^39:1Now Joseph was taken down to Egypt; and Potiphar the Egyptian, a captain of high position in Pharaoh's house, got him for a price from the Ishmaelites who had taken him there. ^39:2And the Lord was with Joseph, and he did well; and he was living in the house of his master the Egyptian. ^39:3And his master saw that the Lord was with him, making everything he did go well. ^39:4And having a high opinion of Joseph as his servant, he made him the overseer of his house and gave him control over all he had. ^39:5And from the time when he made him overseer and gave him control of all his property, the blessing of the Lord was with the Egyptian, because of Joseph; the blessing of the Lord was on all he had, in the house and in the field. ^39:6And he gave Joseph control of all his property, keeping no account of anything, but only the food which was put before him. Now Joseph was very beautiful in form and face. ^39:7And after a time, his master's wife, looking on Joseph with desire, said to him, Be my lover. ^39:8But he would not, and said to her, You see that my master keeps no account of what I do in his house, and has put all his property in my control; ^39:9So that no one has more authority in this house than I have; he has kept nothing back from me but you, because you are his wife; how then may I do this great wrong, sinning against God? ^39:10And day after day she went on requesting Joseph to come to her and be her lover, but he would not give ear to her. ^39:11Now one day he went into the house to do his work; and not one of the men of the house was inside. ^39:12And pulling at his coat, she said, Come to my bed; but slipping out of his coat, he went running away. ^39:13And when she saw that he had got away, letting her keep his coat, ^39:14She sent for the men of her house and said to them, See, he has let a Hebrew come here and make sport of us; he came to my bed, and I gave a loud cry; ^39:15And hearing it he went running out without his coat. ^39:16And she kept his coat by her, till his master came back. ^39:17Then she gave him the same story, saying, The Hebrew servant whom you have taken into our house came in to make sport of me; ^39:18And when I gave a loud cry he went running out without his coat. ^39:19And hearing his wife's account of what his servant had done, he became very angry. ^39:20And Joseph's master took him and put him in prison, in the place where the king's prisoners were kept in chains, and he was there in the prison-house. ^39:21But the Lord was with Joseph, and was good to him, and made the keeper of the prison his friend. ^39:22And the keeper of the prison put all the prisoners under Joseph's control, and he was responsible for whatever was done there. ^39:23And the keeper of the prison gave no attention to anything which was under his care, because the Lord was with him; and the Lord made everything he did go well.

^40:1Now after these things the chief servant who had the care of the wine, and the chief bread-maker in Pharaoh's house, did something against Pharaoh's orders; ^40:2And Pharaoh was angry with his two servants, with the chief wine-servant and the chief bread-maker; ^40:3And he put them in prison under the care of the captain of the army, in the same prison where Joseph himself was shut up. ^40:4And the captain put them in Joseph's care, and he did what was needed for them; and they were kept in prison for some time. ^40:5And these two had a dream on the same night; the chief wine-servant and the chief bread-maker of the king of Egypt, who were in prison, the two of them had dreams with a special sense. ^40:6And in the morning when Joseph came to them he saw that they were looking sad. ^40:7And he said to the servants of Pharaoh who were in prison with him, Why are you looking so sad? ^40:8Then they said to him, We have had a dream, and no one is able to give us the sense. And Joseph said, Does not the sense of dreams come from God? what was your dream? ^40:9Then the chief wine-servant gave Joseph an account of his dream, and said, In my dream I saw a vine before me; ^40:10And on the vine were three branches; and it seemed as if it put out buds and flowers, and from them came grapes ready for cutting. ^40:11And Pharaoh's cup was in my hand, and I took the grapes and crushing them into Pharaoh's cup, gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand. ^40:12Then Joseph said, This is the sense of your dream: the three branches are three days; ^40:13After three days Pharaoh will give you honour, and put you back into your place, and you will give him his cup as you did before, when you were his wine-servant. ^40:14But keep me in mind when things go well for you, and be good to me and say a good word for me to Pharaoh and get me out of this prison: ^40:15For truly I was taken by force from the land of the Hebrews; and I have done nothing for which I might be put in prison. ^40:16Now when the chief bread-maker saw that the first dream had a good sense, he said to Joseph, I had a dream; and in my dream there were three baskets of white bread on my head; ^40:17And in the top basket were all sorts of cooked meats for Pharaoh; and the birds were taking them out of the baskets on my head. ^40:18Then Joseph said, This is the sense of your dream: the three baskets are three days; ^40:19After three days Pharaoh will take you out of prison, hanging you on a tree, so that your flesh will be food for birds. ^40:20Now the third day was Pharaoh's birthday, and he gave a feast for all his servants; and he gave honour to the chief wine-servant and the chief bread-maker among the others. ^40:21And he put the chief wine-servant back in his old place; and he gave the cup into Pharaoh's hand. ^40:22But the chief bread-maker was put to death by hanging, as Joseph had said. ^40:23But the wine-servant did not keep Joseph in mind or give a thought to him.

^41:1Now after two years had gone by, Pharaoh had a dream; and in his dream he was by the side of the Nile; ^41:2And out of the Nile came seven cows, good-looking and fat, and their food was the river-grass. ^41:3And after them seven other cows came out of the Nile, poor-looking and thin; and they were by the side of the other cows. ^41:4And the seven thin cows made a meal of the seven fat cows. Then Pharaoh came out of his sleep. ^41:5But he went to sleep again and had a second dream, in which he saw seven heads of grain, full and good, all on one stem. ^41:6And after them came up seven other heads, thin and wasted by the east wind. ^41:7And the seven thin heads made a meal of the good heads. And when Pharaoh was awake he saw it was a dream. ^41:8And in the morning his spirit was troubled; and he sent for all the wise men of Egypt and all the holy men, and put his dream before them, but no one was able to give him the sense of it. ^41:9Then the chief wine-servant said to Pharaoh, The memory of my sin comes back to me now; ^41:10Pharaoh had been angry with his servants, and had put me in prison in the house of the captain of the army, together with the chief bread-maker; ^41:11And we had a dream on the same night, the two of us, and the dreams had a special sense. ^41:12And there was with us a young Hebrew, the captain's servant, and when we put our dreams before him, he gave us the sense of them. ^41:13And it came about as he said: I was put back in my place, and the bread-maker was put to death by hanging. ^41:14Then Pharaoh sent for Joseph, and they took him quickly out of prison; and when his hair had been cut and his dress changed, he came before Pharaoh. ^41:15And Pharaoh said to Joseph, I have had a dream, and no one is able to give me the sense of it; now it has come to my ears that you are able to give the sense of a dream when it is put before you. ^41:16Then Joseph said, Without God there will be no answer of peace for Pharaoh. ^41:17Then Pharaoh said, In my dream I was by the side of the Nile: ^41:18And out of the Nile came seven cows, fat and good-looking, and their food was the river-grass; ^41:19Then after them came seven other cows, very thin and poor-looking, worse than any I ever saw in the land of Egypt; ^41:20And the thin cows made a meal of the seven fat cows who came up first; ^41:21And even with the fat cows inside them they seemed as bad as before. And so I came out of my sleep. ^41:22And again in a dream I saw seven heads of grain, full and good, coming up on one stem: ^41:23And then I saw seven other heads, dry, thin, and wasted by the east wind, coming up after them: ^41:24And the seven thin heads made a meal of the seven good heads; and I put this dream before the wise men, but not one of them was able to give me the sense of it. ^41:25Then Joseph said, These two dreams have the same sense: God has made clear to Pharaoh what he is about to do. ^41:26The seven fat cows are seven years, and the seven good heads of grain are seven years: the two have the same sense. ^41:27The seven thin and poor-looking cows who came up after them are seven years; and the seven heads of grain, dry and wasted by the east wind, are seven years when there will be no food. ^41:28As I said to Pharaoh before, God has made clear to him what he is about to do. ^41:29Seven years are coming in which there will be great wealth of grain in Egypt; ^41:30And after that will come seven years when there will not be enough food; and the memory of the good years will go from men's minds; and the land will be made waste by the bad years; ^41:31And men will have no memory of the good time because of the need which will come after, for it will be very bitter. ^41:32And this dream came to Pharaoh twice, because this thing is certain, and God will quickly make it come about. ^41:33And now let Pharaoh make search for a man of wisdom and good sense, and put him in authority over the land of Egypt. ^41:34Let Pharaoh do this, and let him put overseers over the land of Egypt to put in store a fifth part of the produce of the land in the good years. ^41:35And let them get together all the food in those good years and make a store of grain under Pharaoh's control for the use of the towns, and let them keep it. ^41:36And let that food be kept in store for the land till the seven bad years which are to come in Egypt; so that the land may not come to destruction through need of food. ^41:37And this seemed good to Pharaoh and to all his servants. ^41:38Then Pharaoh said to his servants, Where may we get such a man as this, a man in whom is the spirit of God? ^41:39And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Seeing that God has made all this clear to you, there is no other man of such wisdom and good sense as you: ^41:40You, then, are to be over my house, and all my people will be ruled by your word: only as king will I be greater than you. ^41:41And Pharaoh said to Joseph, See, I have put you over all the land of Egypt. ^41:42Then Pharaoh took off his ring from his hand and put it on Joseph's hand, and he had him clothed with the best linen, and put a chain of gold round his neck; ^41:43And he made him take his seat in the second of his carriages; and they went before him crying, Make way! So he made him ruler over all the land of Egypt. ^41:44Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, I am Pharaoh; and without your order no man may do anything in all the land of Egypt. ^41:45And Pharaoh gave Joseph the name of Zaphnath-paaneah; and he gave him Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera, the priest of On, to be his wife. So Joseph went through all the land of Egypt. ^41:46Now Joseph was thirty years old when he came before Pharaoh, king of Egypt. And Joseph went out from before the face of Pharaoh and went through all the land of Egypt. ^41:47Now in the seven good years the earth gave fruit in masses. ^41:48And Joseph got together all the food of those seven years, and made a store of food in the towns: the produce of the fields round every town was stored up in the town. ^41:49So he got together a store of grain like the sand of the sea; so great a store that after a time he gave up measuring it, for it might not be measured. ^41:50And before the time of need, Joseph had two sons, to whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera, priest of On, gave birth. ^41:51And to the first he gave the name Manasseh, for he said, God has taken away from me all memory of my hard life and of my father's house. ^41:52And to the second he gave the name Ephraim, for he said, God has given me fruit in the land of my sorrow. ^41:53And so the seven good years in Egypt came to an end. ^41:54Then came the first of the seven years of need as Joseph had said: and in every other land they were short of food; but in the land of Egypt there was bread. ^41:55And when all the land of Egypt was in need of food, the people came crying to Pharaoh for bread; and Pharaoh said to the people, Go to Joseph, and whatever he says to you, do it. ^41:56And everywhere on the earth they were short of food; then Joseph, opening all his store-houses, gave the people of Egypt grain for money; so great was the need of food in the land of Egypt. ^41:57And all lands sent to Egypt, to Joseph, to get grain, for the need was great over all the earth.

