Bible in 90 Days Plan

¹Now the famine was severe in the land.

²And when they had eaten up the grain that they had brought from Egypt, their father said to them, “Go again, buy us a little more food.”

³But Judah said to him, “The man solemnly warned us, saying, ‘You shall not see my face unless your brother is with you.’

⁴If you will send our brother with us, we will go down and buy you food;

⁵but if you will not send him, we will not go down, for the man said to us, ‘You shall not see my face, unless your brother is with you.’”

⁶Israel said, “Why did you treat me so badly as to tell the man that you had another brother?”

⁷They replied, “The man questioned us carefully about ourselves and our kindred, saying, ‘Is your father still alive? Have you another brother?’ What we told him was in answer to these questions. Could we in any way know that he would say, ‘Bring your brother down’?”

⁸Then Judah said to his father Israel, “Send the boy with me, and let us be on our way, so that we may live and not die — you and we and also our little ones.

⁹I myself will be surety for him; you can hold me accountable for him. If I do not bring him back to you and set him before you, then let me bear the blame forever.

¹⁰If we had not delayed, we would now have returned twice.”

¹¹Then their father Israel said to them, “If it must be so, then do this: take some of the choice fruits of the land in your bags, and carry them down as a present to the man — a little balm and a little honey, gum, resin, pistachio nuts, and almonds.

¹²Take double the money with you. Carry back with you the money that was returned in the top of your sacks; perhaps it was an oversight.

¹³Take your brother also, and be on your way again to the man;

¹⁴may God Almighty grant you mercy before the man, so that he may send back your other brother and Benjamin. As for me, if I am bereaved of my children, I am bereaved.”

¹⁵So the men took the present, and they took double the money with them, as well as Benjamin. Then they went on their way down to Egypt, and stood before Joseph.

¹⁶When Joseph saw Benjamin with them, he said to the steward of his house, “Bring the men into the house, and slaughter an animal and make ready, for the men are to dine with me at noon.”

¹⁷The man did as Joseph said, and brought the men to Joseph’s house.

¹⁸Now the men were afraid because they were brought to Joseph’s house, and they said, “It is because of the money, replaced in our sacks the first time, that we have been brought in, so that he may have an opportunity to fall upon us, to make slaves of us and take our donkeys.”

¹⁹So they went up to the steward of Joseph’s house and spoke with him at the entrance to the house.

²⁰They said, “Oh, my lord, we came down the first time to buy food;

²¹and when we came to the lodging place we opened our sacks, and there was each one’s money in the top of his sack, our money in full weight. So we have brought it back with us.

²²Moreover we have brought down with us additional money to buy food. We do not know who put our money in our sacks.”

²³He replied, “Rest assured, do not be afraid; your God and the God of your father must have put treasure in your sacks for you; I received your money.” Then he brought Simeon out to them.

²⁴When the steward had brought the men into Joseph’s house, and given them water, and they had washed their feet, and when he had given their donkeys fodder,

²⁵they made the present ready for Joseph’s coming at noon, for they had heard that they would dine there.

²⁶When Joseph came home, they brought him the present that they had carried into the house, and bowed to the ground before him.

²⁷He inquired about their welfare, and said, “Is your father well, the old man of whom you spoke? Is he still alive?”

²⁸They said, “Your servant our father is well; he is still alive.” And they bowed their heads and did obeisance.

²⁹Then he looked up and saw his brother Benjamin, his mother’s son, and said, “Is this your youngest brother, of whom you spoke to me? God be gracious to you, my son!”

³⁰With that, Joseph hurried out, because he was overcome with affection for his brother, and he was about to weep. So he went into a private room and wept there.

³¹Then he washed his face and came out; and controlling himself he said, “Serve the meal.”

³²They served him by himself, and them by themselves, and the Egyptians who ate with him by themselves, because the Egyptians could not eat with the Hebrews, for that is an abomination to the Egyptians.

³³When they were seated before him, the firstborn according to his birthright and the youngest according to his youth, the men looked at one another in amazement.

³⁴Portions were taken to them from Joseph’s table, but Benjamin’s portion was five times as much as any of theirs. So they drank and were merry with him.

¹Then he commanded the steward of his house, “Fill the men’s sacks with food, as much as they can carry, and put each man’s money in the top of his sack.

²Put my cup, the silver cup, in the top of the sack of the youngest, with his money for the grain.” And he did as Joseph told him.

³As soon as the morning was light, the men were sent away with their donkeys.

⁴When they had gone only a short distance from the city, Joseph said to his steward, “Go, follow after the men; and when you overtake them, say to them, ‘Why have you returned evil for good? Why have you stolen my silver cup?

⁵Is it not from this that my lord drinks? Does he not indeed use it for divination? You have done wrong in doing this.’”

⁶When he overtook them, he repeated these words to them.

⁷They said to him, “Why does my lord speak such words as these? Far be it from your servants that they should do such a thing!

⁸Look, the money that we found at the top of our sacks, we brought back to you from the land of Canaan; why then would we steal silver or gold from your lord’s house?

⁹Should it be found with any one of your servants, let him die; moreover the rest of us will become my lord’s slaves.”

¹⁰He said, “Even so; in accordance with your words, let it be: he with whom it is found shall become my slave, but the rest of you shall go free.”

¹¹Then each one quickly lowered his sack to the ground, and each opened his sack.

¹²He searched, beginning with the eldest and ending with the youngest; and the cup was found in Benjamin’s sack.

¹³At this they tore their clothes. Then each one loaded his donkey, and they returned to the city.

