Day 4 of 90

¹The famine was severe in the land.

²It happened, when they had eaten up the grain which they had brought out of Egypt, their father said to them, "Go again, buy us a little more food."

³Judah spoke to him, saying, "The man solemnly warned us, saying, 'You shall not see my face, unless your brother is with you.'

⁴If you'll send our brother with us, we'll go down and buy you food,

⁵but if you'll not send him, we'll not go down, for the man said to us, 'You shall not see my face, unless your brother is with you.'"

⁶Israel said, "Why did you treat me so badly, telling the man that you had another brother?"

⁷They said, "The man asked directly concerning ourselves, and concerning our relatives, saying, 'Is your father still alive? Have you another brother?' We just answered his questions. Is there any way we could know that he would say, 'Bring your brother down?'"

⁸Judah said to Israel, his father, "Send the boy with me, and we'll get up and go, so that we may live, and not die, both we, and you, and also our little ones.

⁹I'll be collateral for him. From my hand will you require him. If I do not bring him to you, and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever,

¹⁰for if we hadn't delayed, surely we would have returned a second time by now."

¹¹Their father, Israel, said to them, "If it must be so, then do this. Take from the choice fruits of the land in your bags, and carry down a present for the man, a little balm, a little honey, spices and myrrh, nuts, and almonds;

¹²and take double money in your hand, and take back the money that was returned in the mouth of your sacks. Perhaps it was an oversight.

¹³Take your brother also, get up, and return to the man.

¹⁴May God Almighty give you mercy before the man, that he may release to you your other brother and Benjamin. If I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved."

¹⁵The men took that present, and they took double money in their hand, and Benjamin; and got up, went down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph.

¹⁶When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, "Bring the men into the house, and butcher an animal, and make ready; for the men will dine with me at noon."

¹⁷The man did as Joseph commanded, and the man brought the men to Joseph's house.

¹⁸The men were afraid, because they were brought to Joseph's house; and they said, "Because of the money that was returned in our sacks at the first time, we're brought in; that he may seek occasion against us, attack us, and seize us as slaves, along with our donkeys."

¹⁹They came near to the steward of Joseph's house, and they spoke to him at the door of the house,

²⁰and said, "Oh, my lord, we indeed came down the first time to buy food.

²¹When we came to the lodging place, we opened our sacks, and behold, every man's money was in the mouth of his sack, our money in full weight. We have brought it back in our hand.

²²We have brought down other money in our hand to buy food. We do not know who put our money in our sacks."

²³He said, "Peace be to you. Do not be afraid. Your God, and the God of your father, has given you treasure in your sacks. I received your money." He brought Simeon out to them.

²⁴The man brought the men into Joseph's house, and gave them water, and they washed their feet. He gave their donkeys fodder.

²⁵They made ready the present for Joseph's coming at noon, for they heard that they should eat bread there.

²⁶When Joseph came home, they brought him the present which was in their hand into the house, and bowed themselves down to him to the earth.

²⁷He asked them of their welfare, and said, "Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he yet alive?"

²⁸They said, "Your servant, our father, is well. He is still alive." They bowed the head, and did homage.

²⁹He lifted up his eyes, and saw Benjamin, his brother, his mother's son, and said, "Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me?" He said, "God be gracious to you, my son."

³⁰Joseph hurried, for his heart yearned over his brother; and he sought a place to weep. He entered into his room, and wept there.

³¹He washed his face, and came out. He controlled himself, and said, "Serve the meal."

³²They served him by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians, that ate with him, by themselves, because the Egyptians do not eat bread with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians.

³³They sat before him, the firstborn according to his birthright, and the youngest according to his youth, and the men marveled one with another.

³⁴He sent portions to them from before him, but Benjamin's portion was five times as much as any of theirs. They drank, and were merry with him.

¹He commanded the steward of his house, saying, "Fill the men's sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put every man's money in his sack's mouth.

²Put my cup, the silver cup, in the sack's mouth of the youngest, with his grain money." He did according to the word that Joseph had spoken.

³As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away, they and their donkeys.

⁴When they had gone out of the city, and were not yet far off, Joseph said to his steward, "Up, follow after the men. When you overtake them, ask them, 'Why have you rewarded evil for good?

⁵Isn't this that from which my lord drinks, and by which he indeed divines? You have done evil in so doing.'"

⁶He overtook them, and he spoke these words to them.

⁷They said to him, "Why does my lord speak such words as these? Far be it from your servants that they should do such a thing!

⁸Behold, the money, which we found in our sacks' mouths, we brought again to you out of the land of Canaan. How then should we steal silver or gold out of your lord's house?

⁹With whoever of your servants it be found, let him die, and we also will be my lord's bondservants."

¹⁰He said, "Now also let it be according to your words: he with whom it is found will be my bondservant; and you will be blameless."

¹¹Then they hurried, and every man took his sack down to the ground, and every man opened his sack.

¹²He searched, beginning with the eldest, and ending at the youngest. The cup was found in Benjamin's sack.

¹³Then they tore their clothes, and every man loaded his donkey, and returned to the city.

¹⁴Judah and his brothers came to Joseph's house, and he was still there. They fell on the ground before him.

