Joseph Reveals Who He Is to His Brothers

45:1-28

45 When Joseph heard that, he could no longer keep himself from crying in front of all his servants, so he shouted to them, “All of you leave my presence!” Immediately the servants left the room, so that no one else was with Joseph when he told his brothers who he was. 2 But he started crying so loudly that many Egyptians heard him, including Pharaoh’s family. 3 Then he exclaimed to his brothers in their language, “I am your brother Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But Joseph’s brothers could not reply to him, because they felt very afraid to be standing in front of him.

4 So Joseph said to them, “Please come here next to me.” After they went closer to him, he said to them, “I really am your brother Joseph, whom you sold to be a slave in the country of Egypt. 5 But now, do not be upset or angry with yourselves for selling me, because it was actually God who sent me here before you came, to save many people’s lives. 6 For two years now there has been a famine throughout this region, and for another five years it will be so severe that no one will be able to plant seeds or harvest crops. 7 That is why God sent me here before you came, to save your lives in this amazing way so that you will survive and have descendants on the earth. 8 So then, you were not the ones who caused me to come here, but rather it was God who sent me. He has also made me like a father to King Pharaoh, so that I am the one in charge of his entire household and also the governor over the entire country of Egypt.

9 “Hurry back to our father and tell him that his son Joseph has sent him this message: ‘God has appointed me governor over the entire country of Egypt. So please come down here to live near me, and do not delay. 10 You can live in Goshen Province. That way you will live close to me with your children and your grandchildren, along with your flocks of sheep and goats, your herds of cattle and everything else that you own. 11 I will take care of you there, since the famine will last five more years. Please come so that the famine will not cause you and your family to lose everything you own and die.” ’

12 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Look! All of you, including my brother Benjamin, can see that it really is me, Joseph, who is talking to you. 13 So go and tell our father all about how powerful I am in Egypt and about everything else that you have seen here. Then quickly bring him down here to me.”

14 Then Joseph hugged his brother Benjamin tightly and cried for joy, and Benjamin also cried as he hugged Joseph. 15 Then Joseph kissed all his brothers on their cheeks as he continued to cry for joy. After he did that, his brothers started talking with him.

16 When Pharaoh’s household heard the news that Joseph’s brothers had come there, Pharaoh and all his servants were happy. 17 So Pharaoh told Joseph, “Give your brothers this message from me: ‘Load your donkeys with grain and go quickly back to Canaan. 18 Then bring your father and your families back here to me. I will give you the best area in the country of Egypt to live in, so that you will live well with the best of everything in the country.’

19 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “I also want you to tell them to take some of my wagons with them from the country of Egypt for their wives and young children to travel in. Then tell them to bring their father back here to live. 20 They should not worry about leaving some of their belongings behind, because the best things in all the country of Egypt will be theirs.”

21 So Israel’s sons agreed to do that. Then Joseph gave them wagons to use as King Pharaoh had commanded, and he supplied them with food to eat as they traveled home. 22 He also gave a new set of clothes to each one of his brothers, but to Benjamin he gave five new sets of clothes and 300 pieces of silver money. 23 He also gave them the following gifts to give to his father: ten male donkeys that were carrying some of the best things from Egypt, and ten female donkeys that were carrying grain, bread, and other food for him and his family to eat as they traveled to Egypt. 24 Then Joseph sent his brothers off on their way home. As they were leaving, he told them, “Do not argue with each other on the way.”

25 Then Joseph’s brothers left Egypt and traveled home to their father Jacob in the region of Canaan. 26 When they arrived, they announced to him, “Joseph is still alive! In fact, he is the governor over the entire country of Egypt!” When their father heard that news, he was stunned and silent, because he could not believe them. 27 But after they told him everything that Joseph had said to them, and after he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him and his family to Egypt, he recovered from the shock. 28 Then he exclaimed to them, “That’s enough! It must be true! My son Joseph really is alive! I must go now and see him again before I die.”