⁰ What Onan did was bad, and the Lord was not pleased with him. So the Lord caused Onan to die too. ¹¹ Then Judah said to his son's widow, Tamar, ‘Go back to your father's house and live there as a widow. Stay there until my son Shelah grows older.’ Judah thought, ‘I do not want Shelah to die in the way that his brothers died.’ So Tamar went to live in her father's house.

¹² After a long time, Judah's wife, the daughter of Shua, died. When Judah had stopped being sad because of her death, he left his home to travel. He went with his friend, Hirah the Adullamite, to a place called Timnah. He went to see the men who were cutting the wool from his sheep. ¹³ Someone told Tamar, ‘Your husband's father is going to Timnah to get the wool from his sheep.’

¹⁴ Tamar knew that Judah's son Shelah had now become a man. But Judah had not yet let Shelah marry her. So Tamar took off her widow's clothes and she put on other clothes. She covered her head with a veil. She did not want anyone to recognize her. Then she sat at the gate of Enaim. Enaim is a town on the road that goes to Timnah.

¹⁵ Judah saw her as she sat there. He thought that she was a prostitute, because she had covered her face. ¹⁶ He did not know that she was his son's widow. He went to her at the side of the road. He said, ‘Let me have sex with you.’ Tamar asked him, ‘If I have sex with you, what will you give me?’ ¹⁷ Judah replied, ‘I will take a young goat from my animals and I will give it to you.’ Tamar said, ‘Please give me something now to show me that you will really send the goat to me.’ ¹⁸ Judah asked her, ‘What should I give you?’ Tamar replied, ‘Give me your special ring and the string that holds it. And give me the stick that is in your hand.’^[e] So Judah gave them to her. He had sex with her. As a result, she became pregnant.

¹⁹ After this, Tamar left there and she took off her veil. She put her widow's clothes on again.

²⁰ Judah sent his friend Hirah, the Adullamite, to take a young goat back to where the woman had been. Judah wanted to get his special things back from the woman. But Hirah could not find the woman. ²¹ He asked some men who lived there, ‘Where is the temple prostitute who sat by the road at Enaim?’^[f] But the men said, ‘There has not been any prostitute here.’

²² So Hirah went back to Judah, with the goat. He told him, ‘I did not find her. The men who lived there said, “There has not been any temple prostitute here.” ’ ²³ So Judah said, ‘Let her keep the things that I gave to her. People will laugh at me if you go back there again. I sent this young goat for her, as I promised, but you could not find her.’

²⁴ Three months later, someone told Judah, ‘Your dead son's wife, Tamar, has become a prostitute and now she is pregnant.’ Judah said, ‘Take her out of the town and burn her to death!’ ²⁵ So they took Tamar away to kill her. But she sent a message to her dead husband's father. She said, ‘The man that these things belong to had sex with me. That is why I am pregnant. Look at these things carefully. Do you know who the ring, its string, and the stick belong to?’

²⁶ Judah saw that the things belonged to him. He said, ‘She is more honest than I am. She has done this because I would not give her to my son, Shelah, as his wife.’ Judah did not have sex with Tamar again.

²⁷ The time came for Tamar to give birth, and there were twins! ²⁸ While she was giving birth, one baby put out his hand. The woman who was helping Tamar tied a red string to that baby's arm. She said, ‘This baby came out first.’ ²⁹ But then the baby moved his hand back inside and his brother came out first. The woman said, ‘You have opened a way for yourself to come out!’ So they gave him the name ‘Perez’.^{[g] 30} Then his brother came out, with the red string on his arm. They gave him the name ‘Zerah’.

Joseph in Egypt

39 The Ishmaelites took Joseph to Egypt and they sold him there as a slave. Potiphar bought Joseph from the Ishmaelites. He was one of Pharaoh's officers. He had authority over all the guards. ² The Lord was with Joseph, so that good things happened to him. Joseph lived in the house of Potiphar, his Egyptian master. ³ Potiphar saw that the Lord was with Joseph. He saw that the Lord helped Joseph to do good work. ⁴ So Joseph pleased Potiphar. Potiphar gave Joseph authority as his special servant. Joseph took care of everything that belonged to Potiphar. ⁵ From the time that Potiphar gave Joseph authority over everything in his house, the Lord blessed the people of Potiphar's house, his animals and his crops. The Lord blessed Potiphar because of Joseph.

⁶ So Potiphar told Joseph to take care of everything that belonged to him. Potiphar did not worry about anything in his house. The only thing that he thought about was the food that he ate.

Joseph was a strong and handsome man. ⁷ After some time had passed, Potiphar's wife saw that Joseph was handsome. She said, ‘Come to bed with me!’ ⁸ But Joseph refused to do that. He said, ‘My master does not need to think about anything in the house. I take care of everything that belongs to him. ⁹ No one has more authority in this house than I do. My master keeps nothing from me, except you. That is because you are his wife. I could not do such a bad thing. I could not do a sin that is against God.’

¹⁰ Potiphar's wife continued to speak to Joseph every day. But he would not agree to go to bed with her. He would not even go near her. ¹¹ One day Joseph went into the house to do his work. None of the other servants were there in the house. ¹² Potiphar's wife suddenly took hold of Joseph's coat. She said, ‘Come to bed with me!’ Joseph left his coat in her hand and he ran out of the house.

¹³ Potiphar's wife saw that Joseph had left his coat in her hand. She saw that he had run out of the house. ¹⁴ So she called her servants to come. She said to them, ‘Look at this! The Hebrew man that Potiphar brought to work here does not respect us! He came in here and he tried to have sex with me. But I screamed loudly. ¹⁵ When he heard me scream like that, he ran out of the house. But he left his coat here with me.’

¹⁶ Potiphar's wife kept the coat beside her until Joseph's master, Potiphar, came home. ¹⁷ Then she told him this story: ‘The Hebrew slave that you brought to us tried to insult me. He wanted to sleep with me. ¹⁸ But I screamed loudly for help. So he left his coat with me and he ran out of the house.’

¹⁹ Joseph's master heard the story that his wife told him. She said, ‘This is what your slave did to me.’ When Potiphar heard that, he was very angry. ²⁰ He took hold of Joseph, and he put him in prison. It was the place where the king put his own prisoners. ²¹ While Joseph was there in the prison, the Lord was still with him. He was kind to Joseph. He caused the leader of the prison guards to like Joseph. ²² So this man gave Joseph authority over all the other prisoners. Joseph was responsible for everything that they did in the prison. ²³ The prison guard did not worry about anything that Joseph had authority over. He saw that the Lord was with Joseph. Whatever Joseph did, the Lord helped him to do it well.

