And he said mildly to them: Come nearer to me. And when they were come near him, he said: I am Joseph, your brother, whom you sold into Egypt. Be not afraid, and let it not seem to you a hard case that you sold me into these countries for God sent me before you into Egypt for your preservation. For it is two years since the famine began to be upon the land, and five years more remain, wherein there can be neither ploughing nor reaping. And God sent me before, that you may be preserved upon the earth, and may have food to live. Not by your counsel was I sent hither, but by the will of God: who hath made me as it were a father to Pharao, and lord of his whole house, and governor in all the land of Egypt. Make haste, and go ye up to my father, and say to him: Thus saith thy son Joseph: God hath made me lord of the whole land of Egypt: come down to me, linger not. And thou shalt dwell in the land of Gessen, and thou shalt be near me, thou and thy sons, and thy sons' sons, thy sheep, and thy herds, and all things that thou hast. And there I will feed thee (for there are yet five years of famine remaining), lest both thou perish, and thy house, and all things that thou hast. Behold, your eyes and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see that it is my mouth that speaketh to you. You shall tell my father of all my glory, and all things that you have seen in Egypt: make haste and bring him to me. And falling upon the neck of his brother Benjamin, he embraced him and wept: and Benjamin in like manner wept also on his neck. And Joseph kissed all his brethren, and wept upon every one of them: after which they were emboldened to speak to him.

And it was heard, and the fame was abroad in the king's court: The brethren of Joseph are come: and Pharao with all his family was glad. And he spoke to Joseph that he should give orders to his brethren, saying: Load your beasts, and go into the land of Canaan. And bring away from thence your father and kindred, and come to me and I will give you all the good things of Egypt, that you may eat the marrow of the land. Give orders also that they take wagons out of the land of Egypt, for the carriage of their children and their wives: and say: Take up your father, and make haste to come with all speed. And leave nothing of your household stuff: for all the riches of Egypt shall be yours.

And the sons of Israel did as they were bid. And Joseph gave them wagons according to Pharao's commandment: and provisions for the way. He ordered also to be brought out for every one of them two robes: but to Benjamin he gave three

hundred pieces of silver with five robes of the best: sending to
his father as much money and raiment, adding besides ten he-
asses to carry of all the riches of Egypt, and as many she-asses,
carrying wheat and bread for the journey. So he sent away his
brethren, and at their departing said to them: Be not angry in
the way.
And they went up out of Egypt, and came into the
land of Canaan to their father Jacob. And they told him, say-
ing Joseph thy son is living: and he is ruler in all the land
of Egypt. Which when Jacob heard, he awaked as it were out
of a deep sleep, yet did not believe them. They, on the other
side, told the whole order of the thing. And when he saw the
wagons and all that he had sent, his spirit revived. And he
said: It is enough for me, if Joseph my son be yet living: I
will go and see him before I die.

Gen, XLVI. 1-7.

Gen. XLVI.

SECT. XIX. JACOB AND HIS FAMILY GO DOWN TO EGYPT.

Jacob goes down to Egypt.-And Israel taking his journey, with all that he had, came to the well of the oath, B.C. 1706. and killing victims there to the God of his father Isaac, he heard Him by a vision in the night calling him, and saying to him: Jacob, Jacob. And he answered Him: Lo, here I am.

God said to him: I am the most mighty God of thy father: fear not, go down into Egypt, for I will make a great nation of thee there. I will go down with thee thither, and will bring thee back again from thence: Joseph also shall put his hands upon thy eyes.

And Jacob rose up from the well of the oath; and his sons took him up, with their children and wives in the wagons, which Pharao had sent to carry the old man, and all that he had in the land of Canaan: and he came into Egypt with all his seed: his sons, and grandsons, daughters, and all his offspring together.

All the souls that went with Jacob into Egypt, and that 26-34. came out of his thigh, besides his sons' wives, sixty-six. And the sons of Joseph, that were born to him in the land of Egypt, two souls. All the souls of the house of Jacob, that entered into Egypt, were seventy.

And he sent Juda before him to Joseph, to tell him; and that he should meet him in Gessen. And when he was come thither, Joseph made ready his chariot, and went up to meet his father, in the same place: and seeing him, he fell upon his neck, and embracing him wept. And the father said to Joseph:

Now shall I die with joy, because I have seen thy face, and leave thee alive.

And Joseph said to his brethren, and to all his father's house: I will go up, and will tell Pharao, and will say to him: My brethren and my father's house, that were in the land of Canaan, are come to me: and the men are shepherds, and their occupation is to feed cattle: their flocks and herds, and all they have, they have brought with them. And when he shall call you, and shall say: What is your occupation? you shall answer: We thy servants are shepherds, from our infancy until now, both we and our fathers. And this you shall say, that you may

dwell in the land of Gessen, because the Egyptians have all shepherds in abomination.

The Israelites settle in Egypt.-Then Joseph went in and Gen. XLVII. told Pharao, saying: My father and brethren, their sheep and 1-31. their herds, and all that they possess, are come out of the land of Canaan: and behold they stay in the land of Gessen. Five men also, the last of his brethren, he presented before the king: and he asked them: What is your occupation? They answered: We thy servants are shepherds, both we and our fathers. We are come to sojourn in thy land, because there is no grass for the flocks of thy servants, the famine being very grievous in the land of Canaan and we pray thee to give orders that we thy servants may be in the land of Gessen. The king therefore said to Joseph : Thy father and thy brethren are come to thee. The land of Egypt is before thee: make them dwell in the best place, and give them the land of Gessen. And if thou knowest that there are industrious men among them, make them rulers over my cattle.

