So now, it is not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me an adviser<n id="1" /> to Pharaoh, lord over all his household, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

Get your father and your households and come to me! Then I will give you<n id="1" /> the best land in Egypt and you will eat<n id="2" /> the best<n id="3" /> of the land.&#8217;

You are also commanded to say,<n id="1" /> &#8216;Do this: Take for yourselves wagons from the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives. Bring your father and come.

<t /><p class="bodytext">So Israel began his journey, taking with him all that he had.<n id="1" /> When he came to Beer Sheba<n id="2" /> he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.

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.

Joseph harnessed his chariot and went up to meet his father Israel in Goshen. When he met him,<n id="1" /> he hugged his neck and wept on his neck for quite some time.p>

<t /><p class="bodytext">Joseph went and told Pharaoh, &#8220;My father, my brothers, their flocks and herds, and all that they own have arrived from the land ofp> <p class="bodytext">Canaan. They are now<n id="1" /> in the land of Goshen.&#8221;

<p class="bodytext">Pharaoh said to Joseph&#8217;s<n id="1" /> brothers, &#8220;What is your occupation?&#8221; They said to Pharaoh, &#8220;Your servants take care of flocks, just as our ancestors did.&#8221;<n id="2" />

<p class="bodytext">So Joseph settled his father and his brothers. He gave them territory<n id="1" /> in the land of Egypt, in the best region of the land, the land of Rameses,<n id="2" /> just as Pharaoh had commanded.

<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.

Joseph said to his father, &#8220;They are the<n id="1" /> sons God has given me in this place.&#8221; His father<n id="2" /> said, &#8220;Bring them to me so I may bless them.&#8221;<n id="3" />

<p class="poetry">Then he blessed Joseph and said,p> <p class="poetry">&#8220;May the God before whom my fathersp> <p class="poetry">Abraham and Isaac walked &#8211;p> <p class="poetry">the God who has been my shepherd<n id="1" />p> <p class="poetry">all my life long to this day,p>

<p class="bodytext">Then Israel said to Joseph, &#8220;I am about to die, but God will be with you<n id="1" /> and will bring you back to the land of your fathers.

<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>

<p class="bodytext">These<n id="1" /> are the twelve tribes of Israel. This is what their father said to them when he blessed them. He gave each of them an appropriate blessing.<n id="2" />p>

<p class="bodytext">Then he instructed them,<n id="1" /> &#8220;I am about to go<n id="2" /> to my people. Bury me with my fathers in the cave in the field of Ephron the Hittite.

Joseph instructed the physicians in his service<n id="1" /> to embalm his father, so the physicians embalmed Israel.

<p class="bodytext">So Joseph went up to bury his father; all Pharaoh&#8217;s officials went with him &#8211; the senior courtiers<n id="1" /> of his household, all the senior officials of the land of Egypt,

all Joseph&#8217;s household, his brothers, and his father&#8217;s household. But they left their little children and their flocks and herds in the land of Goshen.