[Illustration: Joseph told them who he was.]

Pharaoh, the King, also sent an invitation to Jacob, and in time he and
his sons and their families went to Egypt and were given the fertile
land of Goshen for their home. They were put in charge of all the
King's flocks and herds and became very prosperous.

But before agreeing to this change of home Jacob asked God if he should
go to Egypt. God told him to go, and on the way his long-lost son
Joseph met him and took him to Pharaoh, who received him very kindly.

Jacob and his sons lived peaceably in Egypt for seventeen years, and
then Jacob died at the age of a hundred and forty-seven years. But
before he died he blessed Joseph's two sons and made him promise to
bury him in the family sepulchre, the cave of Machpelah.

As the end approached, Jacob blessed all his twelve sons and foretold
what their lives would be, bestowing a peculiar blessing upon his third
son, Judah, from whose descendants should be born the Saviour of his
people.

Jacob's body was embalmed and carried to the land of Canaan, attended
by his twelve sons, and a great company of Pharaoh's household, and
buried in the cave of Machpelah as he had directed.