¹⁴Judah and his brothers came to Joseph’s house while he was still there; and they fell to the ground before him.

¹⁵Joseph said to them, “What deed is this that you have done? Do you not know that one such as I can practice divination?”

¹⁶And Judah said, “What can we say to my lord? What can we speak? How can we clear ourselves? God has found out the guilt of your servants; here we are then, my lord’s slaves, both we and also the one in whose possession the cup has been found.”

¹⁷But he said, “Far be it from me that I should do so! Only the one in whose possession the cup was found shall be my slave; but as for you, go up in peace to your father.”

¹⁸Then Judah stepped up to him and said, “O my lord, let your servant please speak a word in my lord’s ears, and do not be angry with your servant; for you are like Pharaoh himself.

¹⁹My lord asked his servants, saying, ‘Have you a father or a brother?’

²⁰And we said to my lord, ‘We have a father, an old man, and a young brother, the child of his old age. His brother is dead; he alone is left of his mother’s children, and his father loves him.’

²¹Then you said to your servants, ‘Bring him down to me, so that I may set my eyes on him.’

²²We said to my lord, ‘The boy cannot leave his father, for if he should leave his father, his father would die.’

²³Then you said to your servants, ‘Unless your youngest brother comes down with you, you shall see my face no more.’

²⁴When we went back to your servant my father we told him the words of my lord.

²⁵And when our father said, ‘Go again, buy us a little food,’

²⁶we said, ‘We cannot go down. Only if our youngest brother goes with us, will we go down; for we cannot see the man’s face unless our youngest brother is with us.’

²⁷Then your servant my father said to us, ‘You know that my wife bore me two sons;

²⁸one left me, and I said, Surely he has been torn to pieces; and I have never seen him since.

²⁹If you take this one also from me, and harm comes to him, you will bring down my gray hairs in sorrow to Sheol.’

³⁰Now therefore, when I come to your servant my father and the boy is not with us, then, as his life is bound up in the boy’s life,

³¹when he sees that the boy is not with us, he will die; and your servants will bring down the gray hairs of your servant our father with sorrow to Sheol.

³²For your servant became surety for the boy to my father, saying, ‘If I do not bring him back to you, then I will bear the blame in the sight of my father all my life.’

³³Now therefore, please let your servant remain as a slave to my lord in place of the boy; and let the boy go back with his brothers.

³⁴For how can I go back to my father if the boy is not with me? I fear to see the suffering that would come upon my father.”

¹Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all those who stood by him, and he cried out, “Send everyone away from me.” So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers.

²And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it.

³Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph. Is my father still alive?” But his brothers could not answer him, so dismayed were they at his presence.

⁴Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Come closer to me.” And they came closer. He said, “I am your brother, Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.

⁵And now do not be distressed, or angry with yourselves, because you sold me here; for God sent me before you to preserve life.

⁶For the famine has been in the land these two years; and there are five more years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest.

⁷God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you many survivors.

⁸So it was not you who sent me here, but God; he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

⁹Hurry and go up to my father and say to him, ‘Thus says your son Joseph, God has made me lord of all Egypt; come down to me, do not delay.

¹⁰You shall settle in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children and your children’s children, as well as your flocks, your herds, and all that you have.

¹¹I will provide for you there — since there are five more years of famine to come — so that you and your household, and all that you have, will not come to poverty.’

¹²And now your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is my own mouth that speaks to you.

¹³You must tell my father how greatly I am honored in Egypt, and all that you have seen. Hurry and bring my father down here.”

¹⁴Then he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept, while Benjamin wept upon his neck.

¹⁵And he kissed all his brothers and wept upon them; and after that his brothers talked with him.

¹⁶When the report was heard in Pharaoh’s house, “Joseph’s brothers have come,” Pharaoh and his servants were pleased.

¹⁷Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, ‘Do this: load your animals and go back to the land of Canaan.

¹⁸Take your father and your households and come to me, so that I may give you the best of the land of Egypt, and you may enjoy the fat of the land.’

¹⁹You are further charged to say, ‘Do this: take wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and bring your father, and come.

²⁰Give no thought to your possessions, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours.’”

²¹The sons of Israel did so. Joseph gave them wagons according to the instruction of Pharaoh, and he gave them provisions for the journey.

²²To each one of them he gave a set of garments; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver and five sets of garments.

²³To his father he sent the following: ten donkeys loaded with the good things of Egypt, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain, bread, and provision for his father on the journey.

²⁴Then he sent his brothers on their way, and as they were leaving he said to them, “Do not quarrel along the way.”

²⁵So they went up out of Egypt and came to their father Jacob in the land of Canaan.

²⁶And they told him, “Joseph is still alive! He is even ruler over all the land of Egypt.” He was stunned; he could not believe them.

²⁷But when they told him all the words of Joseph that he had said to them, and when he saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of their father Jacob revived.

²⁸Israel said, “Enough! My son Joseph is still alive. I must go and see him before I die.”

¹When Israel set out on his journey with all that he had and came to Beer-sheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.

²God spoke to Israel in visions of the night, and said, “Jacob, Jacob.” And he said, “Here I am.”

³Then he said, “I am God, the God of your father; do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make of you a great nation there.

⁴I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I will also bring you up again; and Joseph’s own hand shall close your eyes.”

⁵Then Jacob set out from Beer-sheba; and the sons of Israel carried their father Jacob, their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent to carry him.

