CHAPTER 45
1 Joseph might no longer abstain himself, while many men stood there before him; wherefore he commanded that all men should go out, and that none alien were present in the knowing of Joseph and his brethren.
2 And Joseph raised up his voice with weeping, which the Egyptians heard, and all the household of Pharaoh.
3 And he said to his brethren, I am Joseph; liveth my father yet? His brethren might not answer, and were aghast with full much dread.
4 To whom Joseph said meekly, Cometh nigh to me. And when they had nighed nigh, he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt;
5 do not ye dread, neither seem it to be hard to you, that ye sold me into these countries; for God hath sent me before you into Egypt for your health.
6 For it is two years that hunger began to be in the land, yet five more years shall pursue, in which men shall not be able to ear, neither reap;
7 and God before-sent me, that ye be kept alive on earth, and may have meats to live.
8 I was sent hither not by your counsel, but by God’s will, which hath made me as the father of Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and prince in all the land of Egypt.
9 Haste ye, and goeth up to my father, and ye shall say to him, Thy son Joseph sendeth these things to thee; God hath made me lord of all the land of Egypt; come down here to me, and tarry not,
10 and dwell in the land of Goshen; and thou shalt be beside me, thou, and thy sons, and the sons of thy sons, thy sheep, and thy great beasts, and all things which thou wieldest,
11 and there I shall feed thee; for yet five years of hunger be left, lest both thou perish, and thine house, and all things which thou wieldest.
12 Lo! your eyes, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that my mouth speaketh to you;
13 tell ye to my father all my glory, and all things which ye saw in Egypt; haste ye, and bring ye him to me.
14 And when he had embraced, and felled into the neck of Benjamin, his brother, he wept, the while also Benjamin wept in like manner on the neck of Joseph.
15 And Joseph kissed all his brethren, and wept on them all; after which things they were hardy to speak to him.
16 And it was heard, and published by famous word in the king’s hall, The brethren of Joseph be come. And Pharaoh joyed, and all his household;
17 and Pharaoh said to Joseph, that he should command his brethren, and say to them, Charge ye your beasts, and go ye into the land of Canaan,
18 and take ye from thence your father, and your kindred, and come ye back to me; and I shall give you all the goods of Egypt, that ye eat the marrow of the land.
19 Command thou also, that they take wains of the land of Egypt to the carriage of their little children, and wives, and say thou, Take ye your father, and haste ye in coming soon,
20 neither leave ye anything of the appurtenance of your house, for all the riches of Egypt shall be yours.
21 The sons of Israel did as it was commanded to them; to which Joseph gave wains, by the behest of Pharaoh, and meats in the way;
22 and he commanded two stoles to be brought forth to each; forsooth he gave to Benjamin three hundred pieces of silver, with five of the best stoles;
23 and he sent to his father so much of silver, and of clothes, and he added to them ten male asses, that should bear of the riches of Egypt, and so many female asses, bearing wheat and loaves in the way.
24 Therefore he let go his brethren, and said to them going forth, Be ye not wroth in the way.
25 Which went up from Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan, to their father Jacob;
26 and they told to him, and said, Joseph, thy son, liveth, and he is lord in all the land of Egypt. And when this was heard, Jacob waked as of a grievous sleep; nevertheless he believed not to them.
27 They told on the contrary to him all the order of the thing; and when Jacob had seen the wains, and all things which Joseph had sent, his spirit lived again,
28 and he said, It sufficeth to me, if Joseph my son liveth yet; I shall go and see him before that I die.