Génesis 46

¹So Israel set out, taking everything he owned. At Beersheba he stopped and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. ²In the night God spoke to Israel in visions. “Jacob, Jacob,” he called, and Jacob said, “Here I am.” ³He said, “I am God, your father’s God. Do not fear the journey down to Egypt, for it is there that I will make you a great nation. ⁴I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I myself will bring you up again without fail. Joseph will be the one to close your eyes.” ⁵Jacob moved on from Beersheba, and the sons of Israel carried their father Jacob, their little ones and their wives in the carts that Pharaoh had sent for him. ⁶They also took the livestock and goods they had gained in the land of Canaan, and they came to Egypt, Jacob and all his descendants with him, ⁷his sons and grandsons, his daughters and granddaughters. He brought all his descendants with him to Egypt.

⁸These are the names of the family of Israel who came to Egypt, Jacob and his sons. Jacob’s firstborn was Reuben. ⁹Reuben’s sons were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron and Carmi. ¹⁰Simeon’s sons were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin and Zohar, and Shaul, whose mother was a Canaanite. ¹¹Levi’s sons were Gershon, Kohath and Merari. ¹²Judah’s sons were Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez and Zerah, though Er and Onan had died in the land of Canaan. The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul. ¹³Issachar’s sons were Tola, Puvah, Iob and Shimron.^{a 14}Zebulun’s sons were Sered, Elon and Jahleel. ¹⁵These are Leah’s sons, born to Jacob in Paddan-aram, with his daughter Dinah. Counting sons and daughters, this branch of the family came to thirty-three people. ¹⁶Gad’s sons were Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi and Areli. ¹⁷Asher’s sons were Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi and Beriah, and they had a sister, Serah. Beriah’s sons were Heber and Malkiel. ¹⁸These were the descendants of Zilpah, whom Laban had given to his daughter Leah. She bore these to Jacob, sixteen persons in all. ¹⁹The sons of Jacob’s wife Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin. ²⁰In Egypt, Joseph had two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. Their mother was Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, priest of On.^{b 21}Benjamin’s sons were Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim and Ard. ²²These were Rachel’s descendants born to Jacob, fourteen people in all. ²³Dan’s son was Hushim. ²⁴Naphtali’s sons were Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer and Shillem. ²⁵These were the descendants of Bilhah, whom Laban had given to his daughter Rachel. She bore these to Jacob, seven persons in all. ²⁶Jacob’s own descendants who traveled with him to Egypt came to sixty-six, without counting his sons’ wives. ²⁷Joseph had two sons who were born to him in Egypt. So the whole household of Jacob that came to Egypt numbered seventy.^c

²⁸Jacob had Judah go ahead of him to Joseph, so that Joseph could show the way to Goshen. And they came into the land of Goshen. ²⁹Joseph got his chariot ready and went up to Goshen to meet his father Israel. The moment he came before his father, he flung his arms around his neck and wept, and went on weeping a long while. ³⁰Israel said to Joseph, “Now let death come. I have looked on your face, and I know you are alive.” ³¹Joseph said to his brothers and to the rest of his father’s family, “I am going up to Pharaoh to give him the news. I will tell him, ‘My brothers and my father’s family, who were living in Canaan, have arrived to join me. ³²These men are shepherds, people who have kept livestock all along, and they have come with their sheep and goats, their cattle and all their belongings.’ ³³When Pharaoh summons you and asks what you do for a living, ³⁴answer, ‘We your servants have kept livestock since we were young, and so did our fathers before us.’ That way you will be able to live in the land of Goshen, because Egyptians loathe everyone who herds sheep.”