The seven thin, ugly cows that came up after them are seven years, and the seven worthless, scorched heads of grain are seven years of famine.

This the word which I spake to Pharaoh: what God did, he showed Pharaoh.

And the plenty shall not be known in the land on account of the famine after this; for it shall be exceedingly heavy.

That the dream was repeated twice to Pharaoh [and in two different ways] indicates that this matter is fully determined and established by God, and God will bring it to pass very quickly.

Let Pharaoh do this: Let him appoint overseers over the land and take a fifth of the harvest of the land of Egypt during the seven years of abundance.

This food should be held in storage for the land in preparation for the seven years of famine that will occur throughout the land of Egypt. In this way the land will survive the famine."

This advice made sense to Pharaoh and all his officials.

Then Pharaoh said to his servants, “Can we find anyone like this, a man who has God’s spirit in him?”

So Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Since God has made all this known to you, there is no one as intelligent and wise as you are.

And they will say, Thy servants twelve brethren; we the sons of one man in the land of Canaan: and behold, the little one with our father this day, and one, not

And Joseph will say to them, This which I spake to you, saying, Ye spying:

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

One of you must go and get your brother, while the rest of you remain in prison. In this way your words may be tested to see if you are telling the truth. If not, then, as surely as Pharaoh lives, you are spies!"

On the third day Joseph said to them, “I fear God—do this and you will live.

Bring your youngest brother to me so that your words can be confirmed; then you won’t die.” And they consented to this.

Then they said to each other, “Obviously, we are being punished for what we did to our brother. We saw his deep distress when he pleaded with us, but we would not listen. That is why this trouble has come to us.”

Joseph then gave orders to fill their containers with grain, return each man’s money to his sack, and give them provisions for their journey. This order was carried out.

He said to his brothers, “My money has been returned! It’s here in my bag.” Their hearts sank. Trembling, they turned to one another and said, “What is this that God has done to us?”

we are twelve brethren, sons of our father; one is not, and the youngest is this day with our father in the land of Canaan.

The man who is the lord of the country said to us, ‘This is how I will know if you are honest: Leave one brother with me, take food to relieve the hunger of your households, and go.

And Jacob their father said to them, "You have bereaved me--Joseph is no more and Simeon is no more, and Benjamin you would take! All of this [is] against me!

And Israel (Jacob) said, “Why did you treat me so badly by telling the man that you had another brother?”

They replied, "The man questioned us thoroughly about ourselves and our family, saying, 'Is your father still alive? Do you have another brother?' So we answered him in this way. How could we possibly know that he would say, 'Bring your brother down'?"

For unless we lingered we had turned back this twice.

Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: Put some of the best products of the land in your packs and take them down to the man as a gift—some balsam and some honey, aromatic gum and resin, pistachios and almonds.

The men took this gift, double the amount of money, and Benjamin. They made their way down to Egypt and stood before Joseph.

When he looked up and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, he asked, “Is this your youngest brother that you told me about?” Then he said, “May God be gracious to you, my son.”

At this, Joseph hurried out, deeply moved because of his brother, and looked for a place to weep by himself. He entered his personal quarters, wept there awhile,

Isn’t this the cup that my master drinks from and uses for divination? What you have done is wrong!’”

And they will say to him, For what will my lord speak according to these words? far be it for thy servants to do according to this word.

If it comes to light that any of your servants has done this, let him be put to death, and we will be your lord's servants.

At this, they all tore their clothes, reloaded their donkeys, and returned to the city.

“What is this you have done?” Joseph said to them. “Didn’t you know that a man like me could uncover the truth by divination?”

"What can we say, Your Excellency?" Judah replied. "How can we explain this or justify ourselves? God has discovered the sin of your servants, and now we've become slaves to you, Your Excellency, both we and the one in whose possession the cup has been discovered."

Then Joseph said, “I swear that I will not do this. The man in whose possession the cup was found will be my slave. The rest of you can go in peace to your father.”

“This is what happened when we went back to your servant my father: We reported your words to him.

If you also take this one from me and anything happens to him, you will bring my gray hairs down to Sheol in sorrow.’

At this time thy servant shall now remain for the youth, a servant to my lord; and the youth shall go up with his brethren.

At this point, Joseph could not control his emotions any longer, so he cried out to everyone who was standing nearby, "Everybody! Leave me!" As a result, none of his staff was anywhere near him when he revealed himself to his brothers.

For this the second year of the famine in the midst of the land: and yet five years in which no ploughing and reaping.

“Return quickly to my father and say to him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: “God has made me lord of all Egypt. Come down to me without delay.

And he will kiss all his brethren, and will weep upon them: and after this his brethren sake with him.

And the fame of this was heard in Pharaoh's house, saying, Joseph's brethren are come: and it pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants.

Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Tell your brothers, ‘Do this: Load your animals and go on back to the land of Canaan.

You are also commanded, ‘Do this: Take wagons from the land of Egypt for your young children and your wives and bring your father here.

The sons of Israel did this. Joseph gave them wagons as Pharaoh had commanded, and he gave them provisions for the journey.

