Study Desk

So the total number of Jacob's direct descendants who went to Egypt was sixty-six, not counting the wives of Jacob's sons.

Joseph had two sons born in Egypt, so the total number in the family of Jacob in Egypt was seventy.

They said to the king, "We have come to live in this land, because there is no grass in the land of Canaan for our animals to eat, and the hunger is terrible there. So please allow us to live in the land of Goshen."

So people brought their farm animals to Joseph, and he gave them food in exchange for their horses, sheep, goats, cattle, and donkeys. And he kept them alive by trading food for their farm animals that year.

Surely both we and our land will die here in front of you. Buy us and our land in exchange for food, and we will be slaves to the king, together with our land. Give us seed to plant so that we will live and not die, and the land will not become a desert."

So Joseph bought all the land in Egypt for the king. Every Egyptian sold Joseph his field, because the hunger was very great. So the land became the king's,

The only land he did not buy was the land the priests owned. They did not need to sell their land because the king paid them for their work. So they had money to buy food.

Joseph said to the people, "Now I have bought you and your land for the king, so I will give you seed and you can plant your fields.

So Joseph made a law in Egypt, which continues today: One-fifth of everything from the land belongs to the king. The only land the king did not get was the priests' land.

Jacob lived in Egypt seventeen years, so he lived to be one hundred forty-seven years old.

Some time later Joseph learned that his father was very sick, so he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim and went to his father.

When Joseph arrived, someone told Jacob, "Your son Joseph has come to see you." Jacob was weak, so he used all his strength and sat up on his bed.

Joseph said to his father, "They are my sons that God has given me here in Egypt." Israel said, "Bring your sons to me so I may bless them."

At this time Israel's eyesight was bad because he was old. So Joseph brought the boys close to him, and Israel kissed the boys and put his arms around them.

He put Ephraim on his right side and Manasseh on his left. (So Ephraim was near Israel's left hand, and Manasseh was near Israel's right hand.) Joseph brought the boys close to Israel.

When Joseph saw that his father put his right hand on Ephraim's head, he didn't like it. So he took hold of his father's hand, wanting to move it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head.

So Israel blessed them that day and said, "When a blessing is given in Israel, they will say: ‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh.'" In this way he made Ephraim greater than Manasseh.

But you are uncontrolled like water, so you will no longer lead your brothers. This is because you got into your father's bed and shamed me by having sexual relations with my slave girl.

He commanded the doctors who served him to prepare his father's body, so the doctors prepared Jacob's body to be buried.

‘When my father was near death, I made a promise to him that I would bury him in a cave in the land of Canaan, in a burial place that he cut out for himself. So please let me go and bury my father, and then I will return.'"