So Pharaoh said, &#8220;Go and bury your father, just as he made you swear to do.&#8221;<n id="1" />p>

Now I understand that<n id="1" /> you have gone away<n id="2" /> because you longed desperately<n id="3" /> for your father&#8217;s house. Yet why did you steal my gods?&#8221;<n id="4" />p>

<p class="bodytext">Pharaoh said to Joseph, &#8220;Your father and your brothers have come to you.

<p class="poetry">You are destructive<n id="1" /> like water and will not excel,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">for you got on your father&#8217;s bed,<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">then you defiled it &#8211; he got on my couch!<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">Judah,<n id="1" /> your brothers will praise you.p> <p class="poetry">Your hand will be on the neck of your enemies,p> <p class="poetry">your father&#8217;s sons will bow down before you.p>

So they sent word<n id="1" /> to Joseph, saying, &#8220;Your father gave these instructions before he died:

<t /><p class="poetry">Now the <sc>Lordsc> said<n id="1" /> to Abram,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;Go out<n id="3" /> from your country, your relatives, and your father&#8217;s householdp> <p class="poetry">to the land that I will show you.<n id="4" />p>

&#8220;Whose daughter are you?&#8221; he asked.<n id="1" /> &#8220;Tell me, is there room in your father&#8217;s house for us to spend the night?&#8221;p>

Rebekah said to her son Jacob, &#8220;Look, I overheard your father tell your brother Esau,

He said, &#8220;I am God,<n id="1" /> the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you into a great nation there.

<t /><p class="bodytext">After these things Joseph was told,<n id="1" /> &#8220;Your father is weakening.&#8221; So he took his two sons Manasseh and Ephraim with him.

<p class="poetry">because of the God of your father,p> <p class="poetry">who will help you,<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">because of the sovereign God,<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">who will bless you<n id="3" />p> <p class="poetry">with blessings from the sky above,p> <p class="poetry">blessings from the deep that lies below,p> <p class="poetry">and blessings of the breasts and womb.<n id="4" />p>

<p class="poetry">The blessings of your father are greaterp> <p class="poetry">than<n id="1" /> the blessings of the eternal mountains<n id="2" />p> <p class="poetry">or the desirable things of the age-old hills.p> <p class="poetry">They will be on the head of Josephp> <p class="poetry">and on the brow of the prince of his brothers.<n id="3" />p>

Stay<n id="1" /> in this land. Then I will be with you and will bless you,<n id="2" /> for I will give all these lands to you and to your descendants,<n id="3" /> and I will fulfill<n id="4" /> the solemn promise I made<n id="5" /> to your father Abraham.

The <sc>Lordsc> appeared to him that night and said, &#8220;I am the God of your father Abraham. Do not be afraid, for I am with you. I will bless you and multiply your descendants for the sake of my servant Abraham.&#8221;

and the <sc>Lordsc> stood at its top. He said, &#8220;I am the <sc>Lordsc>, the God of your grandfather Abraham and the God of your father Isaac.<n id="1" /> I will give you and your descendants the ground<n id="2" /> you are lying on.

<p class="bodytext">Then Judah said to his daughter-in-law Tamar, &#8220;Live as a widow in your father&#8217;s house until Shelah my son grows up.&#8221; For he thought,<n id="1" /> &#8220;I don&#8217;t want him to die like his brothers.&#8221;<n id="2" /> So Tamar went and lived in her father&#8217;s house.p>

The land of Egypt is before you; settle your father and your brothers in the best region of the land. They may live in the land of Goshen. If you know of any highly capable men<n id="1" /> among them, put them in charge<n id="2" /> of my livestock.&#8221;p>

&#8216;Tell Joseph this: Please forgive the sin of your brothers and the wrong they did when they treated you so badly.&#8217; Now please forgive the sin of the servants of the God of your father.&#8221; When this message was reported to him, Joseph wept.<n id="1" />