Genesis 46

• 1. So Jacob set out for Egypt with all his possessions. And when he came to Beersheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father, Isaac.
• 2. During the night God spoke to him in a vision. "Jacob! Jacob!" he called. "Here I am," Jacob replied.
• 3. "I am God," the voice said, "the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will see to it that you become a great nation there.
• 4. I will go with you down to Egypt, and I will bring your descendants back again. But you will die in Egypt with Joseph at your side."
• 5. So Jacob left Beersheba, and his sons brought him to Egypt. They carried their little ones and wives in the wagons Pharaoh had provided for them.
• 6. They brought their livestock, too, and all the belongings they had acquired in the land of Canaan. Jacob and his entire family arrived in Egypt--
• 7. sons and daughters, grandsons and granddaughters--all his descendants.
• 8. These are the names of the Israelites, the descendants of Jacob, who went with him to Egypt: Reuben was Jacob's oldest son.
• 9. The sons of Reuben were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.
• 10. The sons of Simeon were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jakin, Zohar, and Shaul. (Shaul's mother was a Canaanite woman.)
• 11. The sons of Levi were Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
• 12. The sons of Judah were Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah. (But Er and Onan had died in the land of Canaan.) The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.
• 13. The sons of Issachar were Tola, Puah, Jashub, and Shimron.
• 14. The sons of Zebulun were Sered, Elon, and Jahleel.
• 15. These are the sons of Jacob who were born to Leah in Paddan-aram, along with their sister, Dinah. In all, Jacob's descendants through Leah numbered thirty-three.
• 16. The sons of Gad were Zephon, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli.
• 17. The sons of Asher were Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, and Beriah. Their sister was named Serah. Beriah's sons were Heber and Malkiel.
• 18. These sixteen were descendants of Jacob through Zilpah, the servant given to Leah by her father, Laban.
• 19. The sons of Jacob's wife Rachel were Joseph and Benjamin.
• 20. Joseph's sons, born in the land of Egypt, were Manasseh and Ephraim. Their mother was Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, priest of Heliopolis.
• 21. Benjamin's sons were Bela, Beker, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard.
• 22. These fourteen were the descendants of Jacob and his wife Rachel.
• 23. The son of Dan was Hushim.
• 24. The sons of Naphtali were Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem.
• 25. These seven were the descendants of Jacob through Bilhah, the servant given to Rachel by her father, Laban.
• 26. So the total number of Jacob's direct descendants who went with him to Egypt, not counting his sons' wives, was sixty-six.
• 27. Joseph also had two sons who had been born in Egypt. So altogether, there were seventy members of Jacob's family in the land of Egypt.
• 28. Jacob sent Judah on ahead to meet Joseph and get directions to the land of Goshen. And when they all arrived there,
• 29. Joseph prepared his chariot and traveled to Goshen to meet his father. As soon as Joseph arrived, he embraced his father and wept on his shoulder for a long time.
• 30. Then Jacob said to Joseph, "Now let me die, for I have seen you with my own eyes and know you are still alive."
• 31. And Joseph said to his brothers and to all their households, "I'll go and tell Pharaoh that you have all come from the land of Canaan to join me.
• 32. And I will tell him, `These men are shepherds and livestock breeders. They have brought with them their flocks and herds and everything they own.'
• 33. So when Pharaoh calls for you and asks you about your occupation,
• 34. tell him, `We have been livestock breeders from our youth, as our ancestors have been for many generations.' When you tell him this, he will let you live here in the land of Goshen, for shepherds are despised in the land of Egypt."

