• Please see License for Copyright notice and Licensing information.

1 At hearing this Joseph could no longer control himself before his brothers as they stood before him; and he cried, “Everyone else but these men, go out from me!” And nobody was left there except the brothers when Joseph made himself known unto his brethren.

2 And he [a]wept aloud: and the Egyptians heard, and the house of Pharaoh heard.

3 And Joseph said unto his brethren, “I am Joseph; is my father still alive?” And his brothers were speechless, and afraid at his presence.

4 And Joseph said unto his brethren, “Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, “I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.

5 And now, do not be grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that you sold me here: for God sent me here before you to preserve life.

6 For these two years has the famine been in the land; and there are yet five years, in which there shall be neither plowing nor harvest.

7 And God sent me before you to preserve you a remnant in the earth, and to save you alive [b]by a great deliverance.

8 So now it was not you that sent me here, but God; and he has made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and ruler over all the land of Egypt.

9 Hasten, and go up to my father, and say to him, “Thus says your son Joseph, “God has made me the lord of all Egypt; come down to me without delay;

10 and you shall dwell in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near to me, you, and your children, and your children’s children, and your flocks, and your herds, and all that you have:

11 and there will I nourish you; for there are yet five years of famine; and you may come to poverty, you, and your household, and all that you have.

12 And, as your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaks to you.

13 And you shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that you have seen; now make haste and bring my father down here.”

14 And he fell upon his brother Benjamin’s neck, and wept; and Benjamin wept upon his neck.

15 And he kissed all his brethren, and wept upon them; and after that his brethren talked with him.

16 And the report of these events was heard in Pharaoh’s house, saying, 'Joseph’s brothers have come;” and it pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants.

17 And Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Say to your brothers, 'This shall you do: load your beasts and go unto the land of Canaan;

18 and take your father and your households, and come unto me; and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and you shall eat the fat of the land.

19 Now you are commanded to do this: take you wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come.

20 Also do not worry about too many things; for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours.”

21 And the sons of Israel did so; and Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provisions for the way.

22 To all of them he gave each man a suit of fine clothing; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver, and five fine suits of clothing.

23 And to his father he sent after this manner; ten animals laden with the good things of Egypt, and ten more laden with grain and bread and provision for his father by the way.

24 So he sent his brethren away, and they departed: and he said to them, “See that you take care along the way.”

25 And they went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan unto Jacob their father.

26 And they told him, saying, “Joseph is alive! And he is ruler over all the land of Egypt.” And his heart fainted, for he believed them not.

27 And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said unto them: and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived:

28 and Israel said, “It is enough that Joseph my son is still alive; I will go and see him before I die.”

[2] Hebrew gave forth his voice in weeping.

[7] Or, to be a great company that escape

[8] like ‘emunah’; God is in control of all things, so one must have faith in God’s plan.

Selected commentary.

h.ולא יכל יוסף להתאפק לכל הנצבים AND JOSEPH COULD NOT REFRAIN HIMSELF BEFORE ALL THEM THAT STOOD — He could not bear that the Egyptians should stand by him witnessing how his brothers would be put to shame when he made himself known to them.

h.וישמע בית פרעה AND THE HOUSE OF PHARAOH HEARD IT — The house of Pharaoh means his servants and the members of his household. בית here does not mean an actual house (so that the words would mean “and one heard it in the house of Pharaoh; cf. 5:16), but it is similar to (1 Kings 12:21) בית ישראל “the house of Israel”, or בית יהודה the house of Judah”, meaning the people of Judah. old French maisniede English all the inmates of a house.

h.נבהלו מפניו [FOR] THEY WERE AMAZED AT HIS PRESENCE — out of shame.

h.גשו נא אלי STEP NEAR TO ME, I PRAY YOU — He saw that they recoiled and he said to himself “Now my brothers feel ashamed”. He therefore called to them in mild and gentle language (Genesis Rabbah 93:10).

h.למחיה FOR THE PRESERVATION OF LIFE — i.e. that I may be to you for a preservation of life.

h.כי זה שנתים הרעב means FOR THESE TWO YEARS OF FAMINE have passed of the years of famine that are to come in the land.

h.לאב A FATHER — he made me his colleague and he bestowed on me the dignity of “Father of the king.”

h.ועלו אל אבי AND GO UP TO MY FATHER — he said “go up” because the land of Israel is situated higher than all the neighbouring countries (Kiddushin 69a).

h.פן תורש — The Targum renders this by דלמא תתמסכן LEST THOU BE IMPOVERISHED, for the verb is of the same root as we find in (1 Samuel 2:7) “The Lord maketh poor (מוריש) and maketh rich”.