¹⁵Joseph said to them, "What deed is this that you have done? Do you not know that such a man as I can indeed divine?"

¹⁶Judah said, "What will we tell my lord? What will we speak? Or how will we clear ourselves? God has found out the iniquity of your servants. Behold, we are my lord's bondservants, both we, and he also in whose hand the cup is found."

¹⁷He said, "Far be it from me that I should do so. The man in whose hand the cup is found, he will be my bondservant; but as for you, go up in peace to your father."

¹⁸Then Judah came near to him, and said, "Oh, my lord, please let your servant speak a word in my lord's ears, and do not let your anger burn against your servant; for you are even as Pharaoh.

¹⁹My lord asked his servants, saying, 'Have you a father, or a brother?'

²⁰We said to my lord, 'We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother; and his father loves him.'

²¹You said to your servants, 'Bring him down to me, that I may set my eyes on him.'

²²We said to my lord, 'The boy can't leave his father: for if he should leave his father, his father would die.'

²³You said to your servants, 'Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you will see my face no more.'

²⁴It happened when we came up to your servant my father, we told him the words of my lord.

²⁵Our father said, 'Go again, buy us a little food.'

²⁶We said, 'We can't go down. If our youngest brother is with us, then we will go down: for we may not see the man's face, unless our youngest brother is with us.'

²⁷Your servant, my father, said to us, 'You know that my wife bore me two sons:

²⁸and the one went out from me, and I said, "Surely he is torn in pieces;" and I haven't seen him since.

²⁹If you take this one also from me, and harm happens to him, you will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol.'

³⁰Now therefore when I come to your servant my father, and the boy is not with us; seeing that his life is bound up in the boy's life;

³¹it will happen, when he sees that the boy is no more, that he will die. Your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant, our father, with sorrow to Sheol.

³²For your servant became collateral for the boy to my father, saying, 'If I do not bring him to you, then I will bear the blame to my father forever.'

³³Now therefore, please let your servant stay instead of the boy, a bondservant to my lord; and let the boy go up with his brothers.

³⁴For how will I go up to my father, if the boy isn't with me?-lest I see the evil that will come on my father."

¹Then Joseph couldn't control himself before all those who stood before him, and he cried, "Cause every man to go out from me!" No one else stood with him, while Joseph made himself known to his brothers.

²He wept aloud. The Egyptians heard, and the house of Pharaoh heard.

³Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph! Does my father still live?" His brothers couldn't answer him; for they were terrified at his presence.

⁴Joseph said to his brothers, "Come near to me, please." They came near. "He said, I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.

⁵Now do not be grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here, for God sent me before you to preserve life.

⁶For these two years the famine has been in the land, and there are yet five years, in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest.

⁷God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth, and to save you alive by a great deliverance.

⁸So now it wasn't you who sent me here, but God, and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of all his house, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

⁹Hurry, and go up to my father, and tell him, 'This is what your son Joseph says, "God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me. Do not wait.

¹⁰You shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you will be near to me, you, your children, your children's children, your flocks, your herds, and all that you have.

¹¹There I will nourish you; for there are yet five years of famine; lest you come to poverty, you, and your household, and all that you have."'

¹²Behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaks to you.

¹³You shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that you have seen. You shall hurry and bring my father down here."

¹⁴He fell on his brother Benjamin's neck, and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck.

¹⁵He kissed all his brothers, and wept on them. After that his brothers talked with him.

¹⁶The report of it was heard in Pharaoh's house, saying, "Joseph's brothers have come." It pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants.

¹⁷Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Tell your brothers, 'Do this. Load your animals, and go, travel to the land of Canaan.

¹⁸Take your father and your households, and come to me, and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and you will eat the fat of the land.'

¹⁹Now you are commanded: do this. Take wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come.

²⁰Also, do not concern yourselves about your belongings, for the good of all of the land of Egypt is yours."

²¹The sons of Israel did so. Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way.

²²He gave each one of them changes of clothing, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of clothing.

²³To his father, he sent after this manner: ten donkeys loaded with the good things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and provision for his father by the way.

²⁴So he sent his brothers away, and they departed. He said to them, "See that you do not quarrel on the way."

²⁵They went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan, to Jacob their father.

²⁶They told him, saying, "Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt." His heart fainted, for he did not believe them.

²⁷They told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said to them. When he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob, their father, revived.

²⁸Israel said, "It is enough. Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die."

¹Israel traveled with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father, Isaac.

²God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, "Jacob, Jacob!" He said, "Here I am."

³He said, "I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down into Egypt, for there I will make of you a great nation.

⁴I will go down with you into Egypt. I will also surely bring you up again. Joseph will close your eyes."

⁵Jacob rose up from Beersheba, and the sons of Israel carried Jacob, their father, their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him.

⁶They took their livestock, and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt-Jacob, and all his seed with him,

⁷his sons, and his sons' sons with him, his daughters, and his sons' daughters, and he brought all his seed with him into Egypt.

⁸These are the names of the children of Israel, who came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons: Reuben, Jacob's firstborn.

⁹The sons of Reuben: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.

¹⁰The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman.

¹¹The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

¹²The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah; but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.