⁶They also took their livestock and the goods that they had acquired in the land of Canaan, and they came into Egypt, Jacob and all his offspring with him,

⁷his sons, and his sons’ sons with him, his daughters, and his sons’ daughters; all his offspring he brought with him into Egypt.

⁸Now these are the names of the Israelites, Jacob and his offspring, who came to Egypt. Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn,

⁹and the children of Reuben: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.

¹⁰The children of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman.

¹¹The children of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

¹²The children of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah (but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan); and the children of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.

¹³The children of Issachar: Tola, Puvah, Jashub, and Shimron.

¹⁴The children of Zebulun: Sered, Elon, and Jahleel

¹⁵(these are the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan-aram, together with his daughter Dinah; in all his sons and his daughters numbered thirty-three).

¹⁶The children of Gad: Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli.

¹⁷The children of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and their sister Serah. The children of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel

¹⁸(these are the children of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah; and these she bore to Jacob — sixteen persons).

¹⁹The children of Jacob’s wife Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin.

²⁰To Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, bore to him.

²¹The children of Benjamin: Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard

²²(these are the children of Rachel, who were born to Jacob — fourteen persons in all).

²³The children of Dan: Hashum.

²⁴The children of Naphtali: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem

²⁵(these are the children of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel, and these she bore to Jacob — seven persons in all).

²⁶All the persons belonging to Jacob who came into Egypt, who were his own offspring, not including the wives of his sons, were sixty-six persons in all.

²⁷The children of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt, were two; all the persons of the house of Jacob who came into Egypt were seventy.

²⁸Israel sent Judah ahead to Joseph to lead the way before him into Goshen. When they came to the land of Goshen,

²⁹Joseph made ready his chariot and went up to meet his father Israel in Goshen. He presented himself to him, fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while.

³⁰Israel said to Joseph, “I can die now, having seen for myself that you are still alive.”

³¹Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “I will go up and tell Pharaoh, and will say to him, ‘My brothers and my father’s household, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me.

³²The men are shepherds, for they have been keepers of livestock; and they have brought their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have.’

³³When Pharaoh calls you, and says, ‘What is your occupation?’

³⁴you shall say, ‘Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth even until now, both we and our ancestors’ — in order that you may settle in the land of Goshen, because all shepherds are abhorrent to the Egyptians.”

¹So Joseph went and told Pharaoh, “My father and my brothers, with their flocks and herds and all that they possess, have come from the land of Canaan; they are now in the land of Goshen.”

²From among his brothers he took five men and presented them to Pharaoh.

³Pharaoh said to his brothers, “What is your occupation?” And they said to Pharaoh, “Your servants are shepherds, as our ancestors were.”

⁴They said to Pharaoh, “We have come to reside as aliens in the land; for there is no pasture for your servants’ flocks because the famine is severe in the land of Canaan. Now, we ask you, let your servants settle in the land of Goshen.”

⁵Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Your father and your brothers have come to you.

⁶The land of Egypt is before you; settle your father and your brothers in the best part of the land; let them live in the land of Goshen; and if you know that there are capable men among them, put them in charge of my livestock.”

⁷Then Joseph brought in his father Jacob, and presented him before Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.

⁸Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How many are the years of your life?”

⁹Jacob said to Pharaoh, “The years of my earthly sojourn are one hundred thirty; few and hard have been the years of my life. They do not compare with the years of the life of my ancestors during their long sojourn.”

¹⁰Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh, and went out from the presence of Pharaoh.

¹¹Joseph settled his father and his brothers, and granted them a holding in the land of Egypt, in the best part of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had instructed.

¹²And Joseph provided his father, his brothers, and all his father’s household with food, according to the number of their dependents.

¹³Now there was no food in all the land, for the famine was very severe. The land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished because of the famine.

¹⁴Joseph collected all the money to be found in the land of Egypt and in the land of Canaan, in exchange for the grain that they bought; and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh’s house.

¹⁵When the money from the land of Egypt and from the land of Canaan was spent, all the Egyptians came to Joseph, and said, “Give us food! Why should we die before your eyes? For our money is gone.”

¹⁶And Joseph answered, “Give me your livestock, and I will give you food in exchange for your livestock, if your money is gone.”

¹⁷So they brought their livestock to Joseph; and Joseph gave them food in exchange for the horses, the flocks, the herds, and the donkeys. That year he supplied them with food in exchange for all their livestock.

¹⁸When that year was ended, they came to him the following year, and said to him, “We can not hide from my lord that our money is all spent; and the herds of cattle are my lord’s. There is nothing left in the sight of my lord but our bodies and our lands.

¹⁹Shall we die before your eyes, both we and our land? Buy us and our land in exchange for food. We with our land will become slaves to Pharaoh; just give us seed, so that we may live and not die, and that the land may not become desolate.”

²⁰So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh. All the Egyptians sold their fields, because the famine was severe upon them; and the land became Pharaoh’s.

²¹As for the people, he made slaves of them from one end of Egypt to the other.

²²Only the land of the priests he did not buy; for the priests had a fixed allowance from Pharaoh, and lived on the allowance that Pharaoh gave them; therefore they did not sell their land.

²³Then Joseph said to the people, “Now that I have this day bought you and your land for Pharaoh, here is seed for you; sow the land.

²⁴And at the harvests you shall give one-fifth to Pharaoh, and four-fifths shall be your own, as seed for the field and as food for yourselves and your households, and as food for your little ones.”

²⁵They said, “You have saved our lives; may it please my lord, we will be slaves to Pharaoh.”

