Chapter 45
Drafted by Grok 4.7 on 8 October 2026. First draft. Not independently reviewed. Leningrad Codex, through the Open Scriptures Westminster Leningrad Codex. The written consonants are printed. A Masoretic reading is footnoted when it differs. No Dead Sea reading was substituted unless it was read from a fragment. The Samaritan Pentateuch and the Greek, Syriac, and Latin versions are witnesses, not the default.
1Joseph could not control himself in front of all who stood by him, and he cried out, “Send everyone out from me.” So no one stood with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers.
2He wept aloud, and the Egyptians heard, and the house of Pharaoh heard.
3Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?” His brothers could not answer him, because they were dismayed at his presence.
4Joseph said to his brothers, “Come close to me, please.” They came close. He said, “I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.
5Now do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me ahead of you to preserve life.
6The famine has been in the land these two years, and there are still five years in which there will be no plowing or harvest.
7God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on the earth, and to keep you alive for a great deliverance.
8So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.
9Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me. Do not delay.
10You will live in the land of Goshen, and you will be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, your flocks and your herds and all that you have.
11I will provide for you there, for there are still five years of famine, so that you and your household and all that you have do not come to poverty.’
12Look, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is my mouth that is speaking to you.
13Tell my father of all my honor in Egypt, and of all that you have seen, and 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, and after that his brothers talked with him.
16The report was heard in Pharaoh’s house: “Joseph’s brothers have come.” It pleased Pharaoh and his servants.
17Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this: load your animals and go, enter the land of Canaan,
18and take your father and your households and come to me. I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you will eat the fat of the land.’
19You are commanded, ‘Do this: take wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring your father and come.
20Do not let your eyes look with regret on your belongings, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’”
21The sons of Israel did so. Joseph gave them wagons, as Pharaoh had ordered, and he gave them provisions for the journey.
22To each of them he gave changes of clothes, and to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of clothes.
Notes (1)Hide notes
- Translation
The Hebrew says three hundred silver. “Pieces” is English for an unnamed unit. The metal is silver, and the count is three hundred.
23To his father he sent the following: ten donkeys carrying some of the best things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys carrying grain, bread, and provisions for his father on the journey.
24Then he sent his brothers off, and as they left he said to them, “Do not quarrel on the way.”
25They went up from Egypt and came to the land of Canaan, to Jacob their father.
26They told him, “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” His heart went numb, because he did not believe them.
27They told him all the words of Joseph, which he had spoken to them, and he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, and the spirit of Jacob their father revived.
28Israel said, “Enough. Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”