¹³The sons of Issachar: Tola, Puvah, Iob, and Shimron.

¹⁴The sons of Zebulun: Sered, Elon, and Jahleel.

¹⁵These are the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan Aram, with his daughter Dinah. All the souls of his sons and his daughters were thirty-three.

¹⁶The sons of Gad: Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli.

¹⁷The sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and Serah their sister. The sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel.

¹⁸These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah, his daughter, and these she bore to Jacob, even sixteen souls.

¹⁹The sons of Rachel, Jacob's wife: Joseph and Benjamin.

²⁰To Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, bore to him. And there were sons born to Manasseh, which the Aramean concubine bore to him: Machir. And Machir begot Gilead. And the sons of Ephraim, the brother of Manasseh: Shuthelah and Tahan. And the sons of Shuthelah: Eran

²¹And the sons of Benjamin: Bela, and Becher, and Ashbel. And the sons of Bela were: Gera and Naaman, and Ehi, and Rosh, and Muppim, and Huppim. And Gera begot Ard.

²²These are the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob: all the souls were eighteen.

²³The son of Dan: Hushim.

²⁴The sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem.

²⁵These are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to Rachel, his daughter, and these she bore to Jacob: all the souls were seven.

²⁶All the souls who came with Jacob into Egypt, who were his direct descendants, besides Jacob's sons' wives, all the souls were sixty-six.

²⁷The sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt, were nine souls. All the souls of the house of Jacob, who came into Egypt, were seventy-five.

²⁸He sent Judah before him to Joseph, to show the way before him to Goshen, and they came into the land of Goshen.

²⁹Joseph made ready his chariot, and went up to meet Israel, his father, in Goshen. He presented himself to him, and fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while.

³⁰Israel said to Joseph, "Now let me die, since I have seen your face, that you are still alive."

³¹Joseph said to his brothers, and to his father's house, "I will go up, and speak with Pharaoh, and will tell him, 'My brothers, and my father's house, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me.

³²These men are shepherds, for they have been keepers of livestock, and they have brought their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have.'

³³It will happen, when Pharaoh summons you, and will say, 'What is your occupation?'

³⁴that you shall say, 'Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth even until now, both we, and our fathers:' that you may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians."

¹Then Joseph went in and told Pharaoh, and said, "My father and my brothers, with their flocks, their herds, and all that they own, have come out of the land of Canaan; and behold, they are in the land of Goshen."

²From among his brothers he took five men, and presented them to Pharaoh.

³Pharaoh said to his brothers, "What is your occupation?" They said to Pharaoh, "Your servants are shepherds, both we, and our fathers."

⁴They said to Pharaoh, "We have come to live as foreigners in the land, for there is no pasture for your servants' flocks. For the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now therefore, please let your servants dwell in the land of Goshen."

⁵Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, saying, "Your father and your brothers have come to you.

⁶The land of Egypt is before you. Make your father and your brothers dwell in the best of the land. Let them dwell in the land of Goshen. If you know any able men among them, then put them in charge of my livestock."

⁷Joseph brought in Jacob, his father, and set him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.

⁸Pharaoh said to Jacob, "How many are the days of the years of your life?"

⁹Jacob said to Pharaoh, "The days of the years of my pilgrimage are one hundred thirty years. Few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained to the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage."

¹⁰Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from the presence of Pharaoh.

¹¹Joseph placed his father and his brothers, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded.

¹²Joseph nourished his father, his brothers, and all of his father's household, with bread, according to their families.

¹³There was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very severe, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan fainted by reason of the famine.

¹⁴Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the grain which they bought: and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house.

¹⁵When the money was all spent in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph, and said, "Give us bread, for why should we die in your presence? For our money fails."

¹⁶Joseph said, "Give me your livestock; and I will give you food for your livestock, if your money is gone."

¹⁷They brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, and for the flocks, and for the herds, and for the donkeys: and he fed them with bread in exchange for all their livestock for that year.

¹⁸When that year was ended, they came to him the second year, and said to him, "We will not hide from my lord how our money is all spent, and the herds of livestock are my lord's. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands.

¹⁹Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be servants to Pharaoh. Give us seed, that we may live, and not die, and that the land won't be desolate."

²⁰So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine was severe on them, and the land became Pharaoh's.

²¹As for the people, he moved them to the cities from one end of the border of Egypt even to the other end of it.

²²Only he did not buy the land of the priests, for the priests had a portion from Pharaoh, and ate their portion which Pharaoh gave them. That is why they did not sell their land.

²³Then Joseph said to the people, "Behold, I have bought you and your land today for Pharaoh. Behold, here is seed for you, and you shall sow the land.

²⁴It will happen at the harvests, that you shall give a fifth to Pharaoh, and four parts will be your own, for seed of the field, for your food, for them of your households, and for food for your little ones."

²⁵They said, "You have saved our lives! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's servants."

²⁶Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth. Only the land of the priests alone did not become Pharaoh's.

²⁷Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen; and they got themselves possessions therein, and were fruitful, and multiplied exceedingly.

²⁸Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were one hundred forty-seven years.

