Study Desk

Then Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?" But his brothers were speechless, for they were stunned and dismayed by [the fact that they were in] Joseph's presence.

And Joseph said to his brothers, "Please come closer to me." And they approached him. And he said, "I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.

So he sent his brothers away, and as they departed, he said to them, "See that you do not quarrel on the journey [about how to explain this to our father]."

So they went up from Egypt, and came to the land of Canaan to Jacob their father,

and they said to him, "Joseph is still alive, and indeed he is ruler over all the land of Egypt." But Jacob was stunned and his heart almost stopped beating, because he did not believe them.

When they told him everything that Joseph had said to them, and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived.

And they took their livestock and the possessions which they had acquired in the land of Canaan and came to Egypt, Jacob and all his descendants with him.

Now Jacob (Israel) sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph, to direct him to Goshen; and they came into the land of Goshen.

and the men are shepherds, for they have been keepers of livestock; and they have brought their flocks and their herds and all that they have.'

Then Joseph came and told Pharaoh, "My father and my brothers, with their flocks and their herds and all that they own, have come from the land of Canaan, and they are in the land of Goshen."

And Pharaoh said to his brothers [as Joseph expected], "What is your occupation?" And they said to Pharaoh, "Your servants are shepherds, both we and our fathers [before us]."

Jacob said to Pharaoh, "The years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty. Few and unpleasant have been the years of my life, and they have not reached the years that my fathers lived during the days of their pilgrimage."

Joseph gathered all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan [in payment] for the grain which they bought, and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house.

So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and he gave them food in exchange for the horses and the flocks and the herds and the donkeys; and he supplied them with food in exchange for all their livestock that year.

When that year was ended, they came to him the next year and said to him, "We will not hide from my lord [the fact] that our money is spent; my lord also has our herds of livestock; there is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our lands.

Only the land of the priests he did not buy, for the priests had an allotment from Pharaoh, and they lived on the amount which Pharaoh gave them, so they did not sell their land.

And they said, "You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants."

Now [the people of] Israel lived in the country of Egypt, in [the land of] Goshen, and they gained possessions and acquired property there and were fruitful and multiplied greatly.

The Angel [that is, the LORD Himself] who has redeemed me [continually] from all evil, Bless the boys; And may my name live on in them [may they be worthy of having their names linked with mine], And the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; And may they grow into a [great] multitude in the midst of the earth."

"O my soul, do not come into their secret council; Let not my glory (honor) be united with their assembly [for I knew nothing of their plot]; Because in their anger they killed men [an honored man, Shechem, and the Shechemites], And in their self-will they lamed oxen.