Jacob, Joseph & Egypt

During those seven years, Joseph collected all the excess food in the land of Egypt and stored it in the cities. In every city he laid up the food from the fields around it.

So Joseph stored up grain in such abundance, like the sand of the sea, that he stopped keeping track of it; for it was beyond measure.

Before the years of famine arrived, two sons were born to Joseph by Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On.

Joseph named the firstborn Manasseh, saying, “God has made me forget all my hardship and all my father’s household.”

And the second son he named Ephraim, saying, “God has made me fruitful in the land of my affliction.”

When the seven years of abundance in the land of Egypt came to an end,

the seven years of famine began, just as Joseph had said. And although there was famine in every country, there was food throughout the land of Egypt.

When extreme hunger came to all the land of Egypt and the people cried out to Pharaoh for food, he told all the Egyptians, “Go to Joseph and do whatever he tells you.”

When the famine had spread over all the land, Joseph opened up all the storehouses and sold grain to the Egyptians; for the famine was severe in the land of Egypt.

And every nation came to Joseph in Egypt to buy grain, because the famine was severe over all the earth.

When Jacob learned that there was grain in Egypt, he said to his sons, “Why are you staring at one another?”

“Look,” he added, “I have heard that there is grain in Egypt. Go down there and buy some for us, so that we may live and not die.”

So ten of Joseph’s brothers went down to buy grain from Egypt.

But Jacob did not send Joseph’s brother Benjamin with his brothers, for he said, “I am afraid that harm might befall him.”

So the sons of Israel were among those who came to buy grain, since the famine had also spread to the land of Canaan.

Now Joseph was the ruler of the land; he was the one who sold grain to all its people. So when his brothers arrived, they bowed down before him with their faces to the ground.

And when Joseph saw his brothers, he recognized them, but he treated them as strangers and spoke harshly to them. “Where have you come from?” he asked. “From the land of Canaan,” they replied. “We are here to buy food.”

Although Joseph recognized his brothers, they did not recognize him.

Joseph remembered his dreams about them and said, “You are spies! You have come to see if our land is vulnerable.”

“Not so, my lord,” they replied. “Your servants have come to buy food.

We are all sons of one man. Your servants are honest men, not spies.”

“No,” he told them. “You have come to see if our land is vulnerable.”

But they answered, “Your servants are twelve brothers, the sons of one man in the land of Canaan. The youngest is now with our father, and one is no more.”

Then Joseph declared, “Just as I said, you are spies!

And this is how you will be tested: As surely as Pharaoh lives, you shall not leave this place unless your youngest brother comes here.