²⁹The time drew near that Israel must die, and he called his son Joseph, and said to him, "If now I have found favor in your sight, please put your hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me. Please do not bury me in Egypt,

³⁰but when I sleep with my fathers, you shall carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying place." He said, "I will do as you have said."

³¹He said, "Swear to me," and he swore to him. Israel bowed himself on the bed's head.

¹It happened after these things, that someone said to Joseph, "Behold, your father is sick." He took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.

²Someone told Jacob, and said, "Behold, your son Joseph comes to you," and Israel strengthened himself, and sat on the bed.

³Jacob said to Joseph, "God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me,

⁴and said to me, 'Behold, I will make you fruitful, and multiply you, and I will make of you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your seed after you for an everlasting possession.'

⁵Now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you into Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh, even as Reuben and Simeon, will be mine.

⁶Your issue, whom you become the father of after them, will be yours. They will be called after the name of their brothers in their inheritance.

⁷As for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan in the way, when there was still some distance to come to Ephrath, and I buried her there in the way to Ephrath (the same is Bethlehem)."

⁸Israel saw Joseph's sons, and said, "Who are these?"

⁹Joseph said to his father, "They are my sons, whom God has given me here." He said, "Please bring them to me, and I will bless them."

¹⁰Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he couldn't see. He brought them near to him; and he kissed them, and embraced them.

¹¹Israel said to Joseph, "I did not think I would see your face, and behold, God has let me see your seed also."

¹²Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth.

¹³Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them near to him.

¹⁴Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it on Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh's head, guiding his hands knowingly, for Manasseh was the firstborn.

¹⁵He blessed Joseph, and said, "The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God who has fed me all my life long to this day,

¹⁶the angel who has redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads, and let my name be named on them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac. Let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth."

¹⁷When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him. He held up his father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's head to Manasseh's head.

¹⁸Joseph said to his father, "Not so, my father; for this is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head."

¹⁹His father refused, and said, "I know, my son, I know. He also will become a people, and he also will be great. However, his younger brother will be greater than he, and his seed will become a multitude of nations."

²⁰He blessed them that day, saying, "In you will Israel bless, saying, 'God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh'" He set Ephraim before Manasseh.

²¹Israel said to Joseph, "Behold, I am dying, but God will be with you, and bring you again to the land of your fathers.

²²Moreover I have given to you one portion above your brothers, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow."

¹Jacob called to his sons, and said: "Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which will happen to you in the days to come.

²Assemble yourselves, and hear, you sons of Jacob. Listen to Israel, your father.

³"Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength; excelling in dignity, and excelling in power.

⁴Boiling over as water, you shall not excel; because you went up to your father's bed, then defiled it. He went up to my couch.

⁵"Simeon and Levi are brothers. Their swords are weapons of violence.

⁶My soul, do not come into their council. My glory, do not be united to their assembly; for in their anger they killed men. In their self-will they hamstrung cattle.

⁷Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce; and their wrath, for it was cruel. I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.

⁸"Judah, your brothers will praise you. Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies. Your father's sons will bow down before you.

⁹Judah is a lion's cub. From the prey, my son, you have gone up. He stooped down, he crouched as a lion, as a lioness. Who will rouse him up?

¹⁰The scepter will not depart from Judah, nor the ruler's staff from between his feet, until he comes to whom it belongs. To him will the obedience of the peoples be.

¹¹Binding his foal to the vine, his donkey's colt to the choice vine; he has washed his garments in wine, his robes in the blood of grapes.

¹²His eyes will be red with wine, his teeth white with milk.

¹³"Zebulun will dwell at the haven of the sea. He will be for a haven of ships. His border will be on Sidon.

¹⁴"Issachar is a strong donkey, lying down between the saddlebags.

¹⁵He saw a resting place, that it was good, the land, that it was pleasant. He bows his shoulder to the burden, and becomes a servant doing forced labor.

¹⁶"Dan will judge his people, as one of the tribes of Israel.

¹⁷Dan will be a serpent in the way, an adder in the path, That bites the horse's heels, so that his rider falls backward.

¹⁸I have waited for your salvation, Lord.

¹⁹"A troop will press on Gad, but he will press on their heel.

²⁰"Asher's food will be rich. He will yield royal dainties.

²¹"Naphtali is a doe set free, who bears beautiful fawns.

²²"Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine by a spring. His branches run over the wall.

²³The archers have sorely grieved him, shot at him, and persecute him:

²⁴But his bow remained strong. The arms of his hands were made strong, by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, (from there is the shepherd, the stone of Israel),

²⁵even 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 lies below, blessings of the breasts, and of the womb.

²⁶The blessings of your father have prevailed above the blessings of your ancestors, above the boundaries of the ancient hills. They will be on the head of Joseph, on the crown of the head of him who is separated from his brothers.

²⁷"Benjamin is a ravenous wolf. In the morning he will devour the prey. At evening he will divide the spoil."

²⁸All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father spoke to them and blessed them. He blessed everyone according to his blessing.

²⁹He instructed them, and said to them, "I am to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave that is in the field of Ephron the Hittite,

³⁰in the cave that is in the field of Machpelah, which is before Mamre, in the land of Canaan, which Abraham bought with the field from Ephron the Hittite as a burial place.

