Study Desk

But do not be troubled or angry with yourselves because you sold me here. For God sent me before you to save your life.

God sent me before you to make sure that your people will keep living on the earth. Now many of you will be saved.

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

Hurry and go to my father. Say to him, ‘Your son Joseph says to you, "God has made me ruler of all Egypt. Come to me, and do not wait.

So Israel traveled with all he had to Beersheba. There he gave gifts to the God of his father Isaac.

God spoke to Israel in special dreams in the night, saying, "Jacob, Jacob." And Jacob answered, "Here I am."

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

Then Jacob said to Joseph, "The All-powerful God showed Himself to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and He brought good to me.

Joseph said to his father, "They are my sons, whom God has given me here." So Israel said, "Bring them to me, so I may pray that good will come to them."

Israel said to Joseph, "I never thought I would see your face. But see, God has let me see your children also."

Then he prayed that good would come to Joseph, and said, "The God with Whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God Who has been my Shepherd all my life to this day,

Then he prayed that day that good would come to them. He said, "By you Israel will pray that good will come, saying, ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh!'" So he placed Ephraim before Manasseh.

Then Israel said to Joseph, "See, I am about to die. But God will be with you. He will return you to the land of your fathers.

by the God of your father Who helps you, and by the All-powerful Who brings good to you. He brings good from heaven above, and from the deep that lies below, and from the body of a mother.

‘You say to Joseph, "Forgive the wrong-doing of your brothers and their sin. For they did a bad thing to you."' Now we beg you, forgive the wrong-doing of the servants of the God of your father." Joseph cried when they spoke to him.

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

You planned to do a bad thing to me. But God planned it for good, to make it happen that many people should be kept alive, as they are today.

Joseph said to his brothers, "I am about to die. But God will take care of you. He will bring you from this land to the land that He promised to Abraham, to Isaac and to Jacob."

Then Joseph made the sons of Israel promise. He said, "God will take care of you. And you will carry my bones from here."

But the nurses feared God. They did not do what the king of Egypt told them. They let the boys live.