Take 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.’
Now 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.
Also, don’t concern yourselves about your belongings, for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours.”
The sons of Israel did so. Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way.
He gave each one of them changes of clothing, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of clothing.
He sent the following to his father: 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.
So he sent his brothers away, and they departed. He said to them, “See that you don’t quarrel on the way.”
They went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan, to Jacob their father.
They told him, saying, “Joseph is still alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” His heart fainted, for he didn’t believe them.
They 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.
Israel said, “It is enough. Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.”
Israel traveled with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father, Isaac.
God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, “Jacob, Jacob!” He said, “Here I am.”
He said, “I am God, the God of your father. Don’t be afraid to go down into Egypt, for there I will make of you a great nation.
I will go down with you into Egypt. I will also surely bring you up again. Joseph will close your eyes.”
Jacob 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.
They took their livestock, and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt—Jacob, and all his offspring with him,
his sons, and his sons’ sons with him, his daughters, and his sons’ daughters, and he brought all his offspring with him into Egypt.
These are the names of the children of Israel, who came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn.
The sons of Reuben: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.
The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman.
The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
The 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.
The sons of Issachar: Tola, Puvah, Iob, and Shimron.
The sons of Zebulun: Sered, Elon, and Jahleel.
These 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.
The sons of Gad: Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli.
The sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and Serah their sister. The sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel.
These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah, his daughter, and these she bore to Jacob, even sixteen souls.
The sons of Rachel, Jacob’s wife: Joseph and Benjamin.
To Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, bore to him.
The sons of Benjamin: Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard.
These are the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob: all the souls were fourteen.
The son of Dan: Hushim.
The sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem.
These are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to Rachel, his daughter, and these she bore to Jacob: all the souls were seven.
All the souls who came with Jacob into Egypt, who were his direct offspring, besides Jacob’s sons’ wives, all the souls were sixty-six.
The sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt, were two souls. All the souls of the house of Jacob, who came into Egypt, were seventy.
He sent Judah before him to Joseph, to show the way before him to Goshen, and they came into the land of Goshen.
Joseph prepared 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.
Israel said to Joseph, “Now let me die, since I have seen your face, that you are still alive.”
Joseph 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.
These men are shepherds, for they have been keepers of livestock, and they have brought their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have.’
that 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.”
Then 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.”
From among his brothers he took five men, and presented them to Pharaoh.
Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What is your occupation?” They said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, both we, and our fathers.”
They 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.”
Pharaoh spoke to Joseph, saying, “Your father and your brothers have come to you.
The 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.”
Joseph brought in Jacob, his father, and set him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.
Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How many are the days of the years of your life?”
Joseph 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.
Joseph nourished his father, his brothers, and all of his father’s household, with bread, according to their families.
It 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.”
Israel lived in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen; and they got themselves possessions therein, and were fruitful, and multiplied exceedingly.
Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years. So the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were one hundred forty-seven years.
The time came 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 don’t bury me in Egypt,
but 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.”
He said, “Swear to me,” and he swore to him. Israel bowed himself on the bed’s head.
After these things, someone said to Joseph, “Behold, your father is sick.” He took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.
Someone told Jacob, and said, “Behold, your son Joseph comes to you,” and Israel strengthened himself, and sat on the bed.
Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me,
and 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 offspring after you for an everlasting possession.’
Now 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.
Your 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.
As for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan on the way, when there was still some distance to come to Ephrath, and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (also called Bethlehem).”
Israel saw Joseph’s sons, and said, “Who are these?”
Joseph 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.”
Now 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.
Israel said to Joseph, “I didn’t think I would see your face, and behold, God has let me see your offspring also.”
Joseph brought them out from between his knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth.
Joseph 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.
Israel 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.
He blessed Joseph, and said, “The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has fed me all my life long to this day,
the 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 upon the earth.”
When 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.
Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father; for this is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.”
His 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 offspring will become a multitude of nations.”
He blessed them that day, saying, “In you will Israel bless, saying, ‘God make you as Ephraim and as Manasseh’” He set Ephraim before Manasseh.
Israel said to Joseph, “Behold, I am dying, but God will be with you, and bring you again to the land of your fathers.
Moreover 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.”
Jacob 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.
Assemble yourselves, and hear, you sons of Jacob. Listen to Israel, your father.
“Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might, and the beginning of my strength; excelling in dignity, and excelling in power.
Boiling over like water, you shall not excel; because you went up to your father’s bed, then defiled it. He went up to my couch.
“Simeon and Levi are brothers. Their swords are weapons of violence.
My soul, don’t come into their council. My glory, don’t be united to their assembly; for in their anger they killed men. In their self-will they hamstrung cattle.
Cursed 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.
“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.
Judah 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?
His eyes will be red with wine, his teeth white with milk.
“Zebulun will dwell at the haven of the sea. He will be for a haven of ships. His border will be on Sidon.
“Issachar is a strong donkey, lying down between the saddlebags.
“Naphtali is a doe set free, who bears beautiful fawns.
“Joseph is a fruitful vine, a fruitful vine by a spring. His branches run over the wall.
even 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.
The 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.
“Benjamin is a ravenous wolf. In the morning he will devour the prey. At evening he will divide the plunder.”
All 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.