^42:1Now Jacob, hearing that there was grain in Egypt, said to his sons, Why are you looking at one another? ^42:2And he said, I have had news that there is grain in Egypt: go down there and get grain for us, so that life and not death may be ours. ^42:3So Joseph's ten brothers went down to get grain from Egypt. ^42:4But Jacob did not send Benjamin, Joseph's brother, with them, for fear, as he said, that some evil might come to him. ^42:5And the sons of Israel came with all the others to get grain: for they were very short of food in the land of Canaan. ^42:6Now Joseph was ruler over all the land, and it was he who gave out the grain to all the people of the land; and Joseph's brothers came before him and went down on their faces to the earth. ^42:7And when Joseph saw his brothers, it was clear to him who they were, but he made himself strange to them, and talking roughly to them, said, Where do you come from? And they said, From the land of Canaan, to get food. ^42:8Now though Joseph saw that these were his brothers, they had no idea who he was. ^42:9Then the memory of his dreams about them came back to Joseph, and he said to them, You have come secretly to see how poor the land is. ^42:10And they said to him, Not so, my lord: your servants have come with money to get food. ^42:11We are all one man's sons, we are true men; we have not come with any secret purpose. ^42:12And he said to them, No, but you have come to see how poor the land is. ^42:13Then they said, We your servants are twelve brothers, sons of one man in the land of Canaan; the youngest of us is now with our father, and one is dead. ^42:14And Joseph said, It is as I said; you have come with some secret purpose; ^42:15But in this way will you be put to the test: by the life of Pharaoh, you will not go away from this place till your youngest brother comes here. ^42:16Send one of your number to get your brother, and the rest of you will be kept in prison, so that your words may be tested to see if you are true; if not, by the life of Pharaoh, your purpose is certainly secret. ^42:17So he put them in prison for three days. ^42:18And on the third day Joseph said to them, Do this, if you would keep your lives: for I am a god-fearing man: ^42:19If you are true men, let one of you be kept in prison, while you go and take grain for the needs of your families; ^42:20And come back to me with your youngest brother, so that your words may be seen to be true, and you will not be put to death. This is what you are to do. ^42:21And they said to one another, Truly, we did wrong to our brother, for we saw his grief of mind, and we did not give ear to his prayers; that is why this trouble has come on us. ^42:22And Reuben said to them, Did I not say to you, Do the child no wrong? but you gave no attention; so now, punishment has come on us for his blood. ^42:23They were not conscious that the sense of their words was clear to Joseph, for he had been talking to them through one who had knowledge of their language. ^42:24And turning away from them, he was overcome with weeping; then he went on talking to them again and took Simeon and put chains on him before their eyes. ^42:25Then Joseph gave orders for their bags to be made full of grain, and for every man's money to be put back into his bag, and for food to be given them for the journey: which was done. ^42:26Then they put the bags of grain on their asses and went away. ^42:27Now at their night's resting-place one of them, opening his bag to give his ass some food, saw his money in the mouth of the bag. ^42:28And he said to his brothers, My money has been given back: it is in my bag; then their hearts became full of fear, and turning to one another they said, What is this which God has done to us? ^42:29So when they came to Jacob their father, in the land of Canaan, they gave him an account of all their experiences, saying, ^42:30The man who is the ruler of the country was rough with us and put us in prison, saying that we had come with a secret evil purpose. ^42:31And we said to him, We are true men, we have no evil designs; ^42:32We are twelve brothers, sons of our father; one is dead, and the youngest is now with our father in the land of Canaan. ^42:33And the ruler of the land said, In this way I may be certain that you are true men; let one of you be kept here with me, while you go and take grain for the needs of your families; ^42:34And come back to me with your youngest brother: then I will be certain that you are true men, and I will give your brother back to you and let you do trade in the land. ^42:35And when they took the grain out of their bags, it was seen that every man's parcel of money was in his bag; and when they and their father saw the money, they were full of fear. ^42:36And Jacob their father said to them, You have taken my children from me: Joseph is gone and Simeon is gone, and now you would take Benjamin away; all these things have come on me. ^42:37And Reuben said, Put my two sons to death if I do not come back to you with him; let him be in my care and I will give him safely back to you. ^42:38And he said, I will not let my son go down with you; for his brother is dead and he is all I have: if evil overtakes him on the journey, then through you will my grey head go down to the underworld in sorrow.

