JACOB’S VISION AT BEER-SHEBA (LATE SOURCE) [46:1-5a]
And Israel set out with everything he owned. And when he reached Beer-sheba, he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.
And God spoke to Israel in a vision by night and said, “Jacob, Jacob.” And he said, “Yes.”
And he said, “I am God, the God of your father. Don’t be afraid to go down to Egypt: I will make you into a great nation there. I will go down to Egypt with you, and I myself will bring you back up. And when you die, Joseph will close your eyes.”
Then Jacob set out from Beer-sheba.
THE DEPARTURE FOR EGYPT (P) [46:6-7]
And they took their livestock and the possessions they had acquired in Canaan and
came to Egypt — Jacob and all his offspring. He brought his sons and his grandsons,
his daughters and his granddaughters — all his offspring — with him into Egypt.
These are the names of the Israelites, Jacob and his descendants, who came to Egypt: Reuben, Jacob’s firstborn; and Reuben’s sons: Enoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. And Simeon’s sons: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Saul, the son of a Canaanite woman. And Levi’s sons: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. And Judah’s sons: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah (but Er and Onan had died in Canaan); and Perez’s sons were Hezron and Hamul. And Issachar’s sons: Tola, Puvah, Jashub, and Shimron. And Zebulun’s sons: Sered, Elon, and Jahleel. These were Leah’s descendants, whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan-aram, in addition to his daughter Dinah. These sons and daughters numbered thirty-three in all.
And Gad’s sons: Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli. And Asher’s sons: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, and Beriah, with their sister Serah; and Beriah’s sons were Heber and Malchiel. These were the descendants of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah, and she bore these to Jacob: sixteen people.
The sons of Jacob’s wife Rachel: Joseph and Benjamin. And Manasseh and Ephraim were born to Joseph in Egypt, by Asenath, daughter of Potiphera, priest of On. And Benjamin’s sons: Belah, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ahiram, Shupham, Hupham, and Ard. These were Rachel’s descendants, whom she bore to Jacob. They numbered fourteen in all.
And Dan’s son: Hushim. And Naphtali’s sons: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem. These were the descendants of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel, and she bore these to Jacob. They numbered seven in all.
The people who went to Egypt with Jacob — his bodily descendants, not including the
wives of his sons — numbered sixty-six in all. And the sons of Joseph, who were born
to him in Egypt, numbered two. The people in Jacob’s family who went to Egypt numbered
seventy in all.
JACOB IN EGYPT (P)[47:7-11, 27B-28]
Then Joseph brought in his father and introduced him to Pharaoh, and Jacob greeted Pharaoh. And Pharaoh said to Jacob, “How old are you?”
And Jacob said to Pharaoh, “I have lived for a hundred and thirty years. Few and bitter have my years been, far fewer than the years that my ancestors lived.” Then Jacob took leave of Pharaoh and departed.
And Joseph settled his father and brothers, and he gave them property in Egypt, in
the land of Rameses. And they acquired property there, and they were fruitful and
multiplied greatly. And Jacob lived in Egypt for seventeen years, so that the years
of his life were a hundred and forty-seven.
JOSEPH’S LAND POLICY (LATE SOURCE) [47:13-26]
Now there was no food anywhere in the country, so severe was the famine, and Egypt and Canaan languished. And Joseph collected all the money in Egypt and in Canaan as payment for the grain, and he put it into Pharaoh’s treasury.
And when there was no more money in Egypt and in Canaan, all the Egyptians came to Joseph and said, “All our money is gone. Give us food or we will die before your eyes.”
And Joseph said, “If your money is gone, give me your livestock, and I will give you food.” So they brought their livestock to Joseph, and Joseph gave them food in exchange for their horses, sheep, oxen, and donkeys. Thus he supplied them with food in exchange for all their livestock that year.
When that year was over, they came to him again and said, “My lord, we cannot hide it from you that since our money is gone and our livestock belongs to you, we have nothing left to offer you, my lord, but our bodies and our land. Why should we die before your eyes, we and our land as well? Take us and our land in payment for food, and we and our land will be slaves to Pharaoh, (variant:) And give us seeds so that we can stay alive, or we will starve to death and the land will turn into a desert.”