²⁶So Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt, and it stands to this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth. The land of the priests alone did not become Pharaoh’s.

²⁷Thus Israel settled in the land of Egypt, in the region of Goshen; and they gained possessions in it, and were fruitful and multiplied exceedingly.

²⁸Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years; so the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were one hundred forty-seven years.

²⁹When the time of Israel’s death drew near, he called his son Joseph and said to him, “If I have found favor with you, put your hand under my thigh and promise to deal loyally and truly with me. Do not bury me in Egypt.

³⁰When I lie down with my ancestors, carry me out of Egypt and bury me in their burial place.” He answered, “I will do as you have said.”

³¹And he said, “Swear to me”; and he swore to him. Then Israel bowed himself on the head of his bed.

¹After this Joseph was told, “Your father is ill.” So he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.

²When Jacob was told, “Your son Joseph has come to you,” he summoned his strength and sat up in bed.

³And Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and he blessed me,

⁴and said to me, ‘I am going to make you fruitful and increase your numbers; I will make of you a company of peoples, and will give this land to your offspring after you for a perpetual holding.’

⁵Therefore your two sons, who were born to you in the land of Egypt before I came to you in Egypt, are now mine; Ephraim and Manasseh shall be mine, just as Reuben and Simeon are.

⁶As for the offspring born to you after them, they shall be yours. They shall be recorded under the names of their brothers with regard to their inheritance.

⁷For when I came from Paddan, Rachel, alas, died in the land of Canaan on the way, while there was still some distance to go to Ephrath; and I buried her there on the way to Ephrath” (that is, Bethlehem).

⁸When Israel saw Joseph’s sons, he said, “Who are these?”

⁹Joseph said to his father, “They are my sons, whom God has given me here.” And he said, “Bring them to me, please, that I may bless them.”

¹⁰Now the eyes of Israel were dim with age, and he could not see well. So Joseph brought them near him; and he kissed them and embraced them.

¹¹Israel said to Joseph, “I did not expect to see your face; and here God has let me see your children also.”

¹²Then Joseph removed them from his father’s knees, and he bowed himself with his face to the earth.

¹³Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel’s left, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel’s right, and brought them near 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 the head of Manasseh, crossing his hands, for Manasseh was the firstborn.

¹⁵He blessed Joseph, and said, “The God before whom my ancestors Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life to this day,

¹⁶the angel who has redeemed me from all harm, bless the boys; and in them let my name be perpetuated, and the name of my ancestors Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude on the earth.”

¹⁷When Joseph saw that his father laid his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it displeased him; so he took his father’s hand, to remove it from Ephraim’s head to Manasseh’s head.

¹⁸Joseph said to his father, “Not so, my father! Since this one is the firstborn, put your right hand on his head.”

¹⁹But his father refused, and said, “I know, my son, I know; he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great. Nevertheless his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his offspring shall become a multitude of nations.”

²⁰So he blessed them that day, saying, “By you Israel will invoke blessings, saying, ‘God make you like Ephraim and like Manasseh.’” So he put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh.

²¹Then Israel said to Joseph, “I am about to die, but God will be with you and will bring you again to the land of your ancestors.

²²I now give to you one portion more than to your brothers, the portion that I took from the hand of the Amorites with my sword and with my bow.”

¹Then Jacob called his sons, and said: “Gather around, that I may tell you what will happen to you in days to come.

²Assemble and hear, O sons of Jacob; listen to Israel your father.

³Reuben, you are my firstborn, my might and the first fruits of my vigor, excelling in rank and excelling in power.

⁴Unstable as water, you shall no longer excel because you went up onto your father’s bed; then you defiled it — you went up onto my couch!

⁵Simeon and Levi are brothers; weapons of violence are their swords.

⁶May I never come into their council; may I not be joined to their company — for in their anger they killed men, and at their whim they hamstrung oxen.

⁷Cursed be their anger, for it is fierce, and their wrath, for it is cruel! I will divide them in Jacob, and scatter them in Israel.

⁸Judah, your brothers shall praise you; your hand shall be on the neck of your enemies; your father’s sons shall bow down before you.

⁹Judah is a lion’s whelp; from the prey, my son, you have gone up. He crouches down, he stretches out like a lion, like a lioness — who dares rouse him up?

¹⁰The scepter shall not depart from Judah, nor the ruler’s staff from between his feet, until tribute comes to him; and the obedience of the peoples is his.

¹¹Binding his foal to the vine and his donkey’s colt to the choice vine, he washes his garments in wine and his robe in the blood of grapes;

¹²his eyes are darker than wine, and his teeth whiter than milk.

¹³Zebulun shall settle at the shore of the sea; he shall be a haven for ships, and his border shall be at Sidon.

¹⁴Issachar is a strong donkey, lying down between the sheepfolds;

¹⁵he saw that a resting place was good, and that the land was pleasant; so he bowed his shoulder to the burden, and became a slave at forced labor.

¹⁶Dan shall judge his people as one of the tribes of Israel.

¹⁷Dan shall be a snake by the roadside, a viper along the path, that bites the horse’s heels so that its rider falls backward.

¹⁸I wait for your salvation, O LORD.

¹⁹Gad shall be raided by raiders, but he shall raid at their heels.

²⁰Asher’s food shall be rich, and he shall provide royal delicacies.

²¹Naphtali is a doe let loose that bears lovely fawns.

²²Joseph is a fruitful bough, a fruitful bough by a spring; his branches run over the wall.

²³The archers fiercely attacked him; they shot at him and pressed him hard.