^43:1Now the land was in bitter need of food. ^43:2And when the grain which they had got in Egypt was all used up, their father said to them, Go again and get us a little food. ^43:3And Judah said to him, The man said to us with an oath, You are not to come before me again without your brother. ^43:4If you will let our brother go with us, we will go down and get food: ^43:5But if you will not send him, we will not go down: for the man said to us, You are not to come before me if your brother is not with you. ^43:6And Israel said, Why were you so cruel to me as to say to him that you had a brother? ^43:7And they said, The man put a number of questions to us about ourselves and our family, saying, Is your father still living? have you another brother? And we had to give him answers; how were we to have any idea that he would say, Come back with your brother? ^43:8Then Judah said to Israel, his father, Send the boy with me, and let us be up and going, so that we and you and our little ones may not come to destruction. ^43:9Put him into my care and make me responsible for him: if I do not give him safely back to you, let mine be the sin for ever. ^43:10Truly, if we had not let the time go by, we might have come back again by now. ^43:11Then their father Israel said to them, If it has to be so, then do this: take of the best fruits of the land in your vessels to give the man, perfumes and honey and spices and nuts: ^43:12And take twice as much money with you; that is to say, take back the money which was put in your bags, for it may have been an error; ^43:13And take your brother and go back to the man: ^43:14And may God, the Ruler of all, give you mercy before the man, so that he may give you back your other brother and Benjamin. If my children are to be taken from me; there is no help for it. ^43:15So they took what their father said for the man, and twice as much money in their hands, and Benjamin, and went on their journey to Egypt, and came before Joseph. ^43:16And when Joseph saw Benjamin, he said to his chief servant, Take these men into my house, and make ready a meal, for they will take food with me in the middle of the day. ^43:17And the servant did as Joseph said, and took the men into Joseph's house. ^43:18Now the men were full of fear because they had been taken into Joseph's house and they said, It is because of the money which was put back in our bags the first time; he is looking for something against us, so that he may come down on us and take us and our asses for his use. ^43:19So they went up to Joseph's chief servant at the door of the house, ^43:20And said, O my lord, we only came down the first time to get food; ^43:21And when we came to our night's resting-place, on opening our bags we saw that every man's money was in the mouth of his bag, all our money in full weight: and we have it with us to give it back; ^43:22As well as more money, with which to get food: we have no idea who put our money in our bags. ^43:23Then the servant said, Peace be with you: have no fear: your God, even the God of your father, has put wealth in your bags for you: I had your money. Then he let Simeon come out to them. ^43:24And the servant took them into Joseph's house, and gave them water for washing their feet; and he gave their asses food. ^43:25And they got ready the things for Joseph before he came in the middle of the day: for word was given to them that they were to have a meal there. ^43:26And when Joseph came in, they gave him the things which they had for him, and went down to the earth before him. ^43:27And he said, How are you? is your father well, the old man of whom you were talking to me? is he still living? ^43:28And they said, Your servant, our father, is well, he is still living. And they went down on their faces before him. ^43:29Then, lifting up his eyes, he saw Benjamin, his brother, his mother's son, and he said, Is this your youngest brother of whom you gave me word? And he said, God be good to you, my son. ^43:30Then Joseph's heart went out to his brother, and he went quickly into his room, for he was overcome with weeping. ^43:31Then, after washing his face, he came out, and controlling his feelings said, Put food before us. ^43:32And they put a meal ready for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians who were with him by themselves; because the Egyptians may not take food with the Hebrews, for that would make them unclean. ^43:33And they were all given their seats before him in order of birth, from the oldest to the youngest: so that they were looking at one another in wonder. ^43:34And Joseph sent food to them from his table, but he sent five times as much to Benjamin as to any of the others. And they took wine freely with him.

^44:1Then he gave orders to the servant who was over his house, saying, Put as much food into the men's bags as will go into them, and put every man's money in the mouth of his bag; ^44:2And put my cup, my silver cup, in the youngest one's bag, with his money. So he did as Joseph said. ^44:3And at dawn the men, with their asses, were sent away. ^44:4And when they had gone only a little way out of the town, Joseph said to the servant who was over his house, Go after them; and when you overtake them, say to them, Why have you done evil in reward for good? ^44:5Is not this the cup from which my lord takes wine and by which he gets knowledge of the future? Truly, you have done evil. ^44:6So he overtook them and said these words to them. ^44:7And they said to him, Why does my lord say such words as these? far be it from your servants to do such a thing: ^44:8See, the money which was in the mouth of our bags we gave back to you when we came again from Canaan: how then might we take silver or gold from your lord's house? ^44:9If it comes to light that any of your servants has done this, let him be put to death, and we will be your lord's servants. ^44:10And he said, Let it be as you say: he in whose bag it is seen will become my servant; and you will not be responsible. ^44:11Then every man quickly got his bag down and undid it. ^44:12And he made a search, starting with the oldest and ending with the youngest; and the cup was in Benjamin's bag. ^44:13Then in bitter grief they put the bags on the asses again and went back to the town. ^44:14So Judah and his brothers came to Joseph's house; and he was still there: and they went down on their faces before him. ^44:15And Joseph said, What is this thing which you have done? had you no thought that such a man as I would have power to see what is secret? ^44:16And Judah said, What are we to say to my lord? how may we put ourselves right in his eyes? God has made clear the sin of your servants: now we are in your hands, we and the man in whose bag your cup was seen. ^44:17Then he said, Far be it from me to do so: but the man who had my cup will be my servant; and you may go back to your father in peace. ^44:18Then Judah came near him, and said, Let your servant say a word in my lord's ears, and let not your wrath be burning against your servant: for you are in the place of Pharaoh to us. ^44:19My lord said to his servants, Have you a father or a brother? ^44:20And we said to my lord, We have an old father and a young child, whom he had when he was old; his brother is dead and he is the only son of his mother, and is very dear to his father. ^44:21And you said to your servants, Let him come down to me with you, so that I may see him. ^44:22And we said to my lord, His father will not let him go; for if he went away his father would come to his death. ^44:23But you said to your servants, If your youngest brother does not come with you, you will not see my face again. ^44:24And when we went back to your servant, our father, we gave him an account of my lord's words. ^44:25And our father said, Go again and get us a little food. ^44:26And we said, Only if our youngest brother goes with us will we go down; for we may not see the man's face again if our youngest brother is not with us. ^44:27And our father said to us, You have knowledge that my wife gave me two sons; ^44:28The one went away from me, and I said, Truly he has come to a violent death; and from that time I have not seen him, ^44:29If now you take this one from me, and some evil comes to him, you will make my grey head go down in sorrow to the underworld. ^44:30If then I go back to your servant, my father, without the boy, because his life and the boy's life are one, ^44:31When he sees that the boy is not with us, he will come to his death, and our father's grey head will go down in sorrow to the underworld. ^44:32For I made myself responsible for the boy to my father, saying, If I do not give him safely back to you, let mine be the sin for ever. ^44:33So now let me be my lord's servant here in place of the boy, and let him go back with his brothers. ^44:34For how may I go back to my father without the boy, and see the evil which will come on my father?

^45:1Then Joseph, unable to keep back his feelings before those who were with him, gave orders for everyone to be sent away, and no one was present when he made clear to his brothers who he was. ^45:2And so loud was his weeping, that it came to the ears of the Egyptians and all Pharaoh's house. ^45:3And Joseph said to his brothers, I am Joseph: is my father still living? But his brothers were not able to give him an answer for they were troubled before him. ^45:4Then Joseph said to his brothers, Come near to me. And they came near, And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom you sent into Egypt. ^45:5Now do not be troubled or angry with yourselves for sending me away, because God sent me before you to be the saviour of your lives. ^45:6For these two years have been years of need, and there are still five more years to come in which there will be no ploughing or cutting of grain. ^45:7God sent me before you to keep you and yours living on earth so that you might become a great nation. ^45:8So now it was not you who sent me here, but God: and he has made me as a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and ruler over all the land of Egypt. ^45:9Now go quickly to my father, and say to him, Your son Joseph says, God has made me ruler over all the land of Egypt: come down to me straight away: ^45:10The land of Goshen will be your living-place, and you will be near me; you and your children and your children's children, and your flocks and herds and all you have: ^45:11And there I will take care of you, so that you and your family may not be in need, for there are still five bad years to come. ^45:12Now truly, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see, that it is my mouth which says these things to you. ^45:13Give my father word of all my glory in Egypt and of all you have seen; and come back quickly with my father. ^45:14Then, weeping, he took Benjamin in his arms, and Benjamin himself was weeping on Joseph's neck. ^45:15Then he gave a kiss to all his brothers, weeping over them; and after that his brothers had no fear of talking to him. ^45:16And news of these things went through Pharaoh's house, and it was said that Joseph's brothers were come; and it seemed good to Pharaoh and his servants. ^45:17And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Say to your brothers, Put your goods on your beasts and go back to the land of Canaan; ^45:18And get your father and your families and come back to me: and I will give you all the good things of Egypt, and the fat of the land will be your food. ^45:19And say to them, This you are to do: take carts from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives, and get your father and come back. ^45:20And take no thought for your goods, for the best of all the land of Egypt is yours. ^45:21And the children of Israel did as he said; and Joseph gave them carts as had been ordered by Pharaoh, and food for their journey. ^45:22To every one of them he gave three changes of clothing; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred bits of silver and five changes of clothing. ^45:23And to his father he sent ten asses with good things from Egypt on their backs, and ten she-asses with grain and bread and food for his father on the journey. ^45:24And he sent his brothers on their way, and said to them, See that you have no argument on the road. ^45:25So they went up from Egypt and came to the land of Canaan, to their father Jacob. ^45:26And they said to him, Joseph is living, and is ruler over all the land of Egypt. And at this word Jacob was quite overcome, for he had no faith in it. ^45:27And they gave him an account of everything Joseph had said to them; and when he saw the carts which Joseph had sent for them, his spirit came back to him: ^45:28And Israel said, It is enough: Joseph my son is still living; I will go and see him before my death.

