Chapter 46

  And Israel went on his journey with all he had, and came to Beer-sheba, where he made offerings to the God of his father Isaac.  

  And God said to Israel in a night-vision, Jacob, Jacob. And he said, Here am I.  

  And he said, I am God, the God of your father: go down to Egypt without fear, for I will make a great nation of you there:  

  I will go down with you to Egypt, and I will see that you come back again, and at your death Joseph will put his hands on your eyes.  

  Then Jacob went on from Beer-sheba; and the sons of Jacob took their father and their little ones and their wives in the carts which Pharaoh had sent for them.  

  And they took their cattle and all the goods which they had got in the land of Canaan, and came to Egypt, even Jacob and all his seed:  

  His sons and his sons' sons, his daughters and his daughters' sons and all his family he took with him into Egypt.  

  And these are the names of the children of Israel who came into Egypt, even Jacob and all his sons: Reuben, Jacob's oldest son;  

  And the sons of Reuben: Hanoch and Pallu and Hezron and Carmi;  

  And the sons of Simeon: Jemuel and Jamin and Ohad and Jachin and Zohar and Shaul, the son of a woman of Canaan;  

  And the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari;  

  And the sons of Judah: Er and Onan and Shelah and Perez and Zerah: but Er and Onan had come to their death in the land of Canaan; and the sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.  

  And the sons of Issachar: Tola and Puah and Job and Shimron;  

  And the sons of Zebulun: Sered and Elon and Jahleel;  

  All these, together with his daughter Dinah, were the children of Leah, whom Jacob had by her in Paddan-aram; they were thirty-three in number.  

  And the sons of Gad: Ziphion and Haggi, Shuni and Ezbon, Eri and Arodi and Areli;  

  And the sons of Asher: Jimnah and Ishvah and Ishvi and Beriah, and Sarah, their sister; and the sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel.  

  These are the children of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah, and Jacob had these sixteen children by her.  

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

  And Joseph had Manasseh and Ephraim in the land of Egypt, by Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera, priest of On.  

  And the sons of Benjamin were Belah and Becher and Ashbel, Gera and Naaman, Ehi and Rosh, Muppim and Huppim and Ard.  

  All these were the children of Rachel whom Jacob had by her, fourteen persons.  

  And the son of Dan was Hushim.  

  And the sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel and Guni and Jezer and Shillem.  

  These were the children of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel, seven persons.  

  All the persons who came with Jacob into Egypt, the offspring of his body, were sixty-six, without taking into account the wives of Jacob's sons.  

  And the sons of Joseph whom he had in Egypt were two. Seventy persons of the family of Jacob came into Egypt.  

  Now he had sent Judah before him to Goshen, to get word from Joseph; and so they came to the land of Goshen.  

  And Joseph got his carriage ready and went to Goshen for the meeting with his father; and when he came before him, he put his arms round his neck, weeping.  

  And Israel said to Joseph, Now that I have seen you living again, I am ready for death.  

  And Joseph said to his brothers and to his father's people, I will go and give the news to Pharaoh, and say to him, My brothers and my father's people, from the land of Canaan, have come to me;  

  And these men are keepers of sheep and owners of cattle, and have with them their flocks and their herds and all they have.  

  Now when Pharaoh sends for you and says, What is your business?  

  You are to say, Your servants have been keepers of cattle from our early days up to now, like our fathers; in this way you will be able to have the land of Goshen for yourselves; because keepers of sheep are unclean in the eyes of the Egyptians.