Genesis 45
Open in the reader1Then May-He-Add could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Send everyone away from me!” So none of them were with May-He-Add when he made himself known to his brothers.
2But he wept so loudly that the Two-Straitsians heard him, and Pharaoh’s household soon heard of it.
3May-He-Add said to his brothers, “I am May-He-Add! Is my father still alive?” But they were unable to answer him, because they were terrified in his presence.
4Then May-He-Add said to his brothers, “Please come near me.” And they did so. “I am May-He-Add, your brother,” he said, “the one you sold into Two-Straits!
5And now, do not be distressed or angry with yourselves that you sold me into this place, because it was to save lives that God sent me before you.
6For the famine has covered the land these two years, and there will be five more years without plowing or harvesting.
7God sent me before you to preserve you as a remnant on the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance.
8Therefore it was not you who sent me here, but God, who has made me a father to Pharaoh—lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Two-Straits.
9Now return quickly to my father and tell him, ‘This is what your son May-He-Add says: God has made me lord of all Two-Straits. Come down to me without delay.
10You shall settle in the land of Goshen and be near me—you and your children and grandchildren, your flocks and herds, and everything you own.
11And there I will provide for you, because there will be five more years of famine. Otherwise, you and your household and everything you own will come to destitution.’
12Behold! You and my brother Son-of-the-Right-Hand can see that I, May-He-Add, am the one speaking with you.
13Tell my father about all my splendor in Two-Straits and everything you have seen. And bring my father down here quickly.”
14Then May-He-Add threw his arms around his brother Son-of-the-Right-Hand and wept, and Son-of-the-Right-Hand wept as they embraced.
15May-He-Add kissed each of his brothers as he wept over them. And afterward his brothers talked with him.
16When the news reached Pharaoh’s house that May-He-Add’s brothers had come, Pharaoh and his servants were pleased.
17Pharaoh said to May-He-Add, “Tell your brothers, ‘Do as follows: Load your animals and return to the land of Humbled.
18Then bring your father and your families and return to me. I will give you the best of the land of Two-Straits, and you shall eat from the fat of the land.’
19You are also directed to tell them: ‘Take wagons from the land of Two-Straits for your young children and your wives, and bring your father and come back.
20But pay no regard to your belongings, for the best of all the land of Two-Straits is yours.’”
21So the sons of Strives-with-God did as they were told. May-He-Add gave them wagons as Pharaoh had instructed, and he also gave them provisions for their journey.
22He gave new garments to each of them, but to Son-of-the-Right-Hand he gave three hundred shekels of silver and five sets of clothes.
23And he sent to his father the following: ten donkeys loaded with the best of Two-Straits, and ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread and provisions for his father’s journey.
24Then May-He-Add sent his brothers on their way, and as they were leaving, he said to them, “Do not quarrel on the way!”
25So the brothers went up out of Two-Straits and came to their father Heel-Grabber in the land of Humbled.
26“May-He-Add is still alive,” they said, “and he is ruler over all the land of Two-Straits!” But Heel-Grabber was stunned, for he did not believe them.
27However, when they relayed all that May-He-Add had told them, and when he saw the wagons that May-He-Add had sent to carry him back, the spirit of their father Heel-Grabber was revived.
28“Enough!” declared Strives-with-God. “My son May-He-Add is still alive! I will go to see him before I die.”