So Joseph bought up all the land in Egypt for Pharaoh; all the Egyptians sold their fields, because the famine was too harsh for them, and the land became Pharaoh’s. And Joseph made the people slaves from one end of Egypt to the other. The only land he didn’t buy was the priests’ land: they had a fixed income from Pharaoh, and they lived off this income, so they didn’t have to sell their land. (variant:) Then Joseph said to the people, “Now that I have bought you and your land for Pharaoh, here is seed for you to sow the land. Every time there is a harvest, you must give a fifth of it to Pharaoh, but four-fifths will be yours, to sow the fields and to feed yourselves and your families.”
And they said, “You have saved our lives. We thank you, my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s
slaves.” And Joseph made it a law over Egypt (it is in effect to this day) that a
fifth of all the land’s produce must be given to Pharaoh.
JACOB ADOPTS JOSEPH’S SONS (P) [48:3-7]
And Jacob said to Joseph, “God Almighty appeared to me at Luz, in Canaan, and blessed
me and said to me, ‘I will make you fruitful and multiply you, so that you will become
a multitude of peoples; and I will give this land to your descendants as an everlasting
possession.’ And now your two sons, who were born to you in Egypt before I came here,
will be counted as my sons; Ephraim and Manasseh will be mine, as Reuben and Simeon
are. But the children born to you after them will be counted as yours, and in matters
of tribal territory they will be counted under their elder brothers’ names.” (later addition:) “And when I returned from Paddan, Rachel died beside me in Canaan,
along the way, when we were still some distance from Ephrath, and I buried her there
beside the road to Ephrath, which is now Bethlehem.”
JACOB BLESSES JOSEPH’S SONS (A LATER VERSION: LATE SOURCE) [48:13,10a, 14-22]
And Joseph took them both and brought them close to Israel — Ephraim on his right, to Israel’s left, and Manasseh on his left, to Israel’s right. (Israel’s eyes had grown weak with age; he couldn’t see.) But Israel, crossing his hands, stretched out his right hand and put it on Ephraims head, though he was the younger, and put his left hand on Manasseh’s head, though he was the firstborn.
(later addition:) And he blessed Joseph and said, “May the God on whose paths my fathers Abraham and Isaac walked, the God who has been my shepherd all my life, to this day, the presence who has rescued me from all harm, bless the boys; may my name live on in them, and the names of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and may they grow into multitudes on the earth.”
And when Joseph saw that his father had put his right hand on Ephraims head, he was displeased, and he took hold of his father’s hand, to move it from Ephraims head to Manasseh’s; and he said, “Not like that, Father. This one is the firstborn; put your right hand on his head.”
But his father refused and said, “I know, my son, I know. He too will become a tribe,
and he too will be great. But his younger brother will be even greater, and his descendants
will become a multitude of nations.” (later addition:) And he blessed them that day and said, “By you will Israel bless
itself and say: ‘May God make you like Ephraim and like Manasseh.’ “ Thus he gave Ephraim precedence over Manasseh. (appendage 1:) Then Israel said to Joseph, “I am about to die. But God will be with
you and will bring you back to the land of your fathers.” (appendage 2:) “And now
I give you —over and above your brothers’ portion — one ridge [or: Shechem], which
I captured from the Amorites with my sword and bow.”
THE TESTAMENT OF JACOB (EARLY SOURCE) [49:1b-28bα]
(editorial addition:) And Jacob said, “Gather around, and I will tell you what will
happen to you in the time to come:
Assemble and listen, you sons of Jacob;
hear the words of Israel your father.
You, Reuben, are my firstborn son,
the first fruit of my manhood’s vigor,
foremost in rank, foremost in strength.
Impetuous as water, you shall no longer be first;
for you climbed up and took your father’s wife:
shamelessly you polluted my bed.
Simeon and Levi: two of a kind;
tools of violence are their swords.
For in their fury they killed a man,
and in their vengeance they slaughtered a prince.
Cursed be their fury and their savage pride;
cursed be their wrath and their ruthlessness.
Therefore I will disperse them in Jacob,
and throughout all Israel they shall be scattered.
You are Judah, praised by your brothers;
the sons of your father bow before you;
your strong hand seizes your enemies’ necks.
Fierce as a lion’s cub is Judah;
he climbs from the valley after killing his prey.
He crouches like a lion inside his den;
as he lies there, who would dare to arouse him?