^46:1And Israel went on his journey with all he had, and came to Beer-sheba, where he made offerings to the God of his father Isaac. ^46:2And God said to Israel in a night-vision, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I. ^46:3And he said, I am God, the God of your father: go down to Egypt without fear, for I will make a great nation of you there: ^46:4I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will see that you come back again, and at your death Joseph will put his hands on your eyes. ^46:5Then Jacob went on from Beer-sheba; and the sons of Jacob took their father and their little ones and their wives in the carts which Pharaoh had sent for them. ^46:6And they took their cattle and all the goods which they had got in the land of Canaan, and came to Egypt, even Jacob and all his seed: ^46:7His sons and his sons' sons, his daughters and his daughters' sons and all his family he took with him into Egypt. ^46:8And these are the names of the children of Israel who came into Egypt, even Jacob and all his sons: Reuben, Jacob's oldest son; ^46:9And the sons of Reuben: Hanoch and Pallu and Hezron and Carmi; ^46:10And the sons of Simeon: Jemuel and Jamin and Ohad and Jachin and Zohar and Shaul, the son of a woman of Canaan; ^46:11And the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari; ^46:12And the sons of Judah: Er and Onan and Shelah and Perez and Zerah: but Er and Onan had come to their death in the land of Canaan; and the sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul. ^46:13And the sons of Issachar: Tola and Puah and Job and Shimron; ^46:14And the sons of Zebulun: Sered and Elon and Jahleel; ^46:15All these, together with his daughter Dinah, were the children of Leah, whom Jacob had by her in Paddan-aram; they were thirty-three in number. ^46:16And the sons of Gad: Ziphion and Haggi, Shuni and Ezbon, Eri and Arodi and Areli; ^46:17And the sons of Asher: Jimnah and Ishvah and Ishvi and Beriah, and Sarah, their sister; and the sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel. ^46:18These are the children of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah, and Jacob had these sixteen children by her. ^46:19The sons of Jacob's wife Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. ^46:20And Joseph had Manasseh and Ephraim in the land of Egypt, by Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera, priest of On. ^46:21And the sons of Benjamin were Belah and Becher and Ashbel, Gera and Naaman, Ehi and Rosh, Muppim and Huppim and Ard. ^46:22All these were the children of Rachel whom Jacob had by her, fourteen persons. ^46:23And the son of Dan was Hushim. ^46:24And the sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel and Guni and Jezer and Shillem. ^46:25These were the children of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel, seven persons. ^46:26All the persons who came with Jacob into Egypt, the offspring of his body, were sixty-six, without taking into account the wives of Jacob's sons. ^46:27And the sons of Joseph whom he had in Egypt were two. Seventy persons of the family of Jacob came into Egypt. ^46:28Now he had sent Judah before him to Goshen, to get word from Joseph; and so they came to the land of Goshen. ^46:29And Joseph got his carriage ready and went to Goshen for the meeting with his father; and when he came before him, he put his arms round his neck, weeping. ^46:30And Israel said to Joseph, Now that I have seen you living again, I am ready for death. ^46:31And Joseph said to his brothers and to his father's people, I will go and give the news to Pharaoh, and say to him, My brothers and my father's people, from the land of Canaan, have come to me; ^46:32And these men are keepers of sheep and owners of cattle, and have with them their flocks and their herds and all they have. ^46:33Now when Pharaoh sends for you and says, What is your business? ^46:34You are to say, Your servants have been keepers of cattle from our early days up to now, like our fathers; in this way you will be able to have the land of Goshen for yourselves; because keepers of sheep are unclean in the eyes of the Egyptians.

^47:1Then Joseph went to Pharaoh, and said, My father and my brothers with their flocks and their herds and all they have, are come from Canaan, and are now in the land of Goshen. ^47:2And he took five of his brothers to Pharaoh. ^47:3And Pharaoh said to them, What is your business? And they said, Your servants are keepers of sheep, as our fathers were before us. ^47:4And they said to Pharaoh, We have come to make a living in this land, because we have no grass for our flocks in the land of Canaan; so now let your servants make a place for themselves in the land of Goshen. ^47:5And Pharaoh said to Joseph, Let them have the land of Goshen; and if there are any able men among them, put them over my cattle. ^47:6And Jacob and his sons came to Joseph in Egypt, and when word of it came to the ears of Pharaoh, king of Egypt, he said to Joseph, Your father and brothers have come to you; all the land of Egypt is before you; let your father and your brothers have the best of the land for their resting-place. ^47:7Then Joseph made his father Jacob come before Pharaoh, and Jacob gave him his blessing. ^47:8And Pharaoh said to him, How old are you? ^47:9And Jacob said, The years of my wanderings have been a hundred and thirty; small in number and full of sorrow have been the years of my life, and less than the years of the wanderings of my fathers. ^47:10And Jacob gave Pharaoh his blessing, and went out from before him. ^47:11And Joseph made a place for his father and his brothers, and gave them a heritage in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had given orders. ^47:12And Joseph took care of his father and his brothers and all his father's people, giving them food for the needs of their families. ^47:13Now there was no food to be had in all the land, so that all Egypt and Canaan were wasted from need of food. ^47:14And all the money in Egypt and in the land of Canaan which had been given for grain, came into the hands of Joseph: and he put it in Pharaoh's house. ^47:15And when all the money in Egypt and Canaan was gone, the Egyptians came to Joseph, and said, Give us bread; would you have us come to destruction before your eyes? for we have no more money. ^47:16And Joseph said, Give me your cattle; I will give you grain in exchange for your cattle if your money is all gone. ^47:17So they took their cattle to Joseph and he gave them bread in exchange for their horses and flocks and herds and asses, so all that year he gave them food in exchange for their cattle. ^47:18And when that year was ended, they came to him in the second year, and said, We may not keep it from our lord's knowledge that all our money is gone, and all the herds of cattle are my lord's; there is nothing more to give my lord but our bodies and our land; ^47:19Are we to come to destruction before your eyes, we and our land? take us and our land and give us bread; and we and our land will be servants to Pharaoh; and give us seed so that we may have life and the land may not become waste. ^47:20So Joseph got all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh; for every Egyptian gave up his land in exchange for food, because of their great need; so all the land became Pharaoh's. ^47:21And as for the people, he made servants of them, town by town, from one end of Egypt to the other. ^47:22Only he did not take the land of the priests, for the priests had their food given them by Pharaoh, and having what Pharaoh gave them, they had no need to give up their land. ^47:23Then Joseph said to the people, I have made you and your land this day the property of Pharaoh; here is seed for you to put in your fields. ^47:24And when the grain is cut, you are to give a fifth part to Pharaoh, and four parts will be yours for seed and food, and for your families and your little ones. ^47:25And they said to him, Truly you have kept us from death; may we have grace in your eyes, and we will be Pharaoh's servants. ^47:26Then Joseph made a law which is in force to this day, that Pharaoh was to have the fifth part; only the land of the priests did not become his. ^47:27And so Israel was living among the Egyptians in the land of Goshen; and they got property there, and became very great in numbers and in wealth. ^47:28And Jacob was living in the land of Goshen for seventeen years; so the years of his life were a hundred and forty-seven. ^47:29And the time of his death came near, and he sent for his son Joseph and said to him, If now I am dear to you, put your hand under my leg and take an oath that you will not put me to rest in Egypt; ^47:30But when I go to my fathers, you are to take me out of Egypt and put me to rest in their last resting-place. And he said, I will do so. ^47:31And he said, Take an oath to me; and he took an oath to him: and Israel gave worship on the bed's head.

