Joseph

Yosef provided food for his father, his brothers and all his father's household, taking full care of even the youngest.

Yosef collected all the money there was in Egypt and Kena'an in exchange for the grain they bought, and put the money in Pharaoh's treasury.

When all the money in Egypt had been spent, and likewise in Kena'an, all the Egyptians approached Yosef and said, "Give us something to eat, even though we have no money; why should we die before your eyes?"

Yosef replied, "Give me your livestock. If you don't have money, I will give you food in exchange for your livestock."

So they brought Yosef their livestock; and Yosef gave them food in exchange for the horses, flocks, cattle and donkeys -all that year he provided them with food in exchange for all their livestock.

So Yosef acquired all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh, as one by one the Egyptians sold their fields, because the famine weighed on them so severely. Thus the land became the property of Pharaoh.

Then Yosef said to the people, "As of today I have acquired you and your land for Pharaoh. Here is seed for you to sow the land.

Yosef made it a law for the country of Egypt, valid to this day, that Pharaoh should have twenty percent. Only the property belonging to the priests did not become Pharaoh's.

The time came when Isra'el was approaching death; so he called for his son Yosef and said to him, "If you truly love me, please put your hand under my thigh and pledge that, out of consideration for me, you will not bury me in Egypt.

Awhile later someone told Yosef that his father was ill. He took with him his two sons, M'nasheh and Efrayim.

Ya'akov was told, "Here comes your son Yosef."Isra'el gathered his strength and sat up in bed.

Ya'akov said to Yosef, "El Shaddai appeared to me at Luz in the land of Kena'an and blessed me,

Then Isra'el noticed Yosef's sons and asked, "Whose are these?"

Yosef answered his father, "They are my sons, whom God has given me here." Ya'akov replied, "I want you to bring them here to me, so that I can bless them."

Isra'el said to Yosef, "I never expected to see even you again, but God has allowed me to see your children too!"

Yosef brought them out from between his legs and prostrated himself on the ground.

Then Yosef took them both, Efrayim in his right hand toward Isra'el's left hand and M'nasheh in his left hand toward Isra'el's right hand, and brought them near to him.

Then he blessed Yosef: "The God in whose presence my fathers Avraham and Yitz'chak lived, the God who has been my own shepherd all my life long to this day,

When Yosef saw that his father was laying his right hand on Efrayim's head, it displeased him, and he lifted up his father's hand to remove it from Efrayim's head and place it instead on M'nasheh's head.

Yosef said to his father, "Don't do it that way, my father; for this one is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head."

Isra'el then said to Yosef, "You see that I am dying, but God will be with you and will bring you back to the land of your ancestors.

"Yosef is a fruitful plant, a fruitful plant by a spring, with branches climbing over the wall.

The blessings of your father are more powerful than the blessings of my parents, extending to the farthest of the everlasting hills; they will be on the head of Yosef, on the brow of the prince among his brothers.

Yosef fell on his father's face, wept over him and kissed him.

Then Yosef ordered the physicians in his service to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Isra'el.