And to his father he sent according to this: ten asses lifting up from the good of Egypt, and ten she-asses lifting up grain and bread: and food for his father for the way.

And they said to him, Joseph is living, and is ruler over all the land of Egypt. And at this word Jacob was quite overcome, for he had no faith in it.

All the direct descendants of Jacob who went to Egypt with him were sixty-six in number. (This number does not include the wives of Jacob's sons.)

and Israel saith unto Joseph, 'Let me die this time, after my seeing thy face, for thou art yet alive.'

say, 'Thy servants have been occupied about cattle, from our childhood unto this time: both we and our fathers,' that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen. For an abomination unto the Egyptians are all that feed sheep."

After this, Joseph went to inform Pharaoh. "My father and brothers have come here from Canaan," he said, "and they've come with their flocks, herds, and everything else they have. I settled them in the Goshen territory!"

And they will say to Pharaoh, To sojourn in the land we came: for no pasture is to the sheep which are to thy servants, for the famine was heavy in the land of Canaan: and at this time now will thy servants dwell in the land of Goshen.

This land of Egypt is before thee; in the best of the land cause thy father and thy brethren to dwell; they shall dwell in the land of Goshen; and if thou knowest and there is among them men of strength, set them leaders of the cattle which are to me.

In this way, Joseph acquired all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh, because every Egyptian sold his field since the famine was so severe for them. The land became Pharaoh’s,

Only the land of the priests he bought not; for to the priests a portion from Pharaoh, and they ate their portion which Pharaoh gave to them; for this they sold not their lands.

And Joseph will say to the people, Behold, I bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh: lo, seed for you, and sow ye the land.

And Joseph set it for an ordinance to this day, of the land of Egypt, for a fifth to Pharaoh; only the land of the priests alone was not to Pharaoh.

Some time after this, Joseph was told, “Your father is weaker.” So he set out with his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.

He said to me, ‘I will make you fruitful and numerous; I will make many nations come from you, and I will give this land as an eternal possession to your future descendants.’

And I in my coming from Padan, Rachel died by me in the land of Canaan, in the way, in yet a length of land to go to Ephrath: and I shall bury her there in the way of Ephmth; this the house of bread.

And Joseph said unto his father, They are my sons, whom God hath given me in this place. And he said, Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I will bless them.

Then he blessed Joseph and said:

The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked,
the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day,

Joseph said to his father, “Not that way, my father! This one is the firstborn. Put your right hand on his head.”

And his father will refuse and will say, I knew my son, I knew: this also shall be into a people, and this also shall be great: and yet his brother the small, shall be great more than he, and his seed shall be a fulness of nations.

That very day, Jacob blessed them with this blessing: "By you Israel will extend this blessing: "May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh!'"

By doing this, he placed Ephraim before Manasseh. Then Israel told Joseph, "Pay attention! I'm about to die, but God will be with you. He'll bring you back to the land that belongs to your ancestors.

After this, Jacob called his sons together and told them, "Assemble yourselves around me so I can tell you all what is going to happen to you in the last days.

Gad, a troop, shall press upon him; and this shall press upon the heel.

This adversary will embitter him, and the lords of the arrows will lie in wait.

These are the tribes of Israel, 12 in all, and this was what their father said to them. He blessed them, and he blessed each one with a suitable blessing.

In his last words, Jacob issued this set of instructions to them all: "I'm about to join our ancestors. Bury me alongside my ancestors in the cave in the field that used to belong to Ephron the Hittite.

The cave is in the field of Machpelah near Mamre, in the land of Canaan. This is the field Abraham purchased from Ephron the Hittite as a burial site.

After concluding this set of instructions to his sons, Jacob tucked his feet up into bed, quit breathing, and was gathered to his ancestors.

After this, he issued orders to his physician servants to embalm his father. So they embalmed Israel.

They took 40 days to complete this, for embalming takes that long, and the Egyptians mourned for him 70 days.

At the conclusion of the mourning period, Joseph addressed Pharaoh's household. "If you're satisfied with me, would you please take this message to Pharaoh for me? Tell him,

My father caused me to swear, saying, Behold I am dying: in my grave which I dug for me in the land of Canaan, there shalt thou bury me. And at this time will I now go up and bury my father, and I will turn back.

When the Canaanite inhabitants of the land saw the mourning at the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a solemn mourning on the part of the Egyptians.” Therefore the place is named Abel-mizraim. It is across the Jordan.

His sons carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field of Machpelah, near Mamre. This is the field Abraham purchased as a burial plot from Ephron the Hittite.

So they sent this message to Joseph, “Before he died your father gave a command:

‘Say this to Joseph: Please forgive your brothers’ transgression and their sin—the suffering they caused you.’ Therefore, please forgive the transgression of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when their message came to him.

And you, ye even purposed evil against me; God purposed it for good, for the sake of doing as this day, to preserve alive much people.

Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die, but God will certainly come to your aid and bring you up from this land to the land He promised Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.”

Joseph made the sons of Israel swear an oath. He said, "God will surely come to you. Then you must carry my bones up from this place."