²⁴Yet his bow remained taut, and his arms were made agile by the hands of the Mighty One of Jacob, by the name of the Shepherd, the Rock of Israel,

²⁵by the God of your father, who will help you, by the Almighty who will bless you with blessings of heaven above, blessings of the deep that lies beneath, blessings of the breasts and of the womb.

²⁶The blessings of your father are stronger than the blessings of the eternal mountains, the bounties of the everlasting hills; may they be on the head of Joseph, on the brow of him who was set apart from his brothers.

²⁷Benjamin is a ravenous wolf, in the morning devouring the prey, and at evening dividing the spoil.”

²⁸All these are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their father said to them when he blessed them, blessing each one of them with a suitable blessing.

²⁹Then he charged them, saying to them, “I am about to be gathered to my people. Bury me with my ancestors — in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite,

³⁰in the cave in the field at Machpelah, near Mamre, in the land of Canaan, in the field that Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite as a burial site.

³¹There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried; there Isaac and his wife Rebekah were buried; and there I buried Leah —

³²the field and the cave that is in it were purchased from the Hittites.”

³³When Jacob ended his charge to his sons, he drew up his feet into the bed, breathed his last, and was gathered to his people.

¹Then Joseph threw himself on his father’s face and wept over him and kissed him.

²Joseph commanded the physicians in his service to embalm his father. So the physicians embalmed Israel;

³they spent forty days in doing this, for that is the time required for embalming. And the Egyptians wept for him seventy days.

⁴When the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph addressed the household of Pharaoh, “If now I have found favor with you, please speak to Pharaoh as follows:

⁵My father made me swear an oath; he said, ‘I am about to die. In the tomb that I hewed out for myself in the land of Canaan, there you shall bury me.’ Now therefore let me go up, so that I may bury my father; then I will return.”

⁶Pharaoh answered, “Go up, and bury your father, as he made you swear to do.”

⁷So Joseph went up to bury his father. With him went up all the servants of Pharaoh, the elders of his household, and all the elders of the land of Egypt,

⁸as well as all the household of Joseph, his brothers, and his father’s household. Only their children, their flocks, and their herds were left in the land of Goshen.

⁹Both chariots and charioteers went up with him. It was a very great company.

¹⁰When they came to the threshing floor of Atad, which is beyond the Jordan, they held there a very great and sorrowful lamentation; and he observed a time of mourning for his father seven days.

¹¹When the Canaanite inhabitants of the land saw the mourning on the threshing floor of Atad, they said, “This is a grievous mourning on the part of the Egyptians.” Therefore the place was named Abel-mizraim; it is beyond the Jordan.

¹²Thus his sons did for him as he had instructed them.

¹³They carried him to the land of Canaan and buried him in the cave of the field at Machpelah, the field near Mamre, which Abraham bought as a burial site from Ephron the Hittite.

¹⁴After he had buried his father, Joseph returned to Egypt with his brothers and all who had gone up with him to bury his father.

¹⁵Realizing that their father was dead, Joseph’s brothers said, “What if Joseph still bears a grudge against us and pays us back in full for all the wrong that we did to him?”

¹⁶So they approached Joseph, saying, “Your father gave this instruction before he died,

¹⁷‘Say to Joseph: I beg you, forgive the crime of your brothers and the wrong they did in harming you.’ Now therefore please forgive the crime of the servants of the God of your father.” Joseph wept when they spoke to him.

¹⁸Then his brothers also wept, fell down before him, and said, “We are here as your slaves.”

¹⁹But Joseph said to them, “Do not be afraid! Am I in the place of God?

²⁰Even though you intended to do harm to me, God intended it for good, in order to preserve a numerous people, as he is doing today.

²¹So have no fear; I myself will provide for you and your little ones.” In this way he reassured them, speaking kindly to them.

²²So Joseph remained in Egypt, he and his father’s household; and Joseph lived one hundred ten years.

²³Joseph saw Ephraim’s children of the third generation; the children of Machir son of Manasseh were also born on Joseph’s knees.

²⁴Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die; but God will surely come to you, and bring you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.”

²⁵So Joseph made the Israelites swear, saying, “When God comes to you, you shall carry up my bones from here.”

²⁶And Joseph died, being one hundred ten years old; he was embalmed and placed in a coffin in Egypt.

¹These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt with Jacob, each with his household:

²Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah,

³Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin,

⁴Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher.

⁵The total number of people born to Jacob was seventy. Joseph was already in Egypt.

⁶Then Joseph died, and all his brothers, and that whole generation.

⁷But the Israelites were fruitful and prolific; they multiplied and grew exceedingly strong, so that the land was filled with them.

⁸Now a new king arose over Egypt, who did not know Joseph.

⁹He said to his people, “Look, the Israelite people are more numerous and more powerful than we.

¹⁰Come, let us deal shrewdly with them, or they will increase and, in the event of war, join our enemies and fight against us and escape from the land.”

¹¹Therefore they set taskmasters over them to oppress them with forced labor. They built supply cities, Pithom and Rameses, for Pharaoh.

¹²But the more they were oppressed, the more they multiplied and spread, so that the Egyptians came to dread the Israelites.

¹³The Egyptians became ruthless in imposing tasks on the Israelites,

¹⁴and made their lives bitter with hard service in mortar and brick and in every kind of field labor. They were ruthless in all the tasks that they imposed on them.

¹⁵The king of Egypt said to the Hebrew midwives, one of whom was named Shiphrah and the other Puah,

¹⁶“When you act as midwives to the Hebrew women, and see them on the birthstool, if it is a boy, kill him; but if it is a girl, she shall live.”

