Israel, warranted by a vision from God, goes down into Egypt with all his family.

¹ And Israel, setting out with all that he had, arrived at the Well of the Oath. And sacrificing victims there to the God of his father Isaac,¹

1. 46:1The well of the oath: Bersabee.(Challoner)

² he heard him, by a vision in the night, calling him, and saying to him: “Jacob, Jacob.” And he answered him, “Behold, here I am.”

³ God said to him: “I am the most strong God of your father. Do not be afraid. Descend into Egypt, for there I will make of you a great nation.

⁴ I will descend with you to that place, and I will lead you back from there, returning. Also, Joseph will place his hands over your eyes.¹

1. 46:4The participle ‘revertentem’ (returning) seems redundant, but there may be an additional level of meaning to which this refers, so it is translated fairly literally and left in.(Conte)

⁵ Then Jacob rose up from the Well of the Oath. And his sons took him, with their little ones and wives, in the wagons that Pharaoh had sent to carry the old man,

⁶ along with all that he possessed in the land of Canaan. And he arrived in Egypt with all his offspring:

⁷ his sons and his grandsons, his daughters and all his progeny together.

⁸ Now these are the names of the sons of Israel, who entered into Egypt, he with his children. The firstborn is Reuben.

⁹ The sons of Reuben: Hanoch and Pallu, and Hezron and Carmi.

¹⁰ The sons of Simeon: Jemuel and Jamin and Ohad, and Jachin and Zohar, and Shaul, the son of a Canaanite woman.

¹¹ The sons of Levi: Gershon and Kohath, and Merari.

¹² The sons of Judah: Er and Onan, and Shelah, and Perez and Zerah. Now Er and Onan died in the land of Canaan. And sons were born to Perez: Hezron and Hamul.

¹³ The sons of Issachar: Tola and Puvah, and Job and Shimron.

¹⁴ The sons of Zebulun: Sered and Elon and Jahleel.

¹⁵ These are the sons of Leah, whom she bore, along with his daughter Dinah, in Mesopotamia of Syria. All the souls of her sons and daughters are thirty-three.

¹⁶ The sons of Gad: Ziphion and Haggi, and Shuni and Ezbon, and Eri and Arodi, and Areli.

¹⁷ The sons of Asher: Imnah and Jesua, and Jessui and Beriah, and also their sister Sarah. The sons of Beria: Heber and Malchiel.

¹⁸ These are the sons of Zilpah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Leah. And these she bore to Jacob: sixteen souls.

¹⁹ The sons of Rachel, the wife of Jacob: Joseph and Benjamin.

²⁰ And sons were born to Joseph in the land of Egypt, whom Asenath, the daughter of Potiphera, priest of Heliopolis, bore for him: Manasseh and Ephraim.

²¹ The sons of Benjamin: Bela and Becher, and Ashbel and Gera, and Naaman and Ehi, and Rosh and Moppim, and Huppim and Ard.

²² These are the sons of Rachel, whom she bore to Jacob: all these souls are fourteen.

²³ The sons of Dan: Hushim.

²⁴ The sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel and Guni, and Jezer and Shillem.

²⁵ These are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave to his daughter Rachel, and these she bore to Jacob: all these souls are seven.

²⁶ All the souls who went into Egypt with Jacob and who went out from his thigh, besides the wives of his sons, were sixty-six.

²⁷ Now the sons of Joseph, who were born to him in the land of Egypt, were two souls. All the souls of the house of Jacob, who went into Egypt, were seventy.

²⁸ Then he sent Judah ahead of himself, to Joseph, in order to report to him, and so that he would meet him in Goshen.

²⁹ And when he had arrived there, Joseph harnessed his chariot, and he went up to meet his father at the same place. And seeing him, he fell upon his neck, and, amid embraces, he wept.

³⁰ And the father said to Joseph, “Now I will die happy, because I have seen your face, and I am leaving you behind alive.”¹

1. 46:30Literally, ‘superstitem’ means ‘standing above.’ The term ‘super’ (above) is sometimes used in the Latin to indicate that someone is still alive.(Conte)

³¹ And he said to his brothers and to all his father’s house: “I will go up and report to Pharaoh, and I will say to him: ‘My brothers, and my father’s house, who were in the land of Canaan, have come to me.

³² And these honorable men are pastors of sheep, and they have the task of feeding the flock. Their cattle, and herds, and all that they were able to hold, they have brought with them.’¹

1. 46:32The word ‘viri’ is usually translated as ‘men,’ but it is derived from a Latin word referring to virtue or strength, so it can also be translated as ‘good men’ or ‘honorable men.’(Conte)

³³ And when he will call you and will say, ‘What is your work?’

³⁴ You will respond, ‘Your servants are pastors of honor, from our infancy even to the present time, both we and our fathers.’ Now you will say this so that you may be able to live in the land of Goshen, because the Egyptians detest all pastors of sheep.”¹

1. 46:34The word ‘viri’ can be genitive singular, as in ‘pastors of honor’ or ‘noble pastors,’ or, ‘pastors of virtue.’ Or it can be nominative plural, as in ‘We honorable men, your servants, are pastors.’(Conte)