The scepter shall not depart from Judah,
nor the staff of power from between his feet,
until his anointed ruler comes,
to whom all Canaan shall bend its knee.
He ties his donkey to a grape-heavy vine
and tethers it by the deep-purple fruit.
He washes his clothes in vats of wine;
he soaks his garments in the blood of grapes.
Darker than wine are his sparkling eyes,
and his gleaming teeth are whiter than milk.
Zebulun dwells beside the seashore;
his sheltered coast is a haven for ships,
and his flank touches the border of Sidon.
Issachar is a strong-boned ass;
between the sheepfolds he lies and rests.
When he saw how good his resting-place was,
how green and fertile was all the land,
he bent his shoulder to carry loads
and took forced burdens upon his back.
Dan rules over his people: small
but equal to any of Israels tribes.
Dan is a serpent by the side of the road,
a poisonous viper along the path,
which darts out and bites the horses fetlock
and the horses rider is thrown to the ground.
Gad is raided by nomad bands,
but his bands ride out, raiding them back.
Asher, teeming with the richest of foods,
grows delicacies that are fit for a king.
Naphtali is a swift-footed deer on the heights,
who gives birth to fawns as beautiful as she.
Joseph is a young bull beside a well,
a wild colt drinking from a desert spring.
Archers attacked him, shot at him, harried him,
but his hands stayed firm and his bow stayed taut.
May God Almighty bless you
with the blessings of the sky above,
the blessings of the waters below,
the blessings of breasts and womb,
the blessings of grain and blossom,
the blessings of the ancient mountains,
the bounty of the timeless hills.
May these come to rest upon Josephs head,
and among his brothers may he stand alone.
Benjamin is a ravening wolf;
in the morning he kills and devours his prey;
at night he returns to divide the spoil.
(editorial addition:) These are the twelve tribes of Israel, and this is what their
father said to them.
JACOB’S DEATH AND BURIAL (P) [49:1a, 28b-33, 50:12-13]
And Jacob sent for his sons, and he blessed them, with a special blessing for each. And he gave them these instructions:“I am about to be gathered to my ancestors. Bury me beside my fathers in the cave that is on the land of Ephron the Hittite, the cave of Machpelah, to the east of Mamre, in Canaan, which Abraham bought from Ephron the Hittite as a burial site. There Abraham and his wife Sarah were buried; there Isaac and his wife Rebecca were buried; and there I buried Leah.” Then he drew his feet up onto the bed and died and was gathered to his ancestors.
And his sons did as he had instructed them: they brought him to Canaan and buried
him in the cave of Machpelah, to the east of Mamre, which Abraham had bought as a
burial site from Ephron the Hittite.
JOSEPH AND HIS BROTHERS RECONCILED (A LATER VERSION: R?) [50:15-21]
And when Joseph’s brothers realized that their father was dead, they said, “What if Joseph still bears a grudge against us and takes revenge on us for all the harm we did to him?” So they sent this message to Joseph: “Your father gave us this message before he died: ‘Say this to Joseph: “Forgive, I beg you, the crime and sin of your brothers, who did you harm.” ‘ So now, please, forgive the crime of the servants of the God of your father.” And Joseph wept at their words to him.
Then his brothers themselves went and prostrated themselves before him and said, “We are ready to be your slaves.”
And Joseph said to them, “Don’t be afraid. Am I God? Besides, although you meant to
harm me, God meant to bring good out of it: to save many lives, as we see today. So
don’t be afraid. I will take care of you and your children.” Thus he reassured them
and spoke kindly to them.
EPILOGUE (VERSION I: LATE SOURCE) [50:22-23]
So Joseph and his father’s household remained in Egypt. And Joseph lived to be a hundred
and ten years old. And he lived to see Ephraims great-grandchildren. And he adopted
the sons of Machir, Manasseh’s son.
EPILOGUE (VERSION 2: LATE SOURCE) [50:24-26]
And Joseph said to his brothers, “I am about to die. But God will surely come to your rescue and take you up out of this land to the land that he swore to Abraham, to Isaac, and to Jacob.” And he said, “When God comes to your rescue, you must take my bones with you to Canaan.” And he made the sons of Israel swear it to him.
So Joseph died at the age of a hundred and ten, and he was embalmed and laid in a coffin in Egypt.