¹⁷But the midwives feared God; they did not do as the king of Egypt commanded them, but they let the boys live.

¹⁸So the king of Egypt summoned the midwives and said to them, “Why have you done this, and allowed the boys to live?”

¹⁹The midwives said to Pharaoh, “Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women; for they are vigorous and give birth before the midwife comes to them.”

²⁰So God dealt well with the midwives; and the people multiplied and became very strong.

²¹And because the midwives feared God, he gave them families.

²²Then Pharaoh commanded all his people, “Every boy that is born to the Hebrews you shall throw into the Nile, but you shall let every girl live.”

¹Now a man from the house of Levi went and married a Levite woman.

²The woman conceived and bore a son; and when she saw that he was a fine baby, she hid him three months.

³When she could hide him no longer she got a papyrus basket for him, and plastered it with bitumen and pitch; she put the child in it and placed it among the reeds on the bank of the river.

⁴His sister stood at a distance, to see what would happen to him.

⁵The daughter of Pharaoh came down to bathe at the river, while her attendants walked beside the river. She saw the basket among the reeds and sent her maid to bring it.

⁶When she opened it, she saw the child. He was crying, and she took pity on him. “This must be one of the Hebrews’ children,” she said.

⁷Then his sister said to Pharaoh’s daughter, “Shall I go and get you a nurse from the Hebrew women to nurse the child for you?”

⁸Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Yes.” So the girl went and called the child’s mother.

⁹Pharaoh’s daughter said to her, “Take this child and nurse it for me, and I will give you your wages.” So the woman took the child and nursed it.

¹⁰When the child grew up, she brought him to Pharaoh’s daughter, and she took him as her son. She named him Moses, “because,” she said, “I drew him out of the water.”

¹¹One day, after Moses had grown up, he went out to his people and saw their forced labor. He saw an Egyptian beating a Hebrew, one of his kinsfolk.

¹²He looked this way and that, and seeing no one he killed the Egyptian and hid him in the sand.

¹³When he went out the next day, he saw two Hebrews fighting; and he said to the one who was in the wrong, “Why do you strike your fellow Hebrew?”

¹⁴He answered, “Who made you a ruler and judge over us? Do you mean to kill me as you killed the Egyptian?” Then Moses was afraid and thought, “Surely the thing is known.”

¹⁵When Pharaoh heard of it, he sought to kill Moses. But Moses fled from Pharaoh. He settled in the land of Midian, and sat down by a well.

¹⁶The priest of Midian had seven daughters. They came to draw water, and filled the troughs to water their father’s flock.

¹⁷But some shepherds came and drove them away. Moses got up and came to their defense and watered their flock.

¹⁸When they returned to their father Reuel, he said, “How is it that you have come back so soon today?”

¹⁹They said, “An Egyptian helped us against the shepherds; he even drew water for us and watered the flock.”

²⁰He said to his daughters, “Where is he? Why did you leave the man? Invite him to break bread.”

²¹Moses agreed to stay with the man, and he gave Moses his daughter Zipporah in marriage.

²²She bore a son, and he named him Gershom; for he said, “I have been an alien residing in a foreign land.”

²³After a long time the king of Egypt died. The Israelites groaned under their slavery, and cried out. Out of the slavery their cry for help rose up to God.

²⁴God heard their groaning, and God remembered his covenant with Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob.

²⁵God looked upon the Israelites, and God took notice of them.

¹Moses was keeping the flock of his father-in-law Jethro, the priest of Midian; he led his flock beyond the wilderness, and came to Horeb, the mountain of God.

²There the angel of the LORD appeared to him in a flame of fire out of a bush; he looked, and the bush was blazing, yet it was not consumed.

³Then Moses said, “I must turn aside and look at this great sight, and see why the bush is not burned up.”

⁴When the LORD saw that he had turned aside to see, God called to him out of the bush, “Moses, Moses!” And he said, “Here I am.”

⁵Then he said, “Come no closer! Remove the sandals from your feet, for the place on which you are standing is holy ground.”

⁶He said further, “I am the God of your father, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob.” And Moses hid his face, for he was afraid to look at God.

⁷Then the LORD said, “I have observed the misery of my people who are in Egypt; I have heard their cry on account of their taskmasters. Indeed, I know their sufferings,

⁸and I have come down to deliver them from the Egyptians, and to bring them up out of that land to a good and broad land, a land flowing with milk and honey, to the country of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites.

⁹The cry of the Israelites has now come to me; I have also seen how the Egyptians oppress them.

¹⁰So come, I will send you to Pharaoh to bring my people, the Israelites, out of Egypt.”

¹¹But Moses said to God, “Who am I that I should go to Pharaoh, and bring the Israelites out of Egypt?”

¹²He said, “I will be with you; and this shall be the sign for you that it is I who sent you: when you have brought the people out of Egypt, you shall worship God on this mountain.”

¹³But Moses said to God, “If I come to the Israelites and say to them, ‘The God of your ancestors has sent me to you,’ and they ask me, ‘What is his name?’ what shall I say to them?”

¹⁴God said to Moses, “I AM WHO I AM.” He said further, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘I AM has sent me to you.’”

¹⁵God also said to Moses, “Thus you shall say to the Israelites, ‘The LORD, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has sent me to you’: This is my name forever, and this my title for all generations.

¹⁶Go and assemble the elders of Israel, and say to them, ‘The LORD, the God of your ancestors, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has appeared to me, saying: I have given heed to you and to what has been done to you in Egypt.

