Joseph Reveals Himself

Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants. 'Have everyone leave my presence!' he cried. And he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh's household heard about it.

'I am Joseph!' he said to his brothers. 'Is my father still living?' But his brothers could not answer him, because they were terrified.

'Come close to me,' Joseph said. When they did, he continued, 'I am your brother Joseph, the one you sold into Egypt! And now, do not be distressed and do not be angry with yourselves for selling me here, because it was to save lives that God sent me ahead of you.'

Joseph explained: 'For two years now there has been famine in the land, and for the next five years there will be no plowing or reaping. But God sent me ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. So then, it was not you who sent me here, but God.'

He embraced his brother Benjamin and wept, and Benjamin wept on his shoulder. Then he kissed all his brothers and wept over them. Afterward his brothers talked with him.

Pharaoh was pleased and said to Joseph, 'Tell your brothers to load their animals and go back to Canaan. Bring your father and your families back to me. I will give you the best of the land of Egypt.'

So Joseph sent his brothers back with carts, provisions, and new clothes—five sets for Benjamin, along with three hundred shekels of silver. As they left, he told them, 'Don't quarrel on the way!'

When they told Jacob, 'Joseph is still alive! He is ruler of all Egypt!' his heart remained cold, because he did not believe them. But when he saw the carts Joseph had sent, his spirit revived. 'I'm convinced!' Israel said. 'My son Joseph is still alive. I will go and see him before I die.'

What men meant for evil, God meant for good.