^48:1Now after these things, word came to Joseph that his father was ill: and he took with him his sons Manasseh and Ephraim. ^48:2And when they said to Jacob, Your son Joseph is coming to see you: then Israel, getting all his strength together, had himself lifted up in his bed. ^48:3And Jacob said to Joseph, God, the Ruler of all, came to me in a vision at Luz in the land of Canaan, and gave me his blessing, ^48:4And said to me, Truly, I will make you fertile and give you increase and will make of you a great family of nations: and I will give this land to your seed after you to be their heritage for ever. ^48:5And now your two sons who came to birth in Egypt before I came to you here, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, in the same way as Reuben and Simeon are. ^48:6And any other offspring which you have after them, will be yours, and will be named after their brothers in their heritage. ^48:7And as for me, when I came from Paddan, death overtook Rachel on the way, when we were still some distance from Ephrath; and I put her to rest there on the road to Ephrath, which is Beth-lehem. ^48:8Then Israel, looking at Joseph's sons, said, Who are these? ^48:9And Joseph said to his father, They are my sons, whom God has given me in this land. And he said, Let them come near me, and I will give them a blessing. ^48:10Now because Israel was old, his eyes were no longer clear, and he was not able to see. So he made them come near to him, and he gave them a kiss, folding them in his arms. ^48:11And Israel said to Joseph, I had no hope of seeing your face again, but God in his mercy has let me see you and your children. ^48:12Then Joseph took them from between his knees, and went down on his face to the earth. ^48:13Then taking Ephraim with his right hand, Joseph put him at Israel's left side, and with his left hand he put Manasseh at Israel's right side, placing them near him. ^48:14And Israel, stretching out his right hand, put it on the head of Ephraim, the younger, and his left hand on the head of Manasseh, crossing his hands on purpose, for Manasseh was the older. ^48:15And he gave Joseph a blessing, saying, May the God to whom my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, gave worship, the God who has taken care of me all my life till this day, ^48:16The angel who has been my saviour from all evil, send his blessing on these children: and let my name and the name of my fathers, Abraham and Isaac, be given to them; and let them become a great nation in the earth. ^48:17Now when Joseph saw that his father had put his right hand on the head of Ephraim, it did not seem right to him; and lifting his father's hand he would have put it on the head of Manasseh. ^48:18And Joseph said to his father, Not so, my father, for this is the older; put your right hand on his head. ^48:19But his father would not, saying, I am doing it on purpose, my son; he will certainly become a nation and a great one; but his younger brother will be greater than he, and his seed will become a great family of nations. ^48:20So he gave them his blessing that day, saying, You will be the sign of blessing in Israel, for they will say, May God make you like Ephraim and Manasseh; and he put Ephraim before Manasseh. ^48:21Then Israel said to Joseph, Now my death is near; but God will be with you, guiding you back to the land of your fathers. ^48:22And I have given you more than your brothers, even Shechem as your heritage, which I took from the Amorites with my sword and my bow.

^49:1And Jacob sent for his sons, and said, Come together, all of you, so that I may give you news of your fate in future times. ^49:2Come near, O sons of Jacob, and give ear to the words of Israel your father. ^49:3Reuben, you are my oldest son, the first-fruit of my strength, first in pride and first in power: ^49:4But because you were uncontrolled, the first place will not be yours; for you went up to your father's bed, even his bride-bed, and made it unclean. ^49:5Simeon and Levi are brothers; deceit and force are their secret designs. ^49:6Take no part in their secrets, O my soul; keep far away, O my heart, from their meetings; for in their wrath they put men to death, and for their pleasure even oxen were wounded. ^49:7A curse on their passion for it was bitter; and on their wrath for it was cruel. I will let their heritage in Jacob be broken up, driving them from their places in Israel. ^49:8To you, Judah, will your brothers give praise: your hand will be on the neck of your haters; your father's sons will go down to the earth before you. ^49:9Judah is a young lion; like a lion full of meat you have become great, my son; now he takes his rest like a lion stretched out and like an old lion; by whom will his sleep be broken? ^49:10The rod of authority will not be taken from Judah, and he will not be without a law-giver, till he comes who has the right to it, and the peoples will put themselves under his rule. ^49:11Knotting his ass's cord to the vine, and his young ass to the best vine; washing his robe in wine, and his clothing in the blood of grapes: ^49:12His eyes will be dark with wine, and his teeth white with milk. ^49:13The resting-place of Zebulun will be by the sea, and he will be a harbour for ships; the edge of his land will be by Zidon. ^49:14Issachar is a strong ass stretched out among the flocks: ^49:15And he saw that rest was good and the land was pleasing; so he let them put weights on his back and became a servant. ^49:16Dan will be the judge of his people, as one of the tribes of Israel. ^49:17May Dan be a snake in the way, a horned snake by the road, biting the horse's foot so that the horseman has a fall. ^49:18I have been waiting for your salvation, O Lord. ^49:19Gad, an army will come against him, but he will come down on them in their flight. ^49:20Asher's bread is fat; he gives delicate food for kings. ^49:21Naphtali is a roe let loose, giving fair young ones. ^49:22Joseph is a young ox, whose steps are turned to the fountain; ^49:23He was troubled by the archers; they sent out their arrows against him, cruelly wounding him: ^49:24But their bows were broken by a strong one, and the cords of their arms were cut by the Strength of Jacob, by the name of the Stone of Israel: ^49:25Even by the God of your father, who will be your help, and by the Ruler of all, who will make you full with blessings from heaven on high, blessings of the deep stretched out under the earth, blessings of the breasts and of the fertile body: ^49:26Blessings of sons, old and young, to the father: blessings of the oldest mountains and the fruit of the eternal hills: let them come on the head of Joseph, on the crown of him who was separate from his brothers. ^49:27Benjamin is a wolf, searching for meat: in the morning he takes his food, and in the evening he makes division of what he has taken. ^49:28These are the twelve tribes of Israel: and these are the words their father said to them, blessing them; to every one he gave his blessing. ^49:29And he gave orders to them, saying, Put me to rest with my people and with my fathers, in the hollow of the rock in the field of Ephron the Hittite, ^49:30In the rock in the field of Machpelah, near Mamre in the land of Canaan, which Abraham got from Ephron the Hittite, to be his resting-place. ^49:31There Abraham and Sarah his wife were put to rest, and there they put Isaac and Rebekah his wife, and there I put Leah to rest. ^49:32In the rock in the field which was got for a price from the people of Heth. ^49:33And when Jacob had come to the end of these words to his sons, stretching himself on his bed, he gave up his spirit, and went the way of his people.

