Study Desk

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

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

And Israel said to Joseph, "I did not expect to see your face and behold, God has also shown me your offspring."

And he blessed Joseph and said, "The God before whom my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, walked, The God who shepherded me all my life unto this day,

So he blessed them that day, saying, Through you Israel shall pronounce blessing, saying, ‘May God make you like Ephraim and like Manasseh.'" So he put Ephraim before Manasseh.

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

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

"Thus you must say to Joseph, ‘O, please now forgive the transgression of your brothers and their sin, for they did evil to you.' So now, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father." And Joseph wept when they spoke to him.

Then Joseph said to them, "Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God?

As for you, you planned evil against me, but God planned it for good, in order to do this—to keep many people alive—as it is today.

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

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

But the midwives feared God, and they did not do as the king of Egypt had said to them. They let the boys live.

And God did the midwives good, and the Israelite people became many and were very numerous.

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

And then during those many days, the king of Egypt died, and the Israelites groaned because of the work, and they cried out, and their cry for help because of the work went up to God.

And God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob,

and God saw the Israelites, and God took notice.

And Moses was a shepherd with the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the west of the desert, and he came to the mountain of God, to Horeb.