Genesis 45:1–15

¹Then Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Send everyone away from me!”

So none of them were with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers. ²But he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh’s household soon heard of it.

³Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?”

But they were unable to answer him, because they were terrified in his presence.

⁴Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come near me.” And they did so.

“I am Joseph, your brother,” he said, “the one you sold into Egypt! 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.^{a 8}Therefore 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 Egypt.

⁹Now return quickly to my father and tell him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says: God has made me lord of all Egypt. 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 Benjamin can see that I, Joseph, am the one speaking with you. ¹³Tell my father about all my splendor in Egypt and everything you have seen. And bring my father down here quickly.”

¹⁴Then Joseph threw his arms around his brother Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin wept as they embraced. ¹⁵Joseph kissed each of his brothers as he wept over them. And afterward his brothers talked with him.