^50:1And Joseph put his head down on his father's face, weeping and kissing him. ^50:2And Joseph gave orders to his servants who had the necessary knowledge, to make his father's body ready, folding it in linen with spices, and they did so. ^50:3And the forty days needed for making the body ready went by: and there was weeping for him among the Egyptians for seventy days. ^50:4And when the days of weeping for him were past, Joseph said to the servants of Pharaoh, If now you have love for me, say these words to Pharaoh: ^50:5My father made me take an oath, saying, When I am dead, put me to rest in the place I have made ready for myself in the land of Canaan. So now let me go and put my father in his last resting-place, and I will come back again. ^50:6And Pharaoh said, Go up and put your father to rest, as you gave your oath to him. ^50:7So Joseph went up to put his father in his last resting-place; and with him went all the servants of Pharaoh, and the chief men of his house and all the chiefs of the land of Egypt, ^50:8And all the family of Joseph, and his brothers and his father's people: only their little ones and their flocks and herds they did not take with them from the land of Goshen. ^50:9And carriages went up with him and horsemen, a great army. ^50:10And they came to the grain-floor of Atad on the other side of Jordan, and there they gave the last honours to Jacob, with great and bitter sorrow, weeping for their father for seven days. ^50:11And when the people of the land, the people of Canaan, at the grain-floor of Atad, saw their grief, they said, Great is the grief of the Egyptians: so the place was named Abel-mizraim, on the other side of Jordan. ^50:12So his sons did as he had given them orders to do: ^50:13For they took him into the land of Canaan and put him to rest in the hollow rock in the field of Machpelah, which Abraham got with the field, for a resting-place, from Ephron the Hittite at Mamre. ^50:14And when his father had been put to rest, Joseph and his brothers and all who had gone with him, went back to Egypt. ^50:15Now after the death of their father, Joseph's brothers said to themselves, It may be that Joseph's heart will be turned against us, and he will give us punishment for all the evil which we did to him. ^50:16So they sent word to Joseph, saying, Your father, before his death, gave us orders, saying, ^50:17You are to say to Joseph, Let the wrongdoing of your brothers be overlooked, and the evil they did to you: now, if it is your pleasure, let the sin of the servants of your father's God have forgiveness. And at these words, Joseph was overcome with weeping. ^50:18Then his brothers went, and falling at his feet, said, Truly, we are your servants. ^50:19And Joseph said, Have no fear: am I in the place of God? ^50:20As for you, it was in your mind to do me evil, but God has given a happy outcome, the salvation of numbers of people, as you see today. ^50:21So now, have no fear: for I will take care of you and your little ones. So he gave them comfort with kind words. ^50:22Now Joseph and all his father's family went on living in Egypt: and the years of Joseph's life were a hundred and ten. ^50:23And Joseph saw Ephraim's children of the third generation: and the children of Machir, the son of Manasseh, came to birth on Joseph's knees. ^50:24Then Joseph said to his brothers, The time of my death has come; but God will keep you in mind and take you out of this land into the land which he gave by his oath to Abraham and Isaac and Jacob. ^50:25Then Joseph made the children of Israel take an oath, saying, God will certainly give effect to his word, and you are to take my bones away from here. ^50:26So Joseph came to his death, being a hundred and ten years old: and they made his body ready, and he was put in a chest in Egypt.

Exodus

^1:1Now these are the names of the sons of Israel who came into Egypt; every man and his family came with Jacob. ^1:2Reuben, Simeon, Levi, and Judah; ^1:3Issachar, Zebulun, and Benjamin; ^1:4Dan and Naphtali, Gad and Asher. ^1:5All the offspring of Jacob were seventy persons: and Joseph had come to Egypt before them. ^1:6Then Joseph came to his end, and all his brothers, and all that generation. ^1:7And the children of Israel were fertile, increasing very greatly in numbers and in power; and the land was full of them. ^1:8Now a new king came to power in Egypt, who had no knowledge of Joseph. ^1:9And he said to his people, See, the people of Israel are greater in number and in power than we are: ^1:10Let us take care for fear that their numbers may become even greater, and if there is a war, they may be joined with those who are against us, and make an attack on us, and go up out of the land. ^1:11So they put overseers of forced work over them, in order to make their strength less by the weight of their work. And they made store-towns for Pharaoh, Pithom and Raamses. ^1:12But the more cruel they were to them, the more their number increased, till all the land was full of them. And the children of Israel were hated by the Egyptians. ^1:13And they gave the children of Israel even harder work to do: ^1:14And made their lives bitter with hard work, making building-material and bricks, and doing all sorts of work in the fields under the hardest conditions. ^1:15And the king of Egypt said to the Hebrew women who gave help at the time of childbirth (the name of the one was Shiphrah and the name of the other Puah), ^1:16When you are looking after the Hebrew women in childbirth, if it is a son you are to put him to death; but if it is a daughter, she may go on living. ^1:17But the women had the fear of God, and did not do as the king of Egypt said, but let the male children go on living. ^1:18And the king of Egypt sent for the women, and said to them, Why have you done this, and let the male children go on living? ^1:19And they said to Pharaoh, Because the Hebrew women are not like the Egyptian women, for they are strong, and the birth takes place before we come to them. ^1:20And the blessing of God was on these women: and the people were increased in number and became very strong. ^1:21And because the women who took care of the Hebrew mothers had the fear of God, he gave them families. ^1:22And Pharaoh gave orders to all his people, saying, Every son who comes to birth is to be put into the river, but every daughter may go on living.

^2:1Now a man of the house of Levi took as his wife a daughter of Levi. ^2:2And she became with child and gave birth to a Son; and when she saw that he was a beautiful child, she kept him secretly for three months. ^2:3And when she was no longer able to keep him secret, she made him a basket out of the stems of water-plants, pasting sticky earth over it to keep the water out; and placing the baby in it she put it among the plants by the edge of the Nile. ^2:4And his sister took her place at a distance to see what would become of him. ^2:5Now Pharaoh's daughter came down to the Nile to take a bath, while her women were walking by the riverside; and she saw the basket among the river-plants, and sent her servant-girl to get it. ^2:6And opening it, she saw the child, and he was crying. And she had pity on him, and said, This is one of the Hebrews' children. ^2:7Then his sister said to Pharaoh's daughter, May I go and get you one of the Hebrew women to give him the breast? ^2:8And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Go. And the girl went and got the child's mother. ^2:9And Pharaoh's daughter said to her, Take the child away and give it milk for me, and I will give you payment. And the woman took the child and gave it milk at her breast. ^2:10And when the child was older, she took him to Pharaoh's daughter and he became her son, and she gave him the name Moses, Because, she said, I took him out of the water. ^2:11Now when Moses had become a man, one day he went out to his people and saw how hard their work was; and he saw an Egyptian giving blows to a Hebrew, one of his people. ^2:12And turning this way and that, and seeing no one, he put the Egyptian to death, covering his body with sand. ^2:13And he went out the day after and saw two of the Hebrews fighting: and he said to him who was in the wrong, Why are you fighting your brother? ^2:14And he said, Who made you a ruler and a judge over us? are you going to put me to death as you did the Egyptian? And Moses was in fear, and said, It is clear that the thing has come to light. ^2:15Now when Pharaoh had news of this, he would have put Moses to death. But Moses went in flight from Pharaoh into the land of Midian: and he took his seat by a water-spring. ^2:16Now the priest of Midian had seven daughters: and they came to get water for their father's flock. ^2:17And the keepers of the sheep came up and were driving them away; but Moses got up and came to their help, watering their flock for them. ^2:18And when they came to Reuel their father, he said, How is it that you have come back so quickly today? ^2:19And they said, An Egyptian came to our help against the keepers of sheep and got water for us and gave it to the flock. ^2:20And he said to his daughters, Where is he? why have you let the man go? make him come in and give him a meal. ^2:21And Moses was happy to go on living with the man; and he gave his daughter Zipporah to Moses. ^2:22And she gave birth to a son, to whom he gave the name Gershom: for he said, I have been living in a strange land. ^2:23Now after a long time the king of Egypt came to his end: and the children of Israel were crying in their grief under the weight of their work, and their cry for help came to the ears of God. ^2:24And at the sound of their weeping the agreement which God had made with Abraham and Isaac and Jacob came to his mind. ^2:25And God's eyes were turned to the children of Israel and he gave them the knowledge of himself.

