3 Joseph said to his brothers, “I am Joseph! Is my father still alive?” His brothers could not answer him because they were afraid of him.
4 “Please come closer to me,” Joseph said to his brothers. When they did so, he said, “I am Joseph, the brother you sold into slavery in Egypt!
5 Now, don’t be sad or angry with yourselves that you sold me. God sent me ahead of you to save lives.
6 The famine has been in the land for two years. There will be five more years without plowing or harvesting.
7 God sent me ahead of you to make sure that you would have descendants on the earth and to save your lives in an amazing way.
8 It wasn’t you who sent me here, but God. He has made me ⌊like⌋ a father to Pharaoh, lord over his entire household, and ruler of Egypt.
9 “Hurry back to my father, and say to him, ‘This is what your son Joseph says, “God has made me lord of Egypt. Come here to me right away!