³¹There they buried Abraham and Sarah, his wife. There they buried Isaac and Rebekah, his wife, and there I buried Leah:

³²the field and the cave that is therein, which was purchased from the children of Heth."

³³When Jacob made an end of charging his sons, he gathered up his feet into the bed, and yielded up the spirit, and was gathered to his people.

¹Joseph fell on his father's face, wept on him, and kissed him.

²Joseph commanded his servants, the physicians, to embalm his father; and the physicians embalmed Israel.

³Forty days were fulfilled for him, for that is how many the days it takes to embalm. The Egyptians wept for him for seventy days.

⁴When the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph spoke to the house of Pharaoh, saying, "If now I have found favor in your eyes, please speak in the ears of Pharaoh, saying,

⁵'My father made me swear, saying, "Behold, I am dying. Bury me in my grave which I have dug for myself in the land of Canaan." Now therefore, please let me go up and bury my father, and I will come again.'"

⁶Pharaoh said, "Go up, and bury your father, just like he made you swear."

⁷Joseph went up to bury his father; and with him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his house, all the elders of the land of Egypt,

⁸all the house of Joseph, his brothers, and his father's house. Only their little ones, their flocks, and their herds, they left in the land of Goshen.

⁹There went up with him both chariots and horsemen. It was a very great company.

¹⁰They came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, and there they lamented with a very great and sore lamentation. He mourned for his father seven days.

¹¹When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning in the floor of Atad, they said, "This is a grievous mourning by the Egyptians." Therefore, its name was called Abel Mizraim, which is beyond the Jordan.

¹²His sons did to him just as he commanded them,

¹³for his sons carried him into the land of Canaan, and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, which Abraham bought with the field, for a possession of a burial site, from Ephron the Hittite, before Mamre.

¹⁴Joseph returned into Egypt-he, and his brothers, and all that went up with him to bury his father, after he had buried his father.

¹⁵When Joseph's brothers saw that their father was dead, they said, "It may be that Joseph will hate us, and will fully pay us back for all of the evil which we did to him."

¹⁶They sent a message to Joseph, saying, "Your father commanded before he died, saying,

¹⁷'You shall tell Joseph, "Now please forgive the disobedience of your brothers, and their sin, because they did evil to you."' Now, please forgive the disobedience of the servants of the God of your father." Joseph wept when they spoke to him.

¹⁸His brothers also went and fell down before his face; and they said, "Behold, we are your servants."

¹⁹Joseph said to them, "Do not be afraid, for am I in the place of God?

²⁰As for you, you meant evil against me, but God meant it for good, to bring to pass, as it is this day, to save many people alive.

²¹Now therefore do not be afraid. I will nourish you and your little ones." He comforted them, and spoke kindly to them.

²²Joseph lived in Egypt, he, and his father's house. Joseph lived one hundred ten years.

²³Joseph saw Ephraim's children to the third generation. The children also of Machir, the son of Manasseh, were born on Joseph's knees.

²⁴Joseph said to his brothers, "I am dying, but God will surely visit you, and bring you up out of this land to the land which he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob."

²⁵Joseph took an oath of the children of Israel, saying, "God will surely visit you, and you shall carry up my bones from here."

²⁶So Joseph died, being one hundred ten years old, and they embalmed him, and he was put in a coffin in Egypt.

¹Now these are the names of the sons of Israel, who came into Egypt (every man and his household came with Jacob):

²Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah,

³Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin,

⁴Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.

⁵All the souls who came out of Jacob's body were seventy-five souls, and Joseph was in Egypt already.

⁶Joseph died, as did all his brothers, and all that generation.

⁷The children of Israel were fruitful, and increased abundantly, and multiplied, and grew exceedingly mighty; and the land was filled with them.

⁸Now there arose a new king over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.

⁹He said to his people, "Behold, the people of the children of Israel are more and mightier than we.

¹⁰Come, let us deal wisely with them, lest they multiply, and it happen that when any war breaks out, they also join themselves to our enemies, and fight against us, and escape out of the land."

¹¹Therefore they set taskmasters over them to afflict them with their burdens. They built storage cities for Pharaoh: Pithom and Raamses.

¹²But the more they afflicted them, the more they multiplied and the more they spread out. They were grieved because of the children of Israel.

¹³The Egyptians ruthlessly made the children of Israel serve,

¹⁴and they made their lives bitter with hard service, in mortar and in brick, and in all manner of service in the field, all their service, in which they ruthlessly made them serve.

¹⁵The king of Egypt spoke to the Hebrew midwives, of whom the name of the one was Shiphrah, and the name of the other Puah,

¹⁶and he said, "When you perform the duty of a midwife to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birth stool; if it is a son, then you shall kill him; but if it is a daughter, then she shall live."

¹⁷But the midwives feared God, and did not do what the king of Egypt commanded them, but saved the baby boys alive.

¹⁸The king of Egypt called for the midwives, and said to them, "Why have you done this thing, and have saved the boys alive?"

¹⁹The midwives said to Pharaoh, "Because the Hebrew women aren't like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous, and give birth before the midwife comes to them."

²⁰God dealt well with the midwives, and the people multiplied, and grew very mighty.

²¹It happened, because the midwives feared God, that he gave them families.

