The Hidden Purpose revealed
The moment we step forward, the past loses its power.
A Brief Insight
Y’hudah steps forward and takes full responsibility for Binyamin, offering himself in his place rather than allowing his father to suffer another loss. This decisive act reveals genuine change and proves that the brothers are no longer ruled by jealousy or fear. Confronted with this transformation, Yosef can no longer hide his identity and reveals himself, explaining that the years of suffering were used by God to preserve life during famine. What began as betrayal is reframed as providence. The family is reconciled, wounds are confronted, and hope is restored. Ya’akov is invited to come to Egypt, where provision and safety await.
Read the Story as Told in Scripture
18Then Y’hudah came near unto him, and said, Oh, my lord, let thy servant, I pray thee, speak a word in my lord’s ears, and let not thine anger burn against thy servant; for thou art even as Pharaoh. 19My lord asked his servants, saying, Have ye a father, or a brother? 20And we said unto my lord, We have a father, an old man, and a child of his old age, a little one; and his brother is dead, and he alone is left of his mother; and his father loveth him. 21And thou saidst unto thy servants, Bring him down unto me, that I may set mine eyes upon him. 22And we said unto my lord, The lad cannot leave his father: for if he should leave his father, his father would die. 23And thou saidst unto thy servants, Except your youngest brother come down with you, ye shall see my face no more. 24And it came to pass when we came up unto thy servant my father, we told him the words of my lord. 25And our father said, Go again, buy us a little food. 26And we said, We cannot go down: if our youngest brother be with us, then will we go down: for we may not see the man’s face, except our youngest brother be with us. 27And thy servant my father said unto us, Ye know that my wife bare me two sons: 28and the one went out from me, and I said, Surely he is torn in pieces; and I have not seen him since: 29and if ye take this one also from me, and harm befall him, ye will bring down my gray hairs with sorrow to Sheol. 30Now therefore when I come to thy servant my father, and the lad is not with us; seeing that his life is bound up in the lad’s life; 31it will come to pass, when he seeth that the lad is not with us, that he will die: and thy servants will bring down the gray hairs of thy servant our father with sorrow to Sheol. 32For thy servant became surety for the lad unto my father, saying, If I bring him not unto thee, then shall I bear the blame to my father for ever. 33Now therefore, let thy servant, I pray thee, abide instead of the lad a bondman to my lord; and let the lad go up with his brethren. 34For how shall I go up to my father, if the lad be not with me? lest I see the evil that shall come on my father.
45 Then Yosef could not refrain himself before all them that stood before him; and he cried, Cause every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him, while Yosef made himself known unto his brethren. 2And he wept aloud: and the Egyptians heard, and the house of Pharaoh heard. 3And Yosef said unto his brethren, I am Yosef; doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence. 4And Yosef said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Yosef your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt. 5And now be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life. 6For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and there are yet five years, in which there shall be neither plowing nor harvest. 7And God sent me before you to preserve you a remnant in the earth, and to save you alive by a great deliverance. 8So now it was not you that sent me hither, but God: and he hath made me a father to Pharaoh, and lord of all his house, and ruler over all the land of Egypt. 9Haste ye, and go up to my father, and say unto him, Thus saith thy son Yosef, God hath made me lord of all Egypt: come down unto me, tarry not; 10and thou shalt dwell in the land of Goshen, and thou shalt be near unto me, thou, and thy children, and thy children’s children, and thy flocks, and thy herds, and all that thou hast: 11and there will I nourish thee; for there are yet five years of famine; lest thou come to poverty, thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast. 12And, behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Binyamin, that it is my mouth that speaketh unto you. 13And ye shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt, and of all that ye have seen: and ye shall haste and bring down my father hither. 14And he fell upon his brother Binyamin’s neck, and wept; and Binyamin wept upon his neck. 15And he kissed all his brethren, and wept upon them: and after that his brethren talked with him.
16And the report thereof was heard in Pharaoh’s house, saying, Yosef’s brethren are come: and it pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants. 17And Pharaoh said unto Yosef, Say unto thy brethren, This do ye: lade your beasts, and go, get you unto the land of Canaan; 18and take your father and your households, and come unto me: and I will give you the good of the land of Egypt, and ye shall eat the fat of the land. 19Now thou art commanded, this do ye: take you wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones, and for your wives, and bring your father, and come. 20Also regard not your stuff; for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours.
21And the sons of Israel did so: and Yosef gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way. 22To all of them he gave each man changes of raiment; but to Binyamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver, and five changes of raiment. 23And to his father he sent after this manner: ten asses laden with the good things of Egypt, and ten she-asses laden with grain and bread and provision for his father by the way. 24So he sent his brethren away, and they departed: and he said unto them, See that ye fall not out by the way. 25And they went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Kena’an unto Jacob their father. 26And they told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he is ruler over all the land of Egypt. And his heart fainted, for he believed them not. 27And they told him all the words of Yosef, which he had said unto them: and when he saw the wagons which Yosef had sent to carry him, the spirit of Ya’akov their father revived: 28and Israel said, It is enough; Yosef my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die.
