Tanakh & Talmud. Various Authors

Joseph sustained his father, and his brethren, and all his father's household, with bread, according to the want of their little ones.

      ¹³And there was no bread in all the land; for the famine was very sore, so that the land of Egypt and the land of Canaan languished by reason of the famine. ¹⁴And Joseph gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, for the corn which they bought; and Joseph brought the money into Pharaoh's house. ¹⁵And when the money was all spent in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Canaan, all the Egyptians came unto Joseph, and said: 'Give us bread; for why should we die in thy presence? for our money faileth.' ¹⁶And Joseph said: 'Give your cattle, and I will give you [bread] for your cattle, if money fail.' ¹⁷And they brought their cattle unto Joseph. And Joseph gave them bread in exchange for the horses, and for the flocks, and for the herds, and for the asses; and he fed them with bread in exchange for all their cattle for that year. ¹⁸And when that year was ended, they came unto him the second year, and said unto him: 'We will not hide from my lord, how that our money is all spent; and the herds of cattle are my lord's; there is nought left in the sight of my lord, but our bodies, and our lands. ¹⁹Wherefore should we die before thine eyes, both we and our land? buy us and our land for bread, and we and our land will be bondmen unto Pharaoh; and give us seed, that we may live, and not die, and that the land be not desolate.' ²⁰So Joseph bought all the land of Egypt for Pharaoh; for the Egyptians sold every man his field, because the famine was sore upon them; and the land became Pharaoh's. ²¹And as for the people, he removed them city by city, from one end of the border of Egypt even to the other end thereof. ²²Only the land of the priests bought he not, for the priests had a portion from Pharaoh, and did eat their portion which Pharaoh gave them; wherefore they sold not their land. ²³Then Joseph said unto the people: 'Behold, I have bought you this day and your land for Pharaoh. Lo, here is seed for you, and ye shall sow the land. ²⁴And it shall come to pass at the ingatherings, that ye shall give a fifth unto Pharaoh, and four parts shall be your own, for seed of the field, and for your food, and for them of your households, and for food for your little ones.' ²⁵And they said: 'Thou hast saved our lives. Let us find favour in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh's bondmen.' ²⁶And Joseph made it a statute concerning the land of Egypt unto this day, that Pharaoh should have the fifth; only the land of the priests alone became not Pharaoh's. ²⁷And Israel dwelt in the land of Egypt, in the land of Goshen; and they got them possessions therein, and were fruitful, and multiplied exceedingly.

      ויחי

      ²⁸And Jacob lived in the land of Egypt seventeen years; so the days of Jacob, the years of his life, were a hundred forty and seven years. ²⁹And the time drew near that Israel must die; and he called his son Joseph, and said unto him: 'If now I have found favour in thy sight, put, I pray thee, thy hand under my thigh, and deal kindly and truly with me; bury me not, I pray thee, in Egypt. ³⁰But when I sleep with my fathers, thou shalt carry me out of Egypt, and bury me in their burying-place.' And he said: 'I will do as thou hast said.' ³¹And he said: 'Swear unto me.' And he swore unto him. And Israel bowed down upon the bed's head.

