Genesis 47 - 48 — Legacy Standard Bible

Jacob’s Family Settles in Goshen

47Then ^aJoseph went in and told Pharaoh and said, “My father and my brothers and their flocks and their herds and all that they have, have come out of the land of Canaan; and behold, they are in the land of ^bGoshen.” ²And he took five men from among his brothers and ^aset them before Pharaoh. ³Then Pharaoh said to his brothers, “^aWhat is your occupation?” So they said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are ^bshepherds, both we and our fathers.” ⁴And they said to Pharaoh, “^aWe have come to sojourn in the land, for there is no pasture for your servants’ flocks, for ^bthe famine is heavy in the land of Canaan. So now, please let your servants ¹^,^clive in the land of Goshen.” ⁵Then Pharaoh said to ¹Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you. ⁶“The land of Egypt is ¹at your disposal; have your father and your brothers settle in ^athe best of the land, let them settle in the land of Goshen; and if you know any ^bexcellent men among them, then ²put them in charge of my livestock.”

⁷Then Joseph brought his father Jacob and stood him before Pharaoh; and Jacob ^ablessed Pharaoh. ⁸And Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How many are the days of the years of your life?” ⁹So Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The days ^aof the years of my sojourning are ¹130; few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not ²attained to ^bthe days of the years ³that my fathers lived during the days of their sojourning.” ¹⁰And Jacob ^ablessed Pharaoh and went out from the presence of Pharaoh. ¹¹So Joseph settled his father and his brothers and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in ^athe best of the land, in the land of ^bRameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. ¹²And Joseph ^aprovided his father and his brothers and all his father’s household with ¹food, according to their little ones.

Joseph and the Famine

¹³Now there was no ¹food in all the land because the famine was very heavy, so that ^athe land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine. ¹⁴^aAnd Joseph gathered all the money that was found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan for the grain which they bought, and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house. ¹⁵Then the money came to an end in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan. So all the Egyptians came to Joseph ¹and said, “Give us ²food, for ^awhy should we die in your presence? For our money ³is gone.” ¹⁶Then Joseph said, “Give up your livestock, and I will give you food for your livestock, since your money ¹is gone.” ¹⁷So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them ¹food in exchange for the horses and the ²flocks and the herds and the donkeys; and he ³fed them with ⁴food in exchange for all their livestock ⁵that year. ¹⁸Then that year came to an end. And they came to him the ¹next year and said to him, “We will not hide from my lord that our money has come to an end, and the ²livestock are my lord’s. There is nothing left ³for my lord except our bodies and our land. ¹⁹“Why should we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land for ¹food, and we and our land will be slaves to Pharaoh. So give us seed, that we may live and not die, and that the land may not be desolate.”

²⁰So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh, for ¹every Egyptian sold his field because the famine was severe upon them. Thus the land became Pharaoh’s. ²¹As for the people, he moved them to the cities from one end of Egypt’s border to the other end. ²²Only the land of the priests he did not buy, for the priests had an allotment from Pharaoh, and they ate off the allotment which Pharaoh gave them. Therefore, they did not sell their land. ²³Then Joseph said to the people, “Behold, I have today bought you and your land for Pharaoh; now, here is seed for you, and you may sow the land. ²⁴“And it will be, at the harvest you shall give a ^afifth to Pharaoh, and ¹four-fifths shall be your own for seed of the field and for your food and for those of your households and as food for your little ones.” ²⁵So they said, “You have kept us alive! Let us find favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s slaves.” ²⁶And Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt valid to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth; ^aonly the land of the priests ¹did not become Pharaoh’s.

²⁷Now Israel ¹lived in the land of Egypt, ²in Goshen, and they ^atook possession of property in it and ^bwere fruitful and became very numerous. ²⁸And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt ^aseventeen years; so the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were 147 years.

²⁹Then ^athe days for Israel to die drew near, and he called his son Joseph and said to him, “Please, if I have found favor in your sight, ^bplace now your hand under my thigh and ^cdeal with me in lovingkindness and truth. Please do not bury me in Egypt. ³⁰“But I will ^alie down with my fathers, and you will carry me out of Egypt and bury me in ^btheir burial place.” And he said, “I will do as you have said.” ³¹Then he said, “^aSwear to me.” So he swore to him. Then ^bIsrael bowed in worship at the head of the bed.

Israel Blesses Manasseh and Ephraim

48Now it happened after these things that ¹Joseph was told, “Behold, your father is sick.” So he took his two sons ^aManasseh and Ephraim with him. ²Then ¹it was told to Jacob, “Behold, your son Joseph has come to you,” so Israel strengthened himself and sat ²up in the bed. ³Then Jacob said to Joseph, “¹^,^aGod Almighty appeared to me at ^bLuz in the land of Canaan and blessed me, ⁴and He said to me, ‘Behold, I will make you fruitful and multiply, and I will make you an assembly of peoples, and I will give this land to your seed after you for ^aan everlasting possession.’ ⁵“So now your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are mine; ^aEphraim and Manasseh shall be mine, as ^bReuben and Simeon are. ⁶“But your kin that ¹have been born after them shall be yours; they shall be called by the ²names of their brothers in their inheritance. ⁷“Now as for me, when I came from ^aPaddan, ^bRachel died, ¹to my sorrow, in the land of Canaan on the journey, when there was still some distance to go to Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem).”

⁸Then Israel ^asaw Joseph’s sons and said, “Who are these?” ⁹And Joseph said to his father, “^aThey are my sons, whom God has given me here.” So he said, “Bring them to me, please, that ^bI may bless them.” ¹⁰Now ^athe eyes of Israel were so dim from age that he could not see. Then ¹Joseph brought them close to him, and he ^bkissed them and embraced them. ¹¹Then Israel said to Joseph, “I never ¹expected to see your face, and behold, God has let me see your seed as well.” ¹²Then Joseph ¹took them from his knees and ^abowed with his face to the ground. ¹³And Joseph took them both, 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. ¹⁴But Israel stretched out his right hand and laid it on the head of Ephraim, who was the younger, and his left hand on Manasseh’s head, ¹crossing his hands, ²although ^aManasseh was the firstborn. ¹⁵And he blessed Joseph and said, “^aMay the God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked,^bThe God who has been my shepherd ¹throughout my life to this day,

¹⁶^aThe angel who has redeemed me from all evil,^bBless these boys;And may my name ¹live on in them,And the ²names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac;And ^cmay they grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.”

¹⁷But Joseph saw that his father ^aset his right hand on Ephraim’s head, and it was displeasing in his sight; so he took hold of his father’s hand to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head. ¹⁸And Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father, for this one is the firstborn. Place your right hand on his head.” ¹⁹But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know; he also will become a people, and he also will be great. However, his younger brother shall be greater than he, and ^ahis seed shall become the fullness of nations.” ²⁰^aAnd he blessed them that day, saying, “By you Israel will pronounce blessing, saying,‘May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh!’” Thus he put Ephraim before Manasseh.²¹Then Israel said to Joseph, “Behold, I am about to die, but ^aGod will be with you and ^bwill bring you back to the land of your fathers. ²²“And I give you one ¹portion more than your brothers, ^awhich I took from the hand of the Amorite with my sword and my bow.”