NLT One Year Bible - Flipbook - Page 88
J A N U A R Y
2 3
and get directions to the region of
Goshen. And when they finally arrived
there, 29 Joseph prepared his chariot and
traveled to Goshen to meet his father, Jacob. When Joseph arrived, he embraced
his father and wept, holding him for a
long time. 30Finally, Jacob said to Joseph,
“Now I am ready to die, since I have seen
your face again and know you are still
alive.”
31And Joseph said to his brothers and
to his father’s entire family, “I will go to
Pharaoh and tell him, ‘My brothers and
my father’s entire family have come to
me from the land of Canaan. 32 These
men are shepherds, and they raise livestock. They have brought with them
their flocks and herds and everything
they own.’”
33 Then he said, “When Pharaoh calls
for you and asks you about your occupation, 34 you must tell him, ‘We, your servants, have raised livestock all our lives,
as our ancestors have always done.’
When you tell him this, he will let you
live here in the region of Goshen, for the
Egyptians despise shepherds.”
47:1Then Joseph went to see Pharaoh
and told him, “My father and my brothers have arrived from the land of Canaan. They have come with all their
flocks and herds and possessions, and
they are now in the region of Goshen.”
2 Joseph took five of his brothers with
him and presented them to Pharaoh.
3 And Pharaoh asked the brothers,
“What is your occupation?”
They replied, “We, your servants, are
shepherds, just like our ancestors. 4We
have come to live here in Egypt for a
while, for there is no pasture for our
flocks in Canaan. The famine is very severe there. So please, we request
permission to live in the region of
Goshen.”
5 Then Pharaoh said to Joseph, “Now
that your father and brothers have
joined you here, 6 choose any place in
the entire land of Egypt for them to live.
Give them the best land of Egypt. Let
them live in the region of Goshen. And
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if any of them have special skills, put
them in charge of my livestock, too.”
7 Then Joseph brought in his father,
Jacob, and presented him to Pharaoh.
And Jacob blessed Pharaoh.
8“How old are you?” Pharaoh asked
him.
9 Jacob replied, “I have traveled this
earth for 130 hard years. But my life has
been short compared to the lives of my
ancestors.” 10Then Jacob blessed Pharaoh again before leaving his court.
11So Joseph assigned the best land of
Egypt—the region of Rameses—to his
father and his brothers, and he settled
them there, just as Pharaoh had commanded. 12And Joseph provided food
for his father and his brothers in
amounts appropriate to the number of
their dependents, including the smallest children.
13Meanwhile, the famine became so
severe that all the food was used up, and
people were starving throughout the
lands of Egypt and Canaan. 14By selling
grain to the people, Joseph eventually
collected all the money in Egypt and Canaan, and he put the money in Pharaoh’s
treasury. 15 When the people of Egypt
and Canaan ran out of money, all the
Egyptians came to Joseph. “Our money
is gone!” they cried. “But please give us
food, or we will die before your very
eyes!”
16 Joseph replied, “Since your money
is gone, bring me your livestock. I will
give you food in exchange for your livestock.” 17So they brought their livestock
to Joseph in exchange for food. In exchange for their horses, flocks of sheep
and goats, herds of cattle, and donkeys,
Joseph provided them with food for another year.
18But that year ended, and the next
year they came again and said, “We cannot hide the truth from you, my lord.
Our money is gone, and all our livestock
and cattle are yours. We have nothing
left to give but our bodies and our land.
19 Why should we die before your very
eyes? Buy us and our land in exchange
for food; we offer our land and our-