48And it came to pass after these things, that one said to Joseph: 'Behold, thy father is sick.' And he took with him his two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. ²And one told Jacob, and said: 'Behold, thy son Joseph cometh unto thee.' And Israel strengthened himself, and sat upon the bed. ³And Jacob said unto Joseph: 'God Almighty appeared unto me at Luz in the land of Canaan, and blessed me, ⁴and said unto me: Behold, I will make thee fruitful, and multiply thee, and I will make of thee a company of peoples; and will give this land to thy seed after thee for an everlasting possession. ⁵And now thy two sons, who were born unto thee in the land of Egypt before I came unto thee into Egypt, are mine; Ephraim and Manasseh, even as Reuben and Simeon, shall be mine. ⁶And thy issue, that thou begettest after them, shall be thine; they shall be called after the name of their brethren in their inheritance. ⁷And as for me, when I came from Paddan, Rachel died unto me in the land of Canaan in the way, when there was still some way to come unto Ephrath; and I buried her there in the way to Ephrath—the same is Beth-lehem.' ⁸And Israel beheld Joseph's sons, and said: 'Who are these?' ⁹And Joseph said unto his father: 'They are my sons, whom God hath given me here.' And he said: 'Bring them, I pray thee, unto me, and I will bless them.' ¹⁰Now the eyes of Israel were dim for age, so that he could not see. And he brought them near unto him; and he kissed them, and embraced them. ¹¹And Israel said unto Joseph: 'I had not thought to see thy face; and, lo, God hath let me see thy seed also.' ¹²And Joseph brought them out from between his knees; and he fell down on his face to the earth. ¹³And Joseph took them both, Ephraim in his right hand toward Israel's left hand, and Manasseh in his left hand toward Israel's right hand, and brought them near unto him. ¹⁴And Israel stretched out his right hand, and laid it upon Ephraim's head, who was the younger, and his left hand upon Manasseh's head, guiding his hands wittingly; for Manasseh was the first-born. ¹⁵And he blessed Joseph, and said: 'The God before whom my fathers Abraham and Isaac did walk, the God who hath been my shepherd all my life long unto this day, ¹⁶the angel who hath redeemed me from all evil, bless the lads; and let my name be named in them, and the name of my fathers Abraham and Isaac; and let them grow into a multitude in the midst of the earth.' ¹⁷And when Joseph saw that his father was laying his right hand upon the head of Ephraim, it displeased him, and he held up his father's hand, to remove it from Ephraim's head unto Manasseh's head. ¹⁸And Joseph said unto his father: 'Not so, my father, for this is the first-born; put thy right hand upon his head.' ¹⁹And his father refused, and said: 'I know it, my son, I know it; he also shall become a people, and he also shall be great; howbeit his younger brother shall be greater than he, and his seed shall become a multitude of nations.' ²⁰And he blessed them that day, saying: 'By thee shall Israel bless, saying: God make thee as Ephraim and as Manasseh.' And he set Ephraim before Manasseh. ²¹And Israel said unto Joseph: 'Behold, I die; but God will be with you, and bring you back unto the land of your fathers. ²²Moreover I have given to thee one ⁶⁵portion above thy brethren, which I took out of the hand of the Amorite with my sword and with my bow.'

      49And Jacob called unto his sons, and said: 'Gather yourselves together, that I may tell you that which shall befall you in the end of days.

      ²Assemble yourselves, and hear, ye sons of Jacob;And hearken unto Israel your father.³Reuben, thou art my first-born,My might, and the first-fruits of my strength;The excellency of dignity, and the excellency of power.⁴Unstable as water, have not thou the excellency;Because thou wentest up to thy father's bed;Then defiledst thou it—he went up to my couch. ⁵Simeon and Levi are brethren;Weapons of violence their kinship.⁶Let my soul not come into their council;Unto their assembly let my glory not be not united;For in their anger they slew men,And in their self-will they houghed oxen.⁷Cursed be their anger, for it was fierce,And their wrath, for it was cruel;I will divide them in Jacob,And scatter them in Israel ⁸Judah, thee shall thy brethren praise;Thy hand shall be on the neck of thine enemies;Thy father's sons shall bow down before thee.⁹Judah is a lion's whelp;From the prey, my son, thou art gone up.He stooped down, he couched as a lion,And as a lioness; who shall rouse him up?¹⁰The sceptre shall not depart from Judah,Nor the ruler's staff from between his feet,As long as men come to Shiloh;And unto him shall the obedience of the peoples be.¹¹Binding his foal unto the vine,And his ass's colt unto the choice vine;He washeth his garments in wine,And his vesture in the blood of grapes;¹²His eyes shall be red with wine,And his teeth white with milk. ¹³Zebulun shall dwell at the shore of the sea,And he shall be a shore for ships,And his flank shall be upon Zidon. ¹⁴Issachar is a large-boned ass,Couching down between the sheepfolds.¹⁵For he saw a resting-place that it was good,And the land that it was pleasant;And he bowed his shoulder to bear,And became a servant under taskwork. ¹⁶Dan shall judge his people,As one of the tribes of Israel.¹⁷Dan shall be a serpent in the way,A horned snake in the path,That biteth the horse's heels,So that his rider falleth backward.¹⁸I wait for Thy salvation, O Lord. ¹⁹Gad, 66a