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True Words Baptist Church — Revelation 21:5
BOOK 1 OF 66 · LAW · KING JAMES BIBLE

Genesis 45

Genesis book home•Chapter 45 of 50•28 verses
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REVIEWED OVERVIEW

Genesis 45 Overview

Genesis 45 records Joseph revealing himself to his brothers. Overcome with emotion, he sends Egyptians out, weeps loudly, and announces, “I am Joseph.” The brothers are troubled, but Joseph tells them not to be grieved or angry with themselves because God sent him before them to preserve life during the famine. He sends them to bring Jacob and the entire household to Egypt, where they will live in Goshen. When Jacob hears Joseph is alive, his spirit revives.

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45Chapter
28Verses
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Before you read Genesis 45

Coming from

Genesis 44 ends with Judah offering himself as a substitute for Benjamin.

In this chapter

Joseph interprets years of betrayal and suffering through God’s providence: human evil was real, but God used it to preserve the covenant family.

Leads into

Genesis 46 records Jacob’s journey to Egypt, God’s reassurance at Beersheba, the family list, and Jacob’s reunion with Joseph.

Key understanding

Genesis 45 records Joseph revealing himself to his brothers. Overcome with emotion, he sends Egyptians out, weeps loudly, and announces, “I am Joseph.” The brothers are troubled, but Joseph tells them not to be grieved or angry with themselves because God sent him before them to preserve life during the famine. He sends them to bring Jacob and the entire household to Egypt, where they will live in Goshen. When Jacob hears Joseph is alive, his spirit revives.

Major truths in this chapterExplore deeper

Truth 1

Reconciliation follows evidence of changed hearts.

Truth 2

Joseph does not deny the brothers’ guilt, yet he sees a larger divine purpose.

Truth 3

God sends Joseph ahead to preserve a remnant and save lives.

Truth 4

Joseph’s forgiveness removes retaliation from the reunion.

Truth 5

Jacob’s long grief is overturned by news that Joseph lives.

Connections to the rest of ScriptureExplore deeper

Connection 1

Genesis 50:20 will summarize the same providence: the brothers meant evil, but God meant it for good.

Connection 2

Acts 7 highlights Joseph being rejected and later made ruler and deliverer.

Connection 3

Psalm 105 says God sent a man before Israel, even Joseph.

Connection 4

Romans 8:28 offers a broader principle of God working through circumstances for good to those who love him, though Joseph’s role is uniquely covenantal.

What is clear, and where care is neededExplore deeper

Keep this clear 1

Providence does not redefine the brothers’ betrayal as morally good; Joseph later says they meant evil.

Keep this clear 2

Joseph’s forgiveness does not erase the need for the testing that exposed their change.

Keep this clear 3

The preservation purpose concerns famine and covenant-family survival in the immediate context.

Keep this clear 4

Joseph’s statement “God sent me” should be held together with human responsibility, not used to deny it.

Read Genesis 45 watching for…Explore deeper

Joseph’s repeated weeping.

The brothers’ inability to answer at first.

Every statement about God sending Joseph.

The five remaining years of famine.

Jacob’s reaction when he finally believes Joseph is alive.

TWBC REVIEW STANDARD

Plain language. Scripture first. Fact distinguished from inference. No filler. No fake certainty. Designed to help you read the Bible itself.

Chapter outline5 sections
1-8Joseph reveals himself and explains God's purpose9-15Joseph sends for his father and embraces his brothers16-20Pharaoh invites Jacob's household to Egypt21-24Joseph sends wagons and gifts25-28Jacob hears that Joseph is alive
1

Then Joseph could not refrain himself before all them that stood by him; and he cried, Cause every man to go out from me. And there stood no man with him, while Joseph made himself known unto his brethren.

2

And he wept aloud: and the Egyptians and the house of Pharaoh heard.

3

And Joseph said unto his brethren, I am Joseph; doth my father yet live? And his brethren could not answer him; for they were troubled at his presence.

4

And Joseph said unto his brethren, Come near to me, I pray you. And they came near. And he said, I am Joseph your brother, whom ye sold into Egypt.

5

Now therefore be not grieved, nor angry with yourselves, that ye sold me hither: for God did send me before you to preserve life.

6

For these two years hath the famine been in the land: and yet there are five years, in the which there shall neither be earing nor harvest.

7

And God sent me before you to preserve you a posterity in the earth, and to save your lives by a great deliverance.

8

So 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 a ruler throughout all the land of Egypt.

9

Haste ye, and go up to my father, and say unto him, Thus saith thy son Joseph, God hath made me lord of all Egypt: come down unto me, tarry not:

10

And 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:

11

And there will I nourish thee; for yet there are five years of famine; lest thou, and thy household, and all that thou hast, come to poverty.

12

And, behold, your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin, that it is my mouth that speaketh unto you.

13

And 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.

14

And he fell upon his brother Benjamin's neck, and wept; and Benjamin wept upon his neck.

15

Moreover he kissed all his brethren, and wept upon them: and after that his brethren talked with him.

16

And the fame thereof was heard in Pharaoh's house, saying, Joseph's brethren are come: and it pleased Pharaoh well, and his servants.

17

And Pharaoh said unto Joseph, Say unto thy brethren, This do ye; lade your beasts, and go, get you unto the land of Canaan;

18

And 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.

19

Now 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.

20

Also regard not your stuff; for the good of all the land of Egypt is yours.

21

And the children of Israel did so: and Joseph gave them wagons, according to the commandment of Pharaoh, and gave them provision for the way.

22

To all of them he gave each man changes of raiment; but to Benjamin he gave three hundred pieces of silver, and five changes of raiment.

23

And to his father he sent after this manner; ten asses laden with the good things of Egypt, and ten she asses laden with corn and bread and meat for his father by the way.

24

So he sent his brethren away, and they departed: and he said unto them, See that ye fall not out by the way.

25

And they went up out of Egypt, and came into the land of Canaan unto Jacob their father,

26

And told him, saying, Joseph is yet alive, and he is governor over all the land of Egypt. And Jacob's heart fainted, for he believed them not.

27

And they told him all the words of Joseph, which he had said unto them: and when he saw the wagons which Joseph had sent to carry him, the spirit of Jacob their father revived:

28

And Israel said, It is enough; Joseph my son is yet alive: I will go and see him before I die.

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Genesis 45:12

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