Joseph tells two people what their dreams mean

40 Some time later, two of the king's officers made him angry. One of them was the king's cupbearer.^[h] The other was the king's baker.

² Pharaoh was angry with his two officers, both the cupbearer and the baker. ³ Pharaoh put them in the same prison that Joseph was in. That was in the house of the captain of the king's guards. ⁴ They were in the prison for a long time. The captain of the guards made Joseph their servant, to help them. ⁵ One night, both of the king's officers had a dream. Each dream had its own meaning.

⁶ When Joseph came to them the next morning, he saw that they were upset. ⁷ So Joseph asked the two officers, ‘What are you sad about?’ ⁸ They replied, ‘We both had dreams last night, but there is nobody to tell us what they mean.’ Joseph said, ‘Only God can tell you the meaning of dreams. Tell your dreams to me.’

⁹ So the king's cupbearer told Joseph his dream. He said, ‘In my dream I saw a vine in front of me. ¹⁰ There were three branches on it. New leaves came on the branches, and then flowers came. After that, there were grapes which became ripe. ¹¹ Pharaoh's cup was in my hand. I took the grapes and I squeezed them. Then I put the juice into the cup and I gave the cup to Pharaoh.’

¹² Joseph said, ‘This is what your dream means. The three branches tell us about three days. ¹³ In three days, Pharaoh will lift up your head and he will make you his officer again.^[i] You will put Pharaoh's cup into his hand, as you did before. ¹⁴ But when these good things happen to you, remember to be kind to me. Tell Pharaoh about me so that I will get out of this prison. ¹⁵ Men took hold of me in the land of the Hebrews and they brought me here. Even here, I have not done anything wrong. I should not be in this prison.’

¹⁶ The king's baker heard what Joseph had said to the cupbearer. He realized that the meaning of the cupbearer's dream was good. So he said to Joseph, ‘This was my dream: I had three baskets of bread on my head. ¹⁷ The top basket contained many different kinds of bread for Pharaoh. But birds were eating them out of the basket on my head.’

¹⁸ Joseph said, ‘This is what your dream means. The three baskets tell us about three days. ¹⁹ In three days, Pharaoh will lift off your head. He will hang you on a tree. Then birds will eat the meat off your body.’

²⁰ Three days later, it was Pharaoh's birthday. He gave a feast for all his officers. He lifted up the head of the cupbearer and he lifted off the head of the baker! He brought them both out of the prison so that all his officers could see.

²¹ Pharaoh caused the cupbearer to be his own cupbearer again. As a result, the cupbearer put Pharaoh's cup into his hand again, as he did before. ²² But Pharaoh hanged the baker to kill him.

So it all happened in the way that Joseph said it would happen. ²³ But the cupbearer did not think about Joseph at all. He completely forgot about him.

Pharaoh's dreams

41 Two years later, Pharaoh had a dream. In his dream, he was standing by the River Nile. ² Seven cows walked up out of the river. They were fat and good to look at. They ate the grass at the side of the river. ³ After those seven fat cows, Pharaoh saw seven other cows that also came up out of the river. Those cows were thin and not good to look at. They stood next to the other cows at the side of the river. ⁴ The thin cows ate the seven fat cows! Then Pharaoh woke up.

⁵ Pharaoh went to sleep again and he had another dream. He saw seven groups of grain that were growing on one branch. The grains were fat and good to look at. ⁶ Then he saw seven other groups of grain that grew after the first seven groups. These grains were thin, because the hot east wind had burned them. ⁷ Then the groups of thin grains ate the seven groups of grains that were good and fat. Then Pharaoh woke up. He realized that it was a dream.

⁸ In the morning, Pharaoh had trouble in his mind. So he told all the magicians and the wise men in Egypt to come to him. Pharaoh told them about his dreams. But no one could tell Pharaoh what his dreams meant.

⁹ Then the king's cupbearer said to Pharaoh, ‘Now I remember that I have done a wrong thing!^{[j] 10} Two years ago, you were angry with me and with your special baker. You put us in prison, in the house of the guards' captain. ¹¹ One night we both had a dream. Each of our dreams had its own meaning. ¹² A young Hebrew man was there with us. He was a servant of the guards' captain. We told the Hebrew man about our dreams. Then he told each of us the meaning of our dream. ¹³ And everything happened as he had told us! You gave me my job as cupbearer again. But you hanged the baker to kill him.’

¹⁴ So Pharaoh called Joseph to come to him. They quickly brought Joseph from the prison. Joseph washed himself and he cut his beard from his face. He put on clean clothes. Then he went and he stood in front of Pharaoh. ¹⁵ Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘I had a dream, and no one can tell me what it means. But people have told me about you. They say that you can tell the meaning of dreams.’ ¹⁶ Joseph replied to Pharaoh, ‘I cannot do this. But God will give you an answer that will make you happy.’

¹⁷ Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘In my dream, I stood at the side of the River Nile. ¹⁸ I saw seven cows that came up out of the river. They were fat, and good to look at. They were eating the grass at the side of the river. ¹⁹ After them, seven more cows came up out of the river. They were thin and they were not good to look at. I have never seen cows as bad as these in Egypt before. ²⁰ The thin cows ate the seven fat cows that came out of the river first. ²¹ When they had eaten them, you would not have known it! They still seemed to be as thin as they were before they ate the fat cows. Then I woke up. ²² In another dream, I also saw seven groups of grain that grew on one branch. The grains were fat and good. ²³ After those, seven other groups of grain grew. Those grains were thin because the hot east wind had burned them. ²⁴ The thin grains ate the seven groups of fat grains. I told those dreams to my wise men and magicians. But none of them could tell me the meaning of my dreams.’

²⁵ Then Joseph said to Pharaoh, ‘Your dreams both have the same meaning. God has shown you what he will soon do. ²⁶ The seven fat cows tell us about seven years. And the seven groups of fat grains also mean seven years. Both dreams have the same meaning. ²⁷ The seven thin cows that came out of the river mean seven years. And the seven groups of thin grains mean seven years. Both of these tell us about seven years of famine.

²⁸ This is what your dreams mean. As I said, God has shown Pharaoh what he will do. ²⁹ There will be plenty of food for seven years all over the land of Egypt. ³⁰ But then seven years of famine will follow. People will forget about the seven years when they had plenty of food. The famine will destroy the land of Egypt. ³¹ No one will remember the seven good years, because the famine will be so bad. ³² God gave you two dreams with the same meaning because these things will certainly happen. God will cause them to happen very soon. ³³ Now Pharaoh should look for a clever man. He should look for a man who knows what is right and wrong. Tell him to rule over the land of Egypt.

^34-35 This is what you should do: Choose some officers. Give them authority to store food during the good years when there is plenty. They must take a fifth part of all the food that grows everywhere in Egypt. They must store the extra food during the good years that will come soon. Give these officers authority to store and to take care of the food in the cities. ³⁶ Then you will be ready for the seven years of famine that will happen everywhere in Egypt. The people in Egypt will have enough food, and the famine will not destroy the land.’

³⁷ Pharaoh and his officers thought that Joseph's idea was good. ³⁸ Pharaoh said to his officers, ‘This man has the Spirit of God in him. We will never find anyone else like him.’ ³⁹ So Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘God himself has helped you to know all these things. So there is no one who is as wise and clever as you are. ⁴⁰ I will give you authority in my palace. All my people will do whatever you tell them to do. Only I will be greater than you, because I am the king.’

⁴¹ Pharaoh also said to Joseph, ‘I give you authority in the whole land of Egypt.’ ⁴² Then Pharaoh took his king's ring from his finger and he put it on Joseph's finger. He dressed Joseph in beautiful clothes made of linen. He put a gold chain round Joseph's neck. ⁴³ Pharaoh gave Joseph a chariot to ride in. It showed that Joseph was Pharaoh's most important officer. Only Pharaoh had more authority. As Joseph travelled, his servants shouted to the people, ‘Bend your knees to respect Joseph!’

In this way Pharaoh gave Joseph authority over everything in the land of Egypt. ⁴⁴ Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘I rule Egypt as Pharaoh. But nobody who lives anywhere in Egypt will do anything, unless you tell them to.’ ⁴⁵ Pharaoh gave Joseph the name Zaphenath-Paneah. He also gave Asenath to Joseph to be his wife. She was the daughter of Potiphera, who was a priest in Heliopolis.^[k] Everyone knew that Joseph had authority in all the land of Egypt.

⁴⁶ Joseph was 30 years old when he began to serve Pharaoh, king of Egypt. Joseph then left Pharaoh's palace and he travelled all over Egypt. ⁴⁷ During the seven good years, lots of food grew in the land. ⁴⁸ Joseph got all the extra food that grew in the seven good years. He stored it in Egypt's cities, near the fields where it had grown. ⁴⁹ In this way, Joseph stored a lot of food. The food grains were as many as the sand by the sea! Joseph stopped counting how much food he had stored because there was too much food to measure.

⁵⁰ Before the years of famine arrived, Joseph became the father of two sons. Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, a priest in Heliopolis, was their mother. ⁵¹ Joseph called his firstborn son Manasseh. Joseph said, ‘God has made me forget all the trouble that my family has given to me.’ ⁵² Joseph called his second son Ephraim. Joseph said, ‘God has given children to me in the land where I have received pain.’

⁵³ The seven good years with plenty of food in Egypt, came to an end. ⁵⁴ The seven years of famine began, in the same way that Joseph had said would happen. There was a famine in all the other countries too. But in Egypt, the people still had food to eat. ⁵⁵ When the Egyptian people became hungry, they cried out to Pharaoh for food. When they did that, Pharaoh told all the Egyptians, ‘Go to Joseph. Do whatever he tells you to do.’

⁵⁶ The famine became very bad everywhere. Joseph opened all the places where he had stored the food. He sold grain to the Egyptians because there was a bad famine in all of Egypt. ⁵⁷ People from all the other countries came to Egypt to buy food from Joseph. They came because the famine was very bad all over the world.

Joseph's brothers go to Egypt^[l]

42 Jacob heard that there was food in Egypt. So he said to his sons, ‘There is no food here, so why are you just sitting there? ² I have heard that there is food in Egypt. Go there and buy some for us. Then we may continue to live and not die.’

³ So ten of Joseph's brothers went to Egypt to buy food. ⁴ But Jacob did not send his youngest son, Benjamin, with them. Jacob was afraid that something bad might happen to Benjamin. ⁵ Jacob's sons went to Egypt, as well as other people who went there to buy food. They all went to Egypt because there was a bad famine in Canaan.

⁶ Joseph had authority to rule Egypt at that time. He was the man who sold food to all the Egyptians. When Joseph's brothers arrived there, they bent down in front of him, with their faces to the ground.^[m]

⁷ As soon as Joseph saw the men, he knew that they were his brothers. But he spoke to them as if they were strangers. He did not speak to them in a kind way. He asked them, ‘Where do you come from?’ They replied, ‘We come from the land of Canaan. We have come here to buy food.’ ⁸ Joseph recognized his brothers, but they did not recognize him.^[n]

⁹ Then Joseph remembered the dream that he had dreamed about his brothers. He said to them, ‘You have come here secretly to see how your people can attack our land.’ ¹⁰ They replied ‘No, my lord, that is not true! We are your servants and we have come to buy food. ¹¹ We are all the sons of one man. We are honest men. We are not your enemies.’

¹² But Joseph said, ‘No! You have come here to see if our country is weak so that you can attack us.’ ¹³ Joseph's brothers replied, ‘We belong to a family of 12 brothers. We are the sons of one man who lives in Canaan. Our youngest brother stayed at home with our father. One other brother is not with us any more.’ ¹⁴ Joseph said to them, ‘It is as I told you. You are our enemies! ¹⁵ I will see if what you say is true. This is what I will do. I promise by the life of Pharaoh himself, I will not let you leave this place.^[o] You must first bring your youngest brother here. I will only let you go after that. ¹⁶ One of you must go to bring your brother here. I will keep you others in prison. In that way I will know if what you said is true. If your youngest brother does not come, then I will certainly know that you are enemies!’

¹⁷ Then Joseph put his brothers in prison for three days.

¹⁸ On the third day Joseph said to them, ‘Do what I say. Then you will stay alive, because I respect God.^{[p] 19} If you are honest men, let one of your brothers stay here in prison. The other brothers can go back to Canaan. You may take food back with you, because your families are hungry. ²⁰ But you must return to Egypt and you must bring your youngest brother to me. Then I will know that what you have said is true. Then you will not die.’ Joseph's brothers agreed to do what he told them.

²¹ The brothers said to each other, ‘This punishment is happening to us because of what we did to Joseph. We saw how upset he was when he asked us not to kill him. But we refused to be kind to him. That is why we have all this trouble.’ ²² Reuben said, ‘I told you not to do anything bad to the boy. But you would not agree! We killed him and now we must receive the punishment.’ ²³ While they said all this, they did not know that Joseph could understand them. Joseph had been speaking in the Egyptian language and someone else told the brothers his message in Hebrew.^[q]

²⁴ Joseph went away from his brothers and he began to weep. But then he returned to speak to them again. While they watched, Joseph told his men to tie Simeon's hands and take him away. ²⁵ Then Joseph told his servants to fill the brothers' bags with food. He also told them to put each man's money back into his bag.^[r] He told them to give the brothers enough food for their journey. The servants did what Joseph told them. ²⁶ Then the brothers put the bags of food on to their donkeys. Then they left.