^3:1Now Moses was looking after the flock of Jethro, his father-in-law, the priest of Midian: and he took the flock to the back of the waste land and came to Horeb, the mountain of God. ^3:2And the angel of the Lord was seen by him in a flame of fire coming out of a thorn-tree: and he saw that the tree was on fire, but it was not burned up. ^3:3And Moses said, I will go and see this strange thing, why the tree is not burned up, ^3:4And when the Lord saw him turning to one side to see, God said his name out of the tree, crying, Moses, Moses. And he said, Here am I. ^3:5And he said, Do not come near: take off your shoes from your feet, for the place where you are is holy. ^3:6And he said, I am the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, the God of Isaac, and the God of Jacob. And Moses kept his face covered for fear of looking on God. ^3:7And God said, Truly, I have seen the grief of my people in Egypt, and their cry because of their cruel masters has come to my ears; for I have knowledge of their sorrows; ^3:8And I have come down to take them out of the hands of the Egyptians, guiding them out of that land into a good land and wide, into a land flowing with milk and honey; into the place of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite. ^3:9For now, truly, the cry of the children of Israel has come to me, and I have seen the cruel behaviour of the Egyptians to them. ^3:10Come, then, and I will send you to Pharaoh, so that you may take my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt. ^3:11And Moses said to God, Who am I to go to Pharaoh and take the children of Israel out of Egypt? ^3:12And he said, Truly I will be with you; and this will be the sign to you that I have sent you: when you have taken the children of Israel out of Egypt, you will give worship to God on this mountain. ^3:13And Moses said to God, When I come to the children of Israel and say to them, The God of your fathers has sent me to you: and they say to me, What is his name? what am I to say to them? ^3:14And God said to him, I AM WHAT I AM: and he said, Say to the children of Israel, I AM has sent me to you. ^3:15And God went on to say to Moses, Say to the children of Israel, The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has sent me to you: this is my name for ever, and this is my sign to all generations. ^3:16Go and get together the chiefs of the children of Israel, and say to them, The Lord, the God of your fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has been seen by me, and has said, Truly I have taken up your cause, because of what is done to you in Egypt; ^3:17And I have said, I will take you up out of the sorrows of Egypt into the land of the Canaanite and the Hittite and the Amorite and the Perizzite and the Hivite and the Jebusite, into a land flowing with milk and honey. ^3:18And they will give ear to your voice: and you, with the chiefs of Israel, will go to Pharaoh, the king of Egypt, and say to him, The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has come to us: let us then go three days' journey into the waste land to make an offering to the Lord our God. ^3:19And I am certain that the king of Egypt will not let you go without being forced. ^3:20But I will put out my hand and overcome Egypt with all the wonders which I will do among them: and after that he will let you go. ^3:21And I will give this people grace in the eyes of the Egyptians, so that when you go out you will go out with your hands full. ^3:22For every woman will get from her neighbour and from the woman living in her house, ornaments of silver and gold, and clothing; and you will put them on your sons and your daughters; you will take the best of their goods from the Egyptians.

^4:1And Moses, answering, said, It is certain that they will not have faith in me or give ear to my voice; for they will say, You have not seen the Lord. ^4:2And the Lord said to him, What is that in your hand? And he said, A rod. ^4:3And he said, Put it down on the earth. And he put it down on the earth and it became a snake; and Moses went running from it. ^4:4And the Lord said to Moses, Put out your hand and take it by the tail: (and he put out his hand and took a grip of it and it became a rod in his hand:) ^4:5So that they may be certain that the Lord, the God of their fathers, the God of Abraham, of Isaac, and of Jacob, has been seen by you. ^4:6Then the Lord said to him again, Put your hand inside your clothing. And he put his hand inside his robe: and when he took it out it was like the hand of a leper, as white as snow. ^4:7And he said, Put your hand inside your robe again. (And he put his hand into his robe again, and when he took it out he saw that it had become like his other flesh.) ^4:8And if they do not have faith in you or give ear to the voice of the first sign, they will have faith in the second sign. ^4:9And if they have no faith even in these two signs and will not give ear to your voice, then you are to take the water of the Nile and put it on the dry land: and the water you take out of the river will become blood on the dry land. ^4:10And Moses said to the Lord, O Lord, I am not a man of words; I have never been so, and am not now, even after what you have said to your servant: for talking is hard for me, and I am slow of tongue. ^4:11And the Lord said to him, Who has made man's mouth? who takes away a man's voice or hearing, or makes him seeing or blind? Is it not I, the Lord? ^4:12So go now, and I will be with your mouth, teaching you what to say. ^4:13And he said, O Lord, send, if you will, by the hand of anyone whom it seems good to you to send. ^4:14And the Lord was angry with Moses, and said, Is there not Aaron, your brother, the Levite? To my knowledge he is good at talking. And now he is coming out to you: and when he sees you he will be glad in his heart. ^4:15Let him give ear to your voice, and you will put my words in his mouth; and I will be with your mouth and with his, teaching you what you have to do. ^4:16And he will do the talking for you to the people: he will be to you as a mouth and you will be to him as God. ^4:17And take in your hand this rod with which you will do the signs. ^4:18And Moses went back to Jethro, his father-in-law, and said to him, Let me go back now to my relations in Egypt and see if they are still living. And Jethro said to Moses, Go in peace. ^4:19And the Lord said to Moses in Midian, Go back to Egypt, for all the men are dead who were attempting to take your life. ^4:20And Moses took his wife and his sons and put them on an ass and went back to the land of Egypt: and he took the rod of God in his hand. ^4:21And the Lord said to Moses, When you go back to Egypt, see that you do before Pharaoh all the wonders which I have given you power to do: but I will make his heart hard and he will not let the people go. ^4:22And you are to say to Pharaoh, The Lord says, Israel is the first of my sons: ^4:23And I said to you, Let my son go, so that he may give me worship; and you did not let him go: so now I will put the first of your sons to death. ^4:24Now on the journey, at the night's resting-place, the Lord came in his way and would have put him to death. ^4:25Then Zipporah took a sharp stone, and cutting off the skin of her son's private parts, and touching his feet with it, she said, Truly you are a husband of blood to me. ^4:26So he let him go. Then she said, You are a husband of blood because of the circumcision. ^4:27And the Lord said to Aaron, Go into the waste land and you will see Moses. So he went and came across Moses at the mountain of God, and gave him a kiss. ^4:28And Moses gave Aaron an account of all the words of the Lord which he had sent him to say, and of all the signs which he had given him orders to do. ^4:29Then Moses and Aaron went and got together all the chiefs of the children of Israel: ^4:30And Aaron said to them all the words the Lord had said to Moses, and did the signs before all the people. ^4:31And the people had faith in them; and hearing that the Lord had taken up the cause of the children of Israel and had seen their troubles, with bent heads they gave him worship.

^5:1And after that, Moses and Aaron came to Pharaoh, and said, The Lord, the God of Israel, says, Let my people go so that they may keep a feast to me in the waste land. ^5:2And Pharaoh said, Who is the Lord, to whose voice I am to give ear and let Israel go? I have no knowledge of the Lord and I will not let Israel go. ^5:3And they said, The God of the Hebrews has come to us: let us then go three days' journey into the waste land to make an offering to the Lord our God, so that he may not send death on us by disease or the sword. ^5:4And the king of Egypt said to them, Why do you, Moses and Aaron, take the people away from their work? get back to your work. ^5:5And Pharaoh said, Truly, the people of the land are increasing in number, and you are keeping them back from their work. ^5:6The same day Pharaoh gave orders to the overseers and those who were responsible for the work, saying, ^5:7Give these men no more dry stems for their brick-making as you have been doing; let them go and get the material for themselves. ^5:8But see that they make the same number of bricks as before, and no less: for they have no love for work; and so they are crying out and saying, Let us go and make an offering to our God. ^5:9Give the men harder work, and see that they do it; let them not give attention to false words. ^5:10And the overseers of the people and their responsible men went out and said to the people, Pharaoh says, I will give you no more dry stems. ^5:11Go yourselves and get dry stems wherever you are able; for your work is not to be any less. ^5:12So the people were sent in all directions through the land of Egypt to get dry grass for stems. ^5:13And the overseers went on driving them and saying, Do your full day's work as before when there were dry stems for you. ^5:14And the responsible men of the children of Israel, whom Pharaoh's overseers had put over them, were given blows, and they said to them, Why have you not done your regular work, in making bricks as before? ^5:15Then the responsible men of the children of Israel came to Pharaoh, protesting and saying, Why are you acting in this way to your servants? ^5:16They give us no dry stems and they say to us, Make bricks: and they give your servants blows; but it is your people who are in the wrong. ^5:17But he said, You have no love for work: that is why you say, Let us go and make an offering to the Lord. ^5:18Go now, get back to your work; no dry stems will be given to you, but you are to make the full number of bricks. ^5:19Then the responsible men of the children of Israel saw that they were purposing evil when they said, The number of bricks which you have to make every day will be no less than before. ^5:20And they came face to face with Moses and Aaron, who were in their way when they came out from Pharaoh: ^5:21And they said to them, May the Lord take note of you and be your judge; for you have given Pharaoh and his servants a bad opinion of us, putting a sword in their hands for our destruction. ^5:22And Moses went back to the Lord and said, Lord, why have you done evil to this people? why have you sent me? ^5:23For from the time when I came to Pharaoh to put your words before him, he has done evil to this people, and you have given them no help.

