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Joseph Tells Who He Is

¹ Joseph could not control himself any longer. He cried in front of all the people who were there. Joseph said, "Tell everyone to leave here." So all the people left. Only the brothers were left with Joseph. Then he told them who he was. ² Joseph continued to cry, and all the Egyptian people in Pharaoh's house heard it. ³ He said to his brothers, "I am your brother Joseph. Is my father doing well?" But the brothers did not answer him because they were confused and afraid.

⁴ So Joseph said to his brothers again, "Come here to me. I beg you, come here." When the brothers went to him, he said to them, "I am your brother Joseph. I am the one you sold as a slave to Egypt. ⁵ Now don't be worried. Don't be angry with yourselves for what you did. It was God's plan for me to come here. I am here to save people's lives. ⁶ This terrible famine has continued for two years now, and there will be five more years without planting or harvest. ⁷ So God sent me here ahead of you so that I can save your people in this country. ⁸ It was not your fault that I was sent here. It was God's plan. God made me like a father to Pharaoh. I am the governor over all his house and over all Egypt."

Israel Invited to Egypt

⁹ Joseph said, "Hurry up and go to my father. Tell him his son Joseph sent this message: ‘God made me the governor of Egypt. So come here to me quickly. Don't wait. ¹⁰ You can live near me in the land of Goshen. You, your children, your grandchildren, and all of your animals are welcome here. ¹¹ I will take care of you during the next five years of hunger. So you and your family will not lose everything you own.'

¹² "Surely you can see that I really am Joseph. Even my brother Benjamin knows it is me, your brother, talking to you. ¹³ So tell my father about the honor I have received here in Egypt. Tell him about everything you have seen here. Now hurry, go bring my father back to me." ¹⁴ Then Joseph hugged his brother Benjamin, and they both began crying. ¹⁵ Then Joseph cried as he kissed all his brothers. After this, the brothers began talking with him.

¹⁶ Pharaoh learned that Joseph's brothers had come to him. This news spread throughout Pharaoh's house. Pharaoh and his servants were very excited! ¹⁷ So Pharaoh told Joseph, "Tell your brothers to take all the food they need and go back to the land of Canaan. ¹⁸ Tell them to bring your father and their families back here to me. I will give you the best land in Egypt to live on. And your family can eat the best food we have here. ¹⁹ Also give your brothers some of our best wagons. Tell them to go to Canaan and bring your father and all the women and children back in the wagons. ²⁰ Don't worry about bringing all of their belongings. We can give them the best of Egypt."

²¹ So the sons of Israel did this. Joseph gave them good wagons just as Pharaoh had promised. And Joseph gave them enough food for their trip. ²² He gave each brother a suit of beautiful clothes. But to Benjamin he gave five suits of beautiful clothes and 300 pieces of silver. ²³ Joseph also sent gifts to his father. He sent ten donkeys with bags full of many good things from Egypt. And he sent ten female donkeys loaded with grain, bread, and other food for his father on his trip back. ²⁴ Then Joseph told his brothers to go. While they were leaving, he said to them, "Go straight home, and don't fight on the way."

²⁵ So the brothers left Egypt and went to their father in the land of Canaan. ²⁶ They told him, "Father, Joseph is still alive! And he is the governor over the whole country of Egypt."

Their father did not know what to think. At first he didn't believe them. ²⁷ But then they told him everything Joseph had said. Then their father saw the wagons that Joseph had sent to bring him back to Egypt, and he became excited and very happy. ²⁸ Israel said, "Now I believe you. My son Joseph is still alive! I am going to see him before I die!"