²⁷ They travelled until they reached a place to sleep that night. One of the brothers opened his bag to get food for his donkey. Then he saw his money inside his bag, at the top. ²⁸ He said to his brothers, ‘They have given back my money! Here it is in my bag!’ All the brothers were upset and frightened. They asked each other, ‘What has God done to us?’

²⁹ After some time they arrived back in Canaan. They went to their father, Jacob. They told him everything that had happened to them. ³⁰ They said, ‘We met the man who is lord over Egypt. He spoke strong words to us. He thought that we were enemies who had come to find a way to attack Egypt. ³¹ But we said to him, “We are honest men. We are not your enemies. ³² We belong to a family of 12 brothers, all the sons of one father. One brother is not with us any more, and the youngest brother is at home with our father in Canaan.” ³³ Then the man who is lord over Egypt said, “I want to know if you are honest men. This is what I will do. You must leave one of your brothers here, with me. Then take food for your hungry families and leave Egypt. ³⁴ But then you must bring your youngest brother here to me. If you do that, I will know that you are really honest men. I will know that you are not our enemies. Then I will give your brother back to you. You will be able to stay in Egypt and you can buy and sell things here.” ’

³⁵ The brothers started to take the food out of their bags. And in their bags, they found each man's money! When the brothers and their father saw the money, they were frightened. ³⁶ Their father Jacob said to them, ‘You are taking my children away from me! Joseph is not here any more. Simeon also is not here. Now you want to take Benjamin away from me. Everything that happens is hurting me!’

³⁷ Then Reuben said to his father, Jacob, ‘I will bring Benjamin back to you. If I do not, then you can kill both of my sons. Trust me to take care of him. I will bring him back.’ ³⁸ But Jacob said, ‘My son will not go with you. His brother is already dead. Benjamin is the only one left. Something bad may happen to him on your journey. I am already an old man. If I lose Benjamin, I would be so sad that I would die.’^[s]

Joseph's brothers return to Egypt

43 The famine was still bad in Canaan. ² Jacob's family ate all the food that they had brought from Egypt. So Jacob said to his sons, ‘Go back to Egypt, and buy some more food for us.’^{[t] 3} But Judah said, ‘The man told us many times, “Unless your brother is with you, I will not let you see me again.” ⁴ So you must send Benjamin with us. Then we will go and buy food for you. ⁵ But if you do not send Benjamin, we will not go. The man clearly said to us, “Unless your brother is with you, you will not see me again.” ’

⁶ Jacob said to them, ‘You have brought great trouble to me! You should not have told the man that you had another brother.’ ⁷ The brothers replied, ‘The man asked us many questions about our family. He asked us, “Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?” We only answered his questions. We did not know that he would say, “Bring your brother here.” ’

⁸ Then Judah said to his father Jacob, ‘Agree to send the boy with me. We will go to Egypt immediately. Then all our family can continue to live. We will not die.^{[u] 9} I promise you to keep Benjamin safe. I myself will take care of him and I will bring him back to you. If I do not bring him back home, then you should say that I am guilty. I will be guilty for all of my life. ¹⁰ We must go now! We have already talked for too long. By now, we could have gone to Egypt and returned twice!’

¹¹ Then their father Jacob said to them, ‘If you must take Benjamin, do what I tell you. Put some of the best things from our land in your bags. Take them to the man as a gift. Take some oil, some honey and some spices. Also take some myrrh, and some nuts.^{[v] 12} Also take twice the amount of money with you. You must give back the money that they put back into your bags last time. It may have been a mistake. ¹³ Take your brother Benjamin too. Go back to the man now. ¹⁴ I pray that God Almighty will help you. I pray that God will cause the man to be kind to you. Then he will let your older brother go free. He and Benjamin will return here with you. As for me, if I must lose my sons, then I will lose them. There is nothing that I can do to stop it.’

¹⁵ So the brothers took the gifts, and they took twice as much money with them. They took Benjamin and they hurried to Egypt. When they arrived there, they went to meet Joseph.

¹⁶ Joseph saw that Benjamin was with them. So he said to his servant who took care of his house, ‘Take these men to my house. Kill an animal and prepare it for a meal. These men will eat with me at noon.’ ¹⁷ The servant did as Joseph told him. He took the men to Joseph's house.

¹⁸ The brothers were frightened when the servant took them to Joseph's house. They thought, ‘He has brought us here because of the money that we found in our bags last time. Someone put it there before we returned home. Now he wants to punish us. He will take us to be his slaves. He will take our donkeys too.’

¹⁹ So the brothers went to Joseph's servant. They spoke to him at the door of Joseph's house before they went in. ²⁰ They said, ‘Please sir. The first time we came here, we came to buy food. ²¹ But on our journey back, we stopped at a place to sleep for the night. When we opened our bags, each of us found our money there. It was the same amount of money that each of us had taken to buy food in Egypt. The money was in the top of our bags. Now we have brought the money back here. ²² We have also brought more money so that we can buy more food. We do not know who put the money back into our bags.’

²³ The servant replied, ‘Do not worry. Everything is all right. Your God, the God of your father, put the valuable silver coins there. I received your money. No problem!’ Then the servant brought Simeon out to see his brothers.

²⁴ The servant took the men into Joseph's house. He gave them water to wash their feet. He also gave food to their donkeys. ²⁵ The brothers prepared their gifts to give to Joseph when he would arrive at noon. The servant had told them that they would eat a meal there.

²⁶ When Joseph arrived home, the brothers gave him the gifts that they had brought with them. They bent down low to the ground in front of him. ²⁷ Joseph asked them if they were well. Then he said, ‘You told me last time about your old father. How is he? Is he still alive?’ ²⁸ The brothers replied, ‘Your servant, our father, is still alive. And he is well.’ They bent down to the ground again, to respect Joseph.

²⁹ Then Joseph saw his brother Benjamin, his own mother's son.^[w] Joseph asked, ‘Is this your youngest brother? Is he the one that you told me about?’ Joseph said to Benjamin, ‘I pray that God will bless you, my son.’ ³⁰ Joseph loved Benjamin very much. He quickly went out of the room because he wanted to weep. Joseph went into his own room and he wept there. ³¹ After that, he washed his face. He returned to his brothers. He controlled himself and he said, ‘Prepare the food for them to eat.’ ³² The servants gave food to Joseph at his own table. The brothers sat together at a different table. And the Egyptians who ate there also sat together. The Egyptians could not eat a meal with Hebrews, because that would make the Egyptians ashamed. ³³ The brothers sat in a place where Joseph could see them. The servants told each of them where to sit, by their age. The oldest brother was at one end, all along to the youngest brother at the other end. The brothers were very surprised to see this.^[x]

³⁴ Then the servants took food from Joseph's table and they gave it to the brothers. Benjamin received the biggest amount of food. It was five times more than any of his brothers. The brothers also drank wine with Joseph and they were all very happy.

