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1 And Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beer-sheba, and offered sacrifices unto the God of his father Isaac.

2 And God spoke to Israel in visions of the night, and said, “Jacob, Jacob.” And he said, “Here I am.”

3 And he said, “I am God, the God of thy father: do not fear to go down into Egypt; for there I will make of you a great nation:

4 I will go down with you into Egypt; and I will also surely bring you up again; and even Joseph shall be there for you when you die.”

5 And Jacob rose up from Beer-sheba: and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, and their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him.

6 And they took their cattle, and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob, and all his seed with him:

7 his sons, and his sons’ sons with him, his daughters, and his sons’ daughters, and all his seed brought he with him into Egypt.

8 And these are the names of the children of Israel, who came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons: Reuben, Jacob’s first-born.

9 And the sons of Reuben: Hanoch, and Pallu, and Hezron, and Carmi.

10 And the sons of Simeon: [a]Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and [b]Jachin, and [c]Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanitish woman.

11 And the sons of Levi: [d]Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.

12 And the sons of Judah: Er, and Onan, and Shelah, and Perez, and Zerah; but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. And the sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.

13 And the sons of Issachar: Tola, and [e]Puvah, and Iob, and Shimron.

14 And the sons of Zebulun: Sered, and Elon, and Jahleel.

15 These are the sons of Leah, whom she bare unto Jacob in Paddan-aram, with his daughter Dinah: all the souls of his sons and his daughters were thirty and three.

16 And the sons of Gad: [f]Ziphion, and Haggi, Shuni, and [g]Ezbon, Eri, and [h]Arodi, and Areli.

17 And the sons of Asher: Imnah, and Ishvah, and Ishvi, and Beriah, and Serah their sister; and the sons of Beriah: Heber, and Malchiel.

18 These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah his daughter; and these she bare unto Jacob, even sixteen souls.

19 The sons of Rachel Jacob’s wife: Joseph and Benjamin.

20 And unto Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera priest of On, bare unto him. 21 And the sons of Benjamin: Bela, and Becher, and Ashbel, Gera, and Naaman, [i]Ehi, and Rosh, [j]Muppim, and [k]Huppim, and Ard.

22 These are the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob: all the souls were fourteen.

23 And the sons of Dan: [l]Hushim.

24 And the sons of Naphtali: [m]Jahzeel, and Guni, and Jezer, and [n]Shillem.

25 These are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave unto Rachel his daughter, and these she bore to Jacob: all the souls were seven.

26 All the [o]souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, that came out of his loins, besides Jacob’s sons’ wives, all the souls were sixty-six;

27 and the sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt, were two souls: all the souls of the house of Jacob, that came into Egypt, were seventy.

28 And he sent Judah before him unto Joseph, to show the way before him unto Goshen; and they came into the land of Goshen.

29 And Joseph made ready his chariot, and went up to meet Israel his father, to Goshen; and he presented himself unto him, and fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while.

30 And Israel said unto Joseph, “Now let me die, since I have seen your face, that you are still alive.”

31 And Joseph said unto his brethren, and unto his father’s house, “I will go up, and tell Pharaoh, and will say unto him, 'My brothers, and my father’s house, who were in the land of Canaan, have come unto me;

32 and the men are shepherds, for they have been keepers of cattle; and they have brought their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have.'

33 And it shall come to pass, when Pharaoh shall call you, and shall say, 'What is your occupation?'

34 that ye shall say, 'Thy servants have been keepers of cattle from our youth even until now, both we, and our fathers;' that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians.

[10] In Num. 26:12; 1 Chr. 4:24, Nemuel.

[10] In 1 Chr. 4:24, Jarib.

[10] In Num. 26:13; 1 Chr. 4:24, Zerah.

[11] In 1 Chr. 6:16, Gershom.

[13] In 1 Chr. 7:1, Puvah, Jashub. See Num. 26:23, 24.

[16] In Num. 26:15, Zephon.

