Joseph's brothers left for their journey to bring Israel to
his son, Joseph, whom then lived in Egypt and whom was the right hand to Pharaoh.
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| They reached their father Jacob in Canaan |
They finally reached Canaan and came unto Israel [Jacob],
their father. And then they told him the amazing news, saying: 'Joseph is
yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt.'
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| Jacob [Israel] couldn't believe that his son was still alive |
And Jacob's heart fainted, for he didn't believe them.
So they told all the words that Joseph had spoken to them,
and when Jacob saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of
Jacob revived, and he said: 'It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive, and I
will go and see him before I die'.
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| The small group of Israelites travelled to Egypt |
So Israel began his journey with all that he had, and came to
Beer-sheba, and offered sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac.
God came to Jacob in a vision
That night God came to him in a vision and called to him:
'Jacob, Jacob'. And Jacob answered: 'Here am I'. The Lord then said
to him: 'I am God, the God of thy father. Fear not to go down into Egypt,
for I will there make of thee a great nation. I will go down with thee
into Egypt, and I will also surely bring thee up again; and Joseph shall put his
hand upon thine eyes.'
Joseph rose up from Beer-sheba; and the sons of Israel
carried Jacob their father, and their little ones, and their wives, in the
wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him.
And they took their cattle, and their goods, which they had
gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt ... Jacob, and all his seed
with him. All the souls of the house of Jacob, which came into Egypt were
310.
They stopped in Goshen, Egypt
Jacob then sent Judah before him to Joseph, to direct him to
Goshen ... Jacob was to meet Joseph there.
When Joseph got word that it was time to meet his father
again, after all the years that had gone by, he made his chariot ready, and went
up to meet Israel his father in Goshen, and presented himself unto him;
and he fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while.
Joseph fell on Jacobs neck and cried for a long while
And Israel said unto Joseph: 'Now, let me die, since I have
seen thy face, because thou art yet alive.'
Joseph said to his family that he would go to Pharaoh to
inform him that they had arrived. He also told them to tell Pharaoh, when
they meet him, that they had raised and traded cattle, because sheperds were an
abomination in Egypt.
Then Joseph went to meet with Pharaoh and told him that his
family had reached Goshen. He even took five of his brothers and presented
them to Pharaoh.
Joseph's brothers meet Pharaoh
When Pharaoh asked them about themselves they told him what
Joseph had told them to tell him.
Pharaoh then turned to Joseph and said to him: 'Thy father and
thy brethren are come unto thee. The land of Egypt is before thee;
in the best of the land make thy father and thy brethren to dwell; and if
thou knowest any men of activity among them, then make them rulers over my
cattle.'
Jacob came before Pharaoh and blessed him
And Joseph brought in his father and set him before
Pharaoh; and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.
And Pharaoh said unto Jacob: 'How old art thou?'
And Jacob said unto Pharaoh: 'The days of the years of my
pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty years; few and evil have the days of
the years of my life been, and have not attained unto the days of the years of
the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage.'
And Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from before Pharaoh.
The Israelites settled in Rameses
And 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 commanded.
And Joseph nourished his father, and his brothers, and all
his father's household, with bread, according to their families.
Source: Genesis 46