¹⁷I declare that I will bring you up out of the misery of Egypt, to the land of the Canaanites, the Hittites, the Amorites, the Perizzites, the Hivites, and the Jebusites, a land flowing with milk and honey.’

¹⁸They will listen to your voice; and you and the elders of Israel shall go to the king of Egypt and say to him, ‘The LORD, the God of the Hebrews, has met with us; let us now go a three days’ journey into the wilderness, so that we may sacrifice to the LORD our God.’

¹⁹I know, however, that the king of Egypt will not let you go unless compelled by a mighty hand.

²⁰So I will stretch out my hand and strike Egypt with all my wonders that I will perform in it; after that he will let you go.

²¹I will bring this people into such favor with the Egyptians that, when you go, you will not go empty-handed;

²²each woman shall ask her neighbor and any woman living in the neighbor’s house for jewelry of silver and of gold, and clothing, and you shall put them on your sons and on your daughters; and so you shall plunder the Egyptians.”

¹Then Moses answered, “But suppose they do not believe me or listen to me, but say, ‘The LORD did not appear to you.’”

²The LORD said to him, “What is that in your hand?” He said, “A staff.”

³And he said, “Throw it on the ground.” So he threw the staff on the ground, and it became a snake; and Moses drew back from it.

⁴Then the LORD said to Moses, “Reach out your hand, and seize it by the tail” — so he reached out his hand and grasped it, and it became a staff in his hand —

⁵“so that they may believe that the LORD, the God of their ancestors, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob, has appeared to you.”

⁶Again, the LORD said to him, “Put your hand inside your cloak.” He put his hand into his cloak; and when he took it out, his hand was leprous, as white as snow.

⁷Then God said, “Put your hand back into your cloak” — so he put his hand back into his cloak, and when he took it out, it was restored like the rest of his body —

⁸“If they will not believe you or heed the first sign, they may believe the second sign.

⁹If they will not believe even these two signs or heed you, you shall take some water from the Nile and pour it on the dry ground; and the water that you shall take from the Nile will become blood on the dry ground.”

¹⁰But Moses said to the LORD, “O my Lord, I have never been eloquent, neither in the past nor even now that you have spoken to your servant; but I am slow of speech and slow of tongue.”

¹¹Then the LORD said to him, “Who gives speech to mortals? Who makes them mute or deaf, seeing or blind? Is it not I, the LORD?

¹²Now go, and I will be with your mouth and teach you what you are to speak.”

¹³But he said, “O my Lord, please send someone else.”

¹⁴Then the anger of the LORD was kindled against Moses and he said, “What of your brother Aaron the Levite? I know that he can speak fluently; even now he is coming out to meet you, and when he sees you his heart will be glad.

¹⁵You shall speak to him and put the words in his mouth; and I will be with your mouth and with his mouth, and will teach you what you shall do.

¹⁶He indeed shall speak for you to the people; he shall serve as a mouth for you, and you shall serve as God for him.

¹⁷Take in your hand this staff, with which you shall perform the signs.”

¹⁸Moses went back to his father-in-law Jethro and said to him, “Please let me go back to my kindred in Egypt and see whether they are still living.” And Jethro said to Moses, “Go in peace.”

¹⁹The LORD said to Moses in Midian, “Go back to Egypt; for all those who were seeking your life are dead.”

²⁰So Moses took his wife and his sons, put them on a donkey, and went back to the land of Egypt; and Moses carried the staff of God in his hand.

²¹And the LORD said to Moses, “When you go back to Egypt, see that you perform before Pharaoh all the wonders that I have put in your power; but I will harden his heart, so that he will not let the people go.

²²Then you shall say to Pharaoh, ‘Thus says the LORD: Israel is my firstborn son.

²³I said to you, “Let my son go that he may worship me.” But you refused to let him go; now I will kill your firstborn son.’”

²⁴On the way, at a place where they spent the night, the LORD met him and tried to kill him.

²⁵But Zipporah took a flint and cut off her son’s foreskin, and touched Moses’ feet with it, and said, “Truly you are a bridegroom of blood to me!”

²⁶So he let him alone. It was then she said, “A bridegroom of blood by circumcision.”

²⁷The LORD said to Aaron, “Go into the wilderness to meet Moses.” So he went; and he met him at the mountain of God and kissed him.

²⁸Moses told Aaron all the words of the LORD with which he had sent him, and all the signs with which he had charged him.

²⁹Then Moses and Aaron went and assembled all the elders of the Israelites.

³⁰Aaron spoke all the words that the LORD had spoken to Moses, and performed the signs in the sight of the people.

³¹The people believed; and when they heard that the LORD had given heed to the Israelites and that he had seen their misery, they bowed down and worshiped.

¹Afterward Moses and Aaron went to Pharaoh and said, “Thus says the LORD, the God of Israel, ‘Let my people go, so that they may celebrate a festival to me in the wilderness.’”

²But Pharaoh said, “Who is the LORD, that I should heed him and let Israel go? I do not know the LORD, and I will not let Israel go.”

³Then they said, “The God of the Hebrews has revealed himself to us; let us go a three days’ journey into the wilderness to sacrifice to the LORD our God, or he will fall upon us with pestilence or sword.”

⁴But the king of Egypt said to them, “Moses and Aaron, why are you taking the people away from their work? Get to your labors!”

⁵Pharaoh continued, “Now they are more numerous than the people of the land and yet you want them to stop working!”

