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Genesis 46

1Israel set out with everything he had and came to Beer-sheba. He offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. 2God spoke to Israel in visions of the night. He said, “Jacob, Jacob!” He said, “Here I am.” 3He said, “I am God, the God of your father. Do not be afraid to go down to Egypt, because I will make you a great nation there. 4I myself will go down with you to Egypt, and I myself will surely bring you up again. Joseph will put his hand upon your eyes.” 5Jacob rose from Beer-sheba. The sons of Israel carried their father Jacob, their little children, and their wives in the wagons Pharaoh had sent to carry him. 6They took their livestock and the property they had acquired in the land of Canaan and came to Egypt, Jacob and all his seed with him. 7His sons and his sons' sons were with him, his daughters and his sons' daughters—all his seed he brought with him to Egypt.

8These are the names of the sons of Israel who came to Egypt, Jacob and his sons. Jacob's firstborn was Reuben. 9Reuben's sons: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi. 10Simeon's sons: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman. 11Levi's sons: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. 12Judah's sons: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah. Er and Onan had died in the land of Canaan. Perez's sons were Hezron and Hamul. 13Issachar's sons: Tola, Puvah, Iob, and Shimron. 14Zebulun's sons: Sered, Elon, and Jahleel. 15These were Leah's sons, whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan-aram, along with his daughter Dinah. All the persons of his sons and daughters were thirty-three. 16Gad's sons: Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli. 17Asher's sons: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, and Beriah, and their sister Serah. Beriah's sons: Heber and Malchiel. 18These were the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah. She bore these to Jacob, sixteen persons. 19The sons of Rachel, Jacob's wife: Joseph and Benjamin. 20In the land of Egypt, Manasseh and Ephraim were born to Joseph, whom Asenath daughter of Potiphera, priest of On, bore to him. 21Benjamin's sons: Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard. 22These were Rachel's sons who were born to Jacob, fourteen persons in all. 23Dan's sons: Hushim. 24Naphtali's sons: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem. 25These were the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel. She bore these to Jacob, seven persons in all. 26All the persons who came with Jacob to Egypt, who came from his loins, apart from the wives of Jacob's sons, were sixty-six persons in all. 27Joseph's sons who were born to him in Egypt were two persons. All the persons of Jacob's household who came to Egypt were seventy.

28He sent Judah ahead of him to Joseph to direct the way before him to Goshen. They came to the land of Goshen. 29Joseph harnessed his chariot and went up to meet his father Israel in Goshen. He appeared before him, fell on his neck, and wept on his neck for a long time. 30Israel said to Joseph, “Now let me die, since I have seen your face and you are still alive.” 31Joseph said to his brothers and his father's household, “I will go up and tell Pharaoh. I will say to him, ‘My brothers and my father's household, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me. 32The men are shepherds, for they have been keepers of livestock. They have brought their flocks, their cattle, and everything they have.’ 33When Pharaoh calls you and asks, ‘What is your occupation?’ 34say, ‘Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth until now, both we and our fathers,’ so that you may settle in the land of Goshen, because every shepherd is abhorrent to the Egyptians.”

Translation notes 4

46:4 — Hand upon your eyes. This refers to Joseph being present to close Jacob's eyes at death. The promise to bring Jacob up again is retained alongside that expectation, without the translation deciding its full individual and collective scope.

46:8–25 — Family lists. The Hebrew uses “sons” for descendant groups, sometimes including grandsons and named women. The transmitted names, maternal groupings, and numbers are retained, including Iob in verse 13 rather than replacing it with Jashub from other lists. The list explicitly records Er and Onan as already dead.

46:15, 26–27 — Thirty-three, sixty-six, and seventy. The totals reflect related but different groupings. Counting the named living descendants yields sixty-six who accompany Jacob; adding Jacob, Joseph, and Joseph's two sons yields seventy. The Leah subtotal of thirty-three is commonly understood as including Jacob, though he is not explicitly assigned to that maternal group. The Greek tradition has an expanded Joseph line and a total of seventy-five. The Hebrew figures are not adjusted to match it.

46:34 — Shepherds and Egyptians. Joseph gives this explanation within his advice to the family. It supports settlement in Goshen; the translation does not turn it into a complete historical description of every Egyptian's treatment of livestock keepers.