h.והנה עיניכם ראות AND, BEHOLD, YOUR EYES SEE my glory, and that I am your brother, and further כי פי המדבר אליכם THAT IT IS MY MOUTH THAT SPEAKETH TO YOU in the Holy Language) (Genesis Rabbah 93:10).

h.ועיני אחי בנימין [YOUR EYES] AND THE EYES OF MY BROTHER BENJAMIN — he mentions them separately and alike to imply: just as I harbour no hatred against Benjamin, my brother, for he was no party to selling me, so is my heart free from hatred against you (Megillah 16b).

h.ויפל על צוארי בנימן אחיו ויבך AND HE FELL UPON HIS BROTHER BENJAMIN’S NECK AND WEPT — for the Temples which were to be in Benjamin’s territory and which would ultimately be laid in ruins (Genesis Rabbah 93:12).

h.ובנימין בכה על צואריו AND BENJAMIN WEPT ON HIS NECK — for the Tabernacle of Shiloh which was to be in Joseph’s territory and which would ultimately be laid in ruins (Genesis Rabbah 93:12).

h.ואחרי כן AND AFTER THAT — after they saw that he wept and realized that he was peaceably inclined towards them, דברו אחיו אתו HIS BRETHREN SPAKE WITH HIM — For at first they felt abashed before him.

h.והקל נשמע בית פרעה AND THE FAME THEREOF WAS HEARD IN PHARAOH’S HOUSE — It is the same as בבית, in the house of Pharaoh and here it denotes the actual house (cp. 45:2).

h.טענו את בעירכם LADE YOUR BEASTS — with grain.

h.את טוב אוץ מצרים THE BEST OF THE LAND OF EGYPT — viz., the district of Goshen. He prophesied without knowing what he was prophesying when he said “I shall give you the best of the land of Egypt”, for ultimately they were to make it like the depths of the sea in which there are no fish (i.e. that they would carry away the best of the land when they would leave Egypt) (Berakhot 9b).

h.חלב הארץ THE FAT OF THE LAND — The word חלב always denotes the best part of a thing.

h.ואתה צויתה NOW THOU ART COMMANDED — supply the words by me (lit, by my mouth) to say unto them

h.זאת עשו THIS DO YE — Thus tell them: that it is done with my permission.

h.שלח כזאת HE SENT AFTER THIS MANNER — according to this amount. And what was the amount? עשרה חמרים וגו׳ ten asses etc (i.e. as much as ten asses could carry).

h.מטוב מצרים OF THE BEST THINGS OF EGYPT — We find it stated in the Talmud (Megillah 16b) that he sent him old wine which old people like very much. The Midrash states that he sent him split beans. (Genesis Rabbah 94:2).

h.בר ולחם CORN AND BREAD — understand this as the Targum renders it.

h.ומזון means things that are eaten together with bread.

h.אל תרגזו בדרך BE NOT AGITATED BY THE WAY — Do not busy yourselves with Halachic discussions lest the road become unsteady for you (i.e. lest you lose your way). Another explanation is: Do not take very long steps and enter the town where you will stay over night while the sun is still shining (Taanit [10]b). According to the plain sense of the verse, however, it must be explained thus: Because they felt ashamed he feared that they might quarrel on the way about his having been sold, arguing one with another. One would say: “It was through you he was sold”. Another: “It was you who made slanderous statements about him and caused us to hate him”.

h.וכי הוא משל — the word וכי is used here in the sense of אשר “that”: AND THAT HE WAS RULER.

h.ויפג לבו AND JACOB’S HEART CONTINUED COLD — his heart passed away (נחלף) and ceased to believe — his heart took no notice of their words. The word ויפג has the same meaning as (Beitzah 14a) “all spices let their taste pass away (מפיגין)” (i.e. lose their taste) in Mishnaic Hebrew. Similar is (Lamentations 3:49) “without (הפגות) intermission”. The words (Jeremiah 48:11) “and his scent is not changed (נמר)” is rendered in the Targum by “and his scent has not את כל דברי יוסף.

h..(פג ALL THE WORDS OF JOSEPH — As evidence that it was Joseph who was sending this message he had informed them of the religious subject he had been studying with his father at the time when he left him, viz., the section of the Heifer (עגלה) that had its neck broken (Deuteronomy 21:6). It is to this that Scripture refers in the words “And he saw (i.e comprehended the meaning of) the עגלות (here to be taken in sense of Heifer) which Joseph had sent — and it does not state “which Pharaoh had sent” (as one would expect if עגלות meant wagons) (Genesis Rabbah 94:3).

h.ותחי רוח יעקב THE SPIRIT OF JACOB [THEIR FATHER] REVIVED — The Shechinah that had departed from him, rested again upon him (cf. Onkelos).

h.רב ENOUGH or MUCH — Much joy and pleasure is still in store for me, since my son Joseph is yet alive.