Jacob, Joseph & Egypt

You will live in the land of Goshen and be near me - you, your children, your grandchildren, flocks, herds, everything you own.

I will provide for you there, so that you won't become poverty-stricken, you, your household and all that you have; because five years of famine are yet to come."'

Here! Your own eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Binyamin, that it is my own mouth speaking to you.

Tell my father how honored I am in Egypt and everything you have seen, and quickly bring my father down here!"

Then he embraced his brother Binyamin and wept, and Binyamin wept on his neck,

and he kissed all his brothers and wept on them. After that, his brothers talked with him.

The report of this reached Pharaoh's house: "Yosef's brothers have come"; and Pharaoh and his servants were pleased.

Pharaoh said to Yosef, "Tell your brothers, 'Here is what you are to do. Load up your animals, go to the land of Kena'an,

take your father and your families, and come back to me. I will give you good property in Egypt, and you will eat the fat of the land.

"'Moreover - and this is an order - do this: take wagons from the land of Egypt to carry your little ones and your wives, and bring your father, and come.

Don't worry about your stuff, because everything good in the land of Egypt is yours.'"

The sons of Isra'el acted accordingly; and Yosef gave them wagons, as Pharaoh had ordered, and gave them provisions for their journey.

To each of them he gave a set of new clothes; but to Binyamin he gave seven-and-a-half pounds of silver and five sets of new clothes.

Likewise, to his father he sent ten donkeys loaded with the finest goods Egypt produced, as well as ten female donkeys loaded with grain, bread and food for his father to eat on the return journey.

Thus he sent his brothers on their way, and they left; he said to them, "Don't quarrel among yourselves while you're traveling!"

So they went up out of Egypt, entered the land of Kena'an and came to Ya'akov their father.

They told him, "Yosef is still alive! He is ruler over the whole land of Egypt!" He was stunned at the news; he couldn't believe them.

So they reported to him everything Yosef had said to them; but it was only when he saw the wagons which Yosef had sent to carry him that the spirit of Ya'akov their father began to revive.

Isra'el said, "Enough! My son Yosef is still alive! I must go and see him before I die."

Isra'el took everything he owned with him on his journey. He arrived at Be'er-Sheva and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Yitz'chak.

In a vision at night God called to Isra'el, "Ya'akov! Ya'akov!" He answered, "Here I am."

He said, "I am God, the God of your father. Don't be afraid to go down to Egypt. It is there that I will make you into a great nation.

Not only will I go down with you to Egypt; but I will also bring you back here again, after Yosef has closed your eyes."

So Ya'akov left Be'er-Sheva; the sons of Isra'el brought Ya'akov their father, their little ones and their wives in the wagons Pharaoh had sent to carry them.

They took their cattle and their possessions which they had acquired in the land of Kena'an and arrived in Egypt, Ya'akov and all his descendants with him -