46 And Israel took his journey with all that he had, and came to Beer-sheba, and offered sacrifices unto the God of his father Yitzjak. 2And God spake unto Israel in the visions of the night, and said, Ya’akov, Ya’akov. And he said, Here am I. 3And he said, I am God, the God of thy father: fear not to go down into Egypt; for I will there make of thee a great nation: 4I will go down with thee into Egypt; and I will also surely bring thee up again: and Yosef shall put his hand upon thine eyes. 5And Ya’akov rose up from Beer-sheba: and the sons of Israel carried Ya’akov their father, and their little ones, and their wives, in the wagons which Pharaoh had sent to carry him. 6And they took their cattle, and their goods, which they had gotten in the land of Kena’an, and came into Egypt, Ya’akov, and all his seed with him: 7his sons, and his sons’ sons with him, his daughters, and his sons’ daughters, and all his seed brought he with him into Egypt.
8And these are the names of the children of Israel, who came into Egypt, Ya’akov and his sons: Reuben, Ya’akov’s first-born. 9And the sons of Reuben: Hanoch, and Pallu, and Hezron, and Carmi. 10And the sons of Shim’on: Jemuel, and Jamin, and Ohad, and Jachin, and Zohar, and Shaul the son of a Kenaanitish woman. 11And the sons of Levi: Gershon, Kohath, and Merari. 12And the sons of Y’hudah: Er, and Onan, and Shelah, and Perez, and Zerah; but Er and Onan died in the land of Kena’an. And the sons of Perez were Hezron and Hamul. 13And the sons of Issachar: Tola, and Puvah, and Iob, and Shimron. 14And the sons of Zebulun: Sered, and Elon, and Jahleel. 15These are the sons of Leah, whom she bare unto Ya’akov in Paddan-aram, with his daughter Dinah: all the souls of his sons and his daughters were thirty and three. 16And the sons of Gad: Ziphion, and Haggi, Shuni, and Ezbon, Eri, and Arodi, and Areli. 17And the sons of Asher: Imnah, and Ishvah, and Ishvi, and 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; and these she bare unto Jacob, even sixteen souls. 19The sons of Rachel Ya’akov’s wife: Yosef and Binyamin. 20And unto Yosef in the land of Egypt were born M’nasheh and Efrayim, whom Asenath, the daughter of Poti-phera priest of On, bare unto him. 21And the sons of Binyamin: Bela, and Becher, and Ashbel, Gera, and Naaman, Ehi, and Rosh, Muppim, and Huppim, and Ard. 22These are the sons of Rachel, who were born to Ya’akov: all the souls were fourteen. 23And the sons of Dan: Hushim. 24And the sons of Naphtali: Jahzeel, and Guni, and Jezer, and Shillem. 25These are the sons of Bilhah, whom Laban gave unto Rachel his daughter, and these she bare unto Ya’akov: all the souls were seven. 26All the souls that came with Jacob into Egypt, that came out of his loins, besides Ya’akov’s sons’ wives, all the souls were threescore and six; 27and the sons of Yosef, who were born to him in Egypt, were two souls: all the souls of the house of Ya’akov, that came into Egypt, were threescore and ten.
28And he sent Y’hudah before him unto Yosef, to show the way before him unto Goshen; and they came into the land of Goshen. 29And Yosef made ready his chariot, and went up to meet Israel his father, to Goshen; and he presented himself unto him, and fell on his neck, and wept on his neck a good while. 30And Israel said unto Yosef, Now let me die, since I have seen thy face, that thou art yet alive. 31And Yosef said unto his brethren, and unto his father’s house, I will go up, and tell Pharaoh, and will say unto him, My brethren, and my father’s house, who were in the land of Kena’an, are come unto me; 32and the men are shepherds, for they have been keepers of cattle; and they have brought their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have. 33And it shall come to pass, when Pharaoh shall call you, and shall say, What is your occupation? 34that ye shall say, Thy servants have been keepers of cattle from our youth even until now, both we, and our fathers: that ye may dwell in the land of Goshen; for every shepherd is an abomination unto the Egyptians.
47 Then Yosef went in and told Pharaoh, and said, My father and my brethren, and their flocks, and their herds, and all that they have, are come out of the land of Canaan; and, behold, they are in the land of Goshen. 2And from among his brethren he took five men, and presented them unto Pharaoh. 3And Pharaoh said unto his brethren, What is your occupation? And they said unto Pharaoh, Thy servants are shepherds, both we, and our fathers. 4And they said unto Pharaoh, To sojourn in the land are we come; for there is no pasture for thy servants’ flocks; for the famine is sore in the land of Canaan: now therefore, we pray thee, let thy servants dwell in the land of Goshen. 5And Pharaoh spake unto Yosef, saying, Thy father and thy brethren are come unto thee: 6the land of Egypt is before thee; in the best of the land make thy father and thy brethren to dwell; in the land of Goshen let them dwell: and if thou knowest any able men among them, then make them rulers over my cattle. 7And Yosef brought in Ya’akov his father, and set him before Pharaoh: and Ya’akov blessed Pharaoh. 8And Pharaoh said unto Ya’akov, How many are the days of the years of thy life? 9And Ya’akov said unto Pharaoh, The days of the years of my pilgrimage are a hundred and thirty years: few and evil have been the days of the years of my life, and they have not attained unto the days of the years of the life of my fathers in the days of their pilgrimage. 10And Ya’akov blessed Pharaoh, and went out from the presence of Pharaoh. 11And Yosef placed his father and his brethren, and gave them a possession in the land of Egypt, in the best of the land, in the land of Rameses, as Pharaoh had commanded. 12And Yosef nourished his father, and his brethren, and all his father’s household, with bread, according to their families.
