Genesis 45:1-8 ▼

1 Then Joseph could not control himself [any longer] in front of all those who attended him, and he called out, “Have everyone leave me.” So no man stood there when Joseph revealed himself to his brothers.

2 Joseph wept aloud, and the Egyptians [who had just left him] heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard of it.

3 Then Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” But his brothers were speechless, for they were stunned and dismayed by [the fact that they were in] Joseph’s presence.

4 And Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come closer to me.” And they approached him. And he said, “I am Joseph your brother, whom you sold into Egypt.

5 Now do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here, for God sent me ahead of you to save life and preserve our family.

6 For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are still five more years in which there will be no plowing and harvesting.

7 God sent me [to Egypt] ahead of you to preserve for you a remnant on the earth, and to keep you alive by a great escape.

8 So now it was not you who sent me here, but God; and He has made me a father to Pharaoh and lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt.