Genesis 45

45 ¹ Joseph could not control himself before all who stood by him, and he cried out, "Send everyone away from me!" So no one stayed with him when Joseph revealed who he was to his brothers. ² He wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and Pharaoh's household heard it. ³ Joseph said to his brothers, "I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?" But his brothers could not answer him, for they were terrified at his presence.

⁴ Then Joseph said to his brothers, "Come close to me, please." And they came close. And he said, "I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.

⁵ And now, do not be distressed, and do not be angry with yourselves that you sold me here, for our Father sent me ahead of you to preserve life. ⁶ The famine has been in the land for two years now, and there are still five more years with no plowing or harvest. ⁷ Our Father sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on the earth, and to keep you alive as a great body of survivors. ⁸ So now, it was not you who sent me here, but our Father. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his household, and ruler over all the land of Egypt. ^a a v8 Joseph names his slavery as our Father's providence — the brothers' evil and the Father's redemptive plan running through the same event.

⁹ Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, 'Your son Joseph says this: Our Father has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not delay. ¹⁰ You 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 is yours. ¹¹ I will provide for you there, for there are still five years of famine to come, so that you and your household and all that is yours do not fall into poverty.' ¹² Look — you can see with your own eyes, and my brother Benjamin can too, that I myself am speaking to you. ¹³ Tell my father about all my honor in Egypt and about all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here." ¹⁴ Then he threw his arms around his brother Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin wept on his neck. ¹⁵ He kissed all his brothers and wept over them. After that his brothers talked with him.

¹⁶ The report was heard in Pharaoh's house: "Joseph's brothers have come!" And Pharaoh and his officials were pleased. ¹⁷ Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Say to your brothers, 'Do this: load your animals and go — return to the land of Canaan. ¹⁸ Take your father and your households and come to me, and I will give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you will enjoy the finest food the land produces.' ¹⁹ And you are commanded: tell them, 'Do this: take wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring your father, and come. ²⁰ Do not be concerned for your possessions, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.'"

²¹ So the sons of Israel did so. Joseph gave them wagons according to Pharaoh's command, and he gave them provisions for the journey. ²² To each of them he gave a change of clothes, but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of clothes. ²³ He also sent his father ten donkeys carrying the good things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys carrying grain, bread, and supplies for his father's journey. ²⁴ Then he sent his brothers off, and as they departed he said to them, "Do not quarrel on the way."

²⁵ So they went up out of Egypt and came to the land of Canaan, to their father Jacob. ²⁶ They told him, "Joseph is still alive — and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt!" But his heart went numb, for he did not believe them. ²⁷ But when they told him all the words of Joseph that he had spoken to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived. ²⁸ And Israel said, "This is all I need! Joseph my son is still alive. I will go and see him before I die."