⁶That same day Pharaoh commanded the taskmasters of the people, as well as their supervisors,

⁷“You shall no longer give the people straw to make bricks, as before; let them go and gather straw for themselves.

⁸But you shall require of them the same quantity of bricks as they have made previously; do not diminish it, for they are lazy; that is why they cry, ‘Let us go and offer sacrifice to our God.’

⁹Let heavier work be laid on them; then they will labor at it and pay no attention to deceptive words.”

¹⁰So the taskmasters and the supervisors of the people went out and said to the people, “Thus says Pharaoh, ‘I will not give you straw.

¹¹Go and get straw yourselves, wherever you can find it; but your work will not be lessened in the least.’”

¹²So the people scattered throughout the land of Egypt, to gather stubble for straw.

¹³The taskmasters were urgent, saying, “Complete your work, the same daily assignment as when you were given straw.”

¹⁴And the supervisors of the Israelites, whom Pharaoh’s taskmasters had set over them, were beaten, and were asked, “Why did you not finish the required quantity of bricks yesterday and today, as you did before?”

¹⁵Then the Israelite supervisors came to Pharaoh and cried, “Why do you treat your servants like this?

¹⁶No straw is given to your servants, yet they say to us, ‘Make bricks!’ Look how your servants are beaten! You are unjust to your own people.”

¹⁷He said, “You are lazy, lazy; that is why you say, ‘Let us go and sacrifice to the LORD.’

¹⁸Go now, and work; for no straw shall be given you, but you shall still deliver the same number of bricks.”

¹⁹The Israelite supervisors saw that they were in trouble when they were told, “You shall not lessen your daily number of bricks.”

²⁰As they left Pharaoh, they came upon Moses and Aaron who were waiting to meet them.

²¹They said to them, “The LORD look upon you and judge! You have brought us into bad odor with Pharaoh and his officials, and have put a sword in their hand to kill us.”

²²Then Moses turned again to the LORD and said, “O LORD, why have you mistreated this people? Why did you ever send me?

²³Since I first came to Pharaoh to speak in your name, he has mistreated this people, and you have done nothing at all to deliver your people.”

¹Then the LORD said to Moses, “Now you shall see what I will do to Pharaoh: Indeed, by a mighty hand he will let them go; by a mighty hand he will drive them out of his land.”

²God also spoke to Moses and said to him: “I am the LORD.

³I appeared to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob as God Almighty, but by my name ‘The LORD’ I did not make myself known to them.

⁴I also established my covenant with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land in which they resided as aliens.

⁵I have also heard the groaning of the Israelites whom the Egyptians are holding as slaves, and I have remembered my covenant.

⁶Say therefore to the Israelites, ‘I am the LORD, and I will free you from the burdens of the Egyptians and deliver you from slavery to them. I will redeem you with an outstretched arm and with mighty acts of judgment.

⁷I will take you as my people, and I will be your God. You shall know that I am the LORD your God, who has freed you from the burdens of the Egyptians.

⁸I will bring you into the land that I swore to give to Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob; I will give it to you for a possession. I am the LORD.’”

⁹Moses told this to the Israelites; but they would not listen to Moses, because of their broken spirit and their cruel slavery.

¹⁰Then the LORD spoke to Moses,

¹¹“Go and tell Pharaoh king of Egypt to let the Israelites go out of his land.”

¹²But Moses spoke to the LORD, “The Israelites have not listened to me; how then shall Pharaoh listen to me, poor speaker that I am?”

¹³Thus the LORD spoke to Moses and Aaron, and gave them orders regarding the Israelites and Pharaoh king of Egypt, charging them to free the Israelites from the land of Egypt.

¹⁴The following are the heads of their ancestral houses: the sons of Reuben, the firstborn of Israel: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi; these are the families of Reuben.

¹⁵The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman; these are the families of Simeon.

¹⁶The following are the names of the sons of Levi according to their genealogies: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari, and the length of Levi’s life was one hundred thirty-seven years.

¹⁷The sons of Gershon: Libni and Shimei, by their families.

¹⁸The sons of Kohath: Amram, Izhar, Hebron, and Uzziel, and the length of Kohath’s life was one hundred thirty-three years.

¹⁹The sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi. These are the families of the Levites according to their genealogies.

²⁰Amram married Jochebed his father’s sister and she bore him Aaron and Moses, and the length of Amram’s life was one hundred thirty-seven years.

²¹The sons of Izhar: Korah, Nepheg, and Zichri.

²²The sons of Uzziel: Mishael, Elzaphan, and Sithri.

²³Aaron married Elisheba, daughter of Amminadab and sister of Nahshon, and she bore him Nadab, Abihu, Eleazar, and Ithamar.

²⁴The sons of Korah: Assir, Elkanah, and Abiasaph; these are the families of the Korahites.

²⁵Aaron’s son Eleazar married one of the daughters of Putiel, and she bore him Phinehas. These are the heads of the ancestral houses of the Levites by their families.

²⁶It was this same Aaron and Moses to whom the LORD said, “Bring the Israelites out of the land of Egypt, company by company.”

²⁷It was they who spoke to Pharaoh king of Egypt to bring the Israelites out of Egypt, the same Moses and Aaron.

²⁸On the day when the LORD spoke to Moses in the land of Egypt,

²⁹he said to him, “I am the LORD; tell Pharaoh king of Egypt all that I am speaking to you.”

³⁰But Moses said in the LORD’s presence, “Since I am a poor speaker, why would Pharaoh listen to me?”