Genesis 42–45

¹And Jacob seeth that there is corn in Egypt, and Jacob saith to his sons, ‘Why do you look at each other?’ ²he saith also, ‘Lo, I have heard that there is corn in Egypt, go down thither, and buy for us from thence, and we live and do not die;’ ³and the ten brethren of Joseph go down to buy corn in Egypt, ⁴and Benjamin, Joseph’s brother, Jacob hath not sent with his brethren, for he said, ‘Lest mischief meet him.’ ⁵And the sons of Israel come to buy in the midst of those coming, for the famine hath been in the land of Canaan, ⁶and Joseph is the ruler over the land, he who is selling to all the people of the land, and Joseph’s brethren come and bow themselves to him—face to the earth.

⁷And Joseph seeth his brethren, and discerneth them, and maketh himself strange unto them, and speaketh with them sharp things, and saith unto them, ‘From whence have ye come?’ and they say, ‘From the land of Canaan—to buy food.’ ⁸And Joseph discerneth his brethren, but they have not discerned him, ⁹and Joseph remembereth the dreams which he dreamed of them, and saith unto them, ‘Ye are spies; to see the nakedness of the land ye have come.’ ¹⁰And they say unto him, ‘No, my lord, but thy servants have come to buy food; ¹¹we are all of us sons of one man, we are right men; thy servants have not been spies;’ ¹²and he saith unto them, ‘No, but the nakedness of the land ye have come to see;’ ¹³and they say, ‘Thy servants are twelve brethren; we are sons of one man in the land of Canaan, and lo, the young one is with our father to-day, and the one is not.’ ¹⁴And Joseph saith unto them, ‘This is that which I have spoken unto you, saying, Ye are spies, ¹⁵by this ye are proved: Pharaoh liveth! if ye go out from this—except by your young brother coming hither; ¹⁶send one of you, and let him bring your brother, and ye, remain ye bound, and let your words be proved, whether truth be with you: and if not—Pharaoh liveth! surely ye are spies;’ ¹⁷and he removeth them unto charge three days. ¹⁸And Joseph saith unto them on the third day, ‘This do and live; God I fear! ¹⁹if ye are right men, let one of your brethren be bound in the house of your ward, and ye, go, carry in corn for the famine of your houses, ²⁰and your young brother ye bring unto me, and your words are established, and ye die not;’ and they do so.

²¹And they say one unto another, ‘Verily we are guilty concerning our brother, because we saw the distress of his soul, in his making supplication unto us, and we did not hearken: therefore hath this distress come upon us.’ ²²And Reuben answereth them, saying, ‘Spake I not unto you, saying, Sin not against the lad? and ye hearkened not; and his blood also, lo, it is required.’ ²³And they have not known that Joseph understandeth, for the interpreter is between them; ²⁴and he turneth round from them, and weepeth, and turneth back unto them, and speaketh unto them, and taketh from them Simeon, and bindeth him before their eyes. ²⁵And Joseph commandeth, and they fill their vessels with corn, also to put back the money of each unto his sack, and to give to them provision for the way; and one doth to them so. ²⁶And they lift up their corn upon their asses, and go from thence, ²⁷and the one openeth his sack to give provender to his ass at a lodging-place, and he seeth his money, and lo, it is in the mouth of his bag, ²⁸and he saith unto his brethren, ‘My money hath been put back, and also, lo, in my bag:’ and their heart goeth out, and they tremble, one to another saying, ‘What is this God hath done to us!’

²⁹And they come in unto Jacob their father, to the land of Canaan, and they declare to him all the things meeting them, saying, ³⁰‘The man, the lord of the land, hath spoken with us sharp things, and maketh us as spies of the land; ³¹and we say unto him, We are right men, we have not been spies, ³²we are twelve brethren, sons of our father, the one is not, and the young one is to-day with our father in the land of Canaan.

³³‘And the man, the lord of the land, saith unto us, By this I know that ye are right men—one of your brethren leave with me, and for the famine of your houses take ye and go, ³⁴and bring your young brother unto me, and I know that ye are not spies, but ye are right men; your brother I give to you, and ye trade with the land.’ ³⁵And it cometh to pass, they are emptying their sacks, and lo, the bundle of each man’s silver is in his sack, and they see their bundles of silver, they and their father, and are afraid; ³⁶and Jacob their father saith unto them, ‘Me ye have bereaved; Joseph is not, and Simeon is not, and Benjamin ye take—against me have been all these.’ ³⁷And Reuben speaketh unto his father, saying, ‘My two sons thou dost put to death, if I bring him not in unto thee; give him into my hand, and I—I bring him back unto thee;’ ³⁸and he saith, ‘My son doth not go down with you, for his brother is dead, and he by himself is left; when mischief hath met him in the way in which ye go, then ye have brought down my grey hairs in sorrow to sheol.’

