Genesis 46

1 So Israel set out with all that he had, and came to the Well of the Oath, and offered sacrifice to the God of his father Isaac. [a] 2 And God spoke to Israel in a vision of the night: “Jacob, Jacob.” And he said, “What is it?” 3 And he said to him, “I am the God of your fathers. Do not be afraid to go down into Egypt, for there I will make you a great nation. 4 I will go down with you into Egypt, and I will bring you up again at the end — and Joseph shall put his hands on your eyes.” 5 Then Jacob rose up from the Well of the Oath, and the sons of Israel lifted their father, their belongings, and their wives onto the wagons Joseph had sent to carry them. 6 They took their goods and all the property they had gained in the land of Canaan, and they came into the land of Egypt — Jacob, and all his seed with him: 7 his sons and his sons’ sons, his daughters and his sons’ daughters. He brought all his seed into Egypt.

8 These are the names of the sons of Israel who went into Egypt — Jacob and his sons. Jacob’s firstborn: Reuben. 9 The sons of Reuben: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. 10 The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Saul, the son of a Canaanite woman. 11 The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. 12 The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah — but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. And the sons of Perez were Hezron and Jemuel. 13 The sons of Issachar: Tola, Puvah, Jashub, and Shimron. [b] 14 The sons of Zebulun: Sered, Elon, and Jahleel. 15 These are the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Mesopotamia of Syria, together with Dinah his daughter — all the souls, sons and daughters, thirty-three. 16 The sons of Gad: Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli. 17 The sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and Serah their sister. The sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel. 18 These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah — she bore these to Jacob: sixteen souls. 19 The sons of Rachel, Jacob’s wife: Joseph and Benjamin. 20 And to Joseph, in the land of Egypt, sons were born whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of Heliopolis, bore to him: Manasseh and Ephraim. And sons were born to Manasseh, whom his Syrian concubine bore to him: Machir. And Machir became the father of Gilead. The sons of Ephraim, Manasseh’s brother: Shuthelah and Tahan. The son of Shuthelah: Edem. [c] 21 The sons of Benjamin: Bela, Becher, and Ashbel. The sons of Bela were Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, and Huppim. And Gera became the father of Ard. [d] 22 These are the sons of Rachel, whom she bore to Jacob — all the souls, eighteen. 23 The son of Dan: Hushim. 24 The sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem. 25 These are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel — she bore these to Jacob: all the souls, seven. 26 All the souls who came with Jacob into Egypt, who came from his own body — not counting the wives of Jacob’s sons — all the souls were sixty-six. 27 And the sons of Joseph, born to him in the land of Egypt, were nine souls. All the souls of the house of Jacob who came into Egypt were seventy-five. [e]

28 And he sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph, to meet him at the City of Heroes, in the land of Rameses. [f] 29 And Joseph harnessed his chariots and went up to meet Israel his father at the City of Heroes. And when he came into his sight, he fell on his neck and wept — wept long on his neck. 30 And Israel said to Joseph, “Now I can die — for I have seen your face, and you are still alive.” 31 And Joseph said to his brothers, “I will go up and tell Pharaoh. I will say to him, ‘My brothers and my father’s house, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me. 32 The men are shepherds — they have always been keepers of cattle — and they have brought their cattle and their oxen and all that they own.’ 33 So when Pharaoh calls you and asks, ‘What is your work?’ — 34 say, ‘Your servants have been herdsmen from our youth until now, we and our fathers before us’ — so that you may settle in the land of Goshen of Arabia. For every shepherd of sheep is a disgusting thing to the Egyptians.”