Joseph tests his brothers

44 Joseph told the servant who took care of his house, ‘Fill the men's bags. Give them as much food as their animals can carry. Put each man's money back in the top of his bag. ² Then take my silver cup and put it in the top of the youngest man's bag. Put it with the money that he brought to pay for his food.’ The servant did what Joseph had told him to do. ³ When morning came, the men started their journey with their donkeys. ⁴ They had travelled only a short way from the city. Then Joseph said to his servant, ‘Go now and follow those men. When you find them, say to them, “My master was kind to you. So why have you done this bad thing against us? ⁵ You have taken my master's own special cup. It is the cup that he drinks from. He also uses it to find out about future things. You have done a very bad thing!” ’

⁶ So Joseph's servant followed the men and he reached them. He told them Joseph's message. ⁷ But the brothers said to him, ‘Sir, why do you say these things? We are your servants. We would not do anything like that! ⁸ When we found the money in our bags last time, we brought it back to you from Canaan. So we would never take valuable silver or gold things from your master's house. ⁹ If any one of us has this silver cup, he must die. We others will become your slaves, sir.’ ¹⁰ The servant said, ‘What you say is fair. Whoever has the cup, will become my slave. The rest of you will go free.’

¹¹ Each of the brothers quickly put his bag on the ground and opened it. ¹² Then the servant began to look in the bags. He began with the oldest brother's bag and he finished with the youngest brother's bag. Then he found the cup in Benjamin's bag! ¹³ When this happened, all the brothers were very upset. They tore their clothes. Then they put their bags back on their donkeys. They returned to the city.

¹⁴ Joseph was still in his house when Judah and his brothers arrived. They threw themselves on the ground in front of Joseph. ¹⁵ Joseph said, ‘Why have you done this bad thing? You should have known about an important man like me. I can use magic to find out what people do.’ ¹⁶ Judah said, ‘We do not know what to say to you, my lord. We cannot say that we did not do this. God has shown that we are guilty of this sin. Now we are your slaves. We are all your slaves, as well as the one who had your cup in his bag.’

¹⁷ But Joseph said, ‘I would not do a thing like that! Only the man who had the cup will be my slave. The rest of you can return to your father. You may go as my friends.’

¹⁸ Then Judah went and he spoke to Joseph. He said, ‘Please, my lord. Let me speak to you. You have all of Pharaoh's authority, but please do not be angry with me, your servant. ¹⁹ You asked us, “Do you have a father or another brother?” ²⁰ And we replied, “We have a father who is very old. He has a young son who was born when our father was already old. That son's brother is dead. He is the only son of his mother who still lives. His father loves him.” ²¹ Then you said, “Bring your youngest brother to me so that I can see him.” ²² And we said, “The boy cannot leave his father. If he leaves him, his father will die.” ²³ But you said to us, “Your youngest brother must come with you. If he does not come, I will not let you see me again.” ²⁴ We returned to our father and we told him what you said. ²⁵ After some time, our father said, “Go back to Egypt and buy some more food for us.” ²⁶ But we said, “We cannot go back there. We can only go if our youngest brother goes with us. If he is not with us, we will not be able to see the man again.” ²⁷ Then my father said to us, “My wife gave birth to two sons. ²⁸ One of them went away and he never returned. So I said, ‘A wild animal must have eaten him.’ I have not seen him since that happened. ²⁹ If you take my youngest son away from me too, something bad may happen to him. I am already an old man. If I lose Benjamin, I would be so sad that I would die.” ’

³⁰ Judah continued and he said, ‘So, my lord, I could not go back to my father without his youngest son. My father stays alive because of this boy. ³¹ If my father sees that his son is not with us, he will die. Because we did not bring the boy back to him, he will be sad enough to die. ³² I promised my father that I would take care of the boy. I said, “I will bring the boy back. If I do not, then you can say that I am guilty. I will be guilty for all of my life.” ³³ Please sir, let me stay here as your slave, instead of the boy. Let the boy return home with his brothers. ³⁴ I cannot go back to my father if the boy is not with me. I never want to see how upset my father would be.’^[y]

Joseph says who he is

45 After Judah said this, Joseph could not control himself. He did not want to cry in front of all his servants. So he shouted, ‘Make everyone go away from me!’ So there was no one still there with Joseph, except his brothers. Then he told his brothers who he was. ² Joseph wept loudly, so that the Egyptians heard him. All the people in Pharaoh's house knew about it.

³ Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?’ But his brothers could not answer him because they were too frightened. They could see Joseph was there in front of them!^[z]

⁴ Then Joseph said to them, ‘Come near to me.’ So they did that. He said, ‘I am your brother Joseph. I am the one that you sold to become a slave in Egypt! ⁵ But do not be upset. Do not be angry with yourselves because you sold me like that. No! It was God who sent me here! He sent me here before you came. He did that so that I could save people's lives. ⁶ There has been a famine for two years already. No food will grow for another five years. ⁷ But God sent me to come here before you. Because of that, your family would stay alive. God would do a great thing to save you and your descendants. ⁸ So you did not really send me here. It was God who did that! He made me Pharaoh's most important officer, as if I am his father. I take care of everything in Pharaoh's palace. I have authority to rule over all of Egypt.^{[aa] 9} Now hurry back to my father. Say to him, “This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord over all Egypt. Come here to me. Come now. ¹⁰ You can live in the region called Goshen. You, your children and your grandchildren can live there. You can bring your sheep, goats and cows, together with everything that you have. In Goshen you will all be near me. ¹¹ I will take care of you there. I will give food to you, because there will be five more years of famine. If you do not come here, you and all your family and servants will become very poor.” ’

¹² Joseph continued to say to his brothers, ‘As I speak to you now, you can all see clearly that I really am Joseph. My brother Benjamin also knows that. ¹³ Tell my father about the authority that I have here in Egypt. Tell him about everything that you have seen here. Then bring my father here quickly.’

¹⁴ Then Joseph hugged his brother Benjamin and he wept. Benjamin hugged Joseph and he also wept. ¹⁵ Joseph continued to weep as he kissed each of his other brothers too. After this, his brothers began to talk to Joseph.

¹⁶ Pharaoh then heard that Joseph's brothers had arrived in Egypt. Pharaoh and his officers were happy to know that. ¹⁷ Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘Tell your brothers to do this. Say to them, “Put food on your donkeys and return home to Canaan. ¹⁸ Then bring your father and your families to come here to me. I will give you the best land in Egypt to live on. You will have all the best things that the land gives to you.”  ¹⁹ You must also tell your brothers, “Take some carts from here in Egypt. Your wives and children can ride in them to come back here. Bring your father and come quickly. ²⁰ Do not worry. You do not have to bring all your things from your own country. The best things of Egypt will belong to you.” ’

²¹ So Jacob's sons did what Pharaoh said. Joseph gave them carts as Pharaoh had told him to do. He also gave them food for their journey. ²² Joseph gave new clothes to each of his brothers. But he gave 300 silver coins and five sets of clothes to Benjamin. ²³ Joseph also sent these things to his father:

²⁴ Then Joseph sent his brothers to start their journey. As they left, he said to them, ‘Do not argue with each other on your way home!’

²⁵ The brothers left Egypt and they returned home to their father Jacob in Canaan. ²⁶ They told him, ‘Joseph is still alive! He rules over all of Egypt!’ Jacob was so surprised that he did not believe what they said. ²⁷ So Jacob's sons told him everything that Joseph had said to them. Jacob saw the carts that Joseph had sent to carry him back to Egypt. Then Jacob felt stronger again. ²⁸ Jacob said, ‘Now I believe you! My son Joseph is still alive! I will go and see him before I die.’

Joseph's whole family in Egypt

46 So Jacob left Canaan. He took everything that belonged to him. When he came to Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to God, the God of his father Isaac. ² During the night, God spoke to Israel in a dream. He said, ‘Jacob! Jacob!’ Jacob replied, ‘Yes, I am here.’ ³ God said, ‘I am God. I am the God that your father worshipped. Do not be afraid to go to Egypt. Your descendants will be very many so that you become a great nation there. ⁴ I will go with you to Egypt. I will also bring you back again. Joseph will be with you when you die.’

⁵ Then Jacob left Beersheba and he continued to travel. Jacob's sons took their father as well as their wives and children. They rode in the carts that Pharaoh had sent to take them to Egypt. ⁶ They also took all their animals and everything that they had got in Canaan. In that way, Jacob and all his family went to Egypt. ⁷ He took his sons and his grandsons, his daughters and granddaughters. He took all his family with him to Egypt.

⁸ These are the names of the descendants of Israel^[ab] who went to Egypt, (that is, the sons of Jacob):

¹⁵ These were the sons that Leah gave birth to in Paddan Aram. Jacob was their father. Leah also gave birth to a daughter, Dinah. These sons and daughters of Jacob were 33 in all.

¹⁸ These were the children that Zilpah gave birth to. Jacob was their father. Leah gave Zilpah to Jacob as a wife. There were 16 children in all.

²² These were the sons of Rachel, born to Jacob. There were 14 in all.

²⁵ These were the sons that Bilhah gave birth to. She was Rachel's servant that Laban gave to her. Bilhah gave birth to these sons for Jacob. There were seven in all.

²⁶ Jacob's descendants who went with him to Egypt were 66. That does not include his son's wives. ²⁷ Joseph had two sons that were born in Egypt. So there were 70 people of Jacob's family who were there in Egypt.

²⁸ Then Jacob sent Judah to go to Joseph before he got there himself. He learned how to get to Goshen and they arrived there. ²⁹ Joseph prepared his chariot and he went to Goshen to meet Jacob, his father. When they met, Joseph hugged his father and he wept for a long time.

³⁰ Jacob said to Joseph, ‘Now I am ready to die. I have seen for myself that you are still alive.’ ³¹ Then Joseph spoke to his brothers and to his father's people. He said, ‘I will go and say to Pharaoh, “My brothers and all my father's people have arrived here from Canaan. ³² The men are shepherds. They take care of their animals. They have brought with them their sheep, goats and cows, and everything that they have.” ³³ Pharaoh will call you to meet him. He will ask you, “What is your job?” ³⁴ Then you should answer, “We have always taken care of cows and sheep since we were young men. Our ancestors have always done this work.” Egyptians do not want to live near people who take care of sheep. So Pharaoh will let you stay in the region called Goshen.’^[ac]

Joseph works well for his master Pharaoh

47 Joseph went to Pharaoh. He told him, ‘My father and brothers have arrived from Canaan. They have come with their animals and everything that belongs to them. They are now in Goshen.’ ² Joseph took five of his brothers to go with him to meet Pharaoh. ³ Pharaoh asked the brothers, ‘What is your job?’ The brothers replied, ‘We are shepherds, sir. We take care of animals, just like our ancestors did.’ ⁴ They also said to Pharaoh, ‘We have come to stay here for a short time because there is a bad famine in Canaan. Our animals do not have any grass to eat there. Please sir, let us stay in Goshen.’

⁵ Pharaoh said to Joseph, ‘Your father and your brothers have now come to you. ⁶ The whole land of Egypt is here for them. Your father and your brothers should stay in the best part of the land. They may live in Goshen. Choose the best shepherds from among them to take care of my own animals.’

⁷ Then Joseph brought his father Jacob to meet Pharaoh. Jacob blessed Pharaoh. ⁸ Then Pharaoh asked Jacob, ‘How old are you?’ ⁹ Jacob replied, ‘I have been alive for 130 years. My years have been few, and they have been difficult. I have not lived for as long as my ancestors lived.’^{[ad] 10} Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh again and he left.

¹¹ So Joseph helped his father and his brothers to make their home in Egypt. He gave them a good place to live in the best region of Egypt. This was in the region that is now called Rameses. Joseph did for his family what Pharaoh had told him to do.^[ae]

¹² Joseph also sent food to his father, his brothers and all his father's people. He gave them enough food for themselves and all their children.

¹³ But because the famine was bad, no food grew in all of Egypt. As a result, the people of Egypt and Canaan became hungry and weak. ¹⁴ Joseph received money from the people when he sold food to them. He took all the money to Pharaoh's palace. ¹⁵ Soon the people of Egypt and Canaan did not have any more money. All the Egyptians went to Joseph and they said, ‘Give us food to eat. If not, we will die! We do not have any more money.’

¹⁶ Joseph said to the people, ‘If you have no money, bring me your animals. I will give you food if you pay me with your animals instead of money.’ ¹⁷ So the people brought their animals to Joseph. They brought horses, sheep, goats, cows and donkeys. Joseph sold food to them in return for their animals. In that way, he sold enough food for them to eat that year.

¹⁸ When that year finished, the people came to Joseph again. They said to him, ‘Sir, you know that we do not have any money. Our animals now belong to you. We have nothing left to give to you. We only have our land and our own bodies. ¹⁹ Do not let us die here and now! Do not destroy our land! If you give food to us, we will pay you with ourselves and with our land. We will become Pharaoh's slaves. Our land will become Pharaoh's land. Give us grain to eat and seed to plant. Then we will not die. Our fields will not be empty.’

²⁰ Joseph bought all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh. Because the famine was very bad, all the Egyptians sold their fields to buy food. So all the land now belonged to Pharaoh. ²¹ Joseph made all the people become slaves, wherever they lived in Egypt. ²² But Joseph did not buy the land which belonged to the priests. Pharaoh himself gave the priests enough food. So the priests did not have to sell their land.

²³ Joseph said to the people, ‘Now I have bought you and your land for Pharaoh. So I will give you some seed to plant in your fields. ²⁴ But when the plants are ready to eat, you must give one fifth part to Pharaoh. You may keep the other four parts. You may keep it for seed to plant again and you may eat it. It will be food for you, for your people and for your children.’ ²⁵ The people said, ‘You have saved our lives! Because you have been kind to us, we agree to become Pharaoh's slaves.’

²⁶ So Joseph made a law which everybody in Egypt has to obey. The law says that one fifth of all food that people grow belongs to Pharaoh. Only the priests' land did not become Pharaoh's land. This law still has authority today.^[af]

²⁷ The Israelites stayed in Egypt, in the region called Goshen. They had their own land there. They gave birth to many children so that they became very many people.

²⁸ Jacob lived in Egypt for 17 years. His whole life was 147 years. ²⁹ The time came for him to die. So he called his son Joseph to come to him. Jacob said to him, ‘If you agree, make a serious promise to me. Put your hand between my legs to show that I can trust you. Promise that you will be kind to me and that you will do as I ask. When I die, do not bury me here in Egypt.^{[ag] 30} Carry my body out of Egypt. Bury me in the grave of my ancestors.’ Joseph said, ‘I will do as you say.’ ³¹ Jacob said, ‘Promise me that you will do this.’ Then Joseph made a promise to him. After that, Jacob rested on his bed and he thanked God.

Jacob blesses Joseph's sons

48 After some time, someone told Joseph, ‘Your father is ill.’ So Joseph went to see Jacob and he took his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim, with him. ² Someone told Jacob, ‘Your son Joseph has come to see you.’ Jacob's body became stronger and he sat up on the bed. ³ Jacob said to Joseph, ‘God Almighty appeared to me at Luz, in Canaan. God blessed me there. ⁴ He said to me, “I will give you many children, so that your descendants are many. In that way, you will become the ancestor of many nations. I will give this land to you so that it belongs to your descendants for ever.” ’

⁵ Jacob continued to say to Joseph, ‘You have two sons that were born to you in Egypt before I came here. They will become my own sons. Ephraim and Manasseh will be my sons, just as Reuben and Simeon are my sons.^{[ah] 6} Any children born to you after them will be your own children. They will receive part of the land that belongs to their brothers, Ephraim and Manasseh.

⁷ As for me, I was very sad when your mother Rachel died on our journey from Paddan. She died near to Ephrath. So I buried her there, next to the road to Ephrath (that is now called Bethlehem).’

⁸ Joseph brought Ephraim and Manasseh to his father, Jacob. Jacob asked him, ‘Who are these boys?’ ⁹ Joseph replied, ‘They are the sons that God has given to me here in Egypt.’ Then Israel said, ‘Bring them near to me so that I can bless them.’

¹⁰ Jacob's eyes had become weak because he was very old. He was almost blind. So Joseph brought his sons near to his father. His father kissed them and he hugged them. ¹¹ Jacob said to Joseph, ‘I never thought that I would see you again. But now God has let me see your children too.’

¹² Then Joseph removed his sons from Jacob's knees. He bent down low, with his face towards the ground. ¹³ He took his two sons near to Jacob. With his right hand, he put Ephraim beside Jacob's left hand. With his left hand, he put Manasseh beside Jacob's right hand.^[ai]

¹⁴ Jacob then put out his right hand. But he put it on Ephraim's head, even though Ephraim was the younger son. Jacob crossed his arms so that he put his left hand on Manasseh's head. Manasseh was Joseph's firstborn son.

¹⁵ Then Jacob blessed Joseph. He said,

¹⁷ Joseph saw that his father had put his right hand on Ephraim's head. This made Joseph upset. So he took hold of his father's right hand. He moved it from Ephraim's head on to Manasseh's head. ¹⁸ Joseph said to Jacob, ‘No, my father. This boy is the firstborn son. Put your right hand on his head.’

¹⁹ But Jacob refused to change. He said, ‘I know, my son. I know what I am doing. Manasseh will also have many descendants who become a great nation. But his younger brother, Ephraim, will become even greater. Ephraim's descendants will become many great nations.’

²⁰ So Jacob blessed both of Joseph's sons that day. He said, ‘In your name Israel's people will give this blessing:

In this way, Jacob put Ephraim before Manasseh when he blessed them.

²¹ Then Jacob said to Joseph, ‘I will die soon. But God will be with you. He will take you back to the land where your ancestors lived. ²² I give to you more than I give to your brothers. I give to you the good part of the land that I took from the Amorites.^[al] I fought against them with my weapons to take that land.’

Jacob blesses his sons

49 Then Jacob called for all his sons. He said, ‘Come here to me. Then I can tell you what will happen to you, in future years. ² You sons of Jacob, come together now and listen to your father, Israel.’^[am]

Reuben

³ Jacob said, ‘Reuben you are my firstborn son. You were born first, when I was a strong young man. Of all my sons, you are the most famous and the strongest.

⁴ Yet you are as wild as the sea. You had sex with your father's slave wife. This bad thing brought me shame. So you will not become great.^[an]

Simeon and Levi

⁵ Simeon and Levi are brothers. They use their swords as weapons to destroy people.^[ao]

⁶ I will not join them when they decide to do bad things. I will not meet with them. They have killed people when they are angry. They have hurt animals because it makes them happy.

⁷ Their anger is so strong that God will curse them. Their anger makes them do cruel things. So God will curse them. I will make your descendants separate from one another. They will live all over the country of Israel.

Judah

⁸ Judah, your brothers will praise you. You will win against your enemies. Your father's sons will bend down towards the ground in front of you.

⁹ Judah is like a young lion who has eaten good food. He has eaten what he killed and now he rests. Nobody would want to try and wake him up!

¹⁰ Judah's descendants will always rule as king. They will continue to hold the stick and the sceptre that show the king's authority. They will do that until the man comes who truly has that authority. People from all nations will obey that king.^[ap]

¹¹ Judah will tie his young donkey to a vine. It will be a vine that has the best grapes. He will wash his clothes in the red wine that is made from those grapes.^[aq]

¹² His eyes will become red because he drinks so much wine. His teeth will become white because he drinks so much milk.^[ar]

Zebulun

¹³ Zebulun will live by the shore of the sea. His town will be a safe place for ships to stay. His land will go as far as Sidon.

Issachar

¹⁴ Issachar is like a strong donkey that is lying down between two of its bags.

¹⁵ He will see that he has a good place to live, with good land. Then he will agree to work hard. He will work like a slave for other people.^[as]

Dan

¹⁶ Dan will be a ruler for his people. His descendants will be equal with the other tribes of Israel.^[at]

¹⁷ He will be small and dangerous, like a snake that lies beside the road. He will be like a snake that bites the legs of horses so that the riders fall off.

¹⁸ I trust you to save me from trouble, Lord.^[au]

Gad

¹⁹ Robbers will attack Gad, but he will fight back against them.

Asher

²⁰ Asher will have much good food. It will be good enough for kings to eat.

Naphtali

²¹ Naphtali is like a deer that runs freely and gives birth to beautiful babies.

Joseph

²² Joseph is like a vine that has lots of fruit. It grows near a well and its branches go over a wall.^[av]

²³ His enemies will be angry with him. They will attack him with arrows. ²⁴ But he will hold his own bow strongly. He will shoot his arrows well. The Mighty One of Jacob will give Joseph strength. God, who is Israel's Shepherd and Rock, will help him.^[aw]

²⁵ The Almighty God, the God of your father, will help you and he will bless you. He will give you rain that comes from the sky above. He will give you springs of water from below the ground. He will cause you to have many descendants. That is how God will bless you.

²⁶ The blessings that I, your father, give to you are great! They are greater than any good things that the old mountains or hills can give to you. They are special blessings for you, Joseph, because you are the leader of your brothers.

Benjamin

²⁷ Benjamin is like a hungry wolf. He kills an animal and eats it in the morning. In the evening, he gives what remains to his people.’^[ax]

²⁸ All these are ancestors of the 12 tribes of Israel. This is what their father said to them when he blessed them. He told each of his sons what was right for them and their descendants.^[ay]

Jacob dies and Joseph buries him

²⁹ Then Jacob said to his 12 sons, ‘I will soon die. You must take my dead body back to Canaan. Bury me there with my ancestors. Bury me in the cave in the field that belonged to Ephron the Hittite. ³⁰ The cave is at Machpelah, near Mamre in Canaan. Abraham bought this cave from Ephron as a place to bury his family. ³¹ That is where they buried Abraham and his wife Sarah. They also buried Isaac and his wife Rebekah there. I buried Leah there too. ³² Abraham bought the cave and the field from the Hittites.’

³³ Jacob finished telling his sons what they should do. Then he lay down on his bed again. He breathed for the last time and he died there.

50 Joseph bent down near his father's face. He wept over him and he kissed him. ² Then Joseph told some of his servants to take Jacob's body. They knew how to put special oil on the body so that it would not become spoiled. Joseph's servants did what he told them to do. ³ The servants took care of the body for 40 days, which is the usual time. The Egyptians wept for 70 days because of Jacob's death.^[az]

⁴ The time for them to weep came to an end. Joseph said to Pharaoh's officers, ‘If you agree, speak to Pharaoh for me. Tell him this: ⁵ My father made me make a promise. He said, “I will soon die. Bury me in the grave that I prepared for myself in Canaan.” So please let me go and bury my father there. Then I will return.’ ⁶ Pharaoh said, ‘Go and bury your father's body in the way that you promised him.’

⁷ So Joseph went to Canaan to bury his father. All Pharaoh's officers went with him. The important people who lived in Pharaoh's palace, as well as the important Egyptian officers, all went with Joseph. ⁸ Everyone in Joseph's family also went with him. His brothers and their families went, but they did not take their young children or their animals. They left those in Goshen. ⁹ Many soldiers also went with them. Some of them rode in chariots and some rode on horses.

¹⁰ They came to Atad's threshing floor, near the Jordan River. They stayed there for seven days to weep for the death of Jacob. They were very sad. ¹¹ The Canaanite people who lived near there saw how sad Joseph and his people were. So they gave Atad's threshing floor a different name. They called it ‘Abel Mizraim’.^[ba] They said, ‘The Egyptians are showing that they are very sad because an important person has died.’

¹² So Jacob's sons did what he had told them to do. ¹³ They carried his body to Canaan. They buried him there in the cave, in the field at Machpelah, near Mamre. That is the cave that Abraham had bought from Ephron the Hittite. He had bought it as a grave for him and for his family.

¹⁴ When Joseph had buried his father, he returned to Egypt together with his brothers. Everyone who had gone to Canaan with him also returned to Egypt.

¹⁵ Now Jacob was dead and Joseph's brothers became frightened. They said to each other, ‘We did a bad thing to Joseph. Now he will be angry and he will punish us for what we did.’ ¹⁶ So they sent a message to Joseph. They said, ‘Your father said this to us before he died. ¹⁷ He told us to say to you, “Please forgive your brothers for the very bad thing that they did against you. They did a very cruel thing to you.” So please forgive our sin. We are servants of your father's God.’

When Joseph received their message, he was very upset and he wept. ¹⁸ His brothers came to see him. They bent down low to the ground in front of Joseph. They said to him, ‘We are your slaves.’ ¹⁹ But Joseph said to them, ‘Do not be afraid of me. It is God who has the authority to punish people. I am not God! ²⁰ You decided to hurt me. But God caused a good thing to happen because of that. God brought me here to save the lives of many people. You can see how that has really happened! ²¹ So do not be afraid. I will continue to take care of you. You and your children will receive what you need.’ In this way Joseph comforted them and he spoke kind words to them.

Joseph dies

²² Joseph lived in Egypt, together with his father's family. He lived for 110 years. ²³ And he was still alive to see Ephraim's children and grandchildren. He also saw Makir's children. Makir was Manasseh's son. Joseph took Makir's children to be his own children.^[bb]

²⁴ Then Joseph said to his brothers, ‘I will soon die. But God will come to you and he will help you. He will take you out of Egypt. He will take you back to the land that he promised to give to Abraham, Isaac and Jacob.’ ²⁵ He also said, ‘God will help you to leave Egypt. When that happens, you must carry my bones away from here.’ Joseph made the other sons of Israel promise that they would do that.

²⁶ So Joseph died when he was 110 years old. They put special oil on his body so that it would not become spoiled. Then they put his body in a box there in Egypt.^[bc]