Chapter 43

¹And the famine is severe in the land; ²and it cometh to pass, when they have finished eating the corn which they brought from Egypt, that their father saith unto them, ‘Turn back, buy for us a little food.’ ³And Judah speaketh unto him, saying, ‘The man protesting protested to us, saying, Ye do not see my face without your brother being with you; ⁴if thou art sending our brother with us, we go down, and buy for thee food, ⁵and if thou art not sending—we do not go down, for the man said unto us, Ye do not see my face without your brother being with you.’ ⁶And Israel saith, ‘Why did ye evil to me, by declaring to the man that ye had yet a brother?’ ⁷and they say, ‘The man asked diligently concerning us, and concerning our kindred, saying, Is your father yet alive? have ye a brother? and we declare to him according to the tenor of these things; do we certainly know that he will say, Bring down your brother?’ ⁸And Judah saith unto Israel his father, ‘Send the youth with me, and we arise, and go, and live, and do not die, both we, and thou, and our infants. ⁹I—I am surety for him, from my hand thou dost require him; if I have not brought him in unto thee, and set him before thee—then I have sinned against thee all the days; ¹⁰for if we had not lingered, surely now we had returned these two times.’

¹¹And Israel their father saith unto them, ‘If so, now, this do: take of the praised thing of the land in your vessels, and take down to the man a present, a little balm, and a little honey, spices and myrrh, nuts and almonds; ¹²and double money take in your hand, even the money which is brought back in the mouth of your bags, ye take back in your hand, it may be it is an oversight.

¹³‘And take your brother, and rise, turn back unto the man; ¹⁴and God Almighty give to you mercies before the man, so that he hath sent to you your other brother and Benjamin; and I, when I am bereaved—I am bereaved.’

¹⁵And the men take this present, double money also they have taken in their hand, and Benjamin; and they rise, and go down to Egypt, and stand before Joseph; ¹⁶and Joseph seeth Benjamin with them, and saith to him who is over his house, ‘Bring the men into the house, and slaughter an animal, and make ready, for with me do the men eat at noon.’ ¹⁷And the man doth as Joseph hath said, and the man bringeth in the men into the house of Joseph, ¹⁸and the men are afraid because they have been brought into the house of Joseph, and they say, ‘For the matter of the money which was put back in our bags at the commencement are we brought in—to roll himself upon us, and to throw himself on us, and to take us for servants—our asses also.’ ¹⁹And they come nigh unto the man who is over the house of Joseph, and speak unto him at the opening of the house, ²⁰and say, ‘O, my lord, we really come down at the commencement to buy food; ²¹and it cometh to pass, when we have come in unto the lodging-place, and open our bags, that lo, each one’s money is in the mouth of his bag, our money in its weight, and we bring it back in our hand; ²²and other money have we brought down in our hand to buy food; we have not known who put our money in our bags.’ ²³And he saith, ‘Peace to you, fear not: your God and the God of your father hath given to you hidden treasure in your bags, your money came unto me;’ and he bringeth out Simeon unto them. ²⁴And the man bringeth in the men into Joseph’s house, and giveth water, and they wash their feet; and he giveth provender for their asses, ²⁵and they prepare the present until the coming of Joseph at noon, for they have heard that there they do eat bread.

²⁶And Joseph cometh into the house, and they bring to him the present which is in their hand, into the house, and bow themselves to him, to the earth; ²⁷and he asketh of them of peace, and saith, ‘Is your father well? the aged man of whom ye have spoken, is he yet alive?’ ²⁸and they say, ‘Thy servant our father is well, he is yet alive;’ and they bow, and do obeisance. ²⁹And he lifteth up his eyes, and seeth Benjamin his brother, his mother’s son, and saith, ‘Is this your young brother, of whom ye have spoken unto me?’ and he saith, ‘God favour thee, my son.’ ³⁰And Joseph hasteth, for his bowels have been moved for his brother, and he seeketh to weep, and entereth the inner chamber, and weepeth there; ³¹and he washeth his face, and goeth out, and refraineth himself, and saith, ‘Place bread.’ ³²And they place for him by himself, and for them by themselves, and for the Egyptians who are eating with him by themselves: for the Egyptians are unable to eat bread with the Hebrews, for it is an abomination to the Egyptians. ³³And they sit before him, the first-born according to his birthright, and the young one according to his youth, and the men wonder one at another; ³⁴and he lifteth up gifts from before him unto them, and the gift of Benjamin is five hands more than the gifts of all of them; and they drink, yea, they drink abundantly with him.

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