Joseph cannot contain himself any longer. He clears the room and breaks - weeping so loudly that Pharaoh’s household hears - before the words come: “I am Joseph.” Genesis 45 is the revelation, the reconciliation, and the theological pivot of the whole Joseph narrative.
Full sung version coming soon.
Lyrics
Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood before him And he called out cause everyone to go out from me No one else stood with him while Joseph made himself known to his brothers He wept aloud The Egyptians heard and the house of Pharaoh heard
Joseph said to his brothers I am Joseph Does my father still live? His brothers could not answer him for they were terrified at his presence Joseph said to his brothers come near to me please They came near He said I am Joseph your brother whom you sold into Egypt
Now do not be grieved nor angry with yourselves that you sold me here For God sent me before you to preserve life For these two years the famine has been in the land And there are yet five years in which there will be no ploughing and no harvest God sent me before you to preserve for you a remnant in the earth And to save you alive by a great deliverance
So now it was not you who sent me here but God And he has made me a father to Pharaoh Lord of all his house and ruler over all the land of Egypt Hurry and go up to my father and tell him This is what your son Joseph says God has made me lord of all Egypt
Come down to me do not wait You shall dwell in the land of Goshen And you will be near to me you and your children Your children’s children your flocks your herds and all that you have There I will provide for you For there are yet five years of famine lest you come to poverty
You and your household and all that you have Behold your eyes see and the eyes of my brother Benjamin That it is my mouth that speaks to you You shall tell my father of all my glory in Egypt And of all that you have seen You shall hurry and bring my father down here
He fell on his brother Benjamin’s neck and wept And Benjamin wept on his neck He kissed all his brothers and wept on them After that his brothers talked with him The report of it was heard in Pharaoh’s house saying Joseph’s brothers have come
It pleased Pharaoh well and his servants Pharaoh said to Joseph tell your brothers do this Load your animals and go travel to the land of Canaan Take your father and your households and come to me And I will give you the good of the land of Egypt And you will eat the fat of the land
Now you are commanded to do this Take wagons out of the land of Egypt for your little ones and for your wives And bring your father and come Also do not concern yourselves about your belongings For the good of all the land of Egypt is yours The sons of Israel did so
Joseph gave them wagons according to the commandment of Pharaoh And gave them provision for the way He gave each one of them changes of clothing But to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver And five changes of clothing He sent the following to his father Ten donkeys loaded with the good things of Egypt And ten female donkeys loaded with grain and bread
Listen
Genesis 45 sung by Psalm Selah. The whole Bible, one chapter at a time.