A reading from the book of Genesis.

Then Joseph could not control himself before all those who stood by him.

He cried, make everyone go out from me.

So no one stayed with him when Joseph made himself known to his brothers.

And he wept aloud,

so that the Egyptians heard it, and the household of Pharaoh heard it.

And Joseph said to his brothers,

I am Joseph, as my father still alive, but his brothers could not answer him, for they were dismayed

at his presence. So Joseph said to his brothers, come near to me, please. And they came near.

And he said, I am your brother Joseph, whom you sold into Egypt.

And now, do not be distressed or angry with yourselves because you sold me here.

For God sent me before you to preserve life.

For the famine has been in the land these two years, and there are yet five years in which there will be neither plowing nor harvest,

and God sent me before you, to preserve for you a remnant on earth, and to keep alive for you

many survivors. So it was not you who sent me here, but God. He has made me a father to Pharaoh, and Lord of all his house

and ruler over all the land of Egypt, hurry and go up to my father and say to him,

Thus says your son, Joseph, God has made me Lord of all Egypt, come down to me. Do not tarry. You shall dwell

in the land of Goshen, and you shall be near me, you and your children, and your children's

children, and your flocks, your herds, and all that you have, there I will provide

for you, for there are yet five years of famine to come, so that you and your household and all

that you have do not come to poverty. And now your eyes see, and the eyes of my brother Benjamin see,

that it is my mouth that speaks to you.

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