[16] In Num. 26:16, Ozni.

[16] In Num. 26:17, Arod.

[21] In Num. 26:38, Ahiram.

[21] In Num. 26:39, Shephupham. In 1 Chr. 7:12, Shuppim.

[21] In Num. 26:39, Hupham.

[23] In Num. 26:42, Shuham.

[24] In 1 Chr. 7:13, Jahziel.

[24] In 1 Chr. 7:13, Shallum.

[26] Or, souls belonging to Jacob that came

[34] ‘an abomination’ signifies a spiritual antagonism; for the Egyptians had a spiritual antagonism to shepherds since they worshiped the Lamb (a ‘lamb god’, the ‘lamb of god’).

Selected commentary.

h.The suffix ה replaces the prefix ל locale (Yevamot 13b).

h.לאלהי אביו יצחק TO THE GOD OF HIS FATHER, ISAAC — The duty of honouring one’s father is more imperative than that of honouring one’s grandfather (Genesis Rabbah 94:5); therefore the sacrifices are associated with the name of Isaac and not with that of Abraham.

h.יעקב יעקב JACOB, JACOB — The repetition of the name is a mark of affection (Sifra, Vayikra Dibbura d'Nedavah, Chapter 1 12).

h.אל תירא מרדה מצרימה FEAR NOT TO GO DOWN TO EGYPT — God said this to him because he was grieved that he was compelled to leave the Land of Israel (Pirkei DeRabbi Eliezer 39).

h.ואנכי אעלך AND I MYSELF WILL ALSO SURELY BRING THEE UP AGAIN — Here He promised him that he would be buried in the Holy Land (Talmud Yerushalmi Sotah 1:10).

h.אשר רכשו בארץ כנען WHICH THEY HAD GOTTEN IN THE LAND OF CANAAN — But all that he had gotten in Padan-aram he gave to Esau in payment for his share in the Cave of Machpelah. He said, “The possessions I obtained outside the land are of no value to me”. It is to this that the words refer (Genesis 50:5) “[Bury me in my burying-place] which כריתי” I obtained for myself by means of a כרי. He placed before him (Esau) piles of gold and silver like a heap (כרי) of corn and said to him, “Take these in exchange for your share in the Cave of Machpelah” (Midrash Tanchuma, Vayechi 6).

h.ובנות בניו HIS SON’S DAUGHTERS — these were Serah, the daughter of Asher, and Jochebed, the daughter of Levi.

h.הבאים מצרימה WHO CAME INTO EGYPT — Relative to that time when they were going to Egypt Scripture calls them “those who were coming” to Egypt (the participle) and one, therefore, need not be surprised that it does not state אשר באו “who came” (the perfect tense).

h.בן הכנענית THE SON OF THE CANAANITISH WOMAN — means the son of Dinah, who had been associated with a Canaanite (Shechem). When they (her brothers) had killed Shechem, Dinah refused to leave the city until Simeon swore to her that he would marry her and regard the child she was about to bear as his own (cf. Genesis Rabbah 80:11).

h.אלה בני לאה ואת דינה בתו THESE ARE THE SONS OF LEAH WITH HIS DAUGHTER DINAH. — Scripture associates the men with the name of Leah and the women with that of Jacob for the reason given the Talmud (Niddah 31a).

h.שלשים ושלש THIRTY THREE — But in the enumeration above you will find only thirty-two. The one whose name is omitted is Jochebed who was born “between the walls” just as they entered the border city, as it is said (Numbers 26:59) “Jochebed, the daughter of Levi, whom her mother bore to Levi in Egypt — she was born in Egypt, but she was not conceived in Egypt (Bava Batra 123).

h.שת יעקב THE SONS OF RACHEL, JACOB’S WIFE — In the case of all the other wives of Jacob the term אשת “wife” is not mentioned. But the reason is because she was the chief mistress of the household (Genesis Rabbah 73:1).