²²Pharaoh commanded all his people, saying, "You shall cast every son who is born into the river, and every daughter you shall save alive."

¹A man of the house of Levi went and took a daughter of Levi as his wife.

²The woman conceived, and bore a son. When she saw that he was a fine child, she hid him three months.

³When she could no longer hide him, she took a papyrus basket for him, and coated it with tar and with pitch. She put the child in it, and laid it in the reeds by the river's bank.

⁴His sister stood far off, to see what would be done to him.

⁵Pharaoh's daughter came down to bathe at the river. Her maidens walked along by the riverside. She saw the basket among the reeds, and sent her handmaid to get it.

⁶She opened it, and saw the child, and behold, the baby cried. And she had compassion on him, and said, "This is one of the Hebrews' children."

⁷Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, "Should I go and call a nurse for you from the Hebrew women, that she may nurse the child for you?"

⁸Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Go." The maiden went and called the child's mother.

⁹Pharaoh's daughter said to her, "Take this child away, and nurse him for me, and I will give you your wages." The woman took the child, and nursed it.

¹⁰The child grew, and she brought him to Pharaoh's daughter, and he became her son. She named him Moses, and said, "Because I drew him out of the water."

¹¹It happened in those days, when Moses had grown up, that he went out to his brothers, and looked at their burdens. He saw an Egyptian striking a Hebrew, one of his brothers.

¹²He looked this way and that way, and when he saw that there was no one, he killed the Egyptian, and hid him in the sand.

¹³He went out the second day, and behold, two men of the Hebrews were fighting with each other. He said to him who did the wrong, "Why do you strike your fellow?"

¹⁴He said, "Who made you a prince and a judge over us? Do you plan to kill me, as you killed the Egyptian yesterday?" Moses was afraid, and said, "Surely this thing is known."

¹⁵Now when Pharaoh heard this thing, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from the face of Pharaoh, and lived in the land of Midian, and he sat down by a well.

¹⁶Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came and drew water, and filled the troughs to water their father's flock.

¹⁷The shepherds came and drove them away; but Moses stood up and helped them, and watered their flock.

¹⁸When they came to Reuel, their father, he said, "How is it that you have returned so early today?"

¹⁹They said, "An Egyptian delivered us out of the hand of the shepherds, and moreover he drew water for us, and watered the flock."

²⁰He said to his daughters, "Where is he? Why is it that you have left the man? Call him, that he may eat bread."

²¹Moses was content to dwell with the man. He gave Moses Zipporah, his daughter.

²²She bore a son, and he named him Gershom, for he said, "I have lived as a foreigner in a foreign land."

²³It happened in the course of those many days, that the king of Egypt died, and the children of Israel sighed because of the bondage, and they cried, and their cry came up to God because of the bondage.

²⁴God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, with Isaac, and with Jacob.

²⁵God saw the children of Israel, and God was concerned about them.

¹Now Moses was keeping the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian, and he led the flock to the back of the wilderness, and came to God's mountain, to Horeb.

²The angel of the Lord appeared to him in a flame of fire out of the midst of a bush. He looked, and behold, the bush burned with fire, and the bush was not consumed.

³Moses said, "I will turn aside now, and see this great sight, why the bush is not burnt."

⁴When the Lord saw that he turned aside to see, God called to him out of the midst of the bush, and said, "Moses! Moses!" He said, "Here I am."

⁵He said, "Do not come close. Take your sandals off of your feet, for the place you are standing on is holy ground."

⁶Moreover he said, "I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob." Moses hid his face; for he was afraid to look at God.

⁷The Lord said, "I have surely seen the affliction of my people who are in Egypt, and have heard their cry because of their taskmasters, for I know their sorrows.

⁸I have come down to deliver them out of the hand of the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and large land, to a land flowing with milk and honey; to the place of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite.

⁹Now, behold, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me. Moreover I have seen the oppression with which the Egyptians oppress them.

¹⁰Come now therefore, and I will send you to Pharaoh, that you may bring forth my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt."

¹¹Moses said to God, "Who am I, that I should go to Pharaoh, and that I should bring forth the children of Israel out of Egypt?"

¹²He said, "Certainly I will be with you. This will be the token to you, that I have sent you: when you have brought forth the people out of Egypt, you shall serve God on this mountain."

¹³Moses said to God, "Behold, when I come to the children of Israel, and tell them, 'The God of your fathers has sent me to you;' and they ask me, 'What is his name?' What should I tell them?"

¹⁴God said to Moses, "I AM WHO I AM," and he said, "You shall tell the children of Israel this: 'I AM has sent me to you.'"

¹⁵God said moreover to Moses, "You shall tell the children of Israel this, 'The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you.' This is my name forever, and this is my memorial to all generations.

¹⁶Go, and gather the elders of the children of Israel together, and tell them, 'The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying, "I have surely visited you, and seen that which is done to you in Egypt;

¹⁷and I have said, I will bring you up out of the affliction of Egypt to the land of the Canaanite, the Hittite, the Amorite, the Perizzite, the Hivite, and the Jebusite, to a land flowing with milk and honey."'

