1 Jacob and his family collected all their things to go to Egypt. They set out, but first they went to Beersheba. Jacob burnt a sacrifice there for God, the God of his father Isaac. 2 That night Jacob saw God in a vision. God called to him and said, “Jacob!”

Jacob answered, “What is it?”

3 Then God said, “I am your father's God. Don't be afraid to go to Egypt. I will give you many descendants and they will become a great nation. 4 I will go with you to Egypt. When you die, Joseph will be with you. Then later I will bring your descendants back here.”

5 Then Jacob's sons put their father and their little children and their wives on to the wagons that the king of Egypt had sent to Jacob and they left Beersheba 6-7 to go to Egypt. They took their animals and all the things they had got while they were in Canaan. Jacob took with him all his sons and his daughter, his grandsons and his granddaughters.

8 Jacob's oldest son Reuben went with him to Egypt 9 and his four sons. Their names were Hanoch, Pallu, Hezron and Carmi. 10 Simeon and his six sons also went. Their names were Jemuel, Jamin, Ohad, Jachin, Zohar and Shaul. Shaul's mother was a Canaanite woman. 11 Levi and his three sons also went. Their names were Gershon, Kohath and Merari. 12 Judah and his three sons also went. Their names were Shelah, Perez and Zerah. Two of Judah's sons, Er and Onan, had already died in Canaan. The two sons of Perez, Hezron and Hamul, also went to Egypt. 13 Issachar and his four sons also went. Their names were Tola, Puah, Jashub and Shimron. 14 Zebulun and his three sons also went. Their names were Sered, Elon and Jahleel. 15 Leah had these six sons of Jacob's while he was in Mesopotamia. Jacob and Leah's daughter Dinah was also born there. All Leah's sons, her grandsons, her great-grandsons and her daughter Dinah were 33 people altogether.

16 Gad and his seven sons also went to Egypt. Their names were Zephon, Haggi, Shuni, Ezbon, Eri, Arod and Areli. 17 Asher and his four sons and their sister Serah also went. His sons' names were Imnah, Ishvah, Ishvi and Beriah. Beriah's two sons Heber and Malchiel also went. 18 Zilpah's two sons, her grandsons, her great-grandsons and her granddaughter were 16 people altogether. Zilpah was the servant that Leah's father Laban gave to Leah.

19 Jacob's wife Rachel had two sons, Joseph and Benjamin. 20 While Joseph was in Egypt, his wife Asenath had two sons, Manasseh and Ephraim. Asenath's father was Potiphera, and he was a priest for the Egyptian people in Heliopolis. 21 Benjamin's ten sons went to Egypt with him. Their names were Bela, Becher, Ashbel, Gera, Naaman, Ehi, Rosh, Muppim, Huppim and Ard. 22 Rachel's two sons and her grandsons were fourteen people altogether.

23 Dan and his son Hushim also went to Egypt. 24 Naphtali and his four sons also went. Their names were Jahzeel, Guni, Jezer and Shillem. 25 So Bilhah's sons and her grandsons were seven people altogether. Bilhah was the servant that Rachel's father Laban gave to Rachel.

26 All Jacob's descendants who went to Egypt were 66 people, and his sons' wives also went.

27 Before Jacob and his family went there, Joseph had two sons. So at the time when Jacob was living in Egypt as an old man, he and his family who were living there were 70 people altogether.

28 So Jacob and all his family left Canaan and went to Joseph in Egypt. Jacob sent his son Judah ahead to take a message to Joseph. And so Judah went.

When he arrived in Egypt Judah went on further to Joseph. He said to him, “My father is coming, so go to Goshen so that you can meet each other there.”

Jacob and the others kept on going and also arrived in Egypt and went to Goshen. 29 And Joseph got in his carriage and went to Goshen to meet his father.

When Joseph arrived where his family was, he jumped down from his carriage and ran and hugged his father and cried. He cried and cried until at last he could stop crying.

30 Jacob said to him, “Now that I have seen you with my own eyes and I know that you are still alive, I am ready to die.”

31 Then Joseph said to his father and his brothers and the rest of his father's family who had come with him, “I must go to the king and tell him that my family has come to me from Canaan today. 32 I will say to him, ‘My brothers have brought all their sheep and cattle here from Canaan, so that they can look after them here. They are shepherds. And they have brought all their things here with them.’

33 “When the king calls for you and asks what work you do, 34 tell him that, and say, ‘Our ancestors always looked after sheep and cattle and we do the same. We looked after them while we were children and we are still looking after them today.’ When he hears that, he won't refuse, he will let you stay in this whole area of Goshen where you are now.” Joseph said this because he knew that the Egyptian people don't like that kind of work or the shepherds who do that work.