h.כל הנפש הבאה ליעקב EVERY SOUL THAT WAS COMING WITH JACOB — every soul that left Canaan to go to Egypt The word הבאה, here, is not a perfect tense, but a participle with a relative present sense — just as (Ester 2:4) “In the evening she (באה) was coming” and (Genesis 29:7) “and, behold, Rachel his daughter is coming (באה)” and therefore the accent is on the last syllable, on the א, because when they left, coming from the land of Canaan, they were only sixty-six. But at the second mention of this word (Genesis 46:27) — “every soul of the house of Jacob, which came (הבאה) into Egypt were seventy” — it is a perfect tense and therefore it is accented on the last but one syllable, on the ב. The reason is, that when they came there, they were seventy, for they found Joseph and his two sons there, and Jochebed was added to their number “between the walls”. According to the view of the Rabbi (i. e. R. Jehudah, cf. Genesis Rabbah 84) who stated that with each of Jacob’s sons a twin-sister was born, we must say that these died before they (Jacob and his family) went down to Egypt, because they are not enumerated here. In Vayikra Rabbah 4:6 I found the following: When he left Canaan (cf. Genesis 36:6) Esau’s family consisted of only six (himself and his five sons), and Scripture calls them “the souls of his house” (in the plural) and this is because they worshipped many gods (each serving a different god and having as it were, a different soul or religious feeling). But the family of Jacob when he came to Egypt consisted of seventy and Scripture calls them “soul”, in the singular, because they all served One God.

h.להורת לפניו TO DIRECT HIM — Render this as the Targum does: to prepare a place for him and to show him how he should settle in it.

h.לפניו BEFORE HIM — means before he should arrive there. A Midrashic comment is: להורת לפניו (in the sense of, “that there might be teaching before him”) — to establish for him a House of Study from which Teaching (הוראה or תורה) might go forth (Genesis Rabbah 95:3).

h,ויאסר יוסף מרכבתו AND JOSEPH MADE READY (literally, bound, harnessed) HIS CHARIOT — He himself harnessed the horses to the chariot being eager to show honour to his father (Genesis Rabbah 95:8; Mechilta to בשלח).

h.וירא אליו AND HE APPEARED BEFORE HIM — Joseph appeared before his father.

h.ויבך על צואריו עוד AND WEPT ON HIS NECK A GOOD WHILE — The phrase ויבך עוד signifies weeping copiously. So, too, עוד has the same meaning in (Job 34:23) “For He doth not place upon a man עוד” — which means something more than is proper: God does not place on him accusations additional to his sins (the sins he has really committed) Here, also, he wept greatly and continuously — more than is usual. Jacob, however, did not fall upon Joseph’s neck nor did he kiss him. Our Rabbis say: the reason was that he was reciting the Shema (renewing his allegiance to God immediately on settling in a new land).

h.אמותה הפעם NOW, I WILL FAIN DIE — It's literal meaning is as the Targum renders it. A Midrashic explanation is (being based upon the literal translation. “I will die this once”): I had thought that I would die two deaths, in this world and also in the world to come, because the Divine Presence departed from me and I therefore thought that God would hold me responsible for your death. Now, since you are alive I will die only once, in this world (Midrash Tanchuma, Vayigash 9).

h.'ואמרה אליו אחי וגו AND I WILL SAY TO HIM— “MY BRETHREN … have come unto me” and further I will say to him, והאנשים רעי צאן 'וגו AND THE MEN ARE SHEPHERDS etc.

h.בעבור תשבו בארץ גשן IN ORDER THAT YE MAY ABIDE IN THE LAND OF GOSHEN — and this is the land that you require, for it is a land of pasture. If you tell him that you are inexperienced in other work he will send you far away from him and settle you there.

h.כי תועבת מצרים כל רעה צאן FOR EVERY SHEPHERD IS AN ABOMINATION TO THE EGYPTIANS — because they (sheep) are regarded by them as deities.