¹⁸They will listen to your voice, and you shall come, you and the elders of Israel, to the king of Egypt, and you shall tell him, 'The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us. Now please let us go three days' journey into the wilderness, that we may sacrifice to the Lord, our God.'

¹⁹I know that the king of Egypt won't give you permission to go, except by a mighty hand.

²⁰I will put forth my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders which I will do in its midst, and after that he will let you go.

²¹I will give this people favor in the sight of the Egyptians, and it will happen that when you go, you shall not go empty-handed.

²²But every woman shall ask of her neighbor, and of her who visits her house, jewels of silver, jewels of gold, and clothing; and you shall put them on your sons, and on your daughters. You shall despoil the Egyptians.

¹Moses answered, "But, behold, they will not believe me, nor listen to my voice; for they will say, 'The Lord has not appeared to you.'"

²The Lord said to him, "What is that in your hand?" He said, "A rod."

³He said, "Throw it on the ground." He threw it on the ground, and it became a snake; and Moses ran away from it.

⁴The Lord said to Moses, "Put forth your hand, and take it by the tail." He put forth his hand, and laid hold of it, and it became a rod in his hand.

⁵"That they may believe that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you."

⁶The Lord said furthermore to him, "Now put your hand inside your cloak." He put his hand inside his cloak, and when he took it out from his cloak, behold, his hand was leprous, as white as snow.

⁷He said, "Put your hand inside your cloak again." He put his hand inside his cloak again, and when he took it out of his cloak, behold, it had turned again as his other flesh.

⁸"It will happen, if they will neither believe you nor listen to the voice of the first sign, that they will believe the voice of the latter sign.

⁹It will happen, if they will not believe even these two signs, neither listen to your voice, that you shall take of the water of the river, and pour it on the dry land. The water which you take out of the river will become blood on the dry land."

¹⁰Moses said to the Lord, "Oh, Lord, I am not eloquent, neither before now, nor since you have spoken to your servant; for I am slow of speech, and of a slow tongue."

¹¹The Lord said to him, "Who made man's mouth? Or who makes one mute, or deaf, or seeing, or blind? Isn't it I, the Lord?

¹²Now therefore go, and I will be with your mouth, and teach you what you shall speak."

¹³He said, "Oh, Lord, please send someone else."

¹⁴The anger of the Lord was kindled against Moses, and he said, "What about Aaron, your brother, the Levite? I know that he can speak well. Also, behold, he comes forth to meet you. When he sees you, he will be glad in his heart.

¹⁵You shall speak to him, and put the words in his mouth. I will be with your mouth, and with his mouth, and will teach you what you shall do.

¹⁶He will be your spokesman to the people; and it will happen, that he will be to you a mouth, and you will be to him as God.

¹⁷You shall take this rod in your hand, with which you shall do the signs."

¹⁸Moses went and returned to Jethro his father-in-law, and said to him, "Please let me go and return to my brothers who are in Egypt, and see whether they are still alive." Jethro said to Moses, "Go in peace."

¹⁹The Lord said to Moses in Midian, "Go, return into Egypt; for all the men who sought your life are dead."

²⁰Moses took his wife and his sons, and set them on a donkey, and he returned to the land of Egypt. Moses took God's rod in his hand.

²¹The Lord said to Moses, "When you go back into Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have put in your hand, but I will harden his heart and he will not let the people go.

²²You shall tell Pharaoh, 'Thus says the Lord, Israel is my son, my firstborn,

²³and I have said to you, "Let my son go, that he may serve me;" and you have refused to let him go. Behold, I will kill your son, your firstborn.'"

²⁴It happened on the way at a lodging place, that the Lord met him and wanted to kill him.

²⁵Then Zipporah took a flint, and cut off the foreskin of her son, and cast it at his feet; and she said, "Surely you are a bridegroom of blood to me."

²⁶So he let him alone. Then she said, "You are a bridegroom of blood," because of the circumcision.

²⁷The Lord said to Aaron, "Go into the wilderness to meet Moses." He went, and met him on God's mountain, and kissed him.

²⁸Moses told Aaron all the words of the Lord with which he had sent him, and all the signs with which he had instructed him.

²⁹Moses and Aaron went and gathered together all the elders of the children of Israel.

³⁰Aaron spoke all the words which the Lord had spoken to Moses, and did the signs in the sight of the people.

³¹The people believed, and when they heard that the Lord had visited the children of Israel, and that he had seen their affliction, then they bowed their heads and worshiped.

¹Afterward Moses and Aaron came, and said to Pharaoh, "This is what the Lord, the God of Israel, says, 'Let my people go, that they may hold a feast to me in the wilderness.'"

²Pharaoh said, "Who is the Lord, that I should listen to his voice to let Israel go? I do not know the Lord, and moreover I will not let Israel go."

³They said, "The God of the Hebrews has met with us. Please let us go three days' journey into the wilderness, and sacrifice to the Lord, our God, lest he fall on us with pestilence, or with the sword."

⁴The king of Egypt said to them, "Why do you, Moses and Aaron, separate the people from their work? Get back to your burdens!"

⁵Pharaoh said, "Behold, the people of the land are now many, and you make them rest from their burdens."

