Study Desk

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

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

And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night and said, "Jacob, Jacob." And he said, "Here I am."

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

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

Joseph said to his father, "They are my sons, whom God has given me here." And he said, "Bring them to me, please, that I may bless them."

And Israel said to Joseph, "I never expected to see your face; and behold, God has let me see your offspring also."

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

So he blessed them that day, saying, "By you Israel will pronounce blessings, saying, ‘God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh.'" Thus he put Ephraim before Manasseh.

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

by the God of your father who will help you, by the Almighty who will bless you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that crouches beneath, blessings of the breasts and of the womb.

‘Say to Joseph, "Please forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, because they did evil to you."' And now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father." Joseph wept when they spoke to him.

But Joseph said to them, "Do not fear, for am I in the place of God?

As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring it about that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.

And Joseph said to his brothers, "I am about to die, but God will visit you and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob."

Then Joseph made the sons of Israel swear, saying, "God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here."

But the midwives feared God and did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but let the male children live.

So God dealt well with the midwives. And the people multiplied and grew very strong.

And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.

During those many days the king of Egypt died, and the people of Israel groaned because of their slavery and cried out for help. Their cry for rescue from slavery came up to God.