^6:1And the Lord said to Moses, Now you will see what I am about to do to Pharaoh; for by a strong hand he will be forced to let them go, driving them out of his land because of my outstretched arm. ^6:2And God said to Moses, I am Yahweh: ^6:3I let myself be seen by Abraham, Isaac, and Jacob, as God, the Ruler of all; but they had no knowledge of my name Yahweh. ^6:4And I made an agreement with them, to give them the land of Canaan, the land of their wanderings. ^6:5And truly my ears are open to the cry of the children of Israel whom the Egyptians keep under their yoke; and I have kept in mind my agreement. ^6:6Say then to the children of Israel, I am Yahweh, and I will take you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians, and make you safe from their power, and will make you free by the strength of my arm after great punishments. ^6:7And I will take you to be my people and I will be your God; and you will be certain that I am the Lord your God, who takes you out from under the yoke of the Egyptians. ^6:8And I will be your guide into the land which I made an oath to give to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob; and I will give it to you for your heritage: I am Yahweh. ^6:9And Moses said these words to the children of Israel, but they gave no attention to him, because of the grief of their spirit and the cruel weight of their work. ^6:10And the Lord said to Moses, ^6:11Go in and say to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, that he is to let the children of Israel go out of his land. ^6:12And Moses, answering the Lord, said, See, the children of Israel will not give ear to me; how then will Pharaoh give ear to me, whose lips are unclean? ^6:13And the word of the Lord came to Moses and Aaron, with orders for the children of Israel and for Pharaoh, king of Egypt, to take the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt. ^6:14These are the heads of their fathers' families: the sons of Reuben the oldest son of Israel: Hanoch and Pallu, Hezron and Carmi: these are the families of Reuben. ^6:15And the sons of Simeon: Jemuel and Jamin and Ohad and Jachin and Zohar and Shaul, the son of a woman of Canaan: these are the families of Simeon. ^6:16And these are the names of the sons of Levi in the order of their generations: Gershon and Kohath and Merari: and the years of Levi's life were a hundred and thirty-seven. ^6:17The sons of Gershon: Libni and Shimei, in the order of their families. ^6:18And the sons of Kohath: Amram and Izhar and Hebron and Uzziel: and the years of Kohath's life were a hundred and thirty-three. ^6:19And the sons of Merari: Mahli and Mushi: these are the families of the Levites, in the order of their generations. ^6:20And Amram took Jochebed, his father's sister, as wife; and she gave birth to Aaron and Moses: and the years of Amram's life were a hundred and thirty-seven. ^6:21And the sons of Izhar: Korah and Nepheg and Zichri. ^6:22And the sons of Uzziel: Mishael and Elzaphan and Sithri. ^6:23And Aaron took as his wife Elisheba, the daughter of Amminadab, the sister of Nahshon; and she gave birth to Nadab and Abihu, Eleazar and Ithamar. ^6:24And the sons of Korah: Assir and Elkanah and Abiasaph: these are the families of the Korahites. ^6:25And Eleazar, Aaron's son, took as his wife one of the daughters of Putiel; and she gave birth to Phinehas. These are the heads of the families of the Levites, in the order of their families. ^6:26These are the same Aaron and Moses to whom the Lord said, Take the children of Israel out of the land of Egypt in their armies. ^6:27These are the men who gave orders to Pharaoh to let the children of Israel go out of Egypt: these are the same Moses and Aaron. ^6:28And on the day when the word of the Lord came to Moses in the land of Egypt, ^6:29The Lord said to Moses, I am the Lord: say to Pharaoh, king of Egypt, everything I am saying to you. ^6:30And Moses said to the Lord, My lips are unclean; how is it possible that Pharaoh will give me a hearing?

^7:1And the Lord said to Moses, See I have made you a god to Pharaoh, and Aaron your brother will be your prophet. ^7:2Say whatever I give you orders to say: and Aaron your brother will give word to Pharaoh to let the children of Israel go out of his land. ^7:3And I will make Pharaoh's heart hard, and my signs and wonders will be increased in the land of Egypt. ^7:4But Pharaoh will not give ear to you, and I will put my hand on Egypt, and take my armies, my people, the children of Israel, out of Egypt, after great punishments. ^7:5And the Egyptians will see that I am the Lord, when my hand is stretched out over Egypt, and I take the children of Israel out from among them. ^7:6And Moses and Aaron did so: as the Lord gave them orders, so they did. ^7:7And Moses was eighty years old, and Aaron eighty-three years old, when they gave the Lord's word to Pharaoh. ^7:8And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, ^7:9If Pharaoh says to you, Let me see a wonder: then say to Aaron, Take your rod and put it down on the earth before Pharaoh so that it may become a snake. ^7:10Then Moses and Aaron went in to Pharaoh and they did as the Lord had said: and Aaron put his rod down on the earth before Pharaoh and his servants, and it became a snake. ^7:11Then Pharaoh sent for the wise men and the wonder-workers, and they, the wonder-workers of Egypt, did the same with their secret arts. ^7:12For every one of them put down his rod on the earth, and they became snakes: but Aaron's rod made a meal of their rods. ^7:13But Pharaoh's heart was made hard, and he did not give ear to them, as the Lord had said. ^7:14And the Lord said to Moses and Aaron, Pharaoh's heart is unchanged; he will not let the people go. ^7:15Go to Pharaoh in the morning; when he goes out to the water, you will be waiting for him by the edge of the Nile, with the rod which was turned into a snake in your hand; ^7:16And say to him, The Lord, the God of the Hebrews, has sent me to you, saying, Let my people go so that they may give me worship in the waste land; but up to now you have not given ear to his words. ^7:17So the Lord says, By this you may be certain that I am the Lord; see, by the touch of this rod in my hand the waters of the Nile will be turned to blood; ^7:18And the fish in the Nile will come to destruction, and the river will send up a bad smell, and the Egyptians will not be able, for disgust, to make use of the water of the Nile for drinking. ^7:19And the Lord said, Say to Aaron, Let the rod in your hand be stretched out over the waters of Egypt, and over the rivers and the streams and the pools, and over every stretch of water, so that they may be turned to blood; and there will be blood through all the land of Egypt, in vessels of wood and in vessels of stone. ^7:20And Moses and Aaron did as the Lord had said; and when his rod had been lifted up and stretched out over the waters of the Nile before the eyes of Pharaoh and his servants, all the water in the Nile was turned to blood; ^7:21And the fish in the Nile came to destruction, and a bad smell went up from the river, and the Egyptians were not able to make use of the water of the Nile for drinking; and there was blood through all the land of Egypt. ^7:22And the wonder-workers of Egypt did the same with their secret arts: but Pharaoh's heart was made hard, and he would not give ear to them, as the Lord had said. ^7:23Then Pharaoh went into his house, and did not take even this to heart. ^7:24And all the Egyptians made holes round about the Nile to get drinking-water, for they were not able to make use of the Nile water. ^7:25And seven days went past, after the Lord had put his hand on the Nile.