Open English Translation GEN Chapter 45

45 By now, Yosef wasn’t able to control himself in front of everyone who was standing around, and he called out, “Send everyone else out!” So Yosef was alone when he revealed himself to his brothers,[ref] 2 but he cried so loudly that many Egyptians heard it and Far’oh’s household listened. 3 “I’m Yosef!” he told his brothers. “Is my father still alive?” But his brothers weren’t able to answer him because they were terrified there in front of him. 4 “Please come close to me,” he said. So they came close, and he explained, “I’m your brother Yosef that you sold to be taken to Egypt. 5 But don’t be upset now or troubled that you sold me here, because it was God who sent me ahead of you so that lives would be saved. 6 There’s already been two years of famine in this region, but there’s still five more years to come without any ploughing or harvesting. 7 So God sent me ahead of you all so that some of you would be kept alive by this miracle and your children would be preserved. 8 You see, it wasn’t you who sent me here, but God. And he’s made me like a father to Far’oh, and master over all his house and the ruler in all the land of Egypt.

9 “So hurry back to my father and tell him, ‘This is what your son Yosef says, “God has made me master over all Egypt. Come down to me—don’t delay.[ref] 10 You can live in the Goshen region so that you’ll be near to me—you and your children and your children’s children and your flocks and your herds and everything that belongs to you. 11 I’ll provide for you here because there’s still five years of famine to come. That way, you won’t end up poor—you and your household and everyone with you.” ’ 12 Look at me! You yourselves and even my brother Benyamin can see that it’s really me who’s speaking to you. 13 So go and tell my father about all my very high position in Egypt and everything else that you’ve seen. Then hurry and bring my father down here.”

14 Then he hugged his brother Benyamin and cried, and Benyamin cried too while they hugged. 15 Then he kissed all his brothers and cried over them, and after that his brothers talked with him.

16 When the report about the arrival of Yosef’s brothers reached Far’oh’s house, both him and his servants were pleased. 17 Then Far’oh instructed Yosef, “Tell your brothers, ‘Do this: Load your animals and leave. Go to Canaan 18 and get your father and your households, and come back here to me, and I’ll give to you the best of the land in Egypt, and you’ll eat the best of the country.’ 19 And you’re commanded, ‘Do this: Take carts with you from here for your little ones and for your wives, and get your father and come. 20 Don’t be upset about anything you have to leave behind, because the best of all the land in Egypt will be yours.’ ”

21 Then Yisra’el’s sons did what they had been instructed and Yosef gave them carts as per Far’oh’s orders as well as provisions for the journey. 22 Then he gave changes of clothes to each of them, but he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five changes of clothes to Benyamin. 23 To his father he sent ten male donkeys loaded with the best of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and provisions for his father for the road. 24 Then he sent off his brothers, and as they left, then he told them, “Don’t quarrel on the road.”

25 So they left Egypt and went back home to their father Yacob in Canaan 26 and told him, “Yosef is still alive! In fact, he’s the ruler over all of Egypt.” But Yacob was totally stunned and he couldn’t really believe them.

27 Then they told him everything that Yosef had told them. When he saw the carts that Yosef had sent to carry him, then he started to recover from the shock. 28 Then Yisra’el exclaimed, “Enough! I accept that my son Yosef is still alive. I’ll go and see him before I die.”