Joseph Reveals His Identity
Joseph clears the room, weeps openly, and tells his brothers who he is. The revelation lands with such force that they are left unable to answer him.
T1hen Joseph could no longer control himself before all his attendants, and he cried out, “Send everyone away from me!” 2So none of them were with Joseph when he made himself known to his brothers. But he wept so loudly that the Egyptians heard him, and Pharaoh’s household soon heard of it. 3Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?”
Joseph draws his brothers near, recalls that they sold him into Egypt, and tells them not to collapse into despair. He explains that God sent him ahead to preserve them during the famine and has raised him to rule in Egypt for that purpose.
4Then Joseph said to his brothers, “Please come near me.” And they did so. 5“I am Joseph, your brother,” he said, “the one you sold into Egypt! And now, do not be distressed or angry with yourselves that you sold me into this place, because it was to save lives that God sent me before you. 6For the famine has covered the land these two years, and there will be five more years without plowing or harvesting. 7God sent me before you to preserve you as a remnant on the earth and to save your lives by a great deliverance. 8Therefore it was not you who sent me here, but God, who has made me a father to Pharaoh — lord of all his household and ruler over all the land of Egypt.