Genesis 46 · WEB
Jacob's Family Goes to Egypt
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Israel traveled with all that he had, and came to Beersheba, and offered sacrifices to the God of his father Isaac.
2God spoke to Israel in the visions of the night, and said, "Jacob, Jacob." He said, "Here I am."
3He said, "I am God, the God of your father. Don't be afraid to go down into Egypt, for there I will make of you a great nation.
4I will go down with you into Egypt. I will also surely bring you up again. Joseph will close your eyes."
5Jacob rose up from Beersheba, and the sons of Israel carried Jacob their father, their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him.
6They took their livestock, and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Canaan, and came into Egypt, Jacob, and all his offspring with him,
7his sons, and his sons' sons with him, his daughters, and his sons' daughters, and he brought all his offspring with him into Egypt.
8These are the names of the children of Israel, who came into Egypt, Jacob and his sons. Reuben, Jacob's firstborn.
9The sons of Reuben: Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron, and Carmi.
10The sons of Simeon: Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Canaanite woman.
11The sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari.
12The sons of Judah: Er, Onan, Shelah, Perez, and Zerah; but Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. The sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul.
13The sons of Issachar: Tola, Puvah, Iob, and Shimron.
14The sons of Zebulun: Sered, Elon, and Jahleel.
15These are the sons of Leah, whom she bore to Jacob in Paddan Aram, with his daughter Dinah. All the souls of his sons and his daughters were thirty-three.
16The sons of Gad: Ziphion, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arodi, and Areli.
17The sons of Asher: Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi, Beriah, and Serah, their sister; and the sons of Beriah: Heber and Malchiel.
18These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to Leah, his daughter. She bore these to Jacob, even sixteen souls.
19The sons of Rachel, Jacob's wife: Joseph and Benjamin.
20To Joseph were born in the land of Egypt, Manasseh and Ephraim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera priest of On, bore to him.
21The sons of Benjamin: Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim, and Ard.
22These are the sons of Rachel, who were born to Jacob: all the souls were fourteen.
23The son of Dan: Hushim.
24The sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer, and Shillem.
25These are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to Rachel, his daughter, and these she bore to Jacob: all the souls were seven.
26All the souls who came with Jacob into Egypt, who were his direct descendants, besides Jacob's sons' wives, were sixty-six souls in all.
27The sons of Joseph, who were born to him in Egypt, were two souls. All the souls of the house of Jacob, who came into Egypt, were seventy.
28He sent Judah before him to Joseph, to show the way before him to Goshen; and they came into the land of Goshen.
29Joseph prepared his chariot, and went up to meet Israel, his father, in Goshen. He presented himself to him, fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while.
30Israel said to Joseph, "Now let me die, since I have seen your face, that you are still alive."
31Joseph said to his brothers, and to his father's household, "I will go up, and speak to Pharaoh, and will tell 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, and their herds, and all that they have.'
33When Pharaoh summons you, and says, 'What is your occupation?'
34you shall say, 'Your servants have been keepers of livestock from our youth even until now, both we and our fathers,' that you may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an abomination to the Egyptians."
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Summary
Jacob pauses at Beersheba to worship before leaving the promised land, and God speaks to him in a vision at night, commanding him not to fear going to Egypt and promising to go with him, make him a great nation there, and bring him back. Jacob's entire family — seventy persons in all — go down to Egypt. Joseph and Jacob reunite in an emotional embrace. Joseph prepares his family to tell Pharaoh they are shepherds, so they will be settled in Goshen, separate from the Egyptians.
Themes
- God's presence with his people even in foreign, dangerous places
- The descent into Egypt as both crisis and fulfillment of God's plan
- Family reunion as a foretaste of ultimate restoration
- The number seventy as symbolic completeness — a whole nation
- Worship as the first act before a major life transition
Key verses
- Gen 46:29-30 — “Joseph prepared his chariot, and went up to meet Israel, his father, in Goshen. He presented himself to him, fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while. Israel said to Joseph, 'Now let me die, since I have seen your face, that you are still alive.'”
- Gen 46:3-4 — “I am God, the God of your father. Don't be afraid to go down into Egypt, for there I will make of you a great nation. I will go down with you into Egypt.”
Context & background
Beersheba was the last major Israelite settlement before the wilderness and Egypt, a liminal place. Jacob's worship there mirrors Abraham's and Isaac's altar-building before transitions. God's words echo the promise of Genesis 15:13-16 — the time of Egyptian sojourn prophesied generations earlier is now beginning. The seventy persons who go to Egypt corresponds to the seventy nations of Genesis 10 — an entire world represented in miniature. Jacob's words "Now let me die, since I have seen your face" echo Simeon's "now you may dismiss your servant in peace" (Luke 2:29) — the sense that the supreme longing of life has been fulfilled. This descent will lead to 430 years in Egypt and the Exodus.
Cross-references
- Acts 7:14-15 — Stephen says seventy-five souls went down (including Joseph's extended Egyptian family, following LXX)
- Deuteronomy 10:22 — "your fathers went down into Egypt with seventy persons"
- Exodus 1:5 — seventy persons in total who came from Jacob's loins
- Isaiah 43:2 — when you pass through the waters/fire, I will be with you — as God promised to go with Jacob
- Luke 2:29-30 — Simeon's "now dismiss your servant" echoes Jacob's "now let me die"