A modern English translation drawn directly from the original Hebrew, Aramaic, and Greek texts. Translated word-for-word where possible, by a committee with scholarly oversight.
Uses the same source texts as the ESV, NASB, and most academic Bibles, including the Biblia Hebraica Stuttgartensia and the Nestle-Aland critical edition.
Genesis 45
Genesis 45 is the forty-fifth chapter of the book of Genesis and the chapter of Joseph's reveal to his brothers. The 28-verse chapter contains one of the most famous scenes in the Old Testament: the moment when the governor of Egypt declares that he is Joseph, and the long theological statement that follows.
The chapter opens with Joseph unable to control himself in front of his attendants. He cries out, "Send everyone away from me!" Once they have all gone, he weeps so loudly that the Egyptians hear him, and Pharaoh's household soon hears of it.
He says to his brothers, "I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?" They are unable to answer; they are terrified in his presence. He says, "Please come near me." When they do, he says, "I am Joseph, your brother, the one you sold into Egypt!"
He tells them not to be distressed or angry with themselves for selling him. "It was to save lives that God sent me before you." He explains that the famine has had two years already and will have five more without plowing or harvest. God sent him ahead to preserve a remnant for them and to save their lives by a great deliverance. He concludes, "Therefore it was not you who sent me here, but God, who has made me a father to Pharaoh, lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt."
He tells them to go quickly to their father and bring him down to Egypt with everything he has. They will settle in Goshen, near Joseph, and he will provide for them during the five remaining years of famine.
Joseph then embraces Benjamin, his full brother, and weeps on his neck. He kisses all his brothers and weeps over them, and only then are they able to speak with him.
The news reaches Pharaoh, who is pleased. Pharaoh tells Joseph to load the brothers' animals and send them home, and to bring their father and households back to the best of the land of Egypt. He sends wagons to carry the women, children, and the elderly father. Joseph gives each brother a change of clothes, gives Benjamin three hundred shekels of silver and five changes of clothes, and sends gifts to his father.
The brothers go up to their father in Canaan. They tell him, "Joseph is still alive! In fact, he is ruler over all the land of Egypt!" His heart faints; he does not believe them. But when they tell him everything Joseph said and he sees the wagons, the spirit of Jacob revives. Israel says, "Enough! My son Joseph is still alive! I will go to see him before I die."
Verse 1. Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Send everyone away from me!” So none of them were with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers.
Verse 2. But he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh’s household soon heard of it.
Verse 3. Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But they were unable to answer him, because they were terrified in his presence.
Verse 4. Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come near me.” And they did so. “I am Joseph, your brother,” he said, “the one you sold into Egypt!
Verse 5. And now, do not be distressed or angry with yourselves that you sold me into this place, because it was to save lives that God sent me before you.
Verse 6. For the famine has covered the land these two years, and there will be five more years without plowing or harvesting.
Verse 7. God sent me before you to preserve you as a remnant on the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
Verse 8. Therefore it was not you who sent me here, but God, who has made me a father to Pharaoh—lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
Verse 9. Now return quickly 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 without delay.
Verse 10. You shall settle in the land of Goshen and be near me—you and your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and everything you own.
Verse 11. And there I will provide for you, because there will be five more years of famine. Otherwise, you and your household and everything you own will come to destitution.’
Verse 12. Behold! You and my brother Benjamin can see that I, Joseph, am the one speaking with you.
Verse 13. Tell my father about all my splendor in Egypt and everything you have seen. And bring my father down here quickly.”
Verse 14. Then Joseph threw his arms around his brother Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin wept as they embraced.
Verse 15. Joseph kissed each of his brothers as he wept over them. And afterward his brothers talked with him.
Verse 16. When the news reached Pharaoh’s house that Joseph’s brothers had come, Pharaoh and his servants were pleased.
Verse 17. Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Tell your brothers, ‘Do as follows: Load your animals and return to the land of Canaan.
Verse 18. Then bring your father and your families and return to me. I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you shall eat from the fat of the land.’
Verse 19. You are also directed to tell them: ‘Take wagons from the land of Egypt for your young children and your wives, and bring your father and come back.
Verse 20. But pay no regard to your belongings, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’”
Verse 21. So the sons of Israel did as they were told. Joseph gave them wagons as Pharaoh had instructed, and he also gave them provisions for their journey.
Verse 22. He gave new garments to each of them, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred shekels of silver and five sets of clothes.
Verse 23. And he sent to his father the following: ten donkeys loaded with the best of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and provisions for his father’s journey.
Verse 24. Then Joseph sent his brothers on their way, and as they were leaving, he said to them, “Do not quarrel on the way!”
Verse 25. So the brothers went up out of Egypt and came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan.
Verse 26. “Joseph is still alive,” they said, “and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt!” But Jacob was stunned, for he did not believe them.
Verse 27. However, when they relayed all that Joseph had told them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him back, the spirit of their father Jacob was revived.
Verse 28. “Enough!” declared Israel. “My son Joseph is still alive! I will go to see him before I die.”
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