After this Joseph brought in his father to the king, and presented him before him, and he blessed him. And being asked by him: How many are the days of the years of thy life? he answered: The days of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty years, few and evil, and they are not come up to the days of the pilgrimage of my fathers. And blessing the king he went out.

But Joseph gave a possession to his father and his brethren in Egypt, in the best place of the land, in Ramesses, as Pharao had commanded. And he nourished them, and all his father's house, allowing food to every one. For in the whole world there was want of bread, and a famine had oppressed the land; more especially of Egypt and Canaan. Out of which he gathered up all the money for the corn which they bought, and brought it into the king's treasure. And when the buyers wanted money, all Egypt came to Joseph, saying: Give us bread: why should we die in thy presence, having now no money?

And he answered them: Bring me your cattle, and for them I will give you food, if you have no money. And when they had brought them, he gave them food in exchange for their horses, and sheep, and oxen, and asses: and he maintained them that year for the exchange of their cattle. And they came the second year, and said to him: We will not hide from our lord, how that our money is spent, and our cattle also are gone: neither art thou ignorant that we have nothing now left but our bodies and our lands. Why therefore shall we die before thy eyes? we will be thine, both we and our lands: buy us to be the king's servants, and give us seed, lest for want of tillers the land be turned into a wilderness.

So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt, every man selling his possessions, because of the greatness of the famine. And he brought it into Pharao's hands: and all its people from one end of the borders of Egypt, even to the other end thereof, except the land of the priests, which had been given them by the king: to whom also a certain allowance of food was given out of the public stores, and therefore they were not forced to sell their possessions.

Then Joseph said to the people: Behold, as you see, both you and your lands belong to Pharao; take seed and sow the fields, that you may have corn. The fifth part you shall give to the king: the other four you shall have for seed, and for food for your families and children. And they answered: Our life is in thy hand; only let my lord look favourably upon us, and we will gladly serve the king. From that time unto this day, in the whole land of Egypt, the fifth part is paid to the king, and it is become as a law, except the land of the priests, which was free from this covenant.

So Israel dwelt in Egypt, that is, in the land of Gessen, and possessed it, and grew, and was multiplied exceedingly. And he lived in it seventeen years and all the days of his life came to a hundred and forty-seven years.

And when he saw that the day of his death drew nigh, he called his son Joseph, and said to him: If I have found favour in thy sight, put thy hand under my thigh; and thou shalt show me this kindness and truth, not to bury me in Egypt: but I will sleep with my fathers, and thou shalt take me away out of this land, and bury me in the burying place of my ancestors. And Joseph answered him: I will do what thou hast commanded. And he said: Swear then to me. And as he was swearing, Israel adored God, turning to the bed's head.

SECT. XX. JACOB'S DEATH, AND AFTERWARDS JOSEPH'S.

1-10.

Jacob's dying Blessing.-After these things, it was told Gen. Joseph that his father was sick and he set out to go to him, XLVIII. taking his two sons Manasses and Ephraim. And it was told the old man: Behold thy son Joseph cometh to thee. And being strengthened he sat on his bed.

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And when Joseph was come in to him, he said: God Almighty appeared to me at Luza, which is in the land of Canaan : and He blessed me, and He said: I will cause thee to increase and multiply, and I will make of thee a multitude of people and I will give this land to thee, and to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession. So thy two sons, who were born to thee in the land of Egypt before I came hither to thee, shall be mine : Ephraim and Manasses shall be reputed to me as Ruben and Simeon. But the rest whom thou shalt have after them shall be thine, and shall be called by the name of their brethren in their possessions. For, when I came out of Mesopotamia, Rachel died from me in the land of Canaan in the very journey, and it was spring time and I was going to Ephrata, and I buried her near the way of Ephrata, which by another name is called Bethlehem.

:

Then seeing his sons, he said to him: Who are these? He answered: They are my sons, whom God hath given me in this place. And he said: Bring them to me that I may bless them. For Israel's eyes were dim by reason of his great age, and he could not see clearly. And when they were brought to him,

he kissed and embraced them.

20-21.

And he blessed them at that time, saying: In thee shall Gen. Israel be blessed, and it shall be said: God do to thee as to XLVIII. Ephraim, and as to Manasses. And he set Ephraim before Manasses. And he said to Joseph his son: Behold I die, and God will be with you, and will bring you back into the land of your fathers.

And Jacob called his sons, and said to them: Gather your- Gen. XLIX. selves together that I may tell you the things that shall befall 1-2. you in the last days. Gather yourselves together, and hear, ( ye sons of Jacob, hearken to Israel your father.*

* Jacob prophesied of each of his sons. Of Juda he said: The sceptre shall not be taken away from Juda, nor a ruler from his thigh, till He come that is to be sent, and He shall be the expectation of nations. It is generally admitted that this term regards the Messiah. The supreme power continued, in one form or another, with no serious interruption in the tribe, or at least in the nation, in which this tribe was chief, until the days of our Redeemer.' KENRICK.