Jacob Moves to Egypt

1So Israel set out with all that he had and came to Beersheba and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. 2And God spoke to Israel [†]in visions of the night and said, “Jacob, Jacob.” And he said, “Here I am.” 3And He said, “I am God, the God of your father; do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, for I will make you a great nation there. 4I Myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I Myself will also bring you up again; and Joseph will [†]close your eyes with his hand.”

5Then Jacob arose from Beersheba; and the sons of Israel carried their father Jacob and their little ones and their wives in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him. 6And they took their livestock and their possessions, which they had accumulated in the land of Canaan, and they came to Egypt, Jacob and all his seed with him: 7his sons and his grandsons with him, his daughters and his granddaughters, and all his seed he brought with him to Egypt.

8Now these are the names of the sons of Israel—of Jacob and his sons—who were coming to Egypt: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn. 9The sons of Reuben: Hanoch and Pallu and Hezron and Carmi. 10The sons of Simeon: [†]Jemuel and Jamin and Ohad and [†]Jachin and [†]Zohar and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman. 11The sons of Levi: [†]Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. 12The 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. 13The sons of Issachar: Tola and [†]Puvvah and [†]Iob and Shimron. 14The sons of Zebulun: Sered and Elon and Jahleel. 15These are the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan-aram, with his daughter Dinah; [†]all his sons and his daughters numbered thirty-three.

16The sons of Gad: [†]Ziphion and Haggi, Shuni and [†]Ezbon, Eri and [†]Arodi and Areli. 17The sons of Asher: Imnah and Ishvah and Ishvi and Beriah and their sister Serah. And the sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel. 18These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah; and she bore to Jacob these sixteen persons.

19The sons of Jacob’s wife Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. 20Now to Joseph in the land of Egypt were born Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, bore to him. 21The sons of Benjamin: Bela and Becher and Ashbel, Gera and Naaman, [†]Ehi and Rosh, [†]Muppim and [†]Huppim and Ard. 22These are the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob; there were fourteen persons in all.

23The sons of Dan: [†]Hushim. 24The sons of Naphtali: [†]Jahzeel and Guni and Jezer and [†]Shillem.

25These are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel, and she bore these to Jacob; there were seven persons in all. 26All the persons belonging to Jacob, who came to Egypt, who came out of his loins, excluding the wives of Jacob’s sons, were sixty-six persons in all, 27and the sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt were [†]two; all the persons of the house of Jacob, who came to Egypt, were seventy.

28Now he sent Judah before him to Joseph, to point out the way before him to Goshen; and they came into the land of Goshen. 29And Joseph harnessed his chariot and went up to Goshen to meet his father Israel; as soon as he appeared [†]before him, he fell on his neck and wept on his neck a long time. 30Then Israel said to Joseph, “Now I can die, since I have seen your face, that you are still alive.” 31And Joseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “I will go up and tell Pharaoh and say to him, ‘My brothers and my father’s household, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me; 32and the men are shepherds, for they have been [†]keepers of livestock; and they have brought their flocks and their herds and all that they have.’ 33And it will be when Pharaoh calls you and says, ‘What is your occupation?’ 34then you shall say, ‘Your servants have been [†]keepers of livestock from our youth and until now, both we and our fathers,’ that you may [†]live in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians.”