⁶The same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people, and their officers, saying,

⁷"You shall no longer give the people straw to make brick, as before. Let them go and gather straw for themselves.

⁸The number of the bricks, which they made before, you require from them. You shall not diminish anything of it, for they are idle; therefore they cry, saying, 'Let us go and sacrifice to our God.'

⁹Let heavier work be laid on the men, that they may regard it; and do not let them regard lying words."

¹⁰The taskmasters of the people went out, and their officers, and they spoke to the people, saying, This is what Pharaoh says: "I will not give you straw.

¹¹Go yourselves, get straw where you can find it, for nothing of your work shall be diminished."

¹²So the people were scattered abroad throughout all the land of Egypt to gather stubble for straw.

¹³The taskmasters were urgent saying, "Fulfill your work quota daily, as when there was straw given to you!"

¹⁴The officers of the children of Israel, whom Pharaoh's taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and demanded, "Why haven't you fulfilled your quota both yesterday and today, in making brick as before?"

¹⁵Then the officers of the children of Israel came and cried to Pharaoh, saying, "Why do you deal this way with your servants?

¹⁶No straw is given to your servants, and they tell us, 'Make brick!' and behold, your servants are beaten; but the fault is in your own people."

¹⁷But he said, "You are idle! You are idle! Therefore you say, 'Let us go and sacrifice to the Lord.'

¹⁸Go therefore now, and work, for no straw shall be given to you, yet you shall deliver the same number of bricks!"

¹⁹The officers of the children of Israel saw that they were in trouble, when it was said, "You shall not diminish anything from your daily quota of bricks!"

²⁰They met Moses and Aaron, who stood in the way, as they came forth from Pharaoh:

²¹and they said to them, "May the Lord look at you, and judge, because you have made us a stench to be abhorred in the eyes of Pharaoh, and in the eyes of his servants, to put a sword in their hand to kill us."

²²Moses returned to the Lord, and said, "Lord, why have you brought trouble on this people? Why is it that you have sent me?

²³For since I came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has brought trouble on this people; neither have you delivered your people at all."

¹The Lord said to Moses, "Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh, for by a strong hand he shall let them go, and by a strong hand he shall drive them out of his land."

²God spoke to Moses, and said to him, "I am the Lord;

³and I appeared to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob, as God Almighty; but by my name the Lord I was not known to them.

⁴I have also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their travels, in which they lived as foreigners.

⁵Moreover I have heard the groaning of the children of Israel, whom the Egyptians keep in bondage, and I have remembered my covenant.

⁶Therefore tell the children of Israel, 'I am the Lord, and I will bring you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians, and I will rid you out of their bondage, and I will redeem you with an outstretched arm, and with great judgments:

⁷and I will take you to me for a people, and I will be to you a God; and you shall know that I am the Lord your God, who brings you out from under the burdens of the Egyptians.

⁸I will bring you into the land which I swore to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it to you for a heritage: I am the Lord.'"

⁹Moses spoke so to the children of Israel, but they did not listen to Moses for anguish of spirit, and for cruel bondage.

¹⁰The Lord spoke to Moses, saying,

¹¹"Go in, speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt, that he let the children of Israel go out of his land."

¹²Moses spoke before the Lord, saying, "Behold, the children of Israel haven't listened to me. How then shall Pharaoh listen to me, who am of uncircumcised lips?"

¹³The Lord spoke to Moses and to Aaron, and gave them a command to the children of Israel, and to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt.

¹⁴These are the heads of their fathers' houses. The sons of Reuben the firstborn of Israel: Hanoch, and Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi; these are the families of Reuben.

¹⁵The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman; these are the families of Simeon.

¹⁶These are the names of the sons of Levi according to their generations: Gershon, and Kohath, and Merari; and the years of the life of Levi were one hundred thirty-seven years.

¹⁷The sons of Gershon: Libni and Shimei, according to their families.

¹⁸The sons of Kohath: Amram, and Izhar, and Hebron, and Uzziel; and the years of the life of Kohath were one hundred thirty-three years.

¹⁹The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites according to their generations.

²⁰Amram took Jochebed his father's sister to himself as wife; and she bore him Aaron and Moses: and the years of the life of Amram were a hundred and thirty-seven years.

²¹The sons of Izhar: Korah, and Nepheg, and Zichri.

²²The sons of Uzziel: Mishael, and Elzaphan, and Sithri.

²³Aaron took Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab, the sister of Nahshon, as his wife; and she bore him Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar.

²⁴The sons of Korah: Assir, and Elkanah, and Abiasaph; these are the families of the Korahites.

²⁵Eleazar Aaron's son took one of the daughters of Putiel as his wife; and she bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the fathers' houses of the Levites according to their families.

²⁶These are that Aaron and Moses, to whom the Lord said, "Bring out the children of Israel from the land of Egypt according to their armies."

²⁷These are those who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt, to bring out the children of Israel from Egypt. These are that Moses and Aaron.

²⁸It happened on the day when the Lord spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt,

²⁹that the Lord spoke to Moses, saying, "I am the Lord. Speak to Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I speak to you."

³⁰Moses said before the Lord, "Behold, I am of uncircumcised lips, and how shall Pharaoh listen to me?"