Study Desk

And now, do not be distressed or angry with yourselves that you sold me into this place, because it was to save lives that God sent me before you.

God sent me before you to preserve you as a remnant on the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

Therefore it was not you who sent me here, but God, who has made me a father to Pharaoh-lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

Now return quickly to my father and tell him, 'This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me without delay.

So Israel set out with all that he had, and when he came to Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.

And that night God spoke to Israel in a vision: "Jacob, Jacob!" He said. "Here I am," replied Jacob.

"I am God," He said, "the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there.

Jacob said to Joseph, "God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and there He blessed me

Joseph said to his father, "They are the sons God has given me in this place." So Jacob said, "Please bring them to me, that I may bless them."

"I never expected to see your face again," Israel said to Joseph, "but now God has let me see your children as well."

Then he blessed Joseph and said: "May the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day,

So that day Jacob blessed them and said: "By you shall Israel pronounce this blessing: 'May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.'" So he put Ephraim before Manasseh.

Then Israel said to Joseph, "Look, I am about to die, but God will be with you and bring you back to the land of your fathers.

by the God of your father who helps you, and by the Almighty who blesses you, with blessings of the heavens above, with blessings of the depths below, with blessings of the breasts and womb.

'This is what you are to say to Joseph: I beg you, please forgive the transgression and sin of your brothers, for they did you wrong.' So now, Joseph, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father." When their message came to him, Joseph wept.

But Joseph replied, "Do not be afraid. Am I in the place of God?

As for you, what you intended against me for evil, God intended for good, in order to accomplish a day like this-to preserve the lives of many people.

Then Joseph said to his brothers, "I am about to die, but God will surely visit you and bring you up from this land to the land He promised on oath to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob."

And Joseph made the sons of Israel take an oath and said, "God will surely attend to you, and then you must carry my bones up from this place."

The midwives, however, feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt had told them; they let the boys live.