THE WORD OF ELOHIM
GENESIS
Chapter 46
So Yisrael set out with all that was his, and he came to Beer shava, where he offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac. Elohim called to Yisrael in a vision by night: “Ya’akov! Ya’akov!” He answered, “Here.” And He said, “I am Elohim, the God of your father. Fear not to go down to Mitzramah, for I will make you there into a great nation. I Myself will go down with you to Mitzramah, and I Myself will also bring you back, and Yehoseph’s hand shall close your eyes.”
So Ya’akov set out from Beer shava. The sons of Yisrael put their father Ya’akov and their children and their wives in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent to transport him, and they took along their livestock and the wealth that they had amassed in the land of Kenaan. Thus Ya’akov and all his offspring with him came to Mitzramah: He brought with him to Mitzramah his sons and grandsons, his daughters and granddaughters—all his offspring.
These are the names of the sons of Yisrael: Ya’akov and his descendants, who came to Mitzramah: Ya’akov’s first-
Gad’s sons: Tsiphyon, Chaggi, Shuni, Etsbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli. Asher’s sons: Yimnah, Yishvah, Yishvi, and Beriah, and their sister Serach. Beriah’s sons: Cheber and Malkiel. These were the descendants of Zilpah, whom Laban had given to his daughter Leah. These she bore to Ya’akov—16 persons.
The sons of Ya’akov’s wife Rachel were Yehoseph and Binyamin. To Yehoseph were born in the land of Mitzramah: Menashsheh and Ephrayim; whom Asenath daughter of Poti Phera, priest of On, bore to him. Binyamin’s sons: Bela, Beker, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Ro'sh, Muppim, Chuppim, and Ard. These were the descendants of Rachel, who were born to Ya’akov—14 persons in all.
Dan’s son: Chuwshiym. Naphtali’s sons: Yachtseel, Guni, Yetser, and Shillem. These were the descendants of Bilhah, whom Laban had given to his daughter Rachel. These she bore to Ya’akov—7 persons in all.
All the persons belonging to Ya’akov who came to Mitzramah—his own issue, aside from the wives of Ya’akov’s sons—all these persons numbered 66. And Yehoseph’s sons who were born to him in Mitzramah were two in number. Thus the total of Ya’akov’s household who came to Mitzramah was seventy persons.
He had sent Yehudah ahead of him to Yehoseph, to point the way before him to Goshen. So when they came to the region of Goshen, Yehoseph ordered his chariot and went to Goshen to meet his father Yisrael; he presented himself to him and, embracing him around the neck, he wept on his neck a good while. Then Yisrael said to Yehoseph, “Now I can die, having seen for myself that you are still alive.”
Then Yehoseph said to his brothers and to his father’s household, “I will go up and tell the news to Paroh, and say to him, ‘My brothers and my father’s household, who were in the land of Kenaan, have come to me. The men are shepherds; they have always been breeders of livestock, and they have brought with them their flocks and herds and all that is theirs.’ So when Paroh summons you and asks, ‘What is your occupation?’ You shall answer, ‘Your servants have been breeders of livestock from the start until now, both we and our fathers’—so that you may stay in the region of Goshen. For all shepherds are abhorrent to Mitzrayim.”