Thematic Bible




Thematic Bible



Then Joseph prepared his chariot and went up to meet Israel his father in Goshen; as soon as he presented himself before him (authenticating his identity), he fell on his [father’s] neck and wept on his neck a [very] long time.

Hurry and go up to my father and tell him, Your son Joseph says this to you: God has put me in charge of all Egypt. Come down to me; do not delay. You will live in the land of Goshen, and you will be close to me -- "you and your children and your grandchildren, your flocks, your herds, and all you have. And there I will sustain and provide for you, so that you and your household and all that are yours may not come to poverty and want, for there are yet five [more] years of [the scarcity, hunger, and starvation of] famine. read more.
Now notice! Your own eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin can see that I am talking to you personally [in your language and not through an interpreter]. And you shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt and of all that you have seen; and you shall hurry and bring my father down here.

Joseph settled his father and brethren and gave them a possession in Egypt in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses (Goshen), as Pharaoh commanded. And Joseph supplied his father and his brethren and all his father's household with food, according to [the needs of] their families.

Then Joseph took the boys [from his father’s embrace], and he bowed [before him] with his face to the ground.

Then Joseph fell upon his father's face and wept over him and kissed him. And Joseph ordered his servants the physicians to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel. Then forty days were devoted [to this purpose] for him, for that is the customary number of days required for those who are embalmed. And the Egyptians wept and bemoaned him [as they would for royalty] for seventy days. read more.
And when the days of his weeping and deep grief were past, Joseph said to [the nobles of] the house of Pharaoh, If now I have found grace in your eyes, speak, I pray you, to Pharaoh [for Joseph was dressed in mourning and could not do so himself], saying, My father made me swear, saying, I am about to die; in my tomb which I hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me. So now let me go up, I pray you, and bury my father, and I will come again. And Pharaoh said, Go up and bury your father, as he made you swear. And Joseph went up [to Canaan] to bury his father; and with him went all the officials of Pharaoh -- "the nobles of his court, and the elders of his house and all the nobles and elders of the land of Egypt -- " And all the household of Joseph and his brethren and his father's household. Only their little ones and their flocks and herds they left in the land of Goshen. And there went with [Joseph] both chariots and horsemen; and it was a very great company. And they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond [west of] the Jordan, and there they mourned with a great lamentation and extreme demonstrations of sorrow [according to Egyptian custom]; and [Joseph] made a mourning for his father seven days. When the inhabitants of the land, the Canaanites, saw the mourning at the floor of Atad, they said, This is a grievous mourning for the Egyptians. Therefore the place was called Abel-mizraim [mourning of Egypt]; it is west of the Jordan. Thus [Jacob's] sons did for him as he had commanded them. For his sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, east of Mamre, which Abraham bought, along with the field, for a possession as a burying place from Ephron the Hittite.


Then Joseph took the boys [from his father’s embrace], and he bowed [before him] with his face to the ground.

So when Jehu came to Jezreel, Jezebel heard about it, and she painted her eyes and adorned her head and looked down from the [upper] window.


Now some time after these things happened, Joseph was told, “Your father is sick.” So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim with him [to go to Goshen].

And now your two sons, [Ephraim and Manasseh], who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine. [I am adopting them, and now] as Reuben and Simeon, [they] shall be mine. But other sons who may be born after them shall be your own; and they shall be called after the names of these [two] brothers and reckoned as belonging to them [when they come] into their inheritance. And as for me, when I came from Padan, Rachel died at my side in the land of Canaan on the way, when yet there was but a little way to come to Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath, that is, Bethlehem. read more.
When Israel [almost blind] saw Joseph's sons, he said, Who are these? And Joseph said to his father, They are my sons, whom God has given me in this place. And he said, Bring them to me, I pray you, that I may bless them. Now Israel's eyes were dim from age, so that he could not see. And Joseph brought them near to him, and he kissed and embraced them. Israel said to Joseph, I had not thought that I would see your face, but see, God has shown me your offspring also. Then Joseph took [the boys] from [his father's embrace] and he bowed [before him] with his face to the earth. Then Joseph took both [boys], Ephraim with his right hand toward Israel's left, and Manasseh with his left hand toward Israel's right, and brought them close to him. And Israel reached out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh's head, crossing his hands intentionally, for Manasseh was the firstborn. Then [Jacob] blessed Joseph and said, God [Himself], before Whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac lived and walked habitually, God [Himself], Who has [been my Shepherd and has led and] fed me from the time I came into being until this day, The redeeming Angel [that is, the Angel the Redeemer -- "not a created being but the Lord Himself] Who has redeemed me continually from every evil, bless the lads! And let my name be perpetuated in them [may they be worthy of having their names coupled with mine], and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them become a multitude in the midst of the earth. When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on Ephraim's head, it displeased him; and he held up his father's hand to move it to Manasseh's head. And Joseph said, Not so, my father, for this is the firstborn; put your right hand upon his head. But his father refused and said, I know, my son, I know. He also shall become a people and shall be great; but his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations. And he blessed them that day, saying, By you shall Israel bless [one another], saying, May God make you like Ephraim and like Manasseh. And he set Ephraim before Manasseh.