Genesis 47

• 1. So Joseph went to see Pharaoh and said, "My father and my brothers are here from Canaan. They came with all their flocks and herds and possessions, and they are now in the land of Goshen."
• 2. Joseph took five of his brothers with him and presented them to Pharaoh.
• 3. Pharaoh asked them, "What is your occupation?" And they replied, "We are shepherds like our ancestors.
• 4. We have come to live here in Egypt, for there is no pasture for our flocks in Canaan. The famine is very severe there. We request permission to live in the land of Goshen."
• 5. And Pharaoh said to Joseph, "Now that your family has joined you here,
• 6. choose any place you like for them to live. Give them the best land of Egypt--the land of Goshen will be fine. And if any of them have special skills, put them in charge of my livestock, too."
• 7. Then Joseph brought his father, Jacob, and presented him to Pharaoh, and Jacob blessed Pharaoh.
• 8. "How old are you?" Pharaoh asked him.
• 9. Jacob replied, "I have lived for 130 hard years, but I am still not nearly as old as many of my ancestors."
• 10. Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh again before he left.
• 11. So Joseph assigned the best land of Egypt--the land of Rameses--to his father and brothers, just as Pharaoh had commanded.
• 12. And Joseph furnished food to his father and brothers in amounts appropriate to the number of their dependents.
• 13. Meanwhile, the famine became worse and worse, and the crops continued to fail throughout Egypt and Canaan.
• 14. Joseph collected all the money in Egypt and Canaan in exchange for grain, and he brought the money to Pharaoh's treasure-house.
• 15. When the people of Egypt and Canaan ran out of money, they came to Joseph crying again for food. "Our money is gone," they said, "but give us bread. Why should we die?"
• 16. "Well, then," Joseph replied, "since your money is gone, give me your livestock. I will give you food in exchange."
• 17. So they gave their livestock to Joseph in exchange for food. Soon all the horses, flocks, herds, and donkeys of Egypt were in Pharaoh's possession. But at least they were able to purchase food for that year.
• 18. The next year they came again and said, "Our money is gone, and our livestock are yours. We have nothing left but our bodies and land.
• 19. Why should we die before your very eyes? Buy us and our land in exchange for food; we will then become servants to Pharaoh. Just give us grain so that our lives may be saved and so the land will not become empty and desolate."
• 20. So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh. All the Egyptians sold him their fields because the famine was so severe, and their land then belonged to Pharaoh.
• 21. Thus, all the people of Egypt became servants to Pharaoh.
• 22. The only land he didn't buy was that belonging to the priests, for they were assigned food from Pharaoh and didn't need to sell their land.
• 23. Then Joseph said to the people, "See, I have bought you and your land for Pharaoh. I will provide you with seed, so you can plant the fields.
• 24. Then when you harvest it, a fifth of your crop will belong to Pharaoh. Keep four-fifths for yourselves, and use it to plant the next year's crop and to feed yourselves, your households, and your little ones."
• 25. "You have saved our lives!" they exclaimed. "May it please you, sir, to let us be Pharaoh's servants."
• 26. Joseph then made it a law throughout the land of Egypt--and it is still the law--that Pharaoh should receive one-fifth of all the crops grown on his land. But since Pharaoh had not taken over the priests' land, they were exempt from this payment.
• 27. So the people of Israel settled in the land of Goshen in Egypt. And before long, they began to prosper there, and their population grew rapidly.
• 28. Jacob lived for seventeen years after his arrival in Egypt, so he was 147 years old when he died.
• 29. As the time of his death drew near, he called for his son Joseph and said to him, "If you are pleased with me, swear most solemnly that you will honor this, my last request: Do not bury me in Egypt.
• 30. When I am dead, take me out of Egypt and bury me beside my ancestors." So Joseph promised that he would.
• 31. "Swear that you will do it," Jacob insisted. So Joseph gave his oath, and Jacob bowed in worship as he leaned on his staff.

Genesis 48

• 1. One day not long after this, word came to Joseph that his father was failing rapidly. So Joseph went to visit him, and he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim.
• 2. When Jacob heard that Joseph had arrived, he gathered his strength and sat up in bed to greet him.
• 3. Jacob said to Joseph, "God Almighty appeared to me at Luz in the land of Canaan and blessed me.
• 4. He said to me, `I will make you a multitude of nations, and I will give this land of Canaan to you and your descendants as an everlasting possession.'
• 5. Now I am adopting as my own sons these two boys of yours, Ephraim and Manasseh, who were born here in the land of Egypt before I arrived. They will inherit from me just as Reuben and Simeon will.
• 6. But the children born to you in the future will be your own. The land they inherit will be within the territories of Ephraim and Manasseh.
• 7. As I was returning from Paddan, Rachel died in the land of Canaan. We were still on the way, just a short distance from Ephrath (that is, Bethlehem). So with great sorrow I buried her there beside the road to Ephrath."
• 8. Then Jacob looked over at the two boys. "Are these your sons?" he asked.
• 9. "Yes," Joseph told him, "these are the sons God has given me here in Egypt." And Jacob said, "Bring them over to me, and I will bless them."
• 10. Now Jacob was half blind because of his age and could hardly see. So Joseph brought the boys close to him, and Jacob kissed and embraced them.
• 11. Then Jacob said to Joseph, "I never thought I would see you again, but now God has let me see your children, too."
• 12. Joseph took the boys from their grandfather's knees, and he bowed low to him.
• 13. Then he positioned the boys so Ephraim was at Jacob's left hand and Manasseh was at his right hand.
• 14. But Jacob crossed his arms as he reached out to lay his hands on the boys' heads. So his right hand was on the head of Ephraim, the younger boy, and his left hand was on the head of Manasseh, the older.
• 15. Then he blessed Joseph and said, "May God, the God before whom my grandfather Abraham and my father, Isaac, walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life,
• 16. and the angel who has kept me from all harm--may he bless these boys. May they preserve my name and the names of my grandfather Abraham and my father, Isaac. And may they become a mighty nation."
• 17. But Joseph was upset when he saw that his father had laid his right hand on Ephraim's head. So he lifted it to place it on Manasseh's head instead.
• 18. "No, Father," he said, "this one over here is older. Put your right hand on his head."
• 19. But his father refused. "I know what I'm doing, my son," he said. "Manasseh, too, will become a great people, but his younger brother will become even greater. His descendants will become a multitude of nations!"
• 20. So Jacob blessed the boys that day with this blessing: "The people of Israel will use your names to bless each other. They will say, `May God make you as prosperous as Ephraim and Manasseh.'" In this way, Jacob put Ephraim ahead of Manasseh.
• 21. Then Jacob said to Joseph, "I am about to die, but God will be with you and will bring you again to Canaan, the land of your ancestors.
• 22. And I give you an extra portion beyond what I have given your brothers--the portion that I took from the Amorites with my sword and bow."

New Living Translation: 16 of 324 days.