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 Kena’an fainted by reason of the famine. 14And Yosef gathered up all the money that was found in the land of Egypt, and in the land of Kena’an, for the grain which they bought: and Yosef 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 Yosef said, Give your cattle; and I will give you for your cattle, if money fail. 17And they brought their cattle unto Yosef; and Yosef 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 servants unto Pharaoh: and give us seed, that we may live, and not die, and that the land be not desolate.
20So Yosef 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 to the cities 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 Yosef 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 favor in the sight of my lord, and we will be Pharaoh’s servants. 26And Yosef 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 gat them possessions therein, and were fruitful, and multiplied exceedingly.
15The word of Yehovah came again unto me, saying, 16And thou, son of man, take thee one stick, and write upon it, For Y’hudah, and for the children of Israel his companions: then take another stick, and write upon it, For Yosef, the stick of Efrayim, and for all the house of Israel his companions: 17and join them for thee one to another into one stick, that they may become one in thy hand. 18And when the children of thy people shall speak unto thee, saying, Wilt thou not show us what thou meanest by these? 19say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Yehovah: Behold, I will take the stick of Yosef, which is in the hand of Efrayim, and the tribes of Israel his companions; and I will put them with it, even with the stick of Y’hudah, and make them one stick, and they shall be one in my hand. 20And the sticks whereon thou writest shall be in thy hand before their eyes. 21And say unto them, Thus saith the Lord Yehovah: Behold, I will take the children of Israel from among the nations, whither they are gone, and will gather them on every side, and bring them into their own land: 22and I will make them one nation in the land, upon the mountains of Israel; and one king shall be king to them all; and they shall be no more two nations, neither shall they be divided into two kingdoms any more at all; 23neither shall they defile themselves any more with their idols, nor with their detestable things, nor with any of their transgressions; but I will save them out of all their dwelling-places, wherein they have sinned, and will cleanse them: so shall they be my people, and I will be their God.
24And my servant David shall be king over them; and they all shall have one shepherd: they shall also walk in mine ordinances, and observe my statutes, and do them. 25And they shall dwell in the land that I have given unto Ya’akov my servant, wherein your fathers dwelt; and they shall dwell therein, they, and their children, and their children’s children, for ever: and David my servant shall be their prince for ever. 26Moreover I will make a covenant of peace with them; it shall be an everlasting covenant with them; and I will place them, and multiply them, and will set my sanctuary in the midst of them for evermore. 27My Tabernacle also shall be with them; and I will be their God, and they shall be my people. 28And the nations shall know that I am Yehovah that sanctifieth Israel, when my sanctuary shall be in the midst of them for evermore.
30And it came to pass, when he had sat down with them to meat, he took the bread and blessed; and breaking it he gave to them. 31And their eyes were opened, and they knew him; and he vanished out of their sight. 32And they said one to another, Was not our heart burning within us, while he spake to us in the way, while he opened to us the scriptures? 33And they rose up that very hour, and returned to Yerushalayim, and found the eleven gathered together, and them that were with them, 34saying, The Lord is risen indeed, and hath appeared to Shim’on. 35And they rehearsed the things that happened in the way, and how he was known of them in the breaking of the bread.
36And as they spake these things, he himself stood in the midst of them, and saith unto them, Peace be unto you. 37But they were terrified and affrighted, and supposed that they beheld a spirit. 38And he said unto them, Why are ye troubled? and wherefore do questionings arise in your heart? 39See my hands and my feet, that it is I myself: handle me, and see; for a spirit hath not flesh and bones, as ye behold me having. 40And when he had said this, he showed them his hands and his feet. 41And while they still disbelieved for joy, and wondered, he said unto them, Have ye here anything to eat? 42And they gave him a piece of a broiled fish. 43And he took it, and ate before them.
44And he said unto them, These are my words which I spake unto you, while I was yet with you, that all things must needs be fulfilled, which are written in the Torah of Moshe, and the prophets, and the psalms, concerning me. 45Then opened he their mind, that they might understand the scriptures; 46and he said unto them, Thus it is written, that the Messiah should suffer, and rise again from the dead the third day; 47and that repentance and remission of sins should be preached in his name unto all the nations, beginning from Yerushalayim. 48Ye are witnesses of these things.
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