Genesis 45

1Then Joseph could no longer restrain himself before all those standing by him, and he cried out, “Have everyone go out from me!” And no one remained with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers.

2And he wept aloud, and the Egyptians heard, and Pharaoh’s household heard.

3Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, because they were dismayed at his presence.

4Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come near to me.” And they came near. Then he said, “I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.”

5And now, do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me ahead of you to preserve life.

6For these two years the famine has been in the midst of the land, and there are still five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest.

7And God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant in the land, and to keep you alive by a great deliverance.

8So now, it was not you who sent me here, but God; and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord over all his house, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

9Hurry and go up to my father, and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph: God has made me lord over all Egypt. Come down to me; do not delay.’

10You shall live in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me—you and your sons and your grandsons, and your flocks and your herds and all that you have.

11There I will provide for you, because there are still five years of famine, lest you and your household and all that belongs to you become destitute.

12And look, your eyes see—and the eyes of my brother Benjamin—that it is my mouth that is speaking to you.

13And tell my father about all my honor in Egypt and everything you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.

14Then he fell on the neck of Benjamin his brother and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck.

15And he kissed all his brothers and wept over them. After that, his brothers spoke with him.

16The report was heard in Pharaoh’s house, saying, “Joseph’s brothers have come,” and it was pleasing in the eyes of Pharaoh and in the eyes of his servants.

17Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Tell your brothers, ‘Do this: load your beasts and go; return to the land of Canaan.’”

18Take your father and your households, and come to me, and I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you shall eat the fat of the land.

19And you are commanded, ‘Do this: take for yourselves wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and carry your father and come.’

20And do not let your eye spare your belongings, for all the best of the land of Egypt is yours.

21And the sons of Israel did so, and Joseph gave them wagons according to Pharaoh’s command, and he gave them provisions for the journey.

22To each of them he gave a change of clothes, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of clothes.

23And to his father he sent this: ten donkeys carrying some of the best things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys carrying grain and bread and provisions for his father for the journey.

24Then he sent his brothers away, and they departed; and he said to them, “Do not quarrel on the way.”

25So they went up from Egypt and came to the land of Canaan, to Jacob their father.

26They told him, saying, “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” But his heart went numb, for he did not believe them.

27And they told him all the words of Joseph that he had spoken to them, and he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, and the spirit